Highland Communities. A Population History of the Hyblaean Plateau from Antiquity to the Middle Ages

In this project, history intersects with archaeology, biological anthropology, and medicine to reconstruct the lives of rural communities living on the Hyblaean Plateau (Sicily) between approximately 300 and 800 CE. The proposal aims to investigate this unique society from multiple perspectives, including its socioeconomic structure, settlement patterns, housing, lifestyles, literacy, ethnic composition, genetic ancestry, diet, and health conditions, through an interdisciplinary approach. The research is structured into three distinct yet closely interconnected areas of investigation. The first area examines the human and environmental landscape of the Hyblaean Plateau through surveys designed to classify different types of settlements and their relationships. The second focuses on burial practices, material culture, literacy, religious beliefs, and the relationship between living spaces and burial areas. The third involves bioanthropological, palaeopathological, and genomic analyses based on a significant sample of skeletal remains from the Chiaramonte necropolis and other sites in the region, with the aim of exploring patterns of genetic variation and the evolutionary history of genes related to nutrition and bone health. The project is funded by the ‘Fondo Italiano per la Scienza’ (FIS) of the Ministry of University and Research.