DarkSeeds · A new explanatory paradigm for the agricultural economies of the Aegean Late Bronze and Early Iron Age using Machine Learning-aided 3D morphometrics and stable isotope analyses
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2022-01-01 → 2024-08-30
- EU contribution
- €160,932
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
A new explanatory paradigm for the agricultural economies of the Aegean Late Bronze and Early Iron Age using Machine Learning-aided 3D morphometrics and stable isotope analyses
The period spanning the end of the Late Bronze Age (LBA) and the beginning of the Early Iron Age (EIA) saw significant change throughout the Aegean. The LBA (c.1600–1100 BC) has been characterized by the growth of complex societies in the south, and the establishment and maintenance of social inequality levels. The last phase of the LBA and the beginning of the EIA, witnessed the collapse of these societies, with transformations in settlement distribution. The EIA, or ‘Dark Ages’, was a period when many towns disappeared and rural settlements flourished. Different forms of social and political organization prevailed, the causes of which have been debated. Recently a re-examination of this ‘Dark Age’ has indicated that it was not a complete societal collapse, but rather a re-organization of society that varied greatly by region. Information regarding the agro-economy during this period has suffered from a lack of primary bioarchaeological evidence. This led scholars to suggest that agriculture was largely abandoned during the EIA with instead a resurgence of pastoralism. This view has been heavily critiqued, however, and instead it has been proposed that EIA agriculture actually saw a reversion from the more expansive LBA agro-economy to a model similar to that observed during the Neolithic. The DarkSeeds project has contributed to this debate by producing new primary archaeobotanical, 3D GMM and stable isotopic data from a number of LBA–EIA sites in the Aegean, as well as synthesizing existing environmental information. This involved the exploration of a number of research objectives: 1. To propose specific land-use strategies and agricultural management for the sites under study, 2. To test current theories of economic and agricultural organization during the LBA–EIA , 3. To develop a new socio-economic framework for these periods in the Aegean, 4. To apply and refine a new methodological approach. Overall, after completion of one year of the project, the results suggest mixed agricultural regimes based on a diversity of cereals and pulses, with local variation in the intensity of cultivation of different species. The application of a combination of different methodologies, including traditional archaeobotanical analysis, stable isotope analyses and 3D GMM, so far seem promising in identifying and refining past agricultural management strategies.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The collapse of Bronze Age societies in the Aegean led to a period known as the ‘Greek Dark Ages’ (Early Iron Age, EIA) that involved major socio-economic disruptions and transformations. The causes of these changes and their impact on the agricultural economy of these societies have been matters of a long-lasting debate. The nature of agricultural management and production in this period is largely speculative due to limited bioarchaeological data and the inherent limitations involved in the analysis of available evidence. Owing to the lack of knowledge regarding the role of agriculture in these processes of socio-economic turmoil, a new approach to the debate is needed. DarkSeeds aims to re-examine the role of agriculture to provide an evidence-based understanding and a new explanatory model of the economic changes during the Late Bronze Age (LBA) – EIA, through a novel combination of traditional and newly developed methods and emerging technologies. In particular, it will employ archaeobotanical material from six sites across the Aegean to capture spatial variability and will: (1) use standard archaeobotanical approaches, including synthesis of existing data; and (2) apply and refine a new methodology, pioneered by the supervisory team, that combines 3D photogrammetry, Machine Learning-aided Geometric Morphometrics (GMM) and targeted stable isotope analysis, and uses directly the 3D shape of cereal seeds to infer agricultural practices. This combination of traditional with advanced and newly developed scientific techniques has the potential to step-change the investigation of complex issues of agricultural change and provide new, in-depth understandings of the very processes that underpinned the LBA-EIA societies. DarkSeeds will build upon the Experienced Researcher’s expertise to equip her with an excellent toolkit, through hands-on training, that can place her at the forefront of cutting-edge research and establish her at the top of her field.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- Institut Català d'Arqueologia Clàssica · TarragonaCoordinatorSpain
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union