In the present-day world order, political disintegration, the faltering of economic systems, the controversial and yet dramatic consequences of global warming and pollution, and the spread of poverty and social disruption in Western countries have rendered ‘collapse’ one of the hottest topics in the humanities and social sciences. In the frenetic run for identifying the global causes and large-scale consequences of collapse, however, instances of crisis taking place at the micro-scale are not always explored by scholars addressing these issues in present and past societies, while the ‘voices’ of the marginal/non-élite subjects that might be the main victims of collapse are often silenced in ancient history and archaeology.

Within this framework Collapse or Survival explores localised phenomena of crisis, unrest and survival in the ancient Mediterranean, with a focus on the first millennium BC. In a time span characterised by unprecedented high levels of dynamism, mobility and social change throughout that region, the area selected for analysis represents a unique convergence point where states rise and fall, long-distance trade networks develop and disintegrate, and patterns of human mobility catalyse cultural change at different rates. The central Mediterranean also comprises a wealth of recently excavated and highly contextualised material evidence, casting new light on the agency of individuals and groups who endeavoured to cope with crisis situations in different geographical and temporal settings.

Contributors provide novel definitions of ‘collapse’ and reconsider notions of crisis and social change by taking a broader perspective that is not necessarily centred on élites. Individual chapters analyse how both high-status and non-élite social agents responded to socio-political rupture, unrest, depopulation, economic crisis, the disintegration of kinship systems, interruption in long-term trade networks, and destruction in war.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of contributors
• Preface and acknowledgments
• Introduction. Collapse or survival? Crisis and social change inancient central Mediterranean: Elisa Perego, Rafael Scopacasa and Silvia Amicone
• 1. Micro-dynamics of crisis following disaster events in late Bronze and Iron Age northern Italy: Contents
• 2. Taphonomic approaches to funerary evidence in times of collapse and crisis: Veronica Tamorri
• 3. Back to Manfria: Continuity or disruption in the countryside of Gela in the fourth century BC: Claudia Lambrugo, Lars Heinze and Silvia Amicone
• 4. Beyond the graves: Crisis and continuity in the Hellenistic funerary contexts from the Calvario cemetery (Tarquinia): Vera Zanoni
• 5. Crisis and decline in Morgantina under Roman rule: A reassessment : Monika Trümper
• 6. ‘What on earth became of them all?’ Continuity and change in Macedonian society after the Roman conquest: Frank Daubner
• Finale. Micro-collapse and marginality: Looking to the future: Elisa Perego and Rafael Scopacasa