Theme:
5. All Roads Lead to Rome: Multiscalar Interactions
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
The (Copper) Age of Transformation: Research Developments on c. 4500-3500 BC from around the Carpathian Basin
Content:
For decades, the archaeological record of the Copper Age (including the name) was comparably vague. Primarily known from the introduction of copper metallurgy, formalized cemeteries, and a generally small record of settlements, the Copper Age presents a fundamentally transformative period. The late-5th millennium marks a major shift in sociocultural and demographic trajectories, especially across the Carpathian Basin.
Recent research, with absolute chronology, has greatly advanced the understanding of the Copper Age “package” and has suggested the emergence of macro-regional trends along with a notable amount of regional variation. However, a general lack of interregional synthesis, comparison, and communication, particularly between research traditions from different countries, restricted a fuller understanding of the period.
We invite participants to share their work from all stages of research, including reports from fieldwork from throughout the Carpathian Basin (Hungary, Slovakia, southwestern Ukraine, western Romania, northern Serbia, northeast Bosnia and Herzegovina, northern Croatia, eastern Slovenia, southeastern Austria). A question we would like the participants to address within their paper is “What makes the Copper Age?” Some of the topics that we hope to address during this session include, but are not limited to:
-Inquiries of landscape change use.
-Changes in regional settlement and mortuary patterns.
-Variation in material culture across the Carpathian basin and within particular cultural traditions.
-Shifts in economic and subsistence strategies.
By bringing together scholars from various regions and national research traditions, we aim to create a more holistic picture of the Copper Age within the Carpathian Basin. By exemplifying the similarities and differences across the Carpathian Basin between 4500-3500 BC, we aim to explain the changes that distinguish the period from the preceding two millennia.
Keywords:
Copper Age, Eneolithic, Carpathian Basin, Southeastern Europe
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:
William Ridge (United States) 1
Co-organisers:
Iride Tomažič (United States) 2
Lea Čataj (Croatia) 3
Affiliations:
1. University of Illinois at Chicago
2. University of Michigan
3. Croatian Conservation Institute
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