The project BIOLALIA intends to elucidate the sensitivity of human systems to the full range of climatic variations as they occurred during the abrupt cooling phase of Late Antiquity. A selection of 10 osteoarchaeological collections from northern and central Italian sites characterised by excellent archaeological documentation will be analysed through a multidisciplinary approach.
Palaeopathological analysis will evaluate and interpret several parameters potentially related to climatic and environmental factors, such as physiological stress indicators (stature, cribra cranii, cribra orbitalia, linear enamel hypoplasia), and health indicators (maxillary sinusitis, otitis media, periosteal new bone formation). Stable isotope analysis will be carried out to provide information about dietary patterns during climate-induced challenges. Finally, a pilot study will be carried out on the microscopy of dental calculus, an ectopic material which entraps micro-particles, providing insights into aspects of individual lifeways other than nutrition.
