Revisiting the Beyşehir Occupation Phase: Land-Cover Change and the Rural Economy in the Eastern Mediterranean During the First Millennium AD

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Rural Economy ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Trade Networks ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Marked Decline ◽  
Olive Trees

Abstract The latter part of the Beyşehir Occupation Phase (BOP) corresponds in space and time to the Late Roman empire in the eastern Mediterranean. The emphasis on tree crops in pollen records, particularly olive trees, implies long-term investment, stable trade networks and regional economic integration. The onset of the BOP was time-transgressive, starting between the Bronze Age and Hellenistic times in different localities. During the mid 1st millennium AD, the BOP came to an end, often abruptly, with a marked decline in agricultural indicators and an increase in forests, implying partial landscape re-wilding. This termination is most commonly dated to the 7th c. AD, coinciding with Arab attacks on Byzantine territory, and this, rather than climate change, seems the most likely explanation for the regional collapse of the rural agrarian system. The end of the BOP marks the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Medieval era, a transition which appears to have been notably later in date and more dramatic than elsewhere in the Mediterranean.

Ancient Crete

Classics ◽  
2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelos Chaniotis ◽  
Antonis Kotsonas
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Art History ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Major Change ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Hellenistic World ◽  
Written Sources ◽  
Linear B

The island of Crete holds a special position in classical studies, primarily as the birthplace of the earliest “high culture” in Europe: the Minoan civilization of the Bronze Age. But in addition to the artistic and cultural achievements of the “Minoans,” Crete is the only Greek region whose history can be studied on the basis of written sources (Egyptian hieroglyphic documents, Linear B texts, Greek literary sources and inscriptions), almost continually from c. 1400 bce to Late Antiquity. It is the first Greek area where script was used (Cretan hieroglyphics, Linear A, and Linear B); and being an island with a diverse landscape, in relative proximity to mainland Greece but strategically located in the center of the eastern Mediterranean, it offers interesting paradigms for the study of ancient political organization, society, and culture in changing historical contexts. Understandably, Minoan Crete has been studied more intensely than later periods of Cretan history. This is not a bibliography of Minoan archaeology and art history. Although it attempts to cover Cretan history from the processes that led to the appearance of the palaces (c. 2000 bce) to Late Antiquity (c. 5th century ce), it places more emphasis on the periods of Cretan history for which written sources exist. This bibliography does not always follow the traditional periodization of Greek history and art history because it corresponds to the periods of Cretan history. The “Cretan Renaissance” (c. 900–630), roughly the Geometric, Orientalizing, and Early Archaic periods of art history, is taken here as a single period, in which Crete was a pioneer in art and culture. A major change occurred around 630 bce: trade and the arts did not disappear but lost their innovative power, and Cretan institutions seem to petrify; the Late Archaic and Classical periods are therefore taken as a single unit (c. 630–c. 336 bce). In the remaining centuries Crete kept pace with the rest of the Greek world, first integrated in the Hellenistic world (c. 336–67 bce) and then in the Roman Empire (67 bce–284 ce); finally, Late Antiquity (c. 284–mid-7th century ce) is clearly defined through Diocletian’s reforms and the advance of Christianity, and the beginning of the Arab raids.

Persecution and response in late paganism: the evidence of Damascius

1993 ◽  
Vol 113 ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Polymnia Athanassiadi
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
The One ◽  
Psychological Dimensions ◽  
Immediate Reactions ◽  
Complex Subject

The theme of this paper is intolerance: its manifestation in late antiquity towards the pagans of the Eastern Mediterranean, and the immediate reactions and long-term attitudes that it provoked in them. The reasons why, in spite of copious evidence, the persecution of the traditional cults and of their adepts in the Roman empire has never been viewed as such are obvious: on the one hand no pagan church emerged out of the turmoil to canonise its dead and expound a theology of martyrdom, and on the other, whatever their conscious religious beliefs, late antique scholars in their overwhelming majority were formed in societies whose ethical foundations and logic are irreversibly Christian. Admittedly a few facets of this complex subject, such as the closing of the Athenian Academy and the demolition of temples or their conversion into churches, have occasionally been touched upon; but pagan persecution in itself, in all its physical, artistic, social, political, intellectual and psychological dimensions, has not as yet formed the object of scholarly research.

scholarly journals Variation in the Continuity of Land-Use Patterns through the First Millennium AD in Lowland Britain

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-154
Author(s):  
Stephen Rippon ◽  
Ralph Fyfe
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Roman Empire ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Land Use Patterns ◽  
Profound Change ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Land Use Types ◽  
First Millennium

AbstractThis paper explores the contribution that palaeoenvironmental evidence, and in particular palynology, is making to our understanding of landscape evolution in Britain during the 1st millenniumAD. This was a period of profound social and economic change including a series of invasions, some associated with a mass folk migration. Archaeologists and historians continue to debate the significance of these events, and palaeoenvironmental evidence is now starting to provide an additional perspective. Key to this has been obtaining pollen sequences, although there remains a need for more evidence from lowland areas, alongside higher resolution sampling and improved dating. It is suggested that although the 1st millenniumADsaw some significant long-term shifts in climate, these are unlikely to have had a significant causal effect on landscape change in lowland areas (both in areas with and without significant Anglo-Saxon immigration). The analysis of pollen data from across Britain shows very marked regional variations in the major land-use types (arable, woodland, improved pasture, and unimproved pasture) throughout the Roman and Early Medieval periods. While Britain ceasing to be part of the Roman empire appears to have led to a decline in the intensity of agriculture, it was the ‘long 8th c.’ (the later 7th to early 9th c.) that saw a more profound change, with a period of investment, innovation, and intensification, including an expansion in arable cultivation.

