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 This has been augmented by (as yet unpublished) isotope analyses that concurs with the findings, defining regionally significant clusters of relatively stable population groups along this transect.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.
