PRIN PNRR 2022 (2023) CIRCE: CIRCular Economies in antiquity

Project CIRCE (= CIRCular Economies in antiquity) aims to be the first step to overcome the fragmentation that has characterised the studies dedicated to CE in past societies. This is achieved by developing a research protocol that explores all three Rs over a long period (1st to 6th centuries AD) and based on data from a wide variety of sites and contexts (from cities to villages, from households to artisanal quarters). The protocol consists of a qualitative and quantitative methodology that makes use of traditional autoptic macroscopic and microscopic analyses (e.g., chrono-typological approach, use-wear analyses) coupled with state-of-the-art analytical studies (chemical trace and isotope analyses). The project aims to test this integrated methodology in northern Italy, with a specific focus on three case studies. It focuses on the study of groups of material that more than others are known to have been widely recycled, reused, and repaired in antiquity, namely glass and pottery. Data is retrieved from already-excavated contexts stored in archaeological depositories and not by means of new fieldwork. This reduces considerably the time spent during the data collection stage. This new research approach allows the team to explore for the first time and at a regional level how regenerative and conservative economic processes affected different types of communities over a long period and the drivers behind the development of such an economic model in ancient societies. Project CIRCE includes several initiatives aiming at 1). encouraging the cross-fertilisation of ideas and data exchange among scholars (creation of a research network; international congress; conference session) and; 2). promoting a more sustainable and circular way of life among the large public (travelling exhibition; virtual exhibition; public lectures). The dataset of the project is intentionally expandable and accessible in open access by the scholarly community. This is to ensure the applicability of the research protocol tested in northern Italy in other historical and geographical contexts beyond the two-year time limit of Project CIRCE.