Aesthetics and Mobility in the Bronze Age Balkans
Studying the transfer of aesthetics may shed light on a variety local impacts in social fields beyond taste, as aesthetics may signify political affiliation, ethnic and/or social group identity, and crafts tradition. In order to compare motifs in minute detail, a motif database will be produced. In addition, I will pursue a complementing pXRF-scanning campaign to assess the possibility of "material connections", for example, if objects found in different areas were made with raw materials from the same source. These connections may have been parallel to aesthetic ones. The project will be of great value to other researchers as not only new interpretations will be presented, but also a website with data posted for the benefit of the research community.
The research questions concerned the following:
"What can decorative motifs on clay and metal objects tell us about mobility, impact and identity strategies in the Bronze Age Balkans? This project will study the patchwork of archaeological cultures in the Balkans and their role in the world of the Bronze Age in a synthetic manner by means of...
1. ...an aesthetic approach addressing whole or partial transfers of motifs between societies to uncover contact and impact, for example on identity strategies.
2. ...a complementing pXRF-campaign to uncover the movement of materials (metal and clay), which may have been a driving force in the rise of Bronze Age Networks."
During the study, albeit the first submitted article focus on the first approach, the pXRF approach came to serve as a key focus as well as a GIS approach to study geographic networks and bottlenecks. Group identity (warriors connected in Epirus and Albania) and power became focal points, and their connection hypothesized mid way in the project. The pXRF was utilized to scan not just clay vessel bodies, but also the painted areas themselves. The study emphasized ceramics rather than metals in the end as this was more suited for the pXRF, and the end results point to a transfers of aesthetics rather than objects. The paints was made in different manners in different areas, albeit in a similar style ("Boubousti-style"), and the "recipes" for the new pottery types were often adapted within a local framework. With the expansion of Late Bronze Age networks, possession of geographic bottlenecks could have provided local warriors a strong position, and a group identity could be recognized in the use of similar-looking pottery in consumption practices.
Kort om genomförandet
Spring 2015
The first phase of the project consisted of collecting data concerning decorated pottery in the south western Balkans. This material was synthesized with a review of other artifacts. Analyzed in the context of mobility, the study was presented at the first Balkan Bronze Age Borderland workshop in Thessaloniki (submitted in 2017). The mobility evident in the movement of metal artifact was contrasted with the geographic division of decorated pottery styles. An article was submitted to the workshop conference volume, still in preparation. A request for open access was sent to the editor.
Autumn 2015
Collection of compositional data with pXRF from Sovjan in southern Albania to address how decorative styles "move".
Spring 2016
Collection of compositional data pXRF with from Epirus, mainly the sites of Krya and Liatovouni. This area is located south of Sovjan in southern Albania. Poster presentation of the project at the International Symposium on Archaeometry in Kalamata. Presentation at the Balkan Bronze Age Borderland workshop in Kavala.
Autumn 2016
Analytic work and systematic work to build a GIS data-set. Databases for GIS-data and pXRF data.
Spring 2017
Further studies in Epirus. During the summer, collection of clay samples from the vicinity of Sovjan. Study of matt-painted pottery at Lamia (which has matt-painted pottery that precedes the northern Greek matt-painted pottery). Submission of article concerning decorated pottery in between the Aegean and the Danube based on the paper given in 2015.
Autumn 2017
Presentation of GIS materials at the Swedish CAA conference in Gothenburg. Contribution to report (/article) with preliminaries(final revised edition received in November 2019).
Spring 2018
Article production and development of an argument concerning the role of geographic networks in the southern Balkans during the Bronze Age.
Autumn 2018
Presentation of a revised cost distance analysis with waterways also reviewed at the EAA conference in Barcelona. Collaborating in the organization of the Balkan Archaeology days in Athens at the Swiss School of Archaeology at Athens.
Spring 2019
Submission of GIS article to an Orgini special edition concerning prehistoric connections in the Adriatic.
Autumn 2019
Planned submission of pXRF article to Open Archaeology (a draft from 2018 prepared, and sent to colleagues for review in December 2019).
