Mari Tõrv
Biographic Data
| ID | 188966 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mari Tõrv |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mari |
| FAMILY NAME | Tõrv |
| SIGNATURE | TÕRV M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Tartu |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9473-2568 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 71 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 19 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Beyond bones
Technological advancements in the twenty-first century have profoundly transformed archaeological research. Biomolecular archaeology has emerged as a pivotal field, generating vast quantities of molecular data and products such as DNA extracts and protein profiles. This paper examines how ancient human remains, once studied primarily through osteology and archaeological context, have become data-generating resources, extracted, processed, and cir…
Food Equality
Biomolecular archaeology has significantly advanced our understanding of ancient foodways. However, the inevitable methodological biases of those novel methods might give deviating, even contradictory results. This paper highlights the major challenges of, but also potential solutions for, combining and comparing multiproxy dietary data. A rich dataset covering human skeletal remains, pottery, and zooarchaeological records from habitation and bur…
The Oxford Handbook of Mesolithic Europe
Mesolithic research has undergone a series of important transformations over the past several decades, making it one of the most dynamic and prolific fields of archaeology today. The handbook captures our ambition to demonstrate the plurality of perspectives and developments in Mesolithic research, combining theoretically new and innovative questions strongly valuing the methodological connection to the empirical record, while also incorporating …
Defining the Estonian strontium isoscape for archeological and paleoecological provenance studies
Strontium isotope analysis has been used in archeology for about 40 years to study the provenance and mobility of ancient humans and animals. The interpretation of strontium isotope compositions in archeological materials requires a reference isotopic baseline map that delineates the geographical variation of bioavailable strontium. This paper introduces the first full map of bioavailable strontium in Estonia, based on the 87Sr/86Sr ratio of bio…
Supplementary material to
Supplementary online data include Table 1 detailing the radiocarbon dates associated with Typical Comb Ware in Latvia in the research literature
Segregated food culture? Bronze Age (1250–500 cal BCE) dietary practices in northern Estonia
Multi-proxy study reveals Bronze Age diet in Estonia was plant-based. • C3 plants were staple food across all social groups. • Meat and fish intake increased after 800 cal BCE. • No dietary differences between stone-cist and hilltop groups. • Regional dietary differences begin to emerge across the Eastern Baltic. The Bronze Age (2000/1750–500 BCE) in the Eastern Baltic has been considered a period for increased social stratification. While previo…
Reconstructing infant feeding practices through stable isotope analysis
Dietary stable isotope analysis on fifth–ninth century AD populations of Lepna and Viidumäe, Saaremaa Island, Estonia
This paper presents the results of dietary stable isotope analyses performed on Migration Period (450–550 AD) and Pre-Viking Age (550–800 AD) populations of Lepna and Viidumäe, Saaremaa Island, Estonia. To date, research on dietary stable isotope analysis in Estonia has mainly focused on populations from other historical periods with an exclusion of material from the fifth to ninth centuries AD. Moreover, the research has been mainly conducted on…
Pets or functional animals
The role of dogs and cats in the history of the human-animal relationship has been variable. They have served as pets, working animals, useful commensals, subjects of worship and sacrifice, and providers of resources, such as skin and meat. These roles have also been more or less visible in Estonian archaeological material. Here, our focus is on the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period (13th to 18th centuries), which was the time of urbanisation a…
Pre-Roman Iron Age inhumations
This article presents the results of a multi-proxy study conducted on a triple burial found at a settlement site at Pärnu Road 41, Tallinn, Estonia, dating to 405â 360 cal BC (Pre-Roman Iron Age). Through archaeological and chemical analyses, including AMS dating, archaeobotany, osteology, stable isotope analysis, lipid analysis, metallography and XRF analysis, this study proves valuable insights into the provenance, diet, and burial practices of…
Buried at home? Stable isotope analysis of the late hunter-gatherer cemetery population at Tamula, SE Estonia
The function of European Stone Age forager sites with several burials has been debated for decades. One little-known site of this kind is the 4thâ 3rd millennium cal BC Tamula I (hereinafter Tamula) in south-eastern Estonia. Bringing together the results of archaeological and archaeothanatological analyses and departing from stable isotope based dietary reconstructions together with the idea of â you are what you eatâ as a basis for forming a gro…
In search of Estonia’s earliest chicken
It has been hypothesised that the chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) was introduced to the area of what is now modern-day Estonia around the Pre-Roman or Roman Iron Age. However, none of the earliest chicken bones found in the area had been radiocarbon dated and due to a complex contextual background, the question of its first appearance has been left open. With the aim of finding the earliest evidence for the chicken in Estonia, we looked into t…
Fragmented bones tell stories
Cremation as a burial rite has been in use throughout prehistory. The graves as well as their fragmented content are the main informants reflecting the life and death of past communities in specific eras. So far, the studies of cremation graves in the eastern Baltic have mostly focused on reconstructing grave constructions and analysing artefacts. Far less attention has been paid to the skeletal material, especially to their value for reconstruct…
