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

The collapse of Bronze Age societies in the Aegean led to a period known as the ‘Greek Dark Ages’ (Early Iron Age, EIA) that involved major socio-economic disruptions and transformations.

The causes of these changes and their impact on the agricultural economy of these societies have been matters of a long-lasting debate.

The nature of agricultural management and production in this period is largely speculative due to limited bioarchaeological data and the inherent limitations involved in the analysis of available evidence.

Owing to the lack of knowledge regarding the role of agriculture in these processes of socio-economic turmoil, a new approach to the debate is needed.

DarkSeeds aims to re-examine the role of agriculture to provide an evidence-based understanding and a new explanatory model of the economic changes during the Late Bronze Age (LBA) – EIA, through a novel combination of traditional and newly developed methods and emerging technologies.

In particular, it will employ archaeobotanical material from six sites across the Aegean to capture spatial variability and will: (1) use standard archaeobotanical approaches, including synthesis of existing data; and (2) apply and refine a new methodology, pioneered by the supervisory team, that combines 3D photogrammetry, Machine Learning-aided Geometric Morphometrics (GMM) and targeted stable isotope analysis, and uses directly the 3D shape of cereal seeds to infer agricultural practices.

This combination of traditional with advanced and newly developed scientific techniques has the potential to step-change the investigation of complex issues of agricultural change and provide new, in-depth understandings of the very processes that underpinned the LBA-EIA societies.

DarkSeeds will build upon the Experienced Researcher’s expertise to equip her with an excellent toolkit, through hands-on training, that can place her at the forefront of cutting-edge research and establish her at the top of her field.