HumAn · Humanizing Antiquity: Biocultural Approaches to Identity Formation in Ancient Boeotia, central Greece

Humanizing Antiquity: Biocultural Approaches to Identity Formation in Ancient Boeotia, central Greece

HumAn aims at exploring the dynamic negotiation and diachronic evolution of identity at the level of the household (oikos), city (polis) and nation (ethnos) in ancient Boeotia (central Greece) by combining osteoarchaeological evidence on genetic affiliation and life quality osteobiographical markers with mortuary data and historical information. Ancient Boeotia is an ideal case study for the examination of the construction and negotiation of identities at different regional and inter-regional levels. Boeotian ethnic self-awareness was promoted by a set of common cults and myths dating from the late 8th c. BC. In the late 6th c. the Boeotian League was formed as the first Greek attempt to create a federal state. Through their contact with each other and the rest of the Hellenic world, Boeotian cities also advanced their identity as citizens (polis identity). Despite their parallel evolution, the relationship between ethnos and polis was often contentious, but the implications of such conflict regarding marriage and social mobility are unknown from the historical record and archaeological evidence. The specific research objectives of HumAn are: RO1: To explore genetic kinship and human mobility across Archaic to Roman-era Boeotia in order to assess whether belonging to a specific group hindered gene flow in the form of intermarriage with members of other groups. Subsequently, the aim is to identify the level at which such restrictions potentially applied (family, city, nation) and whether there are patterns correlating with major historical events. RO2: To understand the social structure in different Boeotian poleis diachronically through mortuary evidence and osteobiographic markers of activity, stress and disease. The proposed project will have major implications for our understanding of the biological dimensions of identity formation and negotiation in ancient Boeotia at the level of the oikos, polis and ethnos. The topic of fluid and dynamic identities in ancient Greece, coupled with social stratification and mobility, has been extensively discussed employing material culture and literary sources. Introducing osteoarchaeological analysis into this debate will provide an independent line of evidence for social stratification and human mobility through marital patterns or other mechanisms, such as group relocations after warfare, and it will present a unique potential to challenge traditional views of the evolutionary trajectory of regional and inter-regional identities in antiquity. Besides its contribution to archaeology and Classical studies, the thematic of this project is relevant to contemporary developments regarding the role of Greece within the European Union. Ancient Boeotia is an area where belonging to a specific polis often contradicted being a member of a bigger formation, the Boeotian League. Exploring the complementarity and competition between different identities that past people assumed in different contexts and communicating the results to the broader public can offer a significant time depth to the understanding of the contemporary roles of Greeks as a nation and as European citizens.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз