We examine three individuals buried in iron shackles at the Greek colony Himera (648-409BCE). Although funerary practices vary widely across time and space, culturally structured mortuary responses are near-universal, with well-documented ritual traditions in the Greek world. Denial of normative burial and retention of punitive shackles therefore suggest not only social marginalization, but intentional emphasis on the deviance of the deceased. At least 19 shackled individuals/groups have been identified across the Greek world, but this form of non-normative burial is rare. Interpretations in other contexts suggest individuals were political prisoners/mutineers, enslaved, prisoners of war, convicts, and/or condemned. Thoughtful interpretation of shackled individuals must be grounded in local historical and archaeological context and informed by osteological evidence of lived experiences.

Using multiple bioarchaeological approaches, we reconstruct the life histories of three shackled individuals from Himera. All died in late adolescence or young adulthood and were interred in simple pit burials lacking grave goods, other than their fetters. Isotopic data indicate local origins, while ancient DNA identifies all three as biologically male with Aegean and/or Italian ancestry. One individual shows genetic evidence of recent inbreeding, indicating the parents were closely related—likely at the level of cousins—and originated from a small population with limited genetic diversity. None exhibit skeletal trauma, but evidence of physiological stress varies among individuals. These findings indicate distinct life histories and tentatively suggest the individuals were either enslaved at Himera for much of their lives and/or Himeran citizens who later became prisoners. At a large colony occupied for more than two centuries and represented by nearly 13,000 excavated burials, the presence of enslaved individuals, convicts, and prisoners would be expected. The exceptional nature of shackled burials within this extensive mortuary sample indicates that restraints were intentionally maintained in death to convey a message to the living.

First Author: Britney Kyle

Co-Authors: Laurie Reitsema, Mustafa Quadir, Alissa Mittnik, David Reich, Stefano Vassallo

Keywords:
bioarchaeology
Greek colonization
shackled
Marginalization