Swords, Germs, and Tin

Combined advances in archaeological science and the field of history allows a retelling of the cross-continental exchange system that connected Mongolia to the Mediterranean four thousand years ago. The talk integrates isotopic analysis, archaeozoology, prosopographical studies, historical geography, material culture, and human pathology to paint a picture of the system seen from the viewpoint of a single individual—a trader named Zizizi (born c. 1895 BCE) who had her life turned upside down by the very connectedness upon which her society was predicated.

Gojko Barjamovic is a senior lecturer and research scholar in the Department of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations. He specializes in the economic and social history of Assyria in the second millennium BCE and also works on ancient foodways (including the Yale Babylonian Recipes), human aDNA, absolute chronology, and ancient metal. He works with colleagues in the field of economics on early markets and the trans-regional convergence of prices.