Projektets tre viktigaste resultat och bidrag till den internationella forskningsfronten, samt ett resonemang kring detta.
1) Central Macedonia/decorated pottery/geography.
After recieving an overview of the distribution of metal artifacts and pottery styles, work on how different transfers between travelers and locals took place was pursued in Central Macedonia. Control of geographic bottlenecks could along for example the Vardar, could have yielded an opportunity to control movement and adopt what was feasible in a local context. Resistance and fragmentation rather than homogenization may reside under similar-looking decorative surfaces. Receptivity was select.
2) PXRF – compositional data – Epirus/Albania
During the project, the pXRF approach came to the forefront. Importantly, the clays of the matt-painted pottery of the Late Bronze Age was analyzed, and a result is that pots rarely moved, but rather design ideas. While a larger variety of clay recipes were utilized in the Late Bronze Age than previously, it seems like the inclusion of "international" types like the matt-painted pottery did not entail the use of particular clay recipes. In Epirus and Albania, very different communities used similar-looking fine ware pots like the matt-painted ones to consume meals, providing point of recognition for travelers, and local social glue.
3) GIS – Epirus/Albania
A parallel increase in the use of decorated pottery and the rise of groups of warriors in Epirus can be seen. Calculating routes in the area of study, and identifying the places where they converge proved interesting as some of the spots were close by well-known warrior graves. Controlling the places where routes of mobility converged could have provided control over trade routes and served as a resource in itself.
In the last two cases, the rise of a group of warriors, is relevant. Their position in long distance networks could reside on their possession of geographic bottlenecks. Not only weapon types, but also the style of matt-painted pottery, and thus possibly similar ways of consuming, could be traits of group identities.
Prespectives
While presenting an image of material homogenization evident in the spread of for example matt-painted pottery, the rise of tribal warrior societies could reflect political fragmentation. It should be noted that the transfers of style did not inlcude transfers of knoweldge necessarily, or trade that led to the movement of pots, but rather the inclusion of new designs into crafts traditions to accomodate for social practices concerning consumption. The manners of consumption could be tied to the social context of the emergent Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age warrior.
Data: point data for 380 sites and route data calculated for key sites. Sites stored in an access database in addition to .shp.
Compositional data stored in access for 1586 datapoints (meassurements with pXRF) covering Albania and Northern Greece. Several meassurements were taken per pot.
Nya forskningsfrågor som genererats genom projektet.
An issue that already arose during 2016 was to what extent the mobility of different materials, ceramics and metals, can be compared. A sourcing program would have to be pursued with lead isotope analyses, petrography and INAA. This could be analyzed in framework of resistance and openness towards trade and outside cultural impulses.
Projektets internationella dimensioner, exempelvis kontakter, material och så vidare.
Collaboration with Maja Gori (Heidelberg/Bochum), Tobias Krapf (Swiss School of Archaeology in Athens), Maria-Foteini Papakonstantinou (Ephorate of Antiquities/Lamia), Lena Vasileiou (Ephorate of Antiquities/Ioannina).
Founding member of the Balkan Bronze Age Borderland workshop team, participation at events in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Comprising participants from Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, North Macedonia, Sweden, Switzerland and Germany. See blog post on Bronze and Early Iron Age Burial Tumuli across the Western Balkans (https://archeorient.hypotheses.org/8247). This group became the key arena for sharing ideas and knowledge, and discussing data.
Data collection in Albania (within the framework of the Franco-Albanian mission at Korca) and Greece (in collaboration with the Ephorate of Antiquities).
Hur projektgruppen har spridit resultaten till andra forskare och grupper utanför vetenskapssamhället, samt om och hur samverkan har skett.
Contacts to the scientific community maintained at workshops and conferences (below), regular participation at the Balkan Bronze Age Borderland workshops. Co-organizer in 2016 and 2018. Close collaboration in an international group.
Public lectures at the University of Gothenburg:
2017 Estetik och mobilitet på bronsålderns Balkan.
2015 Mobilitet i Nordhellas 1700-1100 fvt