Hi, I'm a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow in the School of History, Archaeology, and Religion at Cardiff University. My research, set in the ancient Mediterranean, touches upon the topics of urbanism, economy, religious ritual, daily life, the human relationship with the ancient environment, and the cultural role of food. I am a dirt archaeologist at heart and have participated on multiple archaeological projects spanning the Paleolithic through the Medieval period in the countries of Albania, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Romania, and Ukraine.
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Papers by Flint Dibble
space modification, and landscape evolution. Without question, understanding the origins and significance of variability is fundamental to determining the suitability of certain kinds of archaeological phenomena for particular research questions.
For more information, see the conference website:
From South Greece there is evidence for drier conditions at the end of the Late Bronze Age. Is the disappearance of writing, art, and many known settlements at the end of the Bronze Age an example of collapse in the face of inability to adapt to climate change? This is a difficult question to answer given the coarse resolution of many of our archaeological and climatic datasets. Settlement faunal records suggest that food production systems became increasingly homogenous in Late Bronze Age Greece, potentially due to an elite control over various production systems that promoted intensification of certain products. However, in the first millennium B.C.E., animal husbandry, specifically, and food production systems, more broadly, became more heterogenous, and a proportional increase in goats in areas with less rainfall was likely an adaptive response to the drier climate. This paper examines the adaptive relationship between foodways and climate and argues for a process driven approach when explaining social responses to ancient climate change.
bones.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
space modification, and landscape evolution. Without question, understanding the origins and significance of variability is fundamental to determining the suitability of certain kinds of archaeological phenomena for particular research questions.
For more information, see the conference website:
From South Greece there is evidence for drier conditions at the end of the Late Bronze Age. Is the disappearance of writing, art, and many known settlements at the end of the Bronze Age an example of collapse in the face of inability to adapt to climate change? This is a difficult question to answer given the coarse resolution of many of our archaeological and climatic datasets. Settlement faunal records suggest that food production systems became increasingly homogenous in Late Bronze Age Greece, potentially due to an elite control over various production systems that promoted intensification of certain products. However, in the first millennium B.C.E., animal husbandry, specifically, and food production systems, more broadly, became more heterogenous, and a proportional increase in goats in areas with less rainfall was likely an adaptive response to the drier climate. This paper examines the adaptive relationship between foodways and climate and argues for a process driven approach when explaining social responses to ancient climate change.
bones.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
This study presents primary datasets of animal bones and teeth from three ancient Greek settlements framed in a larger narrative of changing food practices and urbanism in Greece: the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age village at Nichoria, the Archaic town at Azoria, and the urban center of Classical Athens. Classical Greek urbanism is accompanied by significant changes in the mobilization, processing, and distribution of animal resources within communities. While Homeric heroes might have feasted on heroic portions of meat, their Early Iron Age audience did not. By the Archaic period, corporate groups (cultic or civic in nature) provided meat to members in expressions of communal identity through feasting. There is a shift in how animals were processed related to the development of professional butchery. It is possible to trace the development of an urban cuisine – from textual sources, ceramic vessels, and organic remains – a meatier cuisine prepared in new ways within the Greek cityscape.
Food production strategies shift from a fairly homogenous set of strategies in the Late Bronze Age to a fairly heterogenous set of strategies in the first millennium B.C. It is perhaps possible to conceive this shift as an adaptation to changing climate around this time, with heterogenous strategies a better fit for various ecological niches. These heterogenous production strategies, wherein different settlements practiced different productive strategies, perhaps contributed to an increase in connectivity in the Mediterranean. A narrative foregrounding animal bones contextualizes our understanding of ancient Greek feasting, butchery, animal husbandry, sacrificial ritual, and refuse disposal within a historical study of social changes.
Athenian food practices are primarily revealed through the evidence of ceramic vessels; however, food practices are also revealed through Athenian architecture, iconography, and texts of the period. Over the course of the Classical period,Athenian food practices changed dramatically. Domestic storage of food and water became less important as urban infrastructure insured the regular availability of food and water in the urban environment. Athenian cuisine also changed dramatically. An increase in the variety of Athenian cookpots reveals the different food preparation methods utilized. An increase in the variety of Athenian food and drink consumption vessels suggests different food consumption practices.Overall, Athenian food practices are shown to be interrelated and reveal the processual development of an Athenian urban lifestyle in the Classical period.
