A new explanatory paradigm for the agricultural economies of the Aegean Late Bronze and Early Iron Age using Machine Learning-aided 3D morphometrics and stable isotope analyses

Project Information

DarkSeeds

Grant agreement ID: 101024917

DOI

10.3030/101024917

Project terminated on 31 August 2023

EC signature date 12 March 2021

Start date 1 January 2022

End date 30 August 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 160 932,48

EU contribution

€ 160 932,48

Coordinated by

Institut Català d'Arqueologia Clàssica
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DarkSeeds (A new explanatory paradigm for the agricultural economies of the Aegean Late Bronze and Early Iron Age using Machine Learning-aided 3D morphometrics and stable isotope analyses)

Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2023-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The period spanning the end of the Late Bronze Age (LBA) and the beginning of the Early Iron Age (EIA) saw significant change throughout the Aegean. The LBA (c.1600–1100 BC) has been characterized by the growth of complex societies in the south, and the establishment and maintenance of social inequality levels. The last phase of the LBA and the beginning of the EIA, witnessed the collapse of these societies, with transformations in settlement distribution. The EIA, or ‘Dark Ages’, was a period when many towns disappeared and rural settlements flourished. Different forms of social and political organization prevailed, the causes of which have been debated. Recently a re-examination of this ‘Dark Age’ has indicated that it was not a complete societal collapse, but rather a re-organization of society that varied greatly by region. Information regarding the agro-economy during this period has suffered from a lack of primary bioarchaeological evidence. This led scholars to suggest that agriculture was largely abandoned during the EIA with instead a resurgence of pastoralism. This view has been heavily critiqued, however, and instead it has been proposed that EIA agriculture actually saw a reversion from the more expansive LBA agro-economy to a model similar to that observed during the Neolithic.

The DarkSeeds project has contributed to this debate by producing new primary archaeobotanical, 3D GMM and stable isotopic data from a number of LBA–EIA sites in the Aegean, as well as synthesizing existing environmental information. This involved the exploration of a number of research objectives: 1. To propose specific land-use strategies and agricultural management for the sites under study, 2. To test current theories of economic and agricultural organization during the LBA–EIA , 3. To develop a new socio-economic framework for these periods in the Aegean, 4. To apply and refine a new methodological approach. Overall, after completion of one year of the project, the results suggest mixed agricultural regimes based on a diversity of cereals and pulses, with local variation in the intensity of cultivation of different species. The application of a combination of different methodologies, including traditional archaeobotanical analysis, stable isotope analyses and 3D GMM, so far seem promising in identifying and refining past agricultural management strategies.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the course of the project full primary archaeobotanical analysis including; sample sorting, identification and data analyses has been completed from selected contexts at the site of Methone in N. Greece and Lefkandi in Evvia. A trip to Greece was also conducted in order to process samples from the site of Paralimni, and selected samples were then analysed. The results of this work have recovered a range of cultivars from both the LBA and EIA periods at all sites. In terms of cereals, einkorn, emmer and hulled barley have been identified. Pulses such as lentil and bitter vetch have also been found as well as frequent remains of olive, fig and grape. Finally, wild remains have also been recovered and these include types typical of arable cultivation such as Lolium and Galium. Overall, these results suggest the systematic exploitation of the landscapes around each site and signify the presence of an intensive, mixed agro-pastoral economy. The mixture of crop species (although present in different quantities at each site) indicates that they were cultivated throughout the agricultural year and that these sites were permanently settled during the LBA–EIA period.
After the completion of the primary archaeobotanical analysis, seeds were selected from these three sites for GMM and carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis. These seeds were taken from a variety of archaeological contexts spanning the LBA-EIA and were chosen to assess the range of crops grown as well chronological variability. In addition, the lists of identified species from several Cretan sites were assessed for the selection of crop species. Seeds from Methone and Lefkandi were first scanned using a micro 3D photogrammetric scanner that allowed the production of high-resolution models. These scans will be used for 3D GMM analysis and incorporation into a Machine Learning algorithm newly developed at the Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica designed to predict crop growing conditions from seed shape. The results of the completed stable isotope analysis, combined with 3D GMM will also be used to refine these calculations with the aim that this ML algorithm will be able to accurately predict ancient crop husbandry techniques from archaeological charred seeds.
Stable isotope analysis on material from Methone was completed at the University of Oxford. The main results of this study have indicated that the changes to the agro-economy posited for the LBA–EIA transition were not as radical as previously suggested and that in terms of crop husbandry, practices in N. Greece are not that different between the two periods. Agriculture on the whole appears to have been focused around the low-intensity, rain-fed cultivation of diverse cereal crops alongside the more intensive, ‘garden’ cultivation of pulse species. Selection of material for stable isotope analysis was also conducted for Lefkandi and Paralimni. Permits for the stable isotope analysis of this material have been prepared, however, the material from Crete considered suitable for analysis was much less than the material from other sites, and thus priority was given to the latter, with Methone having the largest and best preserved assemblage. The results of the project so far have been communicated in three oral presentations while a dissemination activity for the wider public has also taken place. Several publications are in progress and planned for the near future.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The DarkSeeds project has sought to combine traditional and cutting-edge archaeobotanical methods and emerging technologies to re-examine and provide new explanatory models for the LBA–EIA agro-economies in the Aegean. The primary archaeobotanical analysis of Methone, Paralimni and Lefkandi has provided a new wealth of data from a previously understudied period, particularly in N. Greece. Moreover, the stable isotope analysis completed on seeds from Methone is the first of its kind to focus on material from the Iron Age and will form the basis for all future stable isotopic research from the region in this period. It has also indicated that there was continuity in terms of agricultural management practices between these periods rather than the sweeping changes that had been suggested previously. Additionally, this project has contributed to the creation of a new 3D GMM methodological tool for the identification of agricultural practices from the shape of charred seeds. The 3D measurements extracted from the scans taken of the archaeobotanical material will be combined with the results of the stable isotope analysis to refine this algorithm with the aim of successfully classifying archaeological seeds by ancient crop growing conditions from shape alone. Overall, this methodology will be able to provide important complementary information to that of stable isotope analysis, but could also potentially be used as an alternative to isotopic research which is destructive in nature and not suitable for use on smaller archaeobotanical assemblages or in situations where funding is limited.

3D scan of hulled barley from Methone