The Bioarchaeology of Social Stratification in Bronze Age Italy

Social stratification among Bronze Age communities has been traditionally analysed from the point of view of material evidence, especially in funerary contexts, where disparities in tomb architecture or in the articulation of grave goods may indicate the presence of groups characterised by different access to resources and social status. Recently, advances in the field of bioarchaeology (osteology, isotopes, aDNA) have provided new insights into the theme of inequalities and their relationship with kinship, diet, and mobility. In our paper, we integrate the archaeological evidence of social stratification with bioarchaeological data from four Bronze Age key-sites in Italy, namely Olmo di Nogara, Casinalbo (Po Plain), Trinitapoli-Ipogeo dei Bronzi, and Toppo Daguzzo (south-eastern Italy). The aim is to analyse the variability of health conditions, diet, mobility, and demographic parameters within each of these cemeteries and compare the different dynamics of the emergence of the elite group during the central centuries of the second millennium BC. Our overview shows that Bronze Age societies in general converged towards a general model in which stratification and competition were common structural traits across the whole peninsula. The amplitude of inequalities, however, varies from site to site, as well as from region to region, as a consequence of different socioeconomic backgrounds and cultural manifestations of social hierarchies. In conclusion, we underline the role of kinship as a factor in securing internal stability for the emerging élite and the importance of establishing interorganisational alliances and a common ethos with other nodes of the network.