Theme:
4. Persisting with Change: Theory and Archaeological Scrutiny
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Establishing a Socio-Political Bioarchaeology in Historical Times: Impacts of Status-Quo Transitions on Lifeways and Deathways in the Mediterranean Southern Europe
Content:
Human history is characterized by repetitive cycles of socio-political transitions. The establishment and collapse of major political and economic entities, such as the Roman Empire, the processes of colonization and decolonization throughout the globe and in the Mediterranean southern Europe in particular, societies transitioning between political systems, such as oligarchy or monarchy or democracy, are just a small glimpse of the complex transformations that human populations have faced throughout history. Such status-quo changes often have significant implications for human health, dietary patterns, mobility/migration, physical activity, social organization, gender relations and mortuary practices. Many of the changes observed in the above dimensions are frequently associated with structural violence and intersectionality.
Bioarchaeologists are uniquely equipped to examine such impacts by placing the human body and the burial environment at the center of enquiry. Aiming to better comprehend the varied responses to status-quo transitions we invite bioarchaeologists of diverse expertise (e.g. human, animal and plant remains) to share methodological and theoretical advancements for the sub-discipline of socio-political bioarchaeology. We are particularly interested in case-studies that incorporate literary sources, material evidence and bioarcheological approaches; combine macroscopic with biomolecular analyses; focus on health inequalities under the prism of possible social, gender, age or ethnic inequities; employ experimental bioarchaeological approaches to study human cremations or patterns of conflict; implement multi-proxy methods to address complex issues such as heterogeneous frailty and the osteological paradox. We are interested in both regional case-studies focusing on a single transition or on multiple socio-political changes, as well as wider comparative investigations.
We hope that this session will generate a productive dialogue between scholars of different research foci, offering insights that could inform us about similar transitions that people face in the world today.
Keywords:
Socio-Political changes, Historical Bioarchaeology, Mediterranean southern Europe, human lifeways and deathways
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Dimitra Michael (Greece) 1
Co-organisers:
Anna Karligkioti (Cyprus) 2
Efthymia Nikita (Cyprus) 2
Sevi Triantaphyllou (Greece) 1
Affiliations:
1. Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Research in Archaeology, (L.I.R.A.), School of History and Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece
2. Science and Technology in Archaeology and Culture Research Centre, The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia 2121, Cyprus
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