The urbanization of the city-center, the Athenian Agora, is revealed through the construction of urban infrastructure: drainage, fountains, roads, and commercial structures. The development of the Athenian Agora created a new environment to which daily activity adapted.The construction of urban space is directly related to the ceramic vessels used daily for food practices in Athens. Only through juxtaposing these two classes of evidence is the development of the Athenian urban lifestyle traced.
While the LBA and EIA animal economies mostly relied upon the same animals – cattle, pigs, sheep, and goats, the structure of these systems evident from zooarchaeological remains shows a striking change. The taxonomic composition of LBA sites is largely homogenous with similar proportions of the four species evident at most sites. Sheep are typically the most common species, and their management often emphasizes wool production, potentially related to elite textile manufacture detailed in Linear B tablets.
The composition of EIA zooarchaeological assemblages parallels the regionalism evident in contemporary material culture and settlement structure. The animal management systems are more heterogenous, with a distinct shift towards goats in the eastern half of the Greek mainland and eastern Crete. Given that these eastern regions receive half the rainfall of western regions and goats are more successful in harsh, dry landscapes, this regional difference is likely an adaptation to the increased aridity in an already arid region. Therefore, the patterns in EIA animal husbandry reveal the different responses that different settlements made to changes in both society and environment.
The scholarly discourse of this period of socioenvironmental change is often framed in terms of climatic events and societal collapses. However, this paper argues the importance of taking a longterm perspective with a focus on foodways if we wish to examine resilience in the past.
Natural postdepositional processes likely explain the poor preservation of the Dark Age assemblage. While the boiling of bones for grease and marrow might explain this pattern, both marrow-rich and marrow-poor anatomical elements are affected. Instead, it seems likely that the poor preservation was caused by the Dark Age depositional matrix. The few pH and organic carbon tests from Dark Age deposits confirm them to be more acidic and devoid of organic carbon. Current micromorphology of intact soil aggregates has revealed significant differences between Late Helladic and Dark Age burial matrices. Unlike the Bronze Age and Byzantine sediments, Dark Age sediments contain few visible calcite formations indicative of poor in situ preservation. Furthermore, a significant increase in the sand content of the Dark Age sediments suggests a change in the depositional environment contemporary with the poorly preserved zooarchaeological material.
The poor preservation of the Dark Age assemblage has greatly affected most variables used to assess animal husbandry patterns: species proportions, anatomical element distributions, and mortality profiles. Denser anatomical elements from adult animals have survived in far greater frequency than less dense anatomical elements from subadults. As expected in contexts subjected to preservational attrition, the robust remains of cattle were more present in the Dark Age period than the smaller remains from sheep, goat, and pig. These conclusions suggest that the increase in cattle remains is due to differential preservation, and it is untenable to maintain the proposed hypothesis of Dark Age cattle ranching at Nichoria. Instead, the observed changes in deposition and/or soil formation, the cause of poor preservation, appear to be specific to the Dark Age and may be the result of climatic or anthropogenic perturbations.
The Preservation of Organic Remains in the Aegean
Presented by the Malcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens
ORGANIZERS: W. Flint Dibble, University of Cincinnati, Daniel J. Fallu, Boston University, and Olivia A. Jones, University of Groningen
For a summary of this session see: https://storify.com/wfdibble/the-preservation-of-organic-remains-in-the-aegean-1
Colloquium Overview Statement
Understanding the differential preservation of archaeological materials is an essential prerequisite to identifying cultural patterns within archaeological assemblages. The Mediterranean climate of the Aegean allows for the preservation of only specific types of organic remains (e.g., bone rather than uncharred botanical remains) or specific formation processes (e.g., depositional environment). As a comparative study of archaeological assemblages through space or time, the study of archaeology necessitates an understanding of biases in the archaeological record due to differential preservation. This colloquium presents Aegean case studies in which the preservation of organic remains—either beneficial or detrimental—is linked to their archaeological contexts to provide significant methodological or cultural conclusions.
