Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Trans-PLANT (Transformational uses of dye Plants on Linear B tablets. New approaches to cultural identity and technologies in the Bronze Age Aegean)
Reporting period: 2021-08-01 to 2023-07-31
Through an interdisciplinary approach combining philology, linguistics, and material culture, Trans-PLANT has addressed the formation of cultural identities and the Greek languages by focusing on a key lexical area at the cross-roads between Indo-European and substrate Aegean cultures and languages: plant dyes, used to produce dyed textiles. The results have helped to enrich the current debate on three major issues: (i) sustainable and renewable resources; (ii) studies on gender since the project examined the social construction of gender identities through color symbolism and dyed textiles; (iii) Aegean scripts, now at the cutting-edge of the scientific scene for being the first written attestations from Europe, which are crucial to explore the cultural and linguistic roots of Europe. Overall, Trans-PLANT has used dye plants as a case study to raise awareness of the wealth of information that is hidden within Bronze Age Aegean languages and material culture.
Tran-PLANT was developed along two Work Packages: 1) Linguistic traits of plants and dye plants in Linear B—Indo-European and substrate Aegean elements, and 2) Cultural dimension of dye plants and dyed textiles, from technical knowledge to crafted goods as cultural and socio-political tools. Research activities approached the written sources, Linear B inscriptions, from an interdisciplinary perspective encompassing textual comparisons with Linear A and Cretan Hieroglyphic inscriptions, linguistic analysis, history of science, and textile studies. The program was completed by training with craft and textile experts.
The main results were:
- An in-depth understanding of the cultural dimension of dyed textiles—each color and the plant (or plants) producing it is now connected with cultural identities, socio-political groups, resource control and exploitation.
- The identification of wild and domesticated species of plants in the textual sources.
- A global study of the symbolism of the complex and dynamic relationship between color and textile type throughout the Bronze Age Aegean, and a comparison with different Aegean elites and leadership.
- A detailed overview of the dye plants' terminology, based on the combination of textual, linguistic, and archaeobotanical data.
- The establishment of typological criteria for textile types and dyed textiles as well as statistics on their chronological and geographical distribution.
- The identification of different features in Aegean inscriptions, depending on the nature, chronology, and geography of the document—the earliest deposits from Knossos for Linear B tablets, local variations in Linear A inscriptions, administrative vs non-administrative purpose for Cretan Hieroglyphic seals.
- The multiplication of case studies illustrating the importance of the substrate Aegean language(s) and culture(s) in shaping cultural identities and fueling socio-political changes.
Trans-PLANT has delivered a rich program of dissemination activities, scientific and public.
Scientifically, I engaged in 28 peer-reviewed publication projects (papers: 8 published, 4 accepted; books: 1 published as a guest co-editor in a journal’s special issue, 1 co-edited book accepted; 13 MASt symposia published, 1 accepted), led the organization of 13 MASt symposia (interdisciplinary approaches to Bronze Age Aegean studies) and 2 international conferences (1 in trans-cultural textiles and 1 in Indo-European linguistics), and co-organized an international conference (on dyes in history and archaeology). Also, I gave 12 talks at international conferences, 7 talks in national seminars, and 4 talks in trans-departmental workshops. Additionally, I collaborated with other 2 EU-funded projects (4EU+ and a COST action), for which I accepted the role of deputy member and, in addition, gave talks and organized experimental sessions and teaching activities. Finally, I organized the visiting research stay of 5 international scholars.
For my outreach activities, I produced 10 dissemination pieces (targeting a more general audience and focusing on ancient plants and their cultural impact in ancient and today’s world to address the concepts at the core of the project: translation, transformation, and transculturation), 1 podcast episode on Linear B, 2 small films, and offered quarterly oral and digital presentations in venues such as high schools, cultural café, local festivals, and student events. Finally, I was selected, twice, to present my work at the EU-organized event “Science is Wonderful”.
The main results were:
- An in-depth understanding of the cultural dimension of dyed textiles—each color and the plant (or plants) producing it is now connected with cultural identities, socio-political groups, resource control and exploitation.
- The identification of wild and domesticated species of plants in the textual sources.
- A global study of the symbolism of the complex and dynamic relationship between color and textile type throughout the Bronze Age Aegean, and a comparison with different Aegean elites and leadership.
- A detailed overview of the dye plants' terminology, based on the combination of textual, linguistic, and archaeobotanical data.
- The establishment of typological criteria for textile types and dyed textiles as well as statistics on their chronological and geographical distribution.
- The identification of different features in Aegean inscriptions, depending on the nature, chronology, and geography of the document—the earliest deposits from Knossos for Linear B tablets, local variations in Linear A inscriptions, administrative vs non-administrative purpose for Cretan Hieroglyphic seals.
- The multiplication of case studies illustrating the importance of the substrate Aegean language(s) and culture(s) in shaping cultural identities and fueling socio-political changes.
Trans-PLANT has delivered a rich program of dissemination activities, scientific and public.
Scientifically, I engaged in 28 peer-reviewed publication projects (papers: 8 published, 4 accepted; books: 1 published as a guest co-editor in a journal’s special issue, 1 co-edited book accepted; 13 MASt symposia published, 1 accepted), led the organization of 13 MASt symposia (interdisciplinary approaches to Bronze Age Aegean studies) and 2 international conferences (1 in trans-cultural textiles and 1 in Indo-European linguistics), and co-organized an international conference (on dyes in history and archaeology). Also, I gave 12 talks at international conferences, 7 talks in national seminars, and 4 talks in trans-departmental workshops. Additionally, I collaborated with other 2 EU-funded projects (4EU+ and a COST action), for which I accepted the role of deputy member and, in addition, gave talks and organized experimental sessions and teaching activities. Finally, I organized the visiting research stay of 5 international scholars.
For my outreach activities, I produced 10 dissemination pieces (targeting a more general audience and focusing on ancient plants and their cultural impact in ancient and today’s world to address the concepts at the core of the project: translation, transformation, and transculturation), 1 podcast episode on Linear B, 2 small films, and offered quarterly oral and digital presentations in venues such as high schools, cultural café, local festivals, and student events. Finally, I was selected, twice, to present my work at the EU-organized event “Science is Wonderful”.
The Trans-PLANT project participated in creating good momentum for the Bronze Age Aegean, a crucial era that has contributed to shaping today’s Europe culturally and linguistically. In the past, Linear B inscriptions and Mycenaean vocabulary were interpreted in light of the alphabetical Greek attestations, which left in the background those elements that defined the Bronze Age and were not maintained in the 1st millennium BCE. Trans-PLANT followed instead an integrative approach, focusing on the Bronze Age cultural milieu and merging the study of Aegean inscriptions as a source of textual and linguistic data with archaeological, archaeobotanical, iconographical, textile, and history of science data, and testing the results through experimental archaeology. The project aimed to showcase the incredible potential of Linear B and Aegean inscriptions for a better understanding of the formation of the Greek language. Trans-PLANT’s results can easily be exploited by linguists, philologists, archaeologists, and historians in their own research as well as integrated into the contemporary debate on cultural identities and the linguistic and cultural roots of Europe.