Nivien Speith
My research focuses on the exploration of identity, approached from archaeological, biological, and socio-cultural as well as historical perspectives and investigated from a strongly interdisciplinary angle. Working towards a bioarchaeology of identities, my research is concerned with the analysis of social organisation and identities as observed from skeletal and material evidence found in cemeteries ranging from Antiquity through to the Early Medieval period in the Mediterranean and Northwest Europe, incorporating anthropological and sociological theories on axes of identities from ancient to modern civilisations.
My PhD research (University of Bradford) explored the element of the 'social persona' and its influence on our interpretation of life and death in early medieval Alamannic communities. A key theme was the investigation of indicators for biological and social status, by direct association of bioanthropological with archaeological data, as well as by evaluation of present interpretations made from material culture in the light of bioanthropological analysis as a paramount focus.
My MA research (Eberhard-Karls-Universiät Tübingen) investigated the formation of identities in ancient Libya, tracing the acculturation and identification of populations during the early Romanization by creating a contextual approach, comparing landscape, architectural, and burial evidence.
My studies include a strong research focus on palaeopathology and especially activity-related markers on the skeleton, enabling us to investigate skeletal changes in the human skeleton as a response to lifestyle, activity and occupation. Regarding this area of research, I am a co-speaker for the working group 'Occupational Markers', resulting from the workshop on Musculo-Skeletal Stress Markers held in Coimbra (2009) and subject of a Wenner Gren-funded successive workshop held in Coimbra, Portugal in 2013.
My PhD research (University of Bradford) explored the element of the 'social persona' and its influence on our interpretation of life and death in early medieval Alamannic communities. A key theme was the investigation of indicators for biological and social status, by direct association of bioanthropological with archaeological data, as well as by evaluation of present interpretations made from material culture in the light of bioanthropological analysis as a paramount focus.
My MA research (Eberhard-Karls-Universiät Tübingen) investigated the formation of identities in ancient Libya, tracing the acculturation and identification of populations during the early Romanization by creating a contextual approach, comparing landscape, architectural, and burial evidence.
My studies include a strong research focus on palaeopathology and especially activity-related markers on the skeleton, enabling us to investigate skeletal changes in the human skeleton as a response to lifestyle, activity and occupation. Regarding this area of research, I am a co-speaker for the working group 'Occupational Markers', resulting from the workshop on Musculo-Skeletal Stress Markers held in Coimbra (2009) and subject of a Wenner Gren-funded successive workshop held in Coimbra, Portugal in 2013.
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Books by Nivien Speith
A bioarchaeology of identity explores the Alamanni of Pleidelsheim and Neresheim via their funerary and skeletal evidence, allowing for the factor of different environments that influence the interactions of a community. A key theme is the investigation of indicators for biological and social “status”, by direct association of bioanthropological with funerary archaeological data, as well as by evaluation of present interpretations made from material culture in the light of bioanthropological analysis as a paramount focus. The results are interpreted in terms of social status and the perception of certain social parameters, exploring interrelations between factors such as sex and gender, age, status and activity for the entirety of a society.
This research offers new perspectives on Alamannic societies and helps to comprehend Alamannic social organisation as a multi-layered phenomenon, emphasizing the importance of a biocultural approach. Beyond common perceptions, this study forms the basis for a new understanding of the Alamanni, as the results reveal a society that was complex and diverse, displaying its own characteristics in the Merovingian world.
Keywords: bioarchaeology, early medieval, Alamanni, Merovingian, social identities, archaeology, biological anthropology, death and burial, palaeopathology, musculoskeletal stress markers"
Talks by Nivien Speith
Conference Presentations by Nivien Speith
This paper presents a bioarchaeological approach that resumes the interpretation of social arrangements in ranked societies by contextualizing archaeological and biological evidence provided by the early-medieval Alamannic population of Pleidelsheim, near Stuttgart, in southwest Germany (5th-8th c. AD; 266 individuals). The analysis of biological indicators such as stature and patterns of physical health and stress among different gender and age groups, combined with a life-course approach and notable differences in mortuary evidence, reveals patterns of social mobility and suggests a strong relationship between individuals and their socio-cultural and geographical environments. The results provide physical evidence for fluid social inequality by revealing patterns of attaining and maintaining rank for those buried with grave goods, while indicating a highly active and labour-intensive life for individuals in unfurnished graves.
