Trace element analysis of human skulls

Abstract

Analyses of copper, zinc and selenium from skulls from populations from different sites from Sweden belonging to Stone age, Medieval period and 17th century are presented. The high copper content from populations from Early Stone Age in hunter/gatherer cultures are discussed and compared with the high copper content from refuse heaps from the same cultures. It is proposed that the high copper content is due to a diet where protein from gastropods, molluscs an arthropods take an important part. The choice between e.g. molluscs, which characterize the South Scandinavian so called Ertebolle culture, and gastropods or arthropods may only be depending on what is available in different areas and seasons. Finally a hypothesis is put forward that arthropods (maggots) could
have been deliberately grown and this may have been one of several preludes to the farming of the Neolithic period.