Archaeologists recently investigated the rubbish piled up in the garbage dump of Elusa, a Byzantine settlement in the Negev desert of Israel. Scientists report in a new study that they found that the garbage age introduced an interesting new timeline for the decline of Byzantium. [Holy Land: Seven Amazing Archaeological Discoveries]
Researchers found that garbage disposal-once a well-organized and reliable service in an outpost city like Elusa-stopped around the middle of the sixth century, 65,438+000 years before the collapse of the empire. At that time, a climate event called "Ancient Little Ice Age" was prevailing in the northern hemisphere, and a plague called "Justinian Plague" ravaged the entire Roman Empire, eventually killing more than 654.38 billion people.
The combination of disease and climate change has caused devastating economic losses and made Rome out of control. According to this study, its land in the East is a century earlier than previously thought.
These seeds were found in the garbage dump in Elusha. (Photo courtesy of Guy Bar Oz) Alusha, where the treasure was found in the garbage dump, has been partially excavated, but the new investigation is the first time to explore the garbage dump that has been neglected for a long time in this site. Guy Bar Oz, the lead author of this study and professor of archaeology at Haifa University in Israel, told Life Science in an email.
Unlike an ancient city, buildings can be destroyed and rebuilt repeatedly. With the passage of time, landfills have been piling up, creating a continuous record of human activities. Clues found in well-preserved garbage dumps can reveal whether a city is prosperous or in trouble. Barr Oz said: For me, the real gold mine in daily life is obvious. What it was like to live in garbage in the past. In the garbage dump, scientists found all kinds of things: fragments of pottery pots, seeds, olive stones, charred charcoal and so on.
Ground investigation, drone photos and excavation revealed a garbage mountain that lasted for 150 years. (Photo courtesy of Guy Bar Oz) Scientists used carbon to date organic substances such as seeds and charcoal in garbage dumps near the city. They found that garbage accumulated in this place for about 150 years, and the accumulation ended in the middle of the 6th century. Researchers point out that this shows that infrastructure has failed, which happens when a city is about to collapse.
Based on the new evidence, the researchers concluded that the decline of Erusa began at least a century before the * * * rule seized control of the region from the Romans. In fact, Elusa struggled in a period of relative peace and stability; It was during this period that the Roman emperor Justinian extended his empire to Europe, Africa and Asia, Baloz said.
After the empire enjoyed a "glorious period of success", Baloz said: "It seems logical to predict the financial security of its outpost. However, the data collected by researchers is just the opposite.
"On the contrary, we saw a signal that showed the real situation at that time, which was almost invisible to most archaeologists, that is, the empire was suffering from climate disasters and diseases," Baloz explained.
These findings were published online today (March 25th) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
History of Byzantine Empire (Byzantine Empire) Hagia Sophia Cathedral: Facts, History and Architecture in the Photo: Eight Byzantine Empire-era sunken ships "K" DSP "excavated in Turkey were first published in Live Science.