Theme:
The archaeology of material culture, bodies and landscapes
Session format:
Session, made up of a combination of papers, max. 15 minutes each
Title:
Culture Contact in the Greek Mediterranean
Content:
Beginning in the 8th century BCE, Greek colonists settled throughout the Mediterranean, resulting in movements of people, goods and ideas across vast geographic space. This phenomenon took place at a time of intensified exchanges, and itself served as catalyst for the multiplication of spaces of interaction. The establishment of Greek colonies resulted in new social and intercultural dynamics that had a deep impact on colonists and local populations, changing the demographic and socioeconomic makeup of the Mediterranean. The interpretation of this wide-ranging process sparked a lively debate over the origin of colonizers, their interaction with local populations, and the relationship between Greek colonization and processes of ethnogenesis (the process of crystallization of identities based on common ancestral, social, or cultural experience) that developed in its wake. Thus far, these issues have been largely addressed using material culture and historical sources. This session explores the significant contributions being made by a powerful complementary source of information: bioarchaeological data. More specifically, by fostering communications between archaeological and bioarchaeological researchers, we aim to disentangle the relationship between constructed identities (evidenced by material culture, burial style, etc.) and biological identity (determined using biodistance analysis, aDNA evidence, etc.) at this time of profound social and political change in European history. By exploring the deep roots and biological and cultural dimensions of interactions between diverse populations, this session is especially relevant today as renewed emphasis on ethnic delineation clashes with ever-increasing human mobility across a globalized world.
Keywords:
Colonization, culture contact, ethnogenesis, Mediterranean
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Main organiser:
Associate Professor Britney Kyle (United States) 1
Co-organisers:
Assistant Professor Laurie Reitsema (United States) 2
Dr. Giulia Saltini Semerari (Germany) 3
Affiliations:
1. University of Northern Colorado
2. University of Georgia
3. Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
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