Identity-scapes of Sardinia: productivity, burials, and social relationships of AD 100-600 west-central Sardinia

Projektbeschreibung

Antike soziale Beziehungen als Leitfaden zur Identität

Identität, ein unveränderliches Paket von Elementen, stellt ein Schlüsselelement im zunehmenden Diskurs dar, insbesondere im Mittelmeerraum. In vielen Teilen Europas geht der Trend jedoch zur Neudefinierung der Identität. Auch die Archäologie soll dabei eine aktive Rolle einnehmen. Das EU-finanzierte Projekt IDENTIS wird sich auf die Entwicklung sozialer Beziehungen im alten Sardinien zwischen 100 und 600 n. u. Z. konzentrieren. Es wird untersuchen, wie antike Gemeinden soziale Beziehungen über Interaktionen mit der Vergangenheit, Macht und Umgebung erlebten. Unter Zuhilfenahme von Erkenntnissen aus der westlich-zentralen Nekropole Sardiniens wird sich das Projektteam auf den Bestattungsbereich dieser Zeit konzentrieren. Es wird neue Erkenntnisse zu den weniger erforschten Siedlungen um die Nekropolen und den Praktiken, die der Vermeidung sozialer Konflikte dienten, liefern.

Ziel

Debates in today's Europe are often centred on identity discourse, especially in the Mediterranean, intended as a fixed package of un-mutable elements to preserve and defend. From many sides in Europe is now urged to redefine identity in its complexity. Archaeology ought to have a proactive role in this mission, due to its capacity to see through the verticality of time, breaking the here-and-now boundaries. Through this IF, I will contribute to this endevour, by focusing on social relationships’ development through time in antiquity. I will investigate how, to answer questions asked by the necessity their contemporary world, ancient communities of Sardinia dealt with social relationships by interacting with the materiality of the past, of power, and of the surrounding landscape. For the purpose, a study of funerary contexts of AD 100-600 Sardinia provides ideal conditions. Through the work, I will develop my doctoral study on west-central Sardinia's necropolises by relating them to both their surrounding landscape and the practices of interaction with the materiality of the past (respresented by re-opening and manipulation of ancient graves). These multi-dimensional relations escape over-simplistic identifications of identity with specific objects or practices only.
I will carry out the IF through the supervision of a landscape studies international authority, Sauro Gelichi, in Ca' Foscari Venice, and a secondment in the Museum of Broken Relationships, Zagreb, ending with an exhibition. I will carry out an archaeological survey of 4 rural necropolises, coordinate specialists' bone anlyses, and engage with a social interpretation of those data. Through them, I will provide new information on the so far unknown settlements feeding the necropolises, on how the Empire's productive strategy in the island changed both the agricultural land's organization and the social bonds at local level, and on what practices local communities adopted to overcome social breakages.