Georgia before the Mongols

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen H. Rapp Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
13Th Century ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Social Landscape ◽  
Southern Georgia ◽  
First Time ◽  
New Phase

Nestled in one of Eurasia’s most energetic crossroads, Georgia has a long and multifaceted history. The remains of Homo georgicus excavated at Dmanisi in southern Georgia belong to the oldest hominids yet discovered outside Africa. They have been reliably dated to 1.8 million years ago. Subsequent Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Bronze Age sites are distributed throughout the region between the Black and Caspian Seas. But it is not until the early 1st millennium bce that the immediate ancestors of modern Georgians emerge in the historical record. Their attestation sharpens in the Achaemenid and early Hellenistic epochs. The peoples of Caucasia were thrust upon the Eurasian stage principally as a result of their associations with Iran. They were, at the same time, active members in the first Iranian Commonwealth, a massive cross-cultural enterprise stretching from Central Asia to the Balkans. Toward the end of the 4th century bce, the disruption triggered by Alexander’s conquest of Achaemenid Persia sparked the formation of a kingdom anchored in the eastern Georgian territory of Kʻartʻli (Iberia). Caucasia’s Iranian and especially Iranic (“Persianate”) cultures proved remarkably durable. The Irano-Caucasian nexus pushed into the medieval period, having endured the Christianization of the realms of Kʻartʻli, Armenia, and Caucasian Albania. As was the case elsewhere, Christianity’s long-term success hinged on its adaptation to the existing social pattern. Caucasia’s social landscape continued to be dominated by dynastic noble houses, but the hybrid Zoroastrianisms they had long favored were eclipsed by Christianity starting in the 4th century. Meanwhile, in western Georgia the polities based in Egrisi (cf. Greek Colchis) fell under the stronger influence of the Graeco-Roman Mediterranean. They too were brought into the Christian fold in late antiquity. The Kʻartʻvelian monarchy was abolished by the Sasanians circa 580 and remained in abeyance until 888. In the afterglow of the interregnum, the ascendant Bagratid dynasty—following the “Byzantinizing” path blazed by the Georgian Church—consciously reoriented kingship from an Iranian to a Byzantine basis as it politically integrated eastern and western Georgia for the first time. Nevertheless, at the height of the all-Georgian kingdom, many aspects of Iranic culture flourished, including epic literature. Mongol hegemony across much of the 13th century marks a crucial turning point in Georgian history. Under Īlkhānid rule, Caucasia’s access to the Eurasian ecumene expanded significantly, but the political fragmentation of Georgia intensified. In the new phase of imperialism ushered by Timur (Tamerlane), the Irano-Caucasian nexus blossomed one last time under the Safavids before the isthmus fell under Russian and then Soviet control.

scholarly journals Revisiting Indian Rouletted Ware and the impact of Indian Ocean trade in Early Historic south Asia

Antiquity ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 84 (326) ◽  
pp. 1043-1054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Magee
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Coastal Communities ◽  
Colonial Discourse ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Indian Ocean Trade ◽  
Merchant Class ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Made In

Indian Rouletted Ware pottery is the iconic marker of the overseas reach of the subcontinent at the turn of the first millennium AD. In the mid twentieth century this was naturally seen as prompted by the contemporary Roman Empire, while the later post-colonial discourse has emphasised the independence and long life of Indian initiatives. In this new analysis the author demonstrates a more complex socio-economic situation. While Greyware is distributed long term over south India, Rouletted ware is made in at least two regional centres for coastal communities using a new ceramic language, one appropriate to an emerging international merchant class.

scholarly journals MULTIPLE LEVELS IN THE AEGEAN BRONZE AGE WORLD-SYSTEM

1996 ◽  
pp. 378-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Kardulias
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Distribution Systems ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
World System ◽  
Trade Networks ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
The World ◽  
Core Areas ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
Proper Context

Aegean societies in the third and second millennia B.C. developed complex economics based on the accumulation of substantial agricultural surpluses, craft specialization, and intricate distribution systems. The trade items included both utilitarian and luxury goods. To place these activities in a proper context, this paper initially evaluates the world systems literature as it relates to antiquity. The paper then presents some specific evidence to support the contention that the Aegean BA economy was an adjunct to an Eastern Mediterranean world system. While Wallerstein's model offers valuable insights into the operation of trade networks, his approach has certain limitations. The paper explores some of these limitations, in particular the absence of periphery dependence on core areas that is a hallmark of modern capitalist systems, discusses revisions suggested by other scholars, and demonstrates the validity of the altered model with data from the Aegean. The evidence suggests the existence of a system with local, intraregional, and extraregional components. Finally, the paper also suggests that the world systemsapproach needs to place greater emphasis on production, not just exchange, as the crucial nexus of economic activity.

