Badatelské týmy

Frontier studies. Investigation of cultural interactions along border zones of the ancient Aegean

There has been much work done on cultural contacts and cultural exchange in the ancient Mediterranean in the past, with studies ranging from analyses of imports and means of trade to tracing the actual movement of people. In the wake of globalisation and related phenomena, the impact of this interaction on the sociocultural structures witnessed an upsurge in interest and implementation of approaches sensitive to the heterogeneous nature of interactions and their participants, with the result that both identity and cultural habitus are no longer seen as monolithic entities. Rather they are multifaceted and fluid constructs, which were continuously negotiated within the ancient societies across the contact zones – the border areas.

The study of the modes of sociocultural interaction and adaptation in the frontier areas of the ancient Aegean is the main aim of the research group. The projects within this research cluster focus currently on three study areas: 1) the region around the Ohrid Lake in the modern Republic of Macedonia, 2) Greek emporion Pistiros in Central Thrace, modern Bulgaria and 3) the central part of the western coast of modern Turkey, known as Ionia in Antiquity. These case studies (plus one associated project) combine diachronic approaches and interdisciplinary analyses of transcultural processes in broader geographical terms between the Balkans resp. Anatolia and the Aegean, on the one hand, and chronological terms, from the Bronze Age to the Roman period, on the other hand. At the same time, different layers of connectivity will be studied, including the transfer of thoughts, ideas and technology, all of which influenced the more tangible aspects of the past, such as the habitation patterns in the border areas.

Participating projects:

1) Frontier studies. Investigation of identity and cultural contacts in the border area of ancient Macedonia.

The project comprises a micro-regional study focused on the reconstruction of the socio-cultural environment around the Ohrid Lake, at the frontier of the later Macedonian Kingdom, using a complex interdisciplinary survey methodology (combining archaeological, historical, epigraphical, geological and paleontological evidence).

2) Greek emporion Pistiros in Central Thrace

The project strives to continue the multifaceted investigations began by prof. Bouzek in Bulgaria aiming both at final publication of the finds, but also targeted new research in the hinterland of the fortified part of the site.

 3) Σίδηρος. Technology in preclassical Greece (PRIMUS/17HUM/30).

The aim of the project is to study the iron technology in the Aegean following the sociological concept of technological choices by using multi-layered archaeological and metallurgical analyses. The study incorporates new finds from the Eastern Aegean, and presents a pilot effort to develop a comprehensive methodical approach, which will result in a synopsis of the development of iron technology in the context of cultural interaction between Anatolia and the Aegean at the beginning of the 1st mill. BC.

Associated projects:

4) Along the Interface. The Eastern Aegean and Western Anatolia in the 2nd mill. BCE (doc. PhDr. Peter Pavúk Ph.D.)

The project address to the sociocultural interaction along the East Aegean / West Anatolian Interface. At the same time, it aims to explain what do the terms “Minoan” and “Mycenaean” mean in this environment and to define the indigenous features of Western Anatolian culture as such.

Personální obsazení

Stěžejní badatelé

doc. PhDr. Peter Pavúk Ph.D. (Ústav pro klasickou archeologii)
guarantor
Dr. Marek Verčík (Ústav pro klasickou archeologii)
head of the research team
Mgr. Petra Tušlová (Ústav pro klasickou archeologii)
Člen týmu
doc. RNDr. Petr Kraft (Ústav pro geologii a paleontologii, Přírodovědecká fakulta UK)
Člen týmu

Další členové týmu

Foreign cooperation

Pero Ardjanliev M.A. (Archaeological Museum of Macedonia, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia)

Prof. Dr. Christof Berns (Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany)

Prof. Dr. Helga Bumke (Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Germany)

Dr. Mario Gavranović (Institut für Orientalische und Europäische Archäologie OREA, Wien, Austria)

Daniela Heilmann M.A. (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany)

Prof. Dr. Barbara Horejs (Institut für Orientalische und Europäische Archäologie OREA, Wien, Austria)

Prof. Dr. Carola Metzner-Nebelsick (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany)

Jana Mokrišová Ph.D. (University of Sheffield/University College London, United Kingdom)

Ufuk Senturk Ph.D. (IZTECH Izmir Institute of Technology, Turkey)

Dr. Anja Slawisch (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)

Dr. des. Barbora Weissová (Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany)

Prof. Dr. Ünsal Yalçin (Deutsches Bergbaumuseum, Bochum, Germany)

Dr. Ümit Güder (Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi, Turkey)

 

Postdocs and PhD-students

Mgr. Miloš Roháček (Ústav pro klasickou archeologii)

Kontaktní osoba

Dr. Marek Verčík