Environmental changes and human land-use interactions in ancient Thrace during the Iron Age: The impact of Greek colonization

• Thesis title in Czech: Vzájemné vztahy změn přírodního prostředí a člověka ve starověké Thrákii v době železné: vliv řecké kolonizace
• Thesis title in English: Environmental changes and human land-use interactions in ancient Thrace during the Iron Age: The impact of Greek colonization
• Key words: klima, vegetace, zemědělství, Thrákie, Pistiros, krajina
• English key words: climate, vegetation, agriculture, Thrace, Pistiros, landscape
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2014/2015
• Thesis type: diploma thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Institute for Classical Archeology (21-UKAR)
• Supervisor: prof. PhDr. Peter Pavúk, Ph.D.
• Author: hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept.
• Date of registration: 29.06.2015
• Date of assignment: 17.07.2015
• Administrator's approval: not processed yet
• Confirmed by Study dept. on: 26.05.2016
• Date and time of defence: 16.09.2016 09:00
• Date of electronic submission: 22.08.2016
• Date of proceeded defence: 16.09.2016
• Submitted/finalized: committed by student and finalized
• Opponents: prof. PhDr. Jan Bouzek, DrSc.

Guidelines

The thesis deals with environmental conditions and human settlement development during the first millennium B.C. in the region of ancient Thrace. The study will focus on changing character of regional climate and its impact on local landscape transformation and human society. A further emphasis will be placed on the Greek influence on the Thracian economic growth. Both environmental and anthropogenic factors have played a significant role in transforming the agriculture. Finally, the thesis will summarize the results of environmental analyses carried out within the interdisciplinary archaeological research at the site of the ancient Greek inland emporium Pistiros (Adjiyska Vodenitsa, Bulgaria) which will be used as a case study.

- History of research, environmental archaeology in Bulgaria
- Historical background of the Thracian region
- Climate development and changes during the Bronze Age/Iron Age
- Landscape, vegetation
- Types of sites in Bulgaria during the Iron Age
- Agriculture- Thracian sites
- Greek inland emporia (imports, organic material)
- Human impact on landscape- changes in Bulgaria after the Greek colonization (vegetation, agriculture, imports, land-use intensity)
- The case of Adjiyska Vodenitsa (ancient Pistiros): methods, paleoenvironmental proxy data, role in Greek and Thracian world

References

Bouzek, J. – Domaradzki, M. – Archibald, Z. (eds.) 1996: Pistiros I. Excavations and Studies. Prague.
Bouzek, J. – Domaradzka, L. – Archibald, Z. (eds.) 2002: Pistiros II. Excavations and Studies. Prague.
Bouzek, J. – Domaradzka, L. – Archibald, Z. (eds.) 2007: Pistiros III. Excavations and Studies. Prague.
Bouzek, J. – Domaradzka, L. – Archibald, Z. (eds.) 2010: Pistiros IV. Excavations and Studies. Prague.
Bouzek, J. – Domaradzka, L. – Archibald, Z. (eds.) 2013: Pistiros V. Excavations and Studies. Prague.
Chiverrell, R.C. – Archibald, Z.H. 2009: Human activity and landscape change at Adjiyska Vodenitsa, central Bulgaria. Géomorphologie 4, 287-302.
Drake, B. L. 2012: The influence of climatic change on the Late Bronze Age Collapse and the Greek Dark Ages. Journal of Archaeological Science 30, 1-9.
Marinova, E. – Kirleis, W. – Bittmann, F. 2012 : Human Landscapes and Climate Change during the Holocene (editorial). Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 21, 245-248.
Marinova, E. – Tonkov, S. –Bozilova, L. –Vajsov, I. 2012: Holocene anthropogenic landscapes in the Balkans: the palaeobotanical evidence from southwestern Bulgaria. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 21, 413-427.
Stout, E.C. – Beck, C.W. – Naliboff, L.C. – Phillips, A.J. 2003: Organic residues in pottery from the Greek settlement of Pistiros, Bulgaria. Studia Hercynia 7, 81-114.