Erika Weiberg
My speciality is Aegean prehistory, with focus on landscape- and settlement archaeology and human-environment dynamics.
My research is characterized by explorations into theories, methods and thematic that may serve to highlight the human experiences of life on different levels. I combine micro level and macro level analyses, focusing on agents as well as process, to understand local and regional variations and sequences of events. The goal is to emphasize in a meaningful and well-informed way the potentials and limitations in the available material, in order to place the (pre)historic individuals in a multidimensional reality, shaped by people in active interaction with their surroundings.
During the last ten years, my research has primarily been focused on issues of human-environment dynamics through collaborations paleoenvironmental specialists, studying the couplings between societal change, environmental change and climate variability. The study of transitional periods especially put emphasis on the causes and essence of change, considering what changed and what did not and thus the variable resilience of different societal structures. As a product of this interest, I am also involved in projects to increase the number of paleoenvironmental records from the Peloponnese (Greece), stemming from wetlands and caves in the region.
Key words: Greek prehistory, with emphasis on the Bronze Age of the Greek mainland (ca. 3200-1050 BCE): human-environment interaction, climate reconstruction, landscape archaeology, spatial analysis, societal processes, resilience, vulnerability, interdisciplinary methods.
Project in progress
Climate and ancient societies in Bronze Age Peloponnese (CASE)
completed Projects
Domesticated landscapes of the Peloponnese (2015-2020)
The project Domesticated Landscapes of the Peloponnese (DoLP) started in October 2015 and ran for four years with funding from the Swedish Research Council (project no. 421-2014-1181). The project integrated archaeological, historical, environmental and climatological perspectives in a comparative study of the variegated landscapes of the Peloponnesian peninsula (Greece) from the Neolithic to the Roman era. The project also involved intra-disciplinary perspectives in the comparative and contrasting use of archaeology and historical records on the side of the humanities, and climatological and environmental data on the side of the natural sciences. As such the project spanned a number of traditionally separate research areas and university subjects.
Societies in transition (2012-2014)
The project studied societal transformations in the Greek Bronze Age from a resilience perspective, i.e.through analysis of different systems’ ability to cope with change and continue to evolve. This ability is central for current studies of sustainable development and a growing focus in archaeological studies, with studies of the multidimensional dynamics of change, of human flexibility and resolve, and of continuity through change. One potential key in this context is the resilience based theory on adaptive cycles. In the light of this model of hierarchically arranged processes of varying length and speed, it is clear that continuity and change always works in parallel, albeit on different temporal and spatial scales.
The project was organized around two case studies, made up from two chronological periods for which contemporary societal ups and downs are available to be contrasted. The cognitive essence of these changes was sought through analyses of their practical appearance in settlement dynamics and material culture. The main objectives were: (1) to evaluate the potential of the resilience perspective for archaeological interpretations, and thus expand the traditionally employed theoretical framework; (2) to thereby seek nuanced and more comprehensive understandings of four societal transformations in the Greek Bronze Age, and (3) to bring the results to bear on the study of societies in transition today and in all times.
This project was 2011 awarded three years research funds from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ) and The Swedish Research Council.
Collaborative projects
Publications
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Human-environment dynamics in the ancient Mediterranean: Keywords of a research field
Part of Opuscula, p. 221-252, 2022.
DOI for Human-environment dynamics in the ancient Mediterranean: Keywords of a research field Download full text (pdf) of Human-environment dynamics in the ancient Mediterranean: Keywords of a research field
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Mid-late Holocene vegetation history of the Argive Plain (Peloponnese, Greece) as inferred from a pollen record from ancient Lake Lerna
Part of PLOS ONE, 2022.
DOI for Mid-late Holocene vegetation history of the Argive Plain (Peloponnese, Greece) as inferred from a pollen record from ancient Lake Lerna Download full text (pdf) of Mid-late Holocene vegetation history of the Argive Plain (Peloponnese, Greece) as inferred from a pollen record from ancient Lake Lerna
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Land use, climate change and ‘boom-bust’ sequences in agricultural landscapes: Interdisciplinary perspectives from the Peloponnese (Greece)
Part of Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2021.
DOI for Land use, climate change and ‘boom-bust’ sequences in agricultural landscapes: Interdisciplinary perspectives from the Peloponnese (Greece) Download full text (pdf) of Land use, climate change and ‘boom-bust’ sequences in agricultural landscapes: Interdisciplinary perspectives from the Peloponnese (Greece)
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Vulnerability to Climate Change in Late Bronze Age Peloponnese (Greece)
Part of Climate Change and Ancient Societies in Europe and the Near East, p. 215-242, 2021.
DOI for Vulnerability to Climate Change in Late Bronze Age Peloponnese (Greece)
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Climate changes in the Eastern Mediterranean over the last 5000 years and their links to the high-latitude atmospheric patterns and Asian monsoons
Part of Global and Planetary Change, p. 36-51, 2019.
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Examining Land-Use through GIS-Based Kernel Density Estimation: A Re-Evaluation of Legacy Data from the Berbati-Limnes Survey
Part of Journal of field archaeology, p. 70-83, 2019.
