Introduction-Plague in diachronic and Interdisciplinary perspective
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2017-01-29

Plague, an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, occurred in at least three major historical pandemics: the Justinianic Plague (6th to 8th century), the Black Death (from 14th century onwards), and the modern or Hong Kong Plague (19th to 20th century). Yet DNA from bronze age human skeleton has recently shown that the plague first emerged at least as early as 3000 BC. Plague is, as any disease, both a biological as well as a social entity. Different disciplines can therefore elucidate different aspects of the plague, which can lead to a better understanding of this disease and its medical and social implications.
The session shall address questions like:
• Which disciplines can contribute to the research on the plague? What are their methodological possibilities and limitations?
• How can they work together in order to come to a more realistic and detailed picture of the plague in different times and
regions?
• Which ways had societies to react to the plague? How can they be studied or proved?
• Which commons and differences can be seen between the Justinianic Plague and later plague epidemics? Are there
epidemiological characteristics that are essential and/or unique to plague?
• What are possible implications of the pandemic spread and endemic occurrence of plague through the ages for the
interpretation of historical and cultural phenomena?
We would like to invite researchers from the disciplines of archaeology, anthropology, biology, history, medicine and related subjects to present papers in our session.