Mother City and Colony: Bioarchaeological Evidence of Stress and Impacts of Corinthian Colonisation at Apollonia, Albania

Abstract

Abstract This study uses bioarchaeological methods and interpretive frameworks, in conjunction with archaeological and textual evidence, to document and interpret the record of Greek colonial interactions between Corinth and local populations at Apollonia, Albania, in the region known as Illyria (modern Albania). A series of Illyrian human remains ( n = 304; Early Iron Age–Hellenistic periods) and Corinthian human remains ( n = 72; Neolithic–Hellenistic periods) were examined for evidence of physiological stress in order to characterise the impact of colonisation. Statistical comparisons of pre‐colonial and post‐colonial skeletal remains indicate that stress increased at Apollonia following colonisation. This change may have resulted from impoverishment following Corinth's extraction of local Illyrian resources and changes in sanitation and disease transmission associated with urbanism. Conversely, the record suggests a decrease in stress, although not to a significant extent, in Corinth. We speculate that decline in physiological stress in the Corinthian setting may reflect improved dietary quality and increased food availability. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.