The Aegean-based case studies in this colloquium include a wide variety of human, animal, and plant remains. The differences in composition and robusticity of plant and osteological materials can cause vastly different preservation profiles. Furthermore, the intentional burial of human remains vs. the haphazard discard of most plant and animal remains can create vastly different preservation profiles in the same locality. Since preservation is constrained by contextually specific depositional environments, geoarchaeology is an important tool for understanding and explaining the postdepositional processes that lead to differential preservation. The interdisciplinary nature of this colloquium aims to demonstrate that nuanced studies of differential preservation yield significant methodological and contextual results.
The papers within this colloquium answer five key questions: (1) How can a specialist identify differential preservation and, more importantly, use these results to better understand cultural activity? (2) What methods can be used to determine how basic archaeological quantifications are biased by preservation? (3) How can a researcher, whether a specialist or a scholar using published results, determine when it is fair to compare one assemblage to another? (4) Are there taphonomically significant relationships between the preservation of different types of organic and inorganic materials? and (5) How can geoarchaeology provide a greater understanding of organic and inorganic preservation?
Within archaeological science of the Aegean, there is a need for discussing and bringing to the foreground intrinsic issues of the preservation of organic remains. A more detailed understanding of differential organic preservation will lead to more appropriate comparative studies of assemblages and, more importantly, toward greater insights into both natural and cultural formation processes within specific excavated contexts.
PRESENTATIONS:
Jones, Olivia A. and Daniel J. Fallu. "Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Preservation Issues of Human Remains in a Mycenaean Tholos"
Nikita, Efthymia. "Dust to Dust and What is Left? The Impact of Partial Preservation in the Calculation of the Number of Individuals from Commingled Assemblages"
Dibble, W. Flint and Daniel J. Fallu. "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly at the Dark Age Ranch: Taphonomic Reinterpretations of Pastoralism at Nichoria, Messenia"
Moutafi, Ioanna. "Preservation Patterns of Human Remains and their Role in Reconstructing Aegean Mortuary Practices: Some Methodological Concerns."
Theodoropoulou, Tatiana. "Fish Tails...and their Heads? Differential Preservation vs. Preparation Methods of Fish in Aegean Prehistoric Sites."
Allen, Susan E. and China Shelton. "So Many Samples, So Few Seeds: The Search for Plant Remains at Bronze Age Iklaina."
DISCUSSANTS:
Sherry C. Fox, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, and Panagiotis Karkanas, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Greek Ministry of Culture, Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology and Speleology of Southern Greece
The assemblages from two areas with extant masonry cooking surfaces (installed in the final phase of Pompeian habitation) are compared to other excavated areas and analyzed by phase. Mann-Whitney U tests confirm that these two areas include a statistically significant high proportion of cooking ware sherds (by both count and weight) in comparison to other excavated areas of the site. While the proportion of cooking ware sherds was naturally not as high as that of an in situ refuse pit, the elevated proportion in these two areas suggests that refuse from local cooking activity was incorporated into construction fill of an ambiguous origin. Through analyzing the spatial relationships of artifacts, as well as elucidating the formation of the archaeological record over time (via activity, refuse, and construction), this approach to the study of movable finds from architecturally defined spaces demonstrates the value of studying construction fills and their assemblages.
Water collection and food storage vessels found in Athenian archaeological contexts associated with these uses demonstrate a sharp decrease in capacity over time. Due to this decrease in vessel capacity, it seems likely that urban residents no longer transported water long distance nor stored food long term. The decrease in capacity is also linked to an increased use of the potter’s wheel enabling the mass-production of utilitarian vessels for the urban population.
Athenian urban development enabled the Peloponnesian War strategy of moving the rural population into the city. Contemporary changes in Athenian food and water practices suggest the influx of population acted as a catalyst for the development of a new urban lifestyle in a recently constructed cityscape. However, this paper suggests these cultural changes should also be situated in the long term process of urbanization.
