Periodic Reporting for period 4 - THE FALL (The Fall of 1200BC: The role of migration and conflict in social crises at end of the Bronze Age in South-eastern Europe)
Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2024-03-31
The project explored the roles of migration, cultural mobility, conflict, changes in lifeways, settlement system changes and the overall context of social change associated with the collapse of urban groups in the Aegean and Balkan regions between 1400 and 1000 BC, with a key focus on the rapid changes around 1200 BC. The Mycenaean civilisation of Greece is one of the clearest cases of rapid social change / collapse in the prehistoric world. A recently discovered complex of massive fortified sites in the southeast Carpathian Basin followed a very similar timeline of growth and collapse to the Aegean case. Taking these as two parallel case studies that share some linkages and are situated in directly neighbouring geographic spaces, the project explored how mobility within and potentially between these regions can be documented during this period of change. The overall objective was to understand how cultural change, conflict and the movement of people were factors in the rapid social changes of the end of the Bronze Age in both regions.
The importance of this for society lies in the exploration of how identity, mobility and social change were interwoven in different communities experiencing social tensions and unrest. Through such case studies, we have explored the human experiences of new forms and intensities of mobility and interaction during social transitions with a view to better understanding long-term perspectives on how these may be negotiated in different cultural environments.
The importance of this for society lies in the exploration of how identity, mobility and social change were interwoven in different communities experiencing social tensions and unrest. Through such case studies, we have explored the human experiences of new forms and intensities of mobility and interaction during social transitions with a view to better understanding long-term perspectives on how these may be negotiated in different cultural environments.
There were four work packages. WP 1 was bioarchaeology, through which we documented individuals living during our period of interest and selected samples for analysis during WP 2. This included stable isotope analyses, genetics and dating. WP 3 was used to reconstruct economic and knowledge networks, and for this we sampled and analysed over 200 bronze objects. WP 4 reconstructed settlement networks and utilised remote sensing, survey and geophysics. For each work package, we obtained and analysed an extensive amount of data that is reported on below in the next section of this report. Our work has shown the presence of a major constellation of sites forming a settlement network in the south Carpathian Basin in the Late Bronze Age (the lower Pannonian network) that was of regional importance in Europe providing a missing-link between Mycenaean period sites of the Aegean and Europe. Through this, we have been able to better evaluate how societal change across the Balkan peninsula unfolded in the thirteenth to twelfth centuries BC. This included the decline and abandonment of central sites on both sides of this North-South axis and evidence for a change in lifeways that reduced the archaeological footprint of activities. In the north, this was argued to be increased focus on mobile-pastoralism, which may in turn have implications for addressing how social change unfolded in the Aegean as altered lifeways rather than depopulation. Change in the north was also evident in the transformation of metal exchange and management networks in the emergence and collapse of the lower Pannonian network. A case study of how societies negotiated and reconfigured after collapse through the lens of bioarchaeology was conducted at Gomolava. There, nearly 80 people had died violently and we were able to link this to broader societal changes linked to the ongoing impact of the collapse of Bronze Age networks. Results of this work have been published in leading journals in our field and in interdisciplinary journals.
Over the course of the project there were four work packages. Work Packages 1 and 2 were closely complementary, with WP1 studying human remains, documenting specific markers of stress, trauma and biology (non-metric traits) and identifying samples for stable isotope and genetic analysis. Those samples, following permits being granted, were taken for analysis as part of WP2. For WP2, genetic analysis was completed at the University of Copenhagen to evaluate issues of relatedness that may reveal near contemporary aspects of social organisation through the lens of reproduction and anscestry to explore long-term change in populations. Carbon and nitrogen isotopes were analysed for humans, animals and plants to build up a picture of ancient dietary practices from the perspective of individuals in order to explore possible differences that would be socially meaningful. Strontium isotope anlayses were conducted in order to evaluate aspects of mobility. From these same samples, we also obtained 14C dates. An addition to our original workplan was also to conduct micro-CT analyses as a means for archiving materials destructively analysed but also for evaluating the time between death and burial of individuals studied. The outcome of this combination of WP1 and 2 is best explained through our paper about a mass grave at Gomolava, where we were able to determine that the victims were predominantly women and children, they were (contrary to expectation) unrelated to each other apart from one single family, they were not local to the area, were buried soon after death and had died violently. This has provided perspectives on gender and violent practices in the wake of the collapse of 1200 BC, providing insight into how that inherited political geography and lifeways were being re-negotiated. We also conducted the first regional-scale testing of non-metric trait analyses of human remains to define biodistance (broadly the relatedness of groups of people in distinct cemeteries), which has provided a key context within which we will evaluate genetic data. That study has already shown an incrementally changing profile of people buried in the Carpathian Basin down to Crete, providing a sense of where there are clearer differences. This has been augmented by (as yet unpublished) isotope analyses that concurs with the findings, defining regionally significant clusters of relatively stable population groups along this transect. Though work remains in progress, the aggregate of data infers relatively stable groups living in most areas, with the highest likely mobility occurring in the interface zones, where we also find greater differentiation between distinct cemetery groups, suggesting subtle differences in lifeways between neighbouring groups in these areas with lower levels of centralised organisation.
Complementary to this was Work Package 4, for which we conducted geophysical survey, remote prospection and surface survey to discover a previously unknown network of settlements that were influential at a continental scale in Europe. This provided an essential context also for understanding how local communities articulated with each other in this area and with long-distance networks. This in turn enabled a new and more fully balanced evaluation of north-south links during the crisis of 1200 BC. That was complemented then by WP3 looking at metal management networks. Metal was the primary economic resource of the time, and using interdisciplinary methods including metallography and lead isotope analyses, we were able to reconstruct metal procurement, local management and craft networks providing new insights into how the regionally important centre uncovered in WP4 shaped networks linking Europe and the Mediterranean around 1200 BC.
Complementary to this was Work Package 4, for which we conducted geophysical survey, remote prospection and surface survey to discover a previously unknown network of settlements that were influential at a continental scale in Europe. This provided an essential context also for understanding how local communities articulated with each other in this area and with long-distance networks. This in turn enabled a new and more fully balanced evaluation of north-south links during the crisis of 1200 BC. That was complemented then by WP3 looking at metal management networks. Metal was the primary economic resource of the time, and using interdisciplinary methods including metallography and lead isotope analyses, we were able to reconstruct metal procurement, local management and craft networks providing new insights into how the regionally important centre uncovered in WP4 shaped networks linking Europe and the Mediterranean around 1200 BC.