CEDRR guest lecture "Networked Antiquity: Texts, Archaeology, Environment"

CEDRR invites you to a guest lecture by Prof. Eivind Heldaas Seland from the University of Bergen, Norway (Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion) on the topic of entanglements and dependencies between civilization and the surrounding environment in antiquity using the perspective of network theory.

Over the last decade and a half, relational approaches borrowed from social and natural sciences have profoundly changed our understanding of the ancient world in the direction of connectivity and integration, enabling us to approach textual, material, and environmental data within unified frameworks. In this talk, prof. Eivind Heldaas Seland will outline recent developments and avenues of research before focusing on three case studies, one published and two in progress, on food security in Roman Palmyra, water supply and fortifications in the Syrian Desert in Late antiquity, and the revenue streams of churches in fourth century Rome, as an invitation to a discussion on the challenges of utilizing quantitative data and formal methods in order to answer historical questions about integration in the distant past.

Room: B2.12 (also known as B2.113)

Timeline: 9.5.2023, 16:00-18:00

The event will be held physically but in case you are not able to participate directly, the lecture will be streamed on this Zoom link.