Practicing Archaeology and researching present identities in no man's land: a view from the Tri - National Prespa Lake, in: Balkan Dialogues, Routledge 2017 (Maja Gori, Maria Ivanova eds). M. Gori, P. Lera, S. Oikonomidis, A. Papayiannis, A. Tsonos. (original) (raw)
Aegean Archaeology Group Annual Postgraduate Conference. June 17th and 18th, 2021. University of Cambridge, 2021
The main aim of this conference is to explore interpretative, theoretical, and methodological approaches to the study of material culture, which move beyond the concept of ‘identities’. We are looking for alternative ways of viewing the processes and outcomes of interactions between people and things, alternatives that depart from focusing on the instrumental role of material culture in configuring people’s own and others’ views of themselves. Whilst we acknowledge that all objects may play active roles in the formation and negotiation of ‘identities’ (gender, ethnic, cultural, etc.), we would like to ask instead – what else do objects and people do? What other questions can we be asking about our material? Answers to these questions may be sought at very different scales of archaeological analysis – from engagement between individuals and objects (e.g. materiality, cognitive archaeology), to interactions between individuals and groups across social and geographical boundaries (e.g. technology transfer and mobility, networks analysis, Marxist archaeology, etc.).
Memory and identity in LC I/LM IA Thera as reflected in settlement patterns and ceramic production The settlement patterns and ceramic production in LC I/ LM IA Thera are two subjects about which new evidence has emerged during the past twenty years. As a result, we are now in a better position to approach the topic of memory and identity of Theran society in the final phase before the eruption of the volcano. Recent surface surveys added more sites to the already known complex settlement pattern of LC I pre-eruption Thera including individual farms and rural settlements. Among the new sites is Raos, in the South Caldera, where a sophisticated building complex with frescoes was revealed. This brings Thera even closer to Crete than the rest of the Cyclades. On the other hand, most of the LC I sites dispersed in the island’s countryside were founded on earlier sites dating back to the Early Cycladic period, which shows a strong tradition and memory in the occupation processes. The excavations at both Akrotiri and Raos in the 2000s and 2010s increased the ceramic material from the Volcanic Destruction Level by hundreds of complete vases and thousands of sherds. A look at the pottery of the Volcanic Destruction Level based on all the material that has been found to date, old and new, is able to shed plenty of light on the modes and dynamics of both penetration of Minoan elements into Thera and transmission of the Cycladic past In addition to the imports from Crete a good many Minoan shapes, entirely unknown in the Cyclades, were produced locally, meeting the new requirements formed by the embracing of a Minoan way of life. The process of Minoan features penetrating Thera on the cultural and social level is considerably more complex than the penetration of Knossian features, for example, into other Minoan sites. From the moment a Minoan feature penetrated Theran pottery its course was independent of the course it followed in Crete where it originated. The autonomy of the Theran workshops is more noticeable with the creation by the Theran potters of a number of types drawn from the combination of some features of two different Minoan shapes. These improvisations show better than anything else that the Theran artists were not tied to a past that was not their own, such as the Minoan. They had no hesitation whatsoever in redesigning its products. A great many local pottery shapes, however, the main examples being the beaked jugs and nippled ewers, are found in the framework of the tradition that developed in the Cyclades during the EC and MC periods. Both plastic form and painted decoration express the continuation of the sense of sparseness and the disarming simplicity of Cycladic art in great respect. It is also of special importance that the predominant ritual libation sets, judging by their greater numbers, are the local traditional libation sets, the nipple-jug and the cylindrical rhyton. In conclusion the evidence shows cultural and social transformation in LC I pre-eruption Τhera, which brings it closer than ever to Crete and Knossos without being very far away from its deeply rooted local traditions and memories in site occupation on the one hand and art, religion and cult practices on the other that reflect the deepest foundations of every society.
Balkan Dialogues (Routledge, 2017)
Spatial variation and patterning in the distribution of artefacts are topics of fundamental significance in Balkan archaeology. For decades, archaeologists have classified spatial clusters of artefacts into discrete " cultures " , which have been conventionally treated as bound entities and equated with past social or ethnic groups. This timely volume fulfils the need for an up-to-date and theoretically informed dialogue on group identity in Balkan prehistory. Thirteen case studies covering the beginning of the Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age and written by archaeologists conducting fieldwork in the region, as well as by ethnologists with a research focus on material culture and identity, provide a robust foundation for exploring these issues. Bringing together the latest research, with a particular intentional focus on the central and western Balkans, this collection offers original perspectives on Balkan prehistory with relevance to the neighbouring regions of Eastern and Central Europe, the Mediterranean and Anatolia. Balkan Dialogues challenges long-established interpretations in the field and provides a new, contextualised reading of the archaeological record of this region. Maja Gori works as adjunct faculty member at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, where she teaches Heritage Studies and Pre-and Protohostory with a focus on the Balkans and Italy. Her research interests comprise uses of past in identity building, heritage destruction, pottery technology, gift economy, mobility and connectivity. Maria Ivanova is lecturer in Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, where she studies the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age of Eastern and Central Europe, with a particular focus on ancient technology , spheres of exchange, the transmission of technology across Eurasia, and prehistoric warfare and violence.
