This lecture will explore the origins and development of three types of ancient ships which appea... more This lecture will explore the origins and development of three types of ancient ships which appear in the written sources connected with the protohistoric eastern Adriatic area: Liburnian liburnian, south Adriatic ('Illyrian') type of lemb and serilia made of laced planks. The relative abundance of written sources suggests that both ships played significant roles in ancient times, especially liburnian, which became the main type of light warship in early Roman imperial fleets and ultimately evolved into a generic name for warships in the Roman Imperial period and Late Antiquity. The lecture will provide an extensive overview of written, iconographic, and archaeological evidence on eastern Adriatic shipbuilding traditions before the Roman conquest of eastern Adriatic in the late first century BC/early first century AD questioning the existing scholarly assumption that
The ancient city of Gitana is the largest and most well-known archaeological site in Thesprotia (... more The ancient city of Gitana is the largest and most well-known archaeological site in Thesprotia (Northwestern Greece). It was founded around the middle of the 4th c. B.C. and was abandoned in the last decades of the 1st c. B.C. Apart from its organized urban plan and public buildings such as the Prytaneion and the Theater, further evidence points to the city as the political center of the Thesprotians who were probably organized into a Koinon (League). The discovery of inscriptions mentioning the name of a prostates (magistrate) along with the archive of approximately 3,000 clay sealings for validating documents, as well as the numerous names which are engraved on the hedolia (seats) of the theater denoting acts of slave manumission, testify to the significance of the city.
Karabournaki or Little Karabournou is located in North Aegean, on the edge of the promontory in t... more Karabournaki or Little Karabournou is located in North Aegean, on the edge of the promontory in the center of the Thermaic Gulf, in the area of modern Thessaloniki. The site preserves the remains of an ancient settlement, a harbor and cemeteries, flourished mostly in the Archaic and Classical times. The up-to-date findings are indicative for the commercial role of the site and its significance in the Aegean trade. The revealed architectural remains belong to residential buildings and storerooms dated mostly in the Archaic period (7 th-6 th c. BC).
20.05.2024 Miljana Radivojević-"The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia: Archaeological science and new... more 20.05.2024 Miljana Radivojević-"The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia: Archaeological science and new interpretations" This seminar talk will present the synthesis of more than two decades of work on the origins and evolution of early metallurgy in the Balkans, which is currently the world's earliest recorded. Extensive archaeomaterials and archaeological science research, combined with field campaigns and experimental reconstruction, provide an insight into the lives of metal-making communities 7,000 years ago. The quest for the 'earliest' has over the years been replaced with the quest for understanding the origins and evolution of the knowledge of metal-making.
Archaeological Theory at the Edge(s), eds. S. Babić and M. Milosavljević, Faculty of Philosophy - University of Belgrade, 2022
The paper provides a short overview of the archaeological approaches
closely related to the so-ca... more The paper provides a short overview of the archaeological approaches closely related to the so-called “ontological turn.” It is argued that the alleged reorientation of archaeological theory from epistemology to ontology, broadly referred to as the “ontological turn” strikingly mirrors the political, technological, and environmental issues and context of the contemporary world, and for that reason, its relevance in archaeological research of the past must be deeply, selfreflexively reconsidered.
Archaeology of Crisis. ed. S. Babić. Faculty of Philosophy - University of Belgrade, 2021
The paper aims to explain why ritual practices and related religious beliefs might have played а ... more The paper aims to explain why ritual practices and related religious beliefs might have played а crucial role in power relations and social development in prehistory. For that purpose, it analyzes the possible ritual function that prestige goods might have had in legitimizing someone’s high social status and power. While previous analyses of the ritual function of luxury objects have been focused on the importance of social ties and personal networks established by the practice of ritual exchange, here the focus is on the ritual function of luxury objects in enabling someone of high social status to access the realm of “supernatural” or “primordial” powers. The final discussion is focused on identifying the social crisis that could correspond to the changes in the ritual dealing with prestige goods and the possible social outcomes of the supposed crisis.
Antička Budva: Zbornik radova s Međunarodnog interdisciplinarnog naučnog simpozijuma po pozivu održanog u Budvi 28-30. Novembra 2018. , 2021
The jubilee dedicated to the anniversary of the archaeological
discovery of the ancient necropoli... more The jubilee dedicated to the anniversary of the archaeological discovery of the ancient necropolis in Budva is the opportunity to perceive and revise the phenomena and processes established in the past, i.e. the results of the previous researches, in order to expand the knowledge about them based on the modern scientific methods and prospects. From the first archaeological research in Budva to the present day the archaeology has developed and changed in all aspects, theoretical, methodological and interpretative, and therefore it is likely that some of the initial research results are to be critically reviewed and re-examined so as to open up for formulating new research questions and interpretations of the past of this area. In this context, this paper aims to re-examine and problematize the previous conclusions and assumptions about the first inhabitants of Budva, and based on the modern approach and knowledge offers another angle of interpretation. Unlike the traditional culture-historical approach whose key methodological procedure uses the ethnic-cultural attribution of the findings, the contemporary perspective for solving this dilemma requires the account of social and cultural aspects that the identity of the ancient Budva inhabitants could be based on. Only after explaining the broader social and cultural context of the period when the settlement of Budva was formed, it would become more clear how the archaeological findings from its necropolis could help answer the question – who were the inhabitants of ancient Budva.