This study substantiates a previously only assumed archaeological model of an open-ranked Alamannic society, the data indicating differing active and social identities for males and females in this population which can be interpreted towards a bioarchaeology of ranking.
This study presents the results of an integrated bioarchaeological analysis that highlights facets of warrior identity, with the analysis of traumatic injuries providing key evidence for revealing the identities of males in “weapon burials”. It focuses around the osteobiography of a young male, the victim of multiple peri-mortem post- cranial sharp-force injuries, who was buried with only his shield. Being one of only six individuals (9.7% of the total male population) in which ante- or peri-mortem sharp-force traumatic injuries could be observed, this individual’s injuries, their characterisation, locations, and patterning contribute to a reconstruction of his life and the circumstances of his death, which present pivotal defining features for a bioarchaeological approach to warrior identity. Skeletal evidence of patterns of health and activity, combined with funerary evidence, reveals the multi-faceted illustration of early medieval warrior identity.
This research was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Archaeological Association (Ochs Scholarship)."
This study forms a part of a research project, which aims at investigating, evaluating and comparing biological and archaeological data from five Early-Medieval Alamannic populations with different socio-economic and ecological backgrounds. The assessment of MSM aid to the reconstruction of status and social identities from the skeletal record.
The work presented here tests and expands on the scoring method proposed by Villotte 2006.
Preliminary results from the analysis of 100 adult skeletons from Pleidelsheim suggest important alterations that should allow for a more differentiated assessment of muscular activity:
a) to include 10 clavicular insertions to the original set of 36 entheses in the appendicular skeleton and the insertions of the Ligg. flava.
b) to distinguish osteophytic and osteolytic remodelling at fibrous entheses to explore whether this is a valid and meaningful approach to the assessment of fibrous muscle insertions.
Furthermore, it is proposed to evaluate muscular attachments in their functional groups in the upper and lower limb in order to arrive at an interpretation of activity patterns informed by underlying physiological rather than assumed occupational factors.
This approach, whilst recording indicators for generic patterns of movement, still permits association with specific tasks as revealed through archaeological information."
A bioarchaeology of identity explores the Alamanni of Pleidelsheim and Neresheim via their funerary and skeletal evidence, allowing for the factor of different environments that influence the interactions of a community. A key theme is the investigation of indicators for biological and social “status”, by direct association of bioanthropological with funerary archaeological data, as well as by evaluation of present interpretations made from material culture in the light of bioanthropological analysis as a paramount focus. The results are interpreted in terms of social status and the perception of certain social parameters, exploring interrelations between factors such as sex and gender, age, status and activity for the entirety of a society.
This research offers new perspectives on Alamannic societies and helps to comprehend Alamannic social organisation as a multi-layered phenomenon, emphasizing the importance of a biocultural approach. Beyond common perceptions, this study forms the basis for a new understanding of the Alamanni, as the results reveal a society that was complex and diverse, displaying its own characteristics in the Merovingian world.
Keywords: bioarchaeology, early medieval, Alamanni, Merovingian, social identities, archaeology, biological anthropology, death and burial, palaeopathology, musculoskeletal stress markers"
This paper presents a bioarchaeological approach that resumes the interpretation of social arrangements in ranked societies by contextualizing archaeological and biological evidence provided by the early-medieval Alamannic population of Pleidelsheim, near Stuttgart, in southwest Germany (5th-8th c. AD; 266 individuals). The analysis of biological indicators such as stature and patterns of physical health and stress among different gender and age groups, combined with a life-course approach and notable differences in mortuary evidence, reveals patterns of social mobility and suggests a strong relationship between individuals and their socio-cultural and geographical environments. The results provide physical evidence for fluid social inequality by revealing patterns of attaining and maintaining rank for those buried with grave goods, while indicating a highly active and labour-intensive life for individuals in unfurnished graves.
This study substantiates a previously only assumed archaeological model of an open-ranked Alamannic society, the data indicating differing active and social identities for males and females in this population which can be interpreted towards a bioarchaeology of ranking.
