Death and burial between the Aegean and the Balkans

Several profound transformations that occurred in the Greek archaeological culture in the 12th and 11th century BC are traditionally perceived as evidence for an invasion of people from the north. These transformations are particularly perceptible in the burial rites of South Greece, e.g. the change from multiple burials in chamber tombs to single inhumations in cist tombs and shortly afterwards the widespread practice of cremation. Many scholars used to perceive in these changes the legendary Dorian invasion that is known by some historiographers of the classical period. Thus, a legendary event became historical fact and formed the departure point for many reconstructions of the past in Greece and the Balkans. The aim of this project is to present the first solid evidence from the territory that is usually regarded as the place of origin of these changes, comprising Serbia, Kosovo, FYR of Macedonia and northern Greece. Due mainly to political reasons, scholarly debate and exchange of academic knowledge among these Balkan countries has been restricted in the past. We can now overcome these divides and bring together archaeologists who work in these countries to co-write a new narrative on this archaeological phenomenon that is much debated in both Classical Archaeology and Balkan Prehistory. On the one hand, archaeological finds from recent and old excavations will be analytically studied and presented. The focal point is the analysis of some case studies in the northern Aegean (Chalkidike and Thessaly). In conjunction with this, new finds and a modern study of old excavations will offer comparative evidence from the Balkan hinterland. In addition, modern scientific methods that include DNA and strontium isotope analysis will help define gender, family and kin relations of the individuals buried in several necropoles that will be presented as case studies. Strontium analysis can offer further evidence on human mobility and highlight possible out-marriages, migrations etc. Radiocarbon analyses, statistical and further historical evaluation of the burial rites, finds and contexts can contribute to the reconstruction of the social organization of the local communities and its development. Lead isotope analysis of the bronze artifacts that used to be deposited as precious burial gifts will elucidate the exchange networks and economic relations. New archaeological and bioarchaeological data from the Balkans and northern Greece will thus help construct a new narrative on the social relations in the region by means of the regional mortuary record. The project will be coordinated by Stefanos Gimatzidis (Austrian Archaeological Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences) and the results will be co-authored by specialists who have extensively worked in Greece, FYR of Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia.

The objective of this multidisciplinary project was the examination of the social history of the region between Greece and its Balkan hinterland during the Early Iron Age. In this transformative period new social and cultural relations were shaped in Greece, which were barely examined in their Balkan context so far. Social and cultural innovations were previously explained instead through oversimplified migration and diffusion theoretical models. The project "Death and burial between the Aegean and the Balkans" approached social relations in several microregions by means of combined archaeological and archaeometric analyses. It produced new evidence about the economy and political organisation of certain communities and suggested a new reconstruction of the contacts between the Aegean and the Balkan hinterland. Social relations were reconstructed on the one hand through archaeological studies of mortuary practices involving spatial analysis of certain necropolis and on the other hand through analytical studies of several material categories. Chronological correlation was a requirement for the study of mortuary patterns at a macro level between the Aegean and the central Balkans. For this purpose, long series of radiocarbon analyses were conducted challenging the traditional Aegean chronology and suggesting a new reconstruction of regional chronological sequence. The economic relations in the focal regions were treated within this new chronological framework by means of evidence obtained from recent archaeological studies as well as numerous Neutron Activation Analyses of pottery and Lead Isotope Analyses of bronze artefacts. It was demonstrated that certain advances in economy were the driving force of social transformations in the Aegean and the central Balkans. The emergence of new sociocultural structures was ascribed to the operation of new exchange networks during the Early Iron Age. Our newly obtained archaeological and archaeometric data challenged traditional perceptions of the association between specialisation of production or emergence of surplus and hierarchically structured societies. Complex modes of ware production and redistribution developed among the northern Aegean and central Balkan communities, whose mortuary record suggests less structured societies. The operation of consistent exchange networks reflects economic relations of so far unknown extent between the Aegean and the Balkans. Our studies allow a new interpretation of the cultural and social transformations in the Aegean during the Early Iron Age, which were previously explained through migrations of Dorians or other people of Nordic origin. The spread of new burial rites and other cultural and technological innovations after the collapse of the Mycenaeans palaces in the Aegean can now be better understood through massive changes in social and economic organisation of small communities between Greece and the Balkans.