Summary

This project focusses on the interrelationships between political and socio-cultural dynamics, as well as on processes of transformation in the use of resources. They will be studied, using archaeologically and historically detectable developments towards the end of the 2nd mill. BC in the Eastern Mediterranean as an example. In this region the transition from Bronze- to Iron Age around 1200 BC frequently is marked by significant changes of archaeological evidence, as well as political changes, traceable in written sources. A very common hypothesis explains this by a wide spread crisis scenario: following a peaceful period under the dominance of powerful empires, a time of warlike events begins, leading to a system of petty states, collapse of trade and the disappearance of written records, commonly labelled as ‘Dark Ages’. Responsibility for this assumed break-down is assigned to the destructive results of migrations into the region. The reasons and motivations for these migrations however, are seldom scrutinised.

Recently this interpretation of archaeological and historical sources has seen increasing criticism. Thus the project will explore the alleged events, taking the interrelations between socio-cultural, political and economic factors, which affect the observable changes, into account. Especially the changes related to the access to resources and the valuation of resources will be analysed. To achieve this alternative models, explaining the transition of periods within the context of economic transformations triggered by the re-evaluation of resources and leading to social conflicts and political upheavals, will be tested. In view of the vivid and highly controversial discussion of the alleged events and the possible interpretations of their historical setting, and taking into account the wide variety of relevant sources and affected regions, this period offers an outstanding potential for research.

Scientific Aims

To deal with this variety of affected regions and possible sources a systematisation of the empirical basis has to be conducted, analysing the specific patterns in the use of resources and their interconnection with socio-cultural dynamics during the centuries around the transition of periods. By this four closely linked aims will be reached:

1. The political and socio-cultural developments during the transition from Bronze- to Iron Age, reconstructible by archaeological and historical sources, will be chronologically reclassified in detail. The analysis of change and continuity in the structures and processes serves to give a wide overview on what kinds of changes happened were and exactly when during the beginning of the Iron Age and which kinds of interrelationships can be identified.

2. It has to be determined, in which period what kinds of resources were of central importance for the functioning and the transformation of relations, networks, institutions or systems as a whole. A special focus has to be on the changes in the valuation of resources and their respective settings.

3. To understand the role of resources for social developments a central interest of research will be on the mechanisms of control, acquisition, distribution and use of resources within specific social and political units. Also the identification of international networks, created or maintained by making resources accessible, and thus turning themselves into resources, is a central part of this aspect of project A 06.

4. Summarising it has to be analysed, whether events in different examined regions of the Eastern Mediterranean during the transition from Bronze- to Iron Age can be explained as a scenario of political and socio-cultural changes in relation to changing strategies of use of resources.

 

Long-term Perspective

During the initial phase of the Collaborative Research Centre various categories of archaeological finds, written sources and reconstructible natural conditions of the southern part of the research region, the Levant, Cilicia and Cyprus, will be analysed. During the subsequent phases of the Collaborative Research Centre this will be complemented by studies of Asia Minor, Upper Mesopotamia and further abroad. The results of these regional studies will be compared, to detect differences and regularities in the use of resources during the relevant periods. In the end the results will form the basis of a comprehensive re-interpretation of the transition from Bronze- to Iron Age in the Eastern Mediterranean, taking into account the interrelationships between resources, demand for resources and control of resources with socio-cultural dynamics, scrutinising traditional models of explanation. The Collaborative Research Centre as a whole will considerably profit from the case studies of project A 06, especially because of their detailed analysis of long-term developments spanning approximately five centuries. Furthermore the parallel research of regions providing archaeological and historical sources, and others where no written records are available will facilitate a direct comparison of the heuristic value of these different source categories. This will serve to provide other projects, dealing with developments in societies with prehistoric conditions, were no written sources are available, with substantial methodological assistance.

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