This study presents the results of an integrated bioarchaeological analysis that highlights facets of warrior identity, with the analysis of traumatic injuries providing key evidence for revealing the identities of males in “weapon burials”. It focuses around the osteobiography of a young male, the victim of multiple peri-mortem post- cranial sharp-force injuries, who was buried with only his shield. Being one of only six individuals (9.7% of the total male population) in which ante- or peri-mortem sharp-force traumatic injuries could be observed, this individual’s injuries, their characterisation, locations, and patterning contribute to a reconstruction of his life and the circumstances of his death, which present pivotal defining features for a bioarchaeological approach to warrior identity. Skeletal evidence of patterns of health and activity, combined with funerary evidence, reveals the multi-faceted illustration of early medieval warrior identity.
This research was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Archaeological Association (Ochs Scholarship)."
This study forms a part of a research project, which aims at investigating, evaluating and comparing biological and archaeological data from five Early-Medieval Alamannic populations with different socio-economic and ecological backgrounds. The assessment of MSM aid to the reconstruction of status and social identities from the skeletal record.
The work presented here tests and expands on the scoring method proposed by Villotte 2006.
Preliminary results from the analysis of 100 adult skeletons from Pleidelsheim suggest important alterations that should allow for a more differentiated assessment of muscular activity:
a) to include 10 clavicular insertions to the original set of 36 entheses in the appendicular skeleton and the insertions of the Ligg. flava.
b) to distinguish osteophytic and osteolytic remodelling at fibrous entheses to explore whether this is a valid and meaningful approach to the assessment of fibrous muscle insertions.
Furthermore, it is proposed to evaluate muscular attachments in their functional groups in the upper and lower limb in order to arrive at an interpretation of activity patterns informed by underlying physiological rather than assumed occupational factors.
This approach, whilst recording indicators for generic patterns of movement, still permits association with specific tasks as revealed through archaeological information."
The aim of this study was to apply a novel scoring method, based on clinical information and tested on documented collections (Villotte 2006), to archaeological populations as part of a research project on skeletal and archaeological indicators of identity in early medieval Alamannic populations. The skeletons of 304 adult individuals from the populations of Pleidelsheim (n=178) and Neresheim (n=126) were analysed for activity-related changes at 36 fibrocartilagenous and fibrous entheses.
The analysis revealed that prevalence of enthesopathies, i.e. pathological changes to entheses due to muscle overuse, is comparatively low, while differential identification of activity-related entheseal change is improved. Significant differences were observed in males and females within and between populations. Individuals from the more agricultural Neresheim show significantly higher prevalence of entheseal changes. Sexual dimorphism as well as an increase of MSM with age can be identified in both populations, however, with different patterns of incidence.
The study furthermore strongly indicates that muscular attachments should be evaluated in functional groups, of the upper or lower limb, in order to interpret activity patterns informed by underlying physiological rather than assumed occupational factors. This approach permits reliable tracing of general tendencies of activity in past populations, providing promising information regarding Alamannic lifestyles."
This paper presents an approach to Alamannic identity and society that creates a dialogue between the disciplines of archaeology, biological anthropology and socio-cultural sciences. Taking two cemetery populations as examples, a bioarchaeology of identity explores the Alamanni via their funerary and skeletal evidence. Away from common perceptions of a peasant-warrior based society that represents an entity in the Merovingian kingdom, this paper offers an overview of new results on the Alamanni which reveal a society that was complex and diverse, displaying its own characteristics in the early medieval world, decoupled from Frankish structural concepts - and that was most certainly “not the Franks”. "
The funerary evidence suggests that gender identity is generally accentuated in both adult males and females in those burials that contain grave goods, providing the expression of an organizing societal principle that is also associated with the life course. The skeletons of both genders display signs of an active lifestyle throughout as presented by patterns of entheseal changes, while at the same time they were prone to suffer from any observed pathological condition, irrespective of funerary context. However, those males and females buried with grave goods exhibit a number of exclusive conditions that clearly distinguish them from other burial groups (e.g. trauma, spondyloarthropathy and dental disease).
Carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of human bone collagen and associated faunal samples (n=30) of two populations reveal a number of complementary and corroborating principles. Both genders display age-related trends towards higher levels of protein intake; males show a strong association of grave good and artefact quality with dietary choice, a pattern which is mirrored by females for whom burial type is a good predictor of protein consumption. The findings demonstrate the possibility to detect overall congruent patterns of social display of engendered identity through subtle differences in dietary behaviour, burial rite and skeletal indicators of activity and health.