Event: WEDS TALKS: The Importance of Wetlands in the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Aegean

ABSTRACT: During the final stages of the Late Bronze Age, a shift in habitation towards coastal locations can be observed in several regions within the Aegean. Palaeoclimatic, sedimentological, and palynological data show that this shift includes settlement in or near marshy areas and wetlands. An assessment is made of the living conditions, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of inhabiting watery landscapes, using (bio)archaeological data and references from the Homeric epics. These findings help to shed new light on specific specimens of Late Geometric pottery, which appear to feature examples of wetland iconography.

BIO: Jan Paul Crielaard research focuses on the Early Iron Age and Archaic period, often combining written and archaeological information. He has published extensively on such topics as interconnections and culture contacts within the Mediterranean, Greek colonization, elites and elite behaviour, ethnicity, and archaeology and the Homeric epics. He has been involved in fieldwork in Greece, Cyprus, Turkey and Italy, and has been the co-director of the L’Amastuola field project in Puglia, Italy, and since 2010 directs the Plakari Archaeological Project in Karystos, and the Southern Euboia Sea and Land Routes Projects, both on the island of Euboia, Greece.