Charlotte Diffey, our Beatriu de Pinós fellow and member of ICAC’s archaeobotany team, had a really busy month travelling at the east of the Mediterranean!
Charlotte started with a visit in Istanbul where she co-ran the Environmental Archaeology Workshop at ANAMED on the 16th – 17th of May funded by Koҫ University. Several graduate students from Koҫ University at the Anadolu Medeniyetleri Araştırma Merkezi (ANAMED) participated in this stimulating workshop that was split between archaeobotany and zooarchaeology. The focus was on the practical identification skills needed by environmental archaeologists in the field with Charlotte Diffey leading the archaeobotany component. Hilal Küntüz and Tuğçe Yalҫin co-ran and organized the workshop. These intensive days provided the students with a solid base on good practice in the discipline, inspiring a new generation of bioarchaeologists!
The next stop of Charlotte’s travels was Greece and in particular Pella in northern Greece! Charlotte was hosted by Dr Stratos Nanoglou, who directed the Neolithic excavation at the site of Axos at Pella. Charlotte visited the site and started processing the archaeobotanical and soil samples that had been collected during the excavations. She spent a lot of time floating the samples to retrieve any carbonised plant remains, as well as sorting the dry heavy residue and light sample fractions. This is the first part of her new Beatriu de Pinós (DiANA) project to explore Neolithic agriculture in northern Greece, using plant stable isotopes to investigate how farming may have been modified due to climate change. The support of Dr Nanoglou and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Pella has been excellent and key for the successful completion of this first step of the project!
