The zooarchaeology of economic change and urban decline in the late antique Balkans (c. AD 300-700)

古代巴尔干半岛晚期经济变迁和城市衰落的动物考古学（约公元 300-700 年）

• 批准号: 2279258
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of York
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2279258
• 关键词: zooarchaeology; economic; change; urban; decline

The timing, pace and scale of social and economic change at the end of Antiquity is the subject of intense debate. Perspectives range from catastrophist, emphasising post-Roman decline (Gibbon 1781; Ward-Perkins 2006), to continuitist, suggesting longer-term stability (Pirenne 1925; Brown 1971), via arguments for significant regional variation (Wickham 2006). Migration, conflict, climate and disease are all cited as key stimuli for change in this period.Recently, zooarchaeology has helped to nuance understanding of late antique economic change in the Roman West, by showing reduced investment in animal husbandry and economic decline in this period. This approach has yet to be applied systematically to this issue in regions of the Roman East, with its very different set of historical developments. I will address this gap via in-depth zooarchaeological study of the late antique Balkans (c. AD 300-700), in order to assess the timing, pace and scale of economic change and urban decline in this region.The project has three strands. In each, trends will be tracked against historically and/or archaeologically attested episodes of migration, conflict, disease and climatic change, to assess the impact of these factors.SPECIES RATIOS can reveal cultural and economic trends. I will review evidence for spatial and temporal variation in species ratios using existing published and archived data from across the Balkans, with analysis in three areas. I will assess ratio of cattle/sheep (requiring extensive pasture) to pig (more suitable for small-scale, domestic husbandry) - increase in pig may suggest reduced scale of husbandry, and change from market-oriented to domestic production. I will review evidence for horsemeat consumption; hippophagy was rare in Roman society, so may suggest cultural change and/or use of marginal resources. I will assess use of wild animal resources - increase in wild:domestic ratio would indicate reduced dietary contribution of livestock, and likely reduced overall meat consumption, suggesting resource shortages.LIVESTOCK SIZE can show changing investment in animal husbandry, providing a proxy for wider economic developments. The Roman economy incentivised optimised food production for profit, with investment in husbandry leading to livestock size increase (Valenzuela-Lamas & Albarella 2017). In the West, reduced investment due to economic contraction in late Antiquity reversed this trend (Ward-Perkins 2006; Rizzetto et al. 2017; Salvadori 2018). I will examine whether this also occurred in the East. I will collect biometric data from animal bones at key Balkan sites (e.g. Sirmium, Mediana, Serdica), supported by existing data, in order to track size change.URBAN MICROFAUNA. Settlements provide ecological niches for small mammals, with some commensal species (e.g. black rat) reliant on dense settlement and dispersal via human migration and trade (Armitage 1994; McCormick 2003). Microfauna allow reconstruction of settlement environment and connectivity, with urban decline and reduced trade expected to reduce frequency of rats in particular. This is seen in Italy (Salvadori 2018) but much more markedly in England (my MA dissertation), reflecting differing histories. Preliminary review of Balkan data suggests a similar pattern, albeit later. I will track changing distribution of microfauna by reviewing existing data, studying microfauna from previous flotation at sites in Serbia and Bulgaria, and conducting new flotation at 4th C Viminacium (Serbia) and 4th-7th C Stobi ((FYR) Macedonia).Social and economic change at the end of Antiquity is a subject of considerable public interest and contemporary relevance, as seen in recent high-profile debate over claims for migration as fundamental to the decline of the Roman Empire.

古代末期社会和经济变革的时机、速度和规模是激烈争论的主题。从强调后罗马衰落的灾变论（Giant 1781; Ward-Perkins 2006），到主张长期稳定的持续论（Pirenne 1925; Brown 1971），再通过论证显著的区域差异（威克姆2006），观点各异。移民、冲突、气候和疾病都被认为是这一时期变化的主要刺激因素。最近，动物考古学通过显示这一时期畜牧业投资的减少和经济衰退，帮助人们对罗马西部古代晚期经济变化的细微理解。这种方法还没有被系统地应用到这个问题的罗马东部地区，其非常不同的历史发展。我将通过对古代巴尔干半岛晚期的深入动物考古学研究来解决这个问题。该项目包括三个方面：一是评估该地区经济变化和城市衰落的时间、速度和规模;在每一项研究中，将根据历史和/或考古学证实的移民、冲突、疾病和气候变化事件来跟踪趋势，以评估这些因素的影响。我将审查证据的空间和时间变化的物种比例使用现有的出版和存档的数据从巴尔干半岛，在三个领域的分析。我将评估牛/羊（需要大面积放牧）与猪（更适合小规模、家庭饲养）的比例-猪的增加可能意味着饲养规模的缩小，并从市场导向转向家庭生产。我将回顾马肉消费的证据;在罗马社会，马肉食用是罕见的，所以可能表明文化的变化和/或边缘资源的使用。我将评估野生动物资源的使用情况--野生动物与家养动物比例的增加表明牲畜的饮食贡献减少，可能会减少整体肉类消费，表明资源短缺。牲畜规模可以显示畜牧业投资的变化，为更广泛的经济发展提供代理。罗马经济激励优化粮食生产以获取利润，对畜牧业的投资导致牲畜规模增加（Valenzuela-Lamas & Albarella 2017）。在西方，由于古代晚期的经济收缩而导致的投资减少扭转了这一趋势（Ward-Perkins 2006; Rizzetto et al. 2017; Salvadori 2018）。我将研究这是否也发生在东方。我将收集巴尔干半岛的关键地点（如锡尔米乌姆、梅迪亚纳、塞尔迪卡）动物骨骼的生物特征数据，以现有数据为支持，跟踪大小变化。定居点为小型哺乳动物提供了生态位，一些哺乳动物物种（如黑鼠）依赖于密集的定居点，并通过人类迁移和贸易扩散（Armitage 1994; McCormick 2003）。微型动物使住区环境和连通性得以重建，城市衰落和贸易减少预计将特别减少老鼠的出现频率。这在意大利（Salvadori 2018）可以看到，但在英国（我的硕士论文）更为明显，反映了不同的历史。对巴尔干半岛的数据的初步审查表明了类似的模式，尽管时间较晚。我将通过审查现有数据来跟踪微型动物群分布的变化，研究塞尔维亚和保加利亚先前浮选地点的微型动物群，并在第4 C Viminacium（塞尔维亚）和第4 - 7 C Stobi（（前南斯拉夫的马其顿））进行新的浮选。古代末期的社会和经济变化是一个相当大的公共利益和当代相关性的主题，正如最近关于移民是罗马帝国衰落的基础的高调辩论所示。