Application of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) to surface bone changes in paleopathology
The analysis of surface bone changes is an essential aspect of the paleopathological examination of skeletal remains from archaeological and forensic contexts, and proper digital imaging is an indispensable aspect of the documentation of bone modifications. This paper evaluates the applicability of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) to the study of pathological bone surface changes in human remains. Forty-five samples of human bones and tee…
Hunger, disease, and subtle lesions
This paper reports a case study of 43 fetuses and perinates from four mass graves and two double burials from the cemetery of St. Jacob in Tartu (SE Estonia). The burials were dated to the 13th-15th centuries AD and located outside the cemetery walls, and likely can be linked to historically recorded episodes of famine and epidemic in medieval Livonia. All individuals belonged to the fetal and perinatal age categories, meaning they were either ab…
Two burials in a unique freshwater shell midden
Complex mortuary treatment of a Corded Ware Culture individual from the Eastern Baltic
Social food here and hereafter
The adoption of pottery by north-east European hunter-gatherers
Radiocarbon Dates and Stable Isotope Data from the Early Bronze Age Burials in Riigiküla I and Kivisaare Settlement Sites, Estonia
Four inhumations from Kivisaare and Riigiküla I settlement and burial sites were dated in the course of a project about hunter-gatherer mortuary practices in Estonia, as they were believed to belong to the Stone Age. However, these burials appear to be Early Bronze Age inhumations instead, and thus are discussed separately in the present article. These burials are the first evidence in Estonia of a long-lasting tradition of inhumations without an…
The adoption of pottery by north-east European hunter-gatherers
Social food here and hereafter
Two burials in a unique freshwater shell midden
Hunger, disease, and subtle lesions
This paper reports a case study of 43 fetuses and perinates from four mass graves and two double burials from the cemetery of St. Jacob in Tartu (SE Estonia). The burials were dated to the 13th-15th centuries AD and located outside the cemetery walls, and likely can be linked to historically recorded episodes of famine and epidemic in medieval Livonia. All individuals belonged to the fetal and perinatal age categories, meaning they were either ab…
Radiocarbon Dates and Stable Isotope Data from the Early Bronze Age Burials in Riigiküla I and Kivisaare Settlement Sites, Estonia
Four inhumations from Kivisaare and Riigiküla I settlement and burial sites were dated in the course of a project about hunter-gatherer mortuary practices in Estonia, as they were believed to belong to the Stone Age. However, these burials appear to be Early Bronze Age inhumations instead, and thus are discussed separately in the present article. These burials are the first evidence in Estonia of a long-lasting tradition of inhumations without an…
Defining the Estonian strontium isoscape for archeological and paleoecological provenance studies
Strontium isotope analysis has been used in archeology for about 40 years to study the provenance and mobility of ancient humans and animals. The interpretation of strontium isotope compositions in archeological materials requires a reference isotopic baseline map that delineates the geographical variation of bioavailable strontium. This paper introduces the first full map of bioavailable strontium in Estonia, based on the 87Sr/86Sr ratio of bio…
Segregated food culture? Bronze Age (1250–500 cal BCE) dietary practices in northern Estonia
Multi-proxy study reveals Bronze Age diet in Estonia was plant-based. • C3 plants were staple food across all social groups. • Meat and fish intake increased after 800 cal BCE. • No dietary differences between stone-cist and hilltop groups. • Regional dietary differences begin to emerge across the Eastern Baltic. The Bronze Age (2000/1750–500 BCE) in the Eastern Baltic has been considered a period for increased social stratification. While previo…
Pets or functional animals
The role of dogs and cats in the history of the human-animal relationship has been variable. They have served as pets, working animals, useful commensals, subjects of worship and sacrifice, and providers of resources, such as skin and meat. These roles have also been more or less visible in Estonian archaeological material. Here, our focus is on the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period (13th to 18th centuries), which was the time of urbanisation a…
Complex mortuary treatment of a Corded Ware Culture individual from the Eastern Baltic
Radiocarbon Dates and Stable Isotope Data from the Early Bronze Age Burials in Riigiküla I and Kivisaare Settlement Sites, Estonia
Four inhumations from Kivisaare and Riigiküla I settlement and burial sites were dated in the course of a project about hunter-gatherer mortuary practices in Estonia, as they were believed to belong to the Stone Age. However, these burials appear to be Early Bronze Age inhumations instead, and thus are discussed separately in the present article. These burials are the first evidence in Estonia of a long-lasting tradition of inhumations without an…
The adoption of pottery by north-east European hunter-gatherers
Social food here and hereafter
Complex mortuary treatment of a Corded Ware Culture individual from the Eastern Baltic
Two burials in a unique freshwater shell midden
In search of Estonia’s earliest chicken
It has been hypothesised that the chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) was introduced to the area of what is now modern-day Estonia around the Pre-Roman or Roman Iron Age. However, none of the earliest chicken bones found in the area had been radiocarbon dated and due to a complex contextual background, the question of its first appearance has been left open. With the aim of finding the earliest evidence for the chicken in Estonia, we looked into t…
Fragmented bones tell stories
Cremation as a burial rite has been in use throughout prehistory. The graves as well as their fragmented content are the main informants reflecting the life and death of past communities in specific eras. So far, the studies of cremation graves in the eastern Baltic have mostly focused on reconstructing grave constructions and analysing artefacts. Far less attention has been paid to the skeletal material, especially to their value for reconstruct…
