Theme:
6. Embedded in European archaeology: the Carpathian Basin
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
CANCELLED From Local to Microregional and beyond: Spatial Structures in post-Roman and Early Medieval Central Europe
Content:
Social, economic and power structures can be found at both local and microregional scales – these are the foundations of all power systems since most aspects of human life are primarily determined through these relations. Accordingly, the session seeks to investigate the microregional and regional networks emerging in Central Europe from the post-Roman era onward, during the early medieval transformation. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, relatively weak formations built their own regional systems while both communicating and competing with each other. Certain elements of the late Roman infrastructure such as communication networks and ‘central places’ retained their importance for several centuries; however, from the seventh century onward, we witness the emergence of a radically new system of local centres and central zones.
What kind of social and economic resources promoted the growth and consolidation of local communities and/or microregional power centres? How did these hubs interact, what were the circumstances/interests boosting communication or, conversely, possible interferences with it? What were the factors preventing, promoting or even demanding cooperation between them? Who and what kinds of social or environmental conditions were the catalysts of these processes? What kind of role did microregional centres/central areas play in structuring the surrounding areas? Finally, how did regional power centres reflect the presence of macroregional or even global structures of considerably higher complexity?
We welcome both case studies and theoretical contributions that address these issues in the Central European zone from the post-Roman period to the Middle Ages, with a focus on regionality, traces of microregional power centres and central areas. We welcome contributions addressing various aspects of the organisation of subsistence, production and distribution of specialised craft products, as well as those focusing on communication and the exploitation, processing and distribution of strategic resources such as iron and/or other non-ferrous metals.
Keywords:
Post-Roman and early medieval Archaeology, regional centres, local and microregional communities, networks, distribution of craft products, exploitation of strategic resources
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Gergely Szenthe (Hungary) 1
Co-organisers:
Ivan Bugarski (Serbia) 2
Stefan Eichert (Austria) 3
Erwin Gáll (Romania) 4
Affiliations:
1. Hungarian National Museum, Department of Archaeology
2. Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade
3. University of Vienna, Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology
4. Vasile Pârvan Institute of Archaeology, Bucharest
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