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Land use patterns and climate change?a modeled scenario of the Late Bronze Age in Southern Greece
Part of Environmental Research Letters, 2019.
DOI for Land use patterns and climate change?a modeled scenario of the Late Bronze Age in Southern Greece Download full text (pdf) of Land use patterns and climate change?a modeled scenario of the Late Bronze Age in Southern Greece
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Long-term trends of land use and demography in Greece: A comparative study
Part of The Holocene, p. 742-760, 2019.
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Mediterranean land use systems from prehistory to antiquity: a case study from Peloponnese (Greece)
Part of Journal of Land Use Science, p. 1-20, 2019.
DOI for Mediterranean land use systems from prehistory to antiquity: a case study from Peloponnese (Greece) Download full text (pdf) of Mediterranean land use systems from prehistory to antiquity: a case study from Peloponnese (Greece)
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Quantifying Land Use in Past Societies from Cultural Practice and Archaeological Data
Part of Land, 2018.
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Resilience and persistence of ancient societies in the face of climate change: a case study from Late Bronze Age Peloponnese
Part of World archaeology, p. 584-602, 2018.
DOI for Resilience and persistence of ancient societies in the face of climate change: a case study from Late Bronze Age Peloponnese Download full text (pdf) of Resilience and persistence of ancient societies in the face of climate change: a case study from Late Bronze Age Peloponnese
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Contrasting Histories in Early Bronze Age Aegean: Uniformity, Regionalism and the Resilience of Societies in the Northeast Peloponnese and Central Crete
Part of Cambridge Archaeological Journal, p. 479-494, 2017.
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Early Helladic III: a non-monumental but revitalized social arena?
Part of Social change in Aegean prehistory, p. 32-48, 2017.
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Samhällsomdaning – kris,kollaps eller möjlighet?
Part of Statsvetenskaplig Tidskrift, p. 315-328, 2017.
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Klimat, miljö och forntida samhällen.: Vad vi vill veta - och varför?
Part of Kungl. Humanistiska Vetenskaps-Samfundet i Uppsalas årsbok, p. 181-187, 2016.
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Realising consilience: How better communication between archaeologists, historians and natural scientists can transform the study of past climate change in the Mediterranean
Part of Quaternary Science Reviews, p. 5-22, 2016.
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The Early Helladic II–III Transition at Lerna and Tiryns Revisited: Chronological Difference or Synchronous Variability?
Part of Hesperia, p. 383-407, 2014.
DOI for The Early Helladic II–III Transition at Lerna and Tiryns Revisited: Chronological Difference or Synchronous Variability? Download full text (pdf) of The Early Helladic II–III Transition at Lerna and Tiryns Revisited: Chronological Difference or Synchronous Variability?
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Timing, perception and response: Human dimensions of erosison and sedimentation in the Greek Bronze Age
Part of PHYSIS: L'environnement naturel et la relation homme-milieu dans le monde égéen protohistorique, p. 33-40, 2014.
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An Early Helladic burial: Connectingthe living and the dead
Part of Perspectives on ancient Greece, p. 29-47, 2013.
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Forntider: Tankar om tidens gång i förhistoriska samhällen
Part of Institutionens historier, p. 291-301, 2013.
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Mind or matter?: People-Environment Interactions and the Demise of the Early Helladic II Society in the Northeastern Peloponnese
Part of American Journal of Archaeology, p. 1-31, 2013.
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What can Resilience Theory do for (Aegean) Archaeology?
Part of Matters of scale, p. 146-165, 2012.
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Climate in the eastern Mediterranean, and adjacent regions, during the past 6000 years: A review
Part of Journal of Archaeological Science, p. 3153-3173, 2011.
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The invisible dead: The case of the Argolid and Corinthia during the Early Bronze Age
Part of Honouring the Dead in the Peloponnese, p. 781-796, 2011.
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Pictures and people: Seals, figurines and Peloponnesian imagery
Part of Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome, p. 185-218, 2010.
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Social and Environmental Dynamics in Bronze and Iron Age Greece
Part of The Urban Mind, p. 149-194, 2010.
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Svunna landskap
Part of Hellenika, p. 14-15, 2010.
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Verkligheten bakom arkeologin?: En berättelse kring ett tidighelladiskt dödsfall
Part of Medusa. Svensk tidskrift för antiken, p. 34-43, 2010.
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Production of female figurines at Mastos, Berbati
Part of Encounters with Mycenaean figures and figurines , p. 61-75, 2009.
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Topography and settlement: perception of the bounded space
Part of HELIKE IV: THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ANCIENT HELIKE AND AIGIALEIA , 2009.
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Excavations in Midea 2003: B. East Gate Area. Outside the East Gate: Trench 4 with extensions 4B, 4C and 4D and Cleanings 1-5
Part of Opuscula Atheniensia, p. 22-25, 2004.
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Excavations in Midea 2002: B. East Gate Area. The area outside the gate (Trench 4)
Part of Opuscula Atheniensia, p. 20-22, 2003.
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Levande landskap. Om religiös topografi i antikens Grekland
Part of Medusa. Svensk tidskrift för antiken, p. 31-41, 2003.