Materiality and Identity in Pre- and Protohistoric Europe. Homage to Cornelia-Magda Lazarovici
Christina Marangou, Sławomir Kadrow, Cristina Cordos, Marco Nebbia, Aurel Rustoiu, Eugen Padurean, Alexandru Berzovan, Octavian Rogozea, Andrei Asandulesei, András Füzesi, George Bodi, Carsten Mischka, Senica Țurcanu, Adela Kovacs
Karl A. Romstorfer Publishing House, Suceava, 2018
Fully deserved, this anniversary volume is dedicated to Mrs. Cornelia-Magda Lazarovici, who has devoted her entire career to the study of Prehistory in Romania and Southeastern Europe, succeeding, through remarkable contributions, to place her name among the well-known representatives of this field of Romanian and European archeology. The name of Cornelia-Magda Lazarovici is today a reference for those who are addressing major themes such as the chronology and evolution of the Cucuteni culture, the symbolism of various pieces of plastic art, the forms and the decoration of ceramics, the everyday life of that period, illustrated by household implements or architectural accomplishments. Some biographical data are essential for understanding the stages of Cornelia-Magda Lazarovici's intellectual and scientific development. Cornelia-Magda Istrati was born on 1 March 1953, in the old and always young Iași, the center of spirituality and Romanian culture. He grew up in a family environment favorable to the development of interest in humanities, his father being a remarkable scholar of the documents from the beginning of the modern age, with numerous and valuable specialized publications. Both parents, Maria and Corneliu Istrati, came from families with many children, so that even though she was her parents' single child, Magda grew up with numerous cousins, in a community characterized by warm and lasting relationships. After the primary and secondary studies in her hometown, she followed, in 1972-1976, at Alma Mater Iassiensis, the courses of the History Department of the Faculty of History and Philosophy of the oldest University in Romania, bearing the name of its founder, the prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza-the maker of modern Romania. After graduating, she worked for a few years (1976-1980) in Vaslui, initially as a museographer with the County Museum (1976-1977), then as head of the County Cultural Heritage Office (1977-1980). During this period, she carried out excavations in several paleolithic sites in Vaslui (Măluşteni IV, Oțetoaia) and Botoşani (Mitoc-Valea lui Stan) counties, research whose results were utilized in scientific publications. At the same time, she is carrying out research on Neolithic sites, in Măluşteni-Via Schineni (Starčevo-Criş) and Poieneşti (Starčevo-Criş and Cucuteni cultures)-alone or as a member of archaeology research teams. Țurcanu), which reviews the essential data on Cucuteni civilization, in the form of an album with representative sites and pieces. She has also been involved in many other projects, being a team-member of research projects funded by the National Scientific Research Council. Among these, we mention "Geoscientific view of ceramic technology: evolution from Neolithic to Byzantine times within Romanian territory" (2012-2014, Project manager Corina Ionescu) and "The Ethnoarchaeology of Salt in the Inner Carpathian Area of Romania" (2017-2019, Project manager Marius Alexianu). One of the extremely ambitious, yet unfinished projects, on which Magda Lazarovici is involved with the scientific coordination team, is the Encyclopedia of Cucuteni-Trypillia Civilization, which will systematize relevant information throughout the area of the famous painted pottery civilization. Another project-organized together with Lăcrămioara Stratulat-still in its early stage, involves the investigation of a Cucutenian settlement together with specialists from the Institute of Archeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, given that there is a Neolithic culture in this country with a painted ceramics similar to the Cucuteni type. Along with the monographic work on prehistoric settlements in Poieneşti (published in 2015 together with Mircea Babeş), Magda Lazarovici has two other great works in preparation. One presents the results of the research carried out in the caves of Cheile Turzii area, and the second is the monograph of the Cucutenian settlement in Scânteia. Plenty could be said about the life and activity of Magda Lazarovici, about her projects! However, we would stop here! Magda shall certainly continue! On her anniversary day, we wish her, together with all our friends, colleagues and collaborators, health, strength to work and best results, to the measure of her tenaciousness and her dedication to Archeology! Happy birthday, dear Magda!