ORIGINAL PAPER Divergence, diet, and disease: the identification of group identity, landscape use, health, and mobility in the fifth- to sixth-century AD burial community of Echt, the Netherlands Barbara Veselka 1,2 & Giacomo Capuzzo 3 & Rica Annaert 1,4 & Nadine Mattielli 5 & Mathieu Boudin 6 & Sarah Dalle 1,7 & Marta Hlad 1,3 & Charlotte Sabaux 3,7 & Kevin Salesse 2,8 & Amanda Sengeløv 3,7 & Elisavet Stamataki 1,3 & Dries Tys 1 & Martine Vercauteren 3 & Eugène Warmenbol 9 & Guy De Mulder 7 & Christophe Snoeck 1,2,5 Received: 1 February 2021 /Accepted: 15 April 2021 # The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021 Abstract This study aims to better understand the development of group identity, mobility, and health in the Early Medieval Meuse Valley. This is achieved by combining existing demographic and palaeopathological information from 73 cremation deposits from Echt, the Netherlands, with new strontium isotope ratios ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) and strontium concen- trations ([Sr]) that are performed on pars petrosa, diaphysis, and rib fragments. Although the surrounding Early Medieval cemeteries practiced inhumation, the initial burial community of Echt persisted in expressing the divergent burial ritual of cremation. Thirty-two radiocarbon dates demonstrate the fifth- to sixth-century cremation deposits to be chronologically separated from the seventh-century inhumations that were preserved in situ, suggesting a subse- quent burial community replaced cremation with inhumation in the seventh century. Nutritionally inadequate diets may have contributed to the relatively high prevalence of porotic hyperostosis (~ 34%), resulting from decreasing foods supplies caused by deteriorating climatic conditions. The inhabitants are postulated to have mainly consumed foods originating from the land directly surrounding their farmsteads, expressed by the great variability in the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr of the diaphyses and ribs (0.7096 to 0.7131), matching the geological complexity of the area. The lack of significant differences between the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr and [Sr] of ribs and diaphyses connotes little change in the geolog- ical origin of the foods occurred over time, stressing the importance of the yield of local harvests. In contrast, large differences in childhood (i.e. pars petrosa) vs. adult (i.e. ribs and diaphyses) 87 Sr/ 86 Sr suggest the regional movement of individuals to possibly support inter-farmstead relationships (e.g. via marriages). Keywords Cremation . Meuse Valley . Strontium isotope ratios . Strontium concentrations . Post-Roman . Early Medieval * Barbara Veselka barbara.veselka@vub.be 1 Department of Art Sciences and Archaeology, Maritime Cultures Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium 2 Research Unit: Analytical, Environmental & Geo-Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium 3 Research Unit: Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium 4 Flemish Heritage Agency, Brussels, Belgium 5 G-Time Laboratory, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium 6 Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Brussels, Belgium 7 Department of Archaeology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium 8 UMR 5199: PACEA, De la Préhistoire à l’Actuel: Culture, Environment et Anthropologie, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France 9 Centre de Recherches en Archéologie et Patrimoine, Department of History, Arts, and Archaeology, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2021) 13:97 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01348-7