Brown Bag Lunch series: Who Are These Apollonians Anyway? Isotopes, Migration, and Health at Ancient Apollonia Pontica (7th-3rd centuries BC), Bulgarian Black Sea Coast
Who are the Apollonians? Don’t ask us, but find out this coming Monday with our session leader, Katharine Kolpan, as she leads us through a discussion titled: Who Are These Apollonians Anyway? Isotopes, Migration, and Health at Ancient Apollonia Pontica (7th-3rd centuries BC), Bulgarian Black Sea Coast
The ancient port city of Apollonia Pontica was an important trade hub and the largest Greek colony on the western Black Sea Coast. Limited historical evidence suggests that it faced successive waves of migration that led to strife and internal political reorganization as the Apollonians tried to accommodate these new immigrants. Modern discussions of migrants indicate that structural inequalities and discrimination can lead them to face violence and poor health outcomes. The goal of this exploratory research is to examine whether strontium and lead isotopes from bones and teeth can identify individuals who are not native to Apollonia. Models constructed with this data will provide information about what we should expect to see to make determinations related to whether someone is local or foreign. Depending on the outcome, this information will then be used to assess the relationship between skeletal trauma, pathological conditions, and migrant status to explore whether migrants were more likely to peacefully assimilate or be the victims of violence and ill health.
If this topic is of interest of you, please consider grabbing a lunch and joining us next week for our latest Brown Bag Lunch series. We’ll be sure to push out another reminder this Friday, so please stay tuned. Until then, be sure to check out our other upcoming events.
