Invisible Environmental History: Infectious Disease in Late Antiquity

This study argues that the biological environment is properly a part of environmental history. The microorganisms— bacteria, viruses, protozoa—that cause infectious disease were the principal cause of mortality in ancient societies, but the particular array of pathogens was both locally specific and unstable over time. Pathogenic microbes are ecologically sensitive, so the background of local climate, and the influence of climate variability and climate change, determined patterns of disease and mortality. The connections between climate variability and climate change, on the one hand, and the disease profile of a population, on the other, are complex, and this paper traces some of the main pathways of influence, with specific reference to a few of the best known diseases and epidemic events in the later Roman period.

Rye’s Rise and Rome’s Fall: Agriculture and Climate in Europe during Late Antiquity

This essay discusses the introduction and circulation of plants in the western Roman empire between roughly AD 300 and 800. It focuses on one cultivated plant, rye, and on a few ecologically different regions in Gaul and Italy, in order to probe the causes of botanical successes and failures. It suggests that late antique people increasingly took care of rye for economic, social, and cultural reasons. It reaches this conclusion through an analysis of other explanations for the success of rye, such as late antique climate patterns and late antique human migration. It suggests that these explanations are unsatisfactory because they do not account for all the varied instances of increased rye cultivation between the 4th and 8th c. in Europe.

Antioch in the Sixth Century: Resilience or Vulnerability?

Sixth century Antioch is perhaps the best example of state-city resilience in Late Antiquity. Over the century, the city suffered multiple natural disasters, civil strife and external conflict. Scholars have generally accepted that the city declined as a result. This study integrates historical, archaeological and scientific data to illuminate the city’s fate. It concludes that Antioch demonstrated remarkable resilience at the city level throughout the 6th c. The most important factor was the continuous support the city received from the central government.

Modelling the Supply of Wood Fuel in Ancient Rome

Provisioning the city of Rome required complex systems of management and procurement. Despite the importance of wood for baking the grain of theannonaand heating the water for baths (among other applications), there is little evidence for the human or ecological connections that supplied Rome with this crucial fuel. By examining parallel institutions, this article provides a model for explaining how the city of Rome met the energy demands of its massive population. We suggest some ways urban labour was linked to Italian forests, creating a sustainable mode of supply that lasted for centuries.

Settlement, Land Use and Society in the Late Antique Mediterranean, 4th–7th c. An Overview

This paper outlines some key transformations in rural society and settlement patterns in the 4th to 7th c. western Mediterranean, as revealed by archaeological evidence. An overview of discernible trends and current debates about their socio-political contexts is illustrated with examples of well-investigated sites. From this data, two contrasting patterns emerge: intensive, and partly state-stimulated, cultivation of land; systematic animal breeding and specialised production up to the end of the 4th c.; and much more varied patterns of exploiting the landscape, including changes in animal husbandry, changes in land use and crops, and increasing use of uncultivated areas, in the 5th–7th c. This overview is intended to provide a broader framework for the detailed examination of environmental evidence which follows in this volume.

Environment, Climate and Society in Roman and Byzantine Butrint

A multiproxy analysis (sedimentology, geochemistry and pollen) of sediments recovered in the Butrint lagoon (Albania) allows us to reconstruct the environmental changes that occurred in the area during the 1st millenniumAD. In this paper, we compare these analytical results with the evidence provided by archaeological investigations carried out at the site of the Roman city of Butrint (surrounded by these lagoon waters) and in the city’s hinterlands. From this, we can say that different periods of farming and siltation (AD400–600 and 700–900) were accompanied by increased run-off and wetter conditions in the region. This coincided with the territorial and economic expansion of the Byzantine empire, suggesting the key role of trade in the profound land use changes experienced in Butrint.