Application of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) to surface bone changes in paleopathology
The analysis of surface bone changes is an essential aspect of the paleopathological examination of skeletal remains from archaeological and forensic contexts, and proper digital imaging is an indispensable aspect of the documentation of bone modifications. This paper evaluates the applicability of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) to the study of pathological bone surface changes in human remains. Forty-five samples of human bones and tee…
Hunger, disease, and subtle lesions
This paper reports a case study of 43 fetuses and perinates from four mass graves and two double burials from the cemetery of St. Jacob in Tartu (SE Estonia). The burials were dated to the 13th-15th centuries AD and located outside the cemetery walls, and likely can be linked to historically recorded episodes of famine and epidemic in medieval Livonia. All individuals belonged to the fetal and perinatal age categories, meaning they were either ab…
Pets or functional animals
The role of dogs and cats in the history of the human-animal relationship has been variable. They have served as pets, working animals, useful commensals, subjects of worship and sacrifice, and providers of resources, such as skin and meat. These roles have also been more or less visible in Estonian archaeological material. Here, our focus is on the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period (13th to 18th centuries), which was the time of urbanisation a…
Pre-Roman Iron Age inhumations
This article presents the results of a multi-proxy study conducted on a triple burial found at a settlement site at Pärnu Road 41, Tallinn, Estonia, dating to 405â 360 cal BC (Pre-Roman Iron Age). Through archaeological and chemical analyses, including AMS dating, archaeobotany, osteology, stable isotope analysis, lipid analysis, metallography and XRF analysis, this study proves valuable insights into the provenance, diet, and burial practices of…
Buried at home? Stable isotope analysis of the late hunter-gatherer cemetery population at Tamula, SE Estonia
The function of European Stone Age forager sites with several burials has been debated for decades. One little-known site of this kind is the 4thâ 3rd millennium cal BC Tamula I (hereinafter Tamula) in south-eastern Estonia. Bringing together the results of archaeological and archaeothanatological analyses and departing from stable isotope based dietary reconstructions together with the idea of â you are what you eatâ as a basis for forming a gro…
Dietary stable isotope analysis on fifth–ninth century AD populations of Lepna and Viidumäe, Saaremaa Island, Estonia
This paper presents the results of dietary stable isotope analyses performed on Migration Period (450–550 AD) and Pre-Viking Age (550–800 AD) populations of Lepna and Viidumäe, Saaremaa Island, Estonia. To date, research on dietary stable isotope analysis in Estonia has mainly focused on populations from other historical periods with an exclusion of material from the fifth to ninth centuries AD. Moreover, the research has been mainly conducted on…
The Oxford Handbook of Mesolithic Europe
Mesolithic research has undergone a series of important transformations over the past several decades, making it one of the most dynamic and prolific fields of archaeology today. The handbook captures our ambition to demonstrate the plurality of perspectives and developments in Mesolithic research, combining theoretically new and innovative questions strongly valuing the methodological connection to the empirical record, while also incorporating …
Defining the Estonian strontium isoscape for archeological and paleoecological provenance studies
Strontium isotope analysis has been used in archeology for about 40 years to study the provenance and mobility of ancient humans and animals. The interpretation of strontium isotope compositions in archeological materials requires a reference isotopic baseline map that delineates the geographical variation of bioavailable strontium. This paper introduces the first full map of bioavailable strontium in Estonia, based on the 87Sr/86Sr ratio of bio…
Supplementary material to
Supplementary online data include Table 1 detailing the radiocarbon dates associated with Typical Comb Ware in Latvia in the research literature
Segregated food culture? Bronze Age (1250–500 cal BCE) dietary practices in northern Estonia
Multi-proxy study reveals Bronze Age diet in Estonia was plant-based. • C3 plants were staple food across all social groups. • Meat and fish intake increased after 800 cal BCE. • No dietary differences between stone-cist and hilltop groups. • Regional dietary differences begin to emerge across the Eastern Baltic. The Bronze Age (2000/1750–500 BCE) in the Eastern Baltic has been considered a period for increased social stratification. While previo…
Reconstructing infant feeding practices through stable isotope analysis
Beyond bones
Technological advancements in the twenty-first century have profoundly transformed archaeological research. Biomolecular archaeology has emerged as a pivotal field, generating vast quantities of molecular data and products such as DNA extracts and protein profiles. This paper examines how ancient human remains, once studied primarily through osteology and archaeological context, have become data-generating resources, extracted, processed, and cir…
Food Equality
Biomolecular archaeology has significantly advanced our understanding of ancient foodways. However, the inevitable methodological biases of those novel methods might give deviating, even contradictory results. This paper highlights the major challenges of, but also potential solutions for, combining and comparing multiproxy dietary data. A rich dataset covering human skeletal remains, pottery, and zooarchaeological records from habitation and bur…
Geography (12 works) · Archaeology (11 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (11 works) · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (6 works) · History (6 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (6 works) · Ancient history (5 works) · Geology (5 works) · Isotope analysis (5 works) · Biology (4 works)