Dr Hossein Habibi: The Central Zagros during Late Antiquity: Diversity and Symbiosis
In this talk, I will explore the infrastructural developments of the Central Zagros region during the late antique period. Recent studies have demonstrated the diverse character of the socioeconomic dynamics behind the socio-political transformations in different territories of the rival Sasanian and Roman Empires. Nonetheless, given its distinct environmental and socio-cultural settings, the archaeological landscape in the Sasanian Empire is much less studied than that of the neighbouring empire to its west. Based on an interdisciplinary approach, my research bridges this gap and highlights such diversity on a regional scale in the Central Zagros. It, therefore, provides us with important information about the diverse character of the late antique socio-economic transition not only in different territories but also inside a geographical zone often considered as a single homogeneous platform for formation and development of a local cultural process. However, in the explored sample areas, despite the different geographical and environmental features, the related material culture and historical data recorded coexistent groups with different subsistence strategies incorporated into a multi-resource economy that led to demographic growth in Late Antiquity. This work, then, provides for a deeper understanding of the actual historical events and processes in the spatiotemporal horizons under study by disclosing the roles of various inter-related cultural and natural factors and the demographic and economic transitions that caused them, along with shifts in political ideology. Ultimately, the late antique Central Zagros project contributes to debates on the reconstruction of socio-political transitions in the late antique world.