The Basel Initiative for Integrative Ancient History is an interdisciplinary platform dedicated to the study of the ancient world through the integration of historical, archaeological, environmental, and biological evidence. Founded in 2018 as the Basel Climate and Ancient History Lab, the initiative has expanded its scope to encompass a broader range of approaches and data sources that are transforming the study of antiquity.

The ancient Mediterranean offers an unparalleled laboratory for investigating the interactions between climate, environment, health, mobility, economy, and society over the long term. At the same time, recent advances in the natural and life sciences have dramatically expanded the range of evidence available to historians. Ancient history can no longer rely exclusively on literary texts and archaeological remains. New forms of evidence now allow us to reconstruct past environments, population histories, disease dynamics, mobility patterns, agricultural systems, and human responses to environmental and social change with unprecedented precision.

Our work combines and contextualizes diverse forms of evidence, including:

• literary, epigraphic, papyrological, and numismatic sources

• archaeological remains and settlement landscapes

• palaeoclimate archives, including lake sediments, speleothems, tree rings, and other environmental proxies

• archaeogenetic data (aDNA)

• isotopic analyses of mobility, diet, and environment

• bioarchaeological evidence for health, disease, and demography

• environmental and ecological datasets

The integration of these different forms of evidence requires close collaboration between historians, archaeologists, climate scientists, geneticists, geoscientists, and specialists in the life sciences. Rather than treating scientific data as independent explanations of historical change, Integrative Ancient History seeks to embed them within broader historical, social, economic, and cultural contexts.

Our research explores a wide range of questions: How did ancient societies adapt to environmental change? How did climate variability affect agricultural production, settlement systems, and political stability? How did mobility, migration, and connectivity shape ancient populations? How did disease, health, and nutrition influence demographic and social developments? And how did human communities transform and manage their environments over centuries and millennia?

Particular strengths of our research include the study of the ancient Mediterranean, Roman Egypt, and Roman Italy, where exceptionally rich historical and archaeological records can be combined with increasingly sophisticated environmental and biological datasets. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, innovative teaching, fieldwork, and international research partnerships, Integrative Ancient History at Basel aims to advance a new understanding of the ancient world and the complex relationships between people, environments, and societies.

Climate • Environment • Health • Mobility • Society