Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EUROFRONT (European Frontiers: Rural Spaces and Expanding States)
Période du rapport: 2017-08-01 au 2019-07-31
Through its partnership with the host institution (Institute for Mediterranean Studies, Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas) and the secondment institution (Department of Archaeology, University of Zagreb), the project was able to achieve all of its goals in terms of scholarly research, training, and outreach. The project had three overall objectives: (1) to map the archaeological traces of these historical communities (such as houses, roads, and field systems) through on-the-ground fieldwork and from-the-air survey; (2) to scour historical sources about the areas and gather data about historical population; and (3) to use these data to achieve a deeper understanding of the impact of state expansion on local communities and help spread that knowledge to the wider public.
This combined study of historical textual sources and archaeological reconnaissance enabled the team to successfully document the ways in which local communities situated in these areas have adapted over the course of history. One of the key conclusions of the project is that frontier communities are remarkably resilient and actively look for ways to adapt to new economic and political situations that arise from periods of state expansion.
The results from the project have been shared in a number of different platforms. Members of the public can read more about the project and access any publicly available data on the project website, including on a page dedicated to sharing data: (https://eurofront.ims.forth.gr/media/data/). Updates were shared over the course of the two-year project via the website’s blog and on Twitter. Presentations were another key way of sharing results from the project, and the researcher gave nearly ten lectures and public talks at international conferences and in academic departments at universities. Several scholarly, peer-reviewed and open-access publications have resulted from the project or are in the process of being published. Most important was the local outreach that was carried out as part of the fieldwork activities. Working together with other researchers and local experts, the EUROFRONT team touched base with leaders in the and citizens of the local communities, many of whom volunteered to give interviews as part of the ethnographic component of the project.
Another key aspect of the project was the cross-transfer of knowledge through training activities. The researcher gained firsthand experience in project management, as well as training in a range of technical fields, including photogrammetry, drone operation, ethnographic interviewing, textual encoding, and data visualization. She also received training in several languages that enabled her to work in different countries and search for historical resources. In return, the researcher provided training to her colleagues and students through course instruction, field practicums, and one-on-one consultations on topics like GIS, satellite remote sensing, 3D modelling, and Ottoman-period history and archaeology.