Scales of fragmentation: bioarchaeological evidence of economic and social transformation from the Late Roman to Early Medieval period in the Eastern Mediterranean

碎片化规模：东地中海从罗马晚期到中世纪早期经济和社会转型的生物考古学证据

• 批准号: 426551838
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Adam Izdebski
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Max-Planck-Institut für Geoanthropologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2018-12-31 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/426551838?language=en
• 关键词: Scales; fragmentation; bioarchaeological; evidence; economic

Scales of fragmentation is a unique interdisciplinary attempt at understanding the changes in human diet, nutrition, health and subsistence strategies during the transition from Roman Antiquity into the early Middle Ages. It takes as its focus the Eastern Mediterranean (the core lands of the Later Roman Empire) in the late antique period, ca. 300-800 AD, starting with a selection of eleven sites from Sicily to Lebanon. Our main hypothesis – which we will test using the state-of-the-art methods of archaeological science – is that as the Late Roman world system fragmented in the course of Late Antiquity, subsistence strategies were becoming increasingly based on local environmental resources, with important consequences for human nutrition. Diets were becoming more diverse, while at the same time sites with strong connection to the remnant Roman state of the early Middle Ages (Byzantium) maintained at least some elements of their Late Roman subsistence strategies. The methodology of our project is based on the most recent developments in the field of bioarchaeology. We will conduct an isotopic study of collagen (including single amino acids isolated from collagen) and bioapatite from human bone samples. The isotopes include carbon (C), nitrogen (N), sulphur (S), oxygen (O) and strontium (Sr). Altogether, these isotopic signatures allow us to reconstruct an individual's mobility, basic components of diet, and nutrition. Combined with the recently developed amino acid isotopic methods, this approach is a powerful tool that allows us to understand an individual's relationship with the local and distant environments in which an individual lived and explored resources (e.g., grain from Sicily or Egypt in an individual in Anatolia). Crucially, we will combine the study of human remains with a thorough review of the available historical and archaeological data on exchange networks and subsistence strategies of Late Antiquity, as well as with the palaeoenvironmental data on the structural changes in Mediterranean landscapes. Altogether, thanks to its scale and comprehensiveness, our approach will open up new perspectives on the research dealing with the end of Antiquity and the dawn of the Middle Ages. Our results will also be of general relevance, as we will be able to demonstrate how human nutrition and health reacts to fragmentation of a global world order. International collaboration is crucial to the success of this project. We will work not only across national, but also disciplinary borders, as the two teams bring together completely different expertise. Experience in Middle Eastern bioarchaeology on the Polish side is combined with expertise in Byzantine and environmental history among the German team. Building on mutual strengths, together we have a chance of making a major contribution to the study of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, demonstrating the potential of combined humanistic-scientific approaches.

碎片的规模是一个独特的跨学科的尝试，在理解人类的饮食，营养，健康和生存战略的变化，从罗马古代过渡到中世纪早期。它的重点是东地中海（后罗马帝国的核心土地）在古代晚期，约。公元300-800年，从西西里到黎巴嫩的11个地点开始选择。我们的主要假设--我们将使用考古科学的最先进方法来检验--是随着罗马世界体系在古代晚期的分裂，生存策略越来越多地基于当地的环境资源，这对人类营养产生了重要影响。饮食变得越来越多样化，而与此同时，与中世纪早期的残余罗马国家（拜占庭）有着密切联系的遗址至少保留了罗马晚期生存策略的一些元素。我们项目的方法是基于生物考古学领域的最新发展。我们将对人体骨骼样本中的胶原蛋白（包括从胶原蛋白中分离的单一氨基酸）和生物磷灰石进行同位素研究。同位素包括碳（C）、氮（N）、硫（S）、氧（O）和锶（Sr）。总而言之，这些同位素特征使我们能够重建一个人的流动性，饮食的基本成分和营养。结合最近开发的氨基酸同位素方法，这种方法是一种强大的工具，使我们能够了解个体与个体生活和探索资源的本地和远程环境的关系（例如，来自西西里或埃及的谷物）。至关重要的是，我们将结合联合收割机的人类遗骸的研究与交流网络和古代晚期的生存战略，以及与地中海景观的结构变化的古环境数据的可用历史和考古数据的彻底审查。总而言之，由于其规模和全面性，我们的方法将为研究古代的结束和中世纪的黎明开辟新的视角。我们的研究结果也将具有普遍意义，因为我们将能够展示人类营养和健康如何对全球世界秩序的分裂作出反应。国际合作对该项目的成功至关重要。我们将不仅跨越国家，而且跨学科边界，因为两个团队汇集了完全不同的专业知识。波兰方面在中东生物考古学方面的经验与德国团队在拜占庭和环境历史方面的专业知识相结合。建立在共同的优势，我们一起有机会作出重大贡献的古代和中世纪的研究，展示了人文科学相结合的方法的潜力。