Toward the end of the Late Bronze Age, conflicts, widespread migrations and climate change culminated in the collapse of centers of political power across the Aegean and the Near East. The period...Show moreToward the end of the Late Bronze Age, conflicts, widespread migrations and climate change culminated in the collapse of centers of political power across the Aegean and the Near East. The period that followed, the Early Iron Age, was marked by a decrease in settlement size, population, and interregional contact. These large changes are associated with a change in diet, toward a subsistence strategy of diversification rather than intensification. During the Archaic Period, climate improved, poleis start to form and a period of regeneration begins. By the Hellenistic Period, centralized power in the form of large kingdoms and highly populated urban centers exist, and long distance contact with Egypt and the Near East reaches an unprecedented scale. The question arises therefore if these large societal changes once again are mirrored by a change in diet within Greece. In order to investigate this, stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis is done on human skeletal remains from the Early Iron Age sites of Halos in Thessaly, and Makrigialos in Greek Macedonia. From those same locations, skeletal material dating to the Hellenistic Period in the case of Halos and the Classical Period in the case of Makrigialos is also investigated. Using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis, assessment and comparison of diet within and between the sites is done. Diet reconstruction based on skeletal isotopic data suggests that diet did indeed change from the Early Iron Age into later periods. All examined groups were agropastoral, with a diet based on C3 plant consumption and terrestrial animal products. At Halos, millet was consumed during the Early Iron Age, but not in the Hellenistic Period. As the climate became wetter, millet was no longer a necessary food source. Instead, there is evidence of marine food intake and increased consumption of processed secondary animal products, and possibly greater consumption of luxury goods. This could indicate import of food, as this would alleviate stress related to food production and allow for effort to go toward a more varied diet with luxury additions. At Makrigialos, millet remained a substantial dietary component from the Early Iron Age into the Classical Period, but animal protein intake increased.Show less
Burial mounds and flat graves are the most visible aspects of burial rituals in Bronze Age West-Frisia. The burial rituals for the barrow graves and the few flat graves that are found in the region...Show moreBurial mounds and flat graves are the most visible aspects of burial rituals in Bronze Age West-Frisia. The burial rituals for the barrow graves and the few flat graves that are found in the region are furthermore to a certain extent understandable for the archaeologists. After all, many inhabitants of Western Countries also bury their dead. A third element of the West-Frisian death rituals however, includes the distribution of separate human bones through the settlement. In this thesis, research is done according to the question of how the death rituals in eastern West-Frisia looked like during the Middle and Late Bronze Age. Thereby the focus will lie on this third element of human bones in the settlement contexts. For the answering of this question, a database was made which contains all Bronze Age human remains of West-Frisia that are found so far. Of these human remains several aspects were added to the database, including sex, age, dating, etc. Then with the help of these aspects, significant patterns were looked after. Remarkable was that the majority of the human remains from this database seemed to come from the settlements more often than from the barrows and flat graves. These human bones from the settlements almost always consisted of only skull fragments or long bones. Considering this, one could ask oneself whether this should not also be considered a regular death ritual in West-Frisia.Show less
