International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Henriette Kroll
, 
The Enemy within: A Collection of Commensals from Caričin Grad
Jago-Jonathan Birk, Miriam Steinborn, Ivan Bugarski, Rainer Schreg
, 
Soil Analyses at Caričin Grad – Element Mapping and Biomarker Analyses

---

616
Rainer Schreg
Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Mainz, Germany; 
[e-mail]
Urban Ecology as a Matter of Archaeology: The Case Study Caričin Grad
Ecological approaches gain in importance in all fields of archaeology. Modern challenges 
of climate change as well as of increasing urban agglomerations raise awareness for the complex 
interaction of men and environment. Regarding urban archaeology Caričin Grad provides an 
outstanding example how this theoretical can be used to bring together results of different methods 
of environmental archaeology such as archaeobotany, archaeozoology and soil sciences. In order to 
understand the town as an ecosystem we need to have a closer look on the daily life not only of the 
elite, but also of the inhabitants. We aim for this by looking closer at small buildings, waste deposits 
as well as on environmental data taken from the excavations within the city as well as from off-site 
research in its surrounding.
This paper presents methodological and theoretical aspects using the ongoing research at 
Caričin Grad as a case study.
Constanze Röhl
Mainz, Germany; 
[e-mail]
Caričin Grad as a Study in Space Syntax
Space Syntax is a method which can be applied to settlements (Alpha analysis) as well as single 
buildings (Gamma analysis) in order to analyse spatial layouts, and was devised in 1972 at the Faculty 
of the built environment at the University College London by Bill Hillier and Julienne Hanson.
By quantifying potential patterns of movement it is possible to make statistically sound 
assumptions as to the accessibility of specific areas within a settlement, set up a hierarchy of use for 
rooms within a building, spot safe and unsafe regions or parts of a building (equivalent to low and 
high permeability in urban planning), calculate traffic and potential paths of movement of outsiders 
within a settlement etc.
40 years of continous application and improvement as a method to represent, simulate, analyse 
and compare spacial layouts and their respective social impact, leave a wide range of possibilities to 
apply Space Syntax Analysis as an empirical method, i. e. for contemporary settlements respectively 
city planning, calculating traffic and pedestrian movements, interaction of land use and settlements 
etc. Space Syntax Analysis has also been used in archaeological and ethnographical contexts, but 
never achieved a use as widespread as within contemporary settings.

---

617
The method will be applied to the architectural remains found outside the northern 
Acropolis Wall, focusing on the patterns of movement in this part of the settlement.
Hereby, a scenario reconstructing potential social groups present in this area and their function 
within the overall societal structure is envisioned. Furthermore, it will be discussed who instigated 
the building process in this area and how it might have developed within the course of time.