Theme:
4. Globalisation and archaeology
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
The Carpathian Basin as a Melting Pot? Perspectives on Social and Cultural Diversity from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age
Content:
The session focuses on the Carpathian Basin as a social and cultural melting pot during the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. Due to its location at the interface of diverse environments and historical landscapes it had the character of a contact zone and was an arena for numerous instances of interaction, which resulted in manifold forms of material culture linking distinct parts of Eurasia. In the past, archeologists aimed to tackle the challenges of interpreting the materials by creating various cultural groups and studying their chronological positioning. In the last decades new research methods (e.g. Bayesian approach of radiocarbon dating, multidisciplinary field survey, aDNA) together with new theoretical perspectives provided the means of studying materials, sites or microregions in a refined fashion. As a result, the prehistoric narratives of regional and supra-regional level have become increasingly detailed (event-based resolution). The arising challenge is twofold: firstly, the integration of heterogenous datasets and contradictory perspectives on the past, secondly, to implement findings into scientifically-sound concepts (social organization, landscape perception, technological studies), and, lastly, to integrate the dynamics of the distinguished aspects.
The aim of this session is to discuss the details of transmission and transformation processes from the social archaeological perspective, compare the different periods and focus on diachronic change. We would like to consider the ways of integrating legacy and recent datasets towards answering new questions related to the Carpathian Basin.
We welcome contributions to the following questions:
- How did new traditions, ideas and practices spread between the Carpathian Basin and adjacent regions?
- How can different research methods be used to formulate coherent models on settlement patterns, natural environment and social organization?
- How can we quantify the scales of the transformation in different periods?
- How are current research models and theories affecting the interpretation of past findings?
Keywords:
Cultural and social diversity, Carpathian Basin and its surroundings, Neolithic Chalcolithic and Bronze Age, social archaeological approaches, raw material’s resources and networks system, multidisciplinary research method
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:
Kata Szilagyi (Hungary) 1,2
Co-organisers:
Martin Furholt (Norway) 2
Robert Hofmann (Germany) 3
Margaux Depaermentier (Switzerland) 4
Michael Kempf (Czech Republic) 5
Affiliations:
1. Mora Ferenc Museum, Szeged
2. University of Oslo, Institute of Archaeology, Conservation and History
3. Kiel University, Institute of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology
4. Archaeological Institute, Department of Early Medieval and Roman Provincial Archaeology, University of Basel
5. Institute of Archaeology and Museology, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University
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