The Macchiabate necropolis near Francavilla Marittima is situated about 10 km north of the Greek colony of Sybaris and was in use from the 8th century BC onwards. While it was mainly frequented in the Iron Age, new burials were still deposited in the necropolis after the foundation of Sybaris (c. 720/710 BC), mostly on top of earlier Iron Age tombs. As a result of the Greek civilisation's expansion in the 7th and 6th centuries BC, radical changes in the burial traditions can be observed in the Macchiabate necropolis as well as elsewhere in the Sibaritide. At the same time, the upholding of the local traditions is expressed in the proximity of Archaic graves to earlier Iron Age burials. Thus, the Macchiabate necropolis is a good starting point to examine the construction of 'identity' in a landscape undergoing profound cultural changes during colonial times. In addition to the archaeological approach, a project has been initiated which focuses on anthropological, isotopic and aDNA analysis. For a better understanding of the strontium and oxygen isotope data from the Macchiabate human remains, an isotopic baseline map of the Sibaritide is currently being established. In this contribution, the very first results of the project are discussed.