From ca. 600–250 B.C.E., noticeable changes occurred in the functional characteristics of vessels used for the collection of water. A decrease in the capacity and increase in the porosity of water vessels used in the fourth and third centuries B.C.E. suggest that the Athenians no longer transported water over long distances or stored water long term in the city. The diverse assemblage of water vessels used in the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.E. disappeared, and primarily, the mass-produced, coarse-fabric water jug was used for both fetching and serving water. As the number and diversity of water sources increased in the city, the Athenian population’s daily activity adapted.
The construction of urban infrastructure—including drains, fountains, and wells—enabled the Peloponnesian War strategy of moving the rural population into the city. The changes in Athenian water practices occurred around this time, and most likely the influx of population acted as a catalyst for the development of a new urban lifestyle in a recently constructed cityscape.
Within the Greek Magical Papyri, The plant is mentioned in 21 different spells, almost all of which include intoxicating effects. By reviewing the details of these spells, it is clear that the authors and practitioners of magic regarded wormwood as a powerful and divine plant. However, the exact use of wormwood is often shrouded in mystery and secrecy as these texts leave many details ambiguous.
One text suggests that wormwood might have been referred to by a “divine name” (i.e., code name) suggesting that more than 21 spells might have called for the use of wormwood. In addition, the 21 spells which include a mention of wormwood are spells that are longer and do include more detail. This further suggests that ambiguities in shorter spells might leave room for a practitioner to use wormwood. Overall, this paper attempts to enter the culture of ancient magic and demonstrate the importance of wormwood to Mediterranean religious practices.
For this study, over 300 occurrences of religious practice have been identified within the Periegesis and entered into a database categorizing, comparing, and contrasting them. This has proved beneficial since these mentions are scattered throughout his work and attached to various locales. Pausanias has recorded several different cultic practices including sacrifice, divination, and festivals, and even sheds light on various aspects of cultic management from religious rules to the selection of the priesthood or the location for temples.
Occasionally Pausanias offers a common lesson, applied to all of Greece, such as the general difference between sacrifice to a divinity or a hero. However, most often he is keen to focus on the local differences between the practice of religious cults including the unique or unusual aspects of practice. For example, regarding sacrifice Pausanias includes examples where heroes are sacrificed to in lieu of divinities, restrictions are placed on particular animals to be sacrificed, and even the practice of human sacrifice. He refuses to reveal anything regarding the Mysteries of Eleusis other than a strange prohibition on beans. Most often, Pausanias records unusual religious rituals and prohibitions rather than focusing on the commonplace aspects of religious practice.
Setting these unusual aspects of practice in a particular location not only enables Pausanias to reveal the rich variety of Greek religious practice but perhaps most importantly illuminates local identity. Greece in his time was a polytheist world but each deity manifested itself differently in each location. This enabled the religious participants not only to define but also to express their own identities through religious practice. Religious events, including feasts and festivals, each with their own quirks, helped strengthen local communities. Moreover various practices established local religious authority. These included local methods for selecting the priesthood, various religious prohibitions, and regional versions of popular mythic stories explaining local practice.
Pausanias’ Periegesis was a guide to Greece and all its varied locations. Through his descriptions of each location, Pausanias was careful to select what he found interesting or what he thought others might find interesting. The same was true for Pausanias’ descriptions of religious practice, since he focused on the unusual and interesting aspects. By recording local religious practice, Pausanias demonstrated how religious practice enabled a population to strengthen its sense of community and express its own identity.
The primary aim of the conference is to make a contribution to the ongoing debate concerning the form and content of interdisciplinary research on human-environment dynamics in past societies from prehistory to Late Antiquity. The conference will be an arena for innovative ideas, integrated methods and lessons learnt from current interdisciplinary projects in the Peloponnese and beyond. In answer to the open call for more collaborative research efforts, the conference will host 17 lectures by members of the PELOPS group and invited speakers, presenting well integrated accounts of human-environment interactions in past societies.
The conference will open on Thursday, 6 April, 2017, 7 pm at the Acropolis museum, with a lecture by Michael GIVEN (University of Glasgow), ‘Conviviality of the land: towards a new academic ecology’, followed by a welcome reception at the Swedish Institute at Athens.
The conference will thereafter take place at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 7-8 April, 9 am-18 pm.