TRACE AND HEAVY-METAL ANALYSES OF A SKELETAL POPULATION REPRESENTING THE TOWN PEOPLE IN TURKU (ABO) FINLAND IN THE 16TH-17TH CENTURIES - WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO GENDER, AGE AND SOCIAL BACKGROUND

The Julin site in the city of Turku, Finland, was excavated in 1964, 1 983-1985 and 1987. On this site are the remains of the church of the H oly Spirit with its cemetery. The burial period of the excavated skele tons lasted most probably from the 1580s to the 1650s. Sodium, phospho rus, calcium, manganese, iron, copper, zinc, bromine, strontium and le ad concentrations of ribs from skeletal remains of 141 individuals wer e analyzed. The main finding is that the concentrations of Sr and Zn i n younger women tend to be lower than that in men of a corresponding a ge, and in older people both the strontium and zinc values tend to be higher in women than men. On the basis of this study the Pb exposure i n the early modern population in Finland was at a very low level. We c onclude that the role of migration and the source of grain supply on t he variation of the elemental values are more difficult to evaluate th an the role of diagenesis.