F.G. (Francesca) Slim

PhD Project: Pigs, people and politics in the Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age Aegean: Archaeological pig data as proxy for socioeconomic and political relations in ancient societies

My project focuses on pigs and humans in the Eastern Aegean and Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. This period is characterized by phases of power consolidation, collapse, migrations and throughout, extensive trade. Herinterest goes out to the relationship between people and their pigs. I am particularly curious about the persistence of the formalized use and meaning of pigs in the Late Bronze Age after socio-political control falters, about the relationship between pigs and mobility/new settlers, and how environmental baselines influence pig husbandry systems. I also aim to go beyond studying pigs in the archaeological record as pork-on-legs, and highlight the importance of cultural, social and environmental determinants in studying human-pig relationships in the archaeological record.