The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Nicholson
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Near East ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
The West ◽  
Persian Empire ◽  
Significant Period ◽  
Oxford Dictionary

Over 5,000 entriesThe first comprehensive, multi-disciplinary reference work covering every aspect of history, culture, religion, and life in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near East (including the Persian Empire and Central Asia) between c. AD 250 to 750, the era now generally known as Late Antiquity. This period saw the re-establishment of the Roman Empire, its conversion to Christianity and its replacement in the West by Germanic kingdoms, the continuing Roman Empire in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Persian Sassanian Empire, and the rise of Islam.Consisting of more than 1.5 million words, drawing on the latest scholarship, and written by more than 400 contributors, it bridges a significant period of history between those covered by the acclaimed Oxford Classical Dictionary and The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages, and aims to establish itself as the essential reference companion to this period.

scholarly journals New trajectories or accelerating change? Zooarchaeological evidence for Roman transformation of animal husbandry in Northern Italy

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Trentacoste ◽  
Ariadna Nieto-Espinet ◽  
Silvia Guimarães ◽  
Barbara Wilkens ◽  
Gabriella Petrucci ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Scale Production

AbstractThroughout the Western provinces of the Roman Empire, greater economic and political connectivity had a major impact on agricultural production, which grew in scale and specialisation after integration with the Roman state. However, uniquely in Western Europe, farming strategies in Italy began to evolve centuries before the Roman conquest, and many ‘Roman’ patterns associated with livestock size and the relative proportions of different taxa first emerged during the early and middle centuries of the first millennium BC. These changes imply a significant reorganisation of production strategies well before Roman hegemony, even in relatively marginal areas of Italy. Zooarchaeological studies have documented further significant changes to livestock production in Roman times, but the relationship between these developments and earlier trends remains unclear. Through analysis of zooarchaeological data for species representation and livestock biometry from lowland northern Italy (Po–Friulian Plain), this study investigates animal exploitation between the Bronze Age and Late Antiquity in order to characterise the influence of Roman political and economic organisation on animal husbandry. Results demonstrated subregional variation in species representation, and different trajectories in the biometric evolution of cattle, sheep and goats, compared to pigs. Initial steps established in the Iron Age towards a more complex and dynamic livestock economy were accelerated and further reconfigured in Roman times, facilitated by Roman economic organisation and the specialised and large-scale production systems within it. Zooarchaeological trends continued to progress over the Roman period, until further changes at the very end of the chronology considered here—around the sixth century AD—suggest another wave of change.

scholarly journals A 4000-year long Late Holocene climate record from Hermes Cave (Peloponnese, Greece)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Kluge ◽  
Tatjana S. Münster ◽  
Norbert Frank ◽  
Elisabeth Eiche ◽  
Regina Mertz-Kraus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Clumped Isotopes ◽  
Elemental Ratios ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Age Constraints

Abstract. The societal and cultural development during the Bronze Age and the subsequent Iron Age was enormous in Greece, however interrupted by two significant transformations around 4200 years b2k (Early Helladic II/III; b2k refers to years before 2000 CE) and 3200 years b2k (end of Late Helladic III). Artefacts and building remains provide some insights into the cultural evolution, but only little is known about environmental and climatic changes on a detailed temporal and spatial scale. Here we present a 4000-year long stalagmite record (GH17-05) from Hermes Cave, Greece, located on Mount Ziria in the close vicinity of the Late Bronze Age citadel of Mycenae and the Classical-Hellenistic polis of Corinth. The cave was used in ancient times, as indicated by ceramic fragments in the entrance area and a pronounced soot layer in the stalagmite. 230Th-U dating provides age constraints for the growth of the stalagmite (continuous between ~ 800 and ~ 5300 years b2k) and the formation of a soot layer (2.5+0.5-0.65 ka b2k). Speleothem δ18O and δ13C values together with clumped isotopes and elemental ratios provide a detailed paleoclimate record of the Northern Peloponnese. The proxy data suggest significant centennial scale climate variability (i.e., wet vs. dry). Furthermore, carbonate δ18O values, calculated drip water δ18O values, 234U/238U activity ratios and elemental ratios suggest a long-term trend towards drier conditions from ca 3.7 to ~ 2.0 ka b2k. From 2.0 ka b2k towards growth stop of the stalagmite, a trend towards wetter conditions is observed. A high degree of correlation was found for isotope trends of different speleothems from the Peloponnese and partially with climate records from the Eastern Mediterranean, whereas speleothems and lake records with a larger distance to the Peloponnese show little correlation or even opposing trends.

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