Archaeology, archaeobotanics, and architectural permanence in Grándiha

Yet another "dig deeper" blogpost expanding on the brief Archaeologist's Log about Grándiha from "Archaeology in the O'dyllita questline".

"Grándiha is a historic island of Kamasylvia" South-East from Grána, as we learn from a guard on the bridge leading to the place. I wonder if, in the language of the Daughters of Sylvia, the suffix -iha means island or what...
Anyway, talking to guards and villagers along the way we discover this settlement has been lore-wise-recently reopened after being shut down "the day the Ahib [aka Vedirs i.e.: "Moon" elves] ran away to the Arid Land", which means when they left Kamasylvie territories for O'dyllita.
Furthermore, we learn that the current queen "closed Grándiha where traces of Vedir were prevalent" and hear the recurrent framing of it as "a place bearing the history of Kamasylvia, the Ganelles, and the Vedirs". I would say that the case for "damnatio memoriae" (academic jargon -taken from an actual Roman practice tho- for "let's evidently damage the stuff holding memories of enemies") could have been strong here, as another guard tells us "they also had a plan to demolish the bridge".
Nonetheless the complex (and sometimes plot-fuzzy) political situation between the territories led the current queen to reopen it and so adventurers like us can visit.

Archaeologically speaking this might be interesting, because at a first glance the town seems just right identical to Grána, but with this little foreshadowing of its past history (as a shared settlement of two different groups) we might well wonder if the developers/artists actually represented elements of both or not.
A general consideration about the gran(a)dious architecture is that the place must have been dwelled by an elite mostly for formal occasions, orally confirmed by another guard telling us that even "before it was closed, there weren't that many people in Grándiha. Only princesses and Chiefs came in and out."
As it was a place of both groups although reserved for the crown and affiliates, we may not expect much differences in the architecture, given that aristocracies tend by definition to be rather conservative in monumental buildings -moreover in a context valuing harmony between groups- exception made for faction-specific symbols. That is, unless an abrupt rupture happened which is the case here, but they didn't apparently destroy/rebuild anything so its not our context in Grándiha now.

Where to find traces of this mixed presence between Ganelle and Vedir in the past then?
I guess in this particular context the archaeological method helps to start our investigation, it then continues with some kind of ethnography as we asked people populating the place, and can bring us only as far as to question the natural landscape and its ecology.
Thanks to a Fadus and a Ganelle soldier discussing over bush, we discover in fact that here grows this plant which "has the energy of the moon of the Vedir princesses", as in fact such "purple flower is not a wild flower", continues the soldier adding "It feels like I saw it somewhere else..."
Although I didn't verify it yet, we might notice how the colour already echoes Vedir's palette, and I bet these flowers can be found all over O'dyllita and in O'draxxia as distinctive flora planted by the Ahib!

Technically speaking, archaeologist should always cooperate with experts in ecology such as zoologists and botanists, even better if they know about ancient ecology (that is palaeo-zoologists or palaeo-botanists), as their knowledge can tremendously increase the information retrieved in excavations. For example, did you know it was possible to reconstruct the last mo(ve)ments of Ötzi (Trigger Warning: it's an ice-mummy from around 3300 BCE) thanks to the contents of his stomach, also through ancient pollens' distribution in his palaeo-habitat? Cool huh?

On a personal note, I like immensely when devs/artists add such minor details consistently, it feels like a genuine effort and in this particular case -not being the usual architectural element- it's a great occasion to remember how traces of humans elves can be found by paying attention to natural features and the landscape as well.
And now that I think of it, it is all consistent with the overall background theme of the "ecological" culture of elves -wow!- well done BDO-people who thought this out!

Another little tip I can give about archaeology, or history in general here, comes from the first book I've read in the public library.
The title "Predicting the Future from the Past" triggered me on the spot, though I recognise it's yet another world-building object well place, as it basically tells us the story of a culture rooted in the "historia magistra vitae" adagio (roughly "history teacher of life") just like in our western-inherited and time-centered worldview. To confirm this, the brief text in the description reads

By Jezabelle,
(Omitted)... Current trends have already occurred in the past.
By adhering to our ancestors' experience, we may prepare one level further towards the future.

Uh, and there is this character -Previs- actually labelled "Historian" who runs the public library, who just reiterates the same "handle the future reflecting on the past". What I would personally take home from all of these details is the developers writing off the difficult situation of a civil war, putting at stake the very foundations of the Kamasylvian traditions, with a rather obsessed reframe of historical perspectives seen as a naïve hope -almost religious. As probably clear, I'm not a fan of similar simplifications, as I believe they flatten the context and its diversity of scenarios: why couldn't this be all of a carefully elaborated setup for the current ruler to make her new kingdom fit the 'bad-sisters-Ahib' narrative?
That'd have been far more interesting and nuanced in possible sub-plots and different characters' reactions... but -hey!- that's how the BDO creators did, and noticing it already provides us info, either the minor lack of effort in a 2020s videogame or the deliberate choice of not making it overcomplicate for the expected audience: see how an archaeological method can give insights even in such a context of negative virtual evidence?

Anyway, following the quest till our adventurer's departure from Grándiha, I had the chance to confirm the presence of purple flowers around the town with even more characters explicitly pointing them out in their dialogue lines.
Moreover I found a common Ganelle gazebo made of an arched circle of columns covered in evergreen ivy, along with a "leafless thorny vine" -as a nearby character informs us- planted by a departed Vedir, thus again botanically making a visual reference to the opposite's elven faction design associated with dark thorns.

The last piece of evidence, a small monumental one rather than a larger architectural feature, is suggested by an elf gesturing around some sort of altar and telling us

The style is different from what's there in Grána. They look similar, but they're slightly different.