The Transformation of the Micro-region Pergamon between the Hellenistic Period and the Roman Imperial Age

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Historical human-environment relations are an increasingly relevant research topic. However, the study of interactions between the ecosphere and the socio-cultural sphere requires new forms of cooperation between the humanities, engineering and natural sciences. For only an interdisciplinary research design adequately reflects the complexity of the topic and, overcoming reductionist and deterministic approaches, can enrich our understanding of the ancient world with hitherto neglected ecological aspects. Unlike the 'big narratives', the project, which is scheduled to run for twelve years, chooses the path of a multi-layered, diachronic analysis of the transformation of a micro-region. It thus meets the demand for micro-scale investigations with an interdisciplinary spectrum of questions and methods, which has been repeatedly formulated recently. Ancient Pergamon and the surrounding landscape in north-western Turkey are particularly suitable for such a project thanks to a multi-faceted spectrum of natural settings, a long and varied history of settlement and usage of the terrain, rich archaeological legacies and, last but not least, a history of research spanning more than 140 years with extensive data-resources. At the same time, extensive basic research on the micro-region of Pergamon in the longue durée is carried out within this framework. Transformation phenomena are investigated for the particularly well-documented period from the 3rd century B.C. to the 3rd century A.D.; a focus of the basic research is on the Roman period, which has been less investigated so far. As a working hypothesis of TransPergMikro, the lower basin of the Kaikos (Bakır Çay) including its estuary and the adjacent mountains have been defined as the Pergamon Micro-region. Within this framework, the dynamic interactions between cities, rural settlements and the landscape are being studied systematically and diachronically for the first time at the levels of resource use, construction, production and consumption, lifestyles, and the design and perception of the natural environment. A particular challenge is the organisation of the interdisciplinary exchange and the integration of the heterogeneous data with the aim of joint syntheses. This purpose is served by a social-ecological model that is continuously being developed.