In search of ancient seafarers

A number of prehistoric teeth are among the findings that two French archaeologists brought with them during a visit to the Department of Historical Studies just before Christmas.

The teeth came from a grave in the heart of the megalithic world: L'Île-d'Yeu off the west coast of France.

The discovery was made last summer when Bettina Schulz Paulsson, Associate Professor of Archaeology, together with colleagues and students from the University of Gothenburg and Université de Nantes, examined the 6,000 year old megalithic tomb Planche-à Puare on L'Île-d'Yeu. The most spectacular find was the skeleton of an ancient sheep sacrifice with a flint tool in one eye, which was discovered in a pit by the tomb’s entrance. The items are well-preserved, as the sand on the island contains a high proportion of shell fragments which gives it a high pH value.

– The tomb has been explored many times, Bettina Schulz Paulsson says. The first time was in 1883 and the second was in 1909. But today, the opportunities we have for unearthing and interpreting what we find are vastly different.

Bettina Schulz Paulsson is the research leader for the EU funded NEOSEA project. Her collaborator in France is JeanNoël Guyodo at Université de Nantes. The aim is to investigate how the building of megalithic graves spread through sea trade to the north and south, from its starting point in Brittany.

– We will be conducting carbon-14 dating but also strontium-oxygen isotope analyses which can reveal where humans and animals were raised. We also conduct DNA analyses on bones and teeth, and we also examine environmental DNA, a method that opens up entirely new possibilities as it gives us an opportunity to analyse dust. All these data will be collated in a new database, thus providing lots of new information about the people that lived along the Atlantic coast 6,000 years ago. Among other things, we are hoping to find out what they looked like, where they came from and what diseases they had. Around eighty samples have already been sent to a genetic engineering lab in Copenhagen.

Bettina Schulz Paulsson is also hoping that the various investigations will shed new light on questions about prehistoric sea routes, trade, as well as the boat-building and navigation techniques that the people must have mastered.

In December last year, two French colleagues visited the Faculty of Arts to continue the discussion about megalithic graves. Jean-Noël Guyodo was joined by megalith expert Audrey Blanchard.

– We brought a number of our findings, including several molars. By examining them, we are hoping to find out what these prehistoric people ate. We have also started collaborations with researchers of odontology here in Gothenburg for a study on dental hygiene and wear on teeth, says Audrey Blanchard.

Text: Eva Lundgren

Photos: Bettina Schulz Paulsson

The project Neolithic Seafaring and Maritime Technologies Shaped a New World of Megalithic Societies (NEOSEA) will run for five years and has received funding of 1.5 million euro from the European Commission. The project will investigate the origins of megalithic graves as well as the increase in seafaring activities within societies involved in hunting marine wildlife in Brittany. The researchers also plan to create a model for the social and economic organisation of megalithic seafaring societies.