The landscape approach to the studies of the population of earlier ages based on strontium isotopic data

Archaeology has started to use actively data on strontium isotopic ratios in bioarchaeological materials for reconstructing individual and group mobility of people and animals, place of origin of food products, textiles, wood items, etc. Analysis of strontium isotopic composition has been gradually becoming a widely recognized method. However, there are still a lot of questions raised about this method both by archaeologists who study the material culture and researchers of geochemistry who do not exclude possible methodological distortions and also warn against straightforward interpretations. One of the preconditions for correct assessment of mobility at the individual level and attribution of individuals either to “locals” or “non-locals” is a need to justify boundaries of local variability of isotope ratios. The paper discusses importance of the landscape approach in selecting samples for assessing local variability of 87Sr/86Sr. Taking the 87Sr/86Sr values of several individuals from Poddubye II, which is a medieval kurgan cemetery with stone enclosures, and environmental values as an example, the paper explores importance of landscape assessment of the location where samples are taken.