The contribution seeks to explore possible convergences in archaeological research, regardless of... more The contribution seeks to explore possible convergences in archaeological research, regardless of the theoretical/methodological approach, based on the case of the considerations of the Iron Age societies of the late prehistory in the Central Balkans. The typological-chronological analysis of decorated whetstones from the region of Glasinac, recently published by Blagoje Govedarica, points to the conclusion of diversification of social roles and horizontal distribution of power and authority, similar to the line of inquiry based upon the concept of heterarchy, currently explored by the authors of postprocessual affinities. In order to recognize these similarities, it is argued that a more efficient communication inside the discipline may be achieved by overcoming terminological barriers separating various theoretical approaches.
Building upon the long history of research in classical archaeology of the ancient Greek sculptur... more Building upon the long history of research in classical archaeology of the ancient Greek sculpture, the paper aims to explore the phenomenon emerging during the Hellenistic period of copying and imitating the Classical sculptors. Based upon the premise that the theory on the development of the Classical Greek art itself dates back into the Hellenistic times, the aim here is to associate the known examples of the Hellenistic sculpture to the then valid theories on the development of art. Furthermore, the stylistic phenomenon of Hellenistic copying is associated to the contemporaneous collectionary practice of the elites, thus indicating the meaning and function of these artefacts in their original context. As the result, the conclusion is proposed that copying and imitating in the Hellenistic art is the consequence of the newly established trend to refer through art to the great role models of the past, already elevated to the status of canonical art.
The second part of the paper investigates the possible social roles of these works of art, as well as the historic narrative promoted by them. On the grounds of the published work on reception of the past in the ancient Greek culture, the conclusion is proposed that the Hellenistic trend of artistic copying and imitating was promoted by the elites, with the intention to create permanent monuments of cultural memory. The Hellenistic sculpture thus had the function to confirm, codify, and materialize the perceptions of the Greek past and identity, and to legitimize certain social interests and values.
Through the critical research into the history of archaeology, the paper aims to explore the infl... more Through the critical research into the history of archaeology, the paper aims to explore the influence of linguistics and, more generally, the role of language in modern societies, upon the formation of the culture-historical approach in the discipline, focusing upon the situation in the Serbian archaeology. In doing so, the author follows the series of the similar critical historical accounts of the history of archaeology, pointing to the conceptual burden carried along with the culture-historical practice of attributing artefacts according to their cultural affiliation, automatically making inferences about the cultural/ ethnic identity of the people who used them. The need to analyse the relationship between linguistics and archaeology at the time of formation of the discipline originates from the standpoint that, even if we do not advocate the complete rejection of the culture-historical tradition (still impossible, however), it is nevertheless necessary to understand the ways i...
The text discusses the epistemological problems and dilemmas of the attempts to study religious l... more The text discusses the epistemological problems and dilemmas of the attempts to study religious life in prehistory by archaeological means. Among numerous difficulties, theoretical as well as practical, hindering these attempts, a general problem is discussed here: is archaeology of religion possible and on what grounds? This dilemma raised a series of discussions over the last decades of the 20th century, primarily among the English-speaking archaeologists. However, in the tradition of regional archaeology of Yugoslavian and post-Yugoslavian lands this discussion has not been initiated, and the religious life of the prehistoric communities has not been the subject of particular research interest. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to bring attention to the possibilities and limitations of research into religion in prehistory, referring to the recent discussions in wider archaeological community. Two questions are discussed: firstly, how religion is conceptualized and defined in...
Traditional debates on analogical thinking, which is at the root of all knowledge about the past,... more Traditional debates on analogical thinking, which is at the root of all knowledge about the past, were founded on the scientific-methodological postulate of the striving for increased control of conditions that affect the research situation, that is, the pre-methodological consensus on the need for objectifying, depersonalizing and regulating research. Faithful to the inherited ideals of objective social science, the archaeological discussion on analogy has for decades focused exclusively on logical-epistemological issues of general methodology; however, it has actually contributed very little to overcoming the fact that the past is not objectively knowable. By introducing the concept of reflexivity into the debate on the analogical character of archaeological thinking, the paper aims to recontextualize the analogy debate which aspires to the positivist ideals of a social science, into a debate on archaeology as a social practice which inevitably and continually draws analogies betw...
The decades-long reconsideration of the concept of culture in archaeology
has been aimed at over... more The decades-long reconsideration of the concept of culture in archaeology
has been aimed at overcoming the traditional culture-historical concept, assuming culture as a relatively stable and homogeneous system of values characteristic of a certain group or a community of people. The practice of cultural classification of artefacts, based upon the premise that people linked by the production and usage of stylistically homogeneous material culture form a group with the feeling of communal identity, has been criticized as a reflection of ethnocentric projection of the modern idea of cultural identity.
In spite of numerous critics of this concept, developed under the influence
of various theoretical strains from the beginning of the 1960s, it seems that the
implicit assumption is still present of the communal cultural identity of a group linked by the communal material culture. Furthermore, an attempt to counteract the critique and offer a multicultural interpretation of the past brings in the danger to rehabilitate the very concept of culture which archaeology has been trying to abandon for decades
Throughout the history of classical scholarship, the research into the presupposed historical tes... more Throughout the history of classical scholarship, the research into the presupposed historical testimonial value of the Homeric poems – Iliad and Odyssey,
has been founded upon the need to empirically confirm the contents of the epics,
or at least some of their elements, as a historical reality; the archaeological study
has been geared towards the confirmation through material evidence. The first
part of the paper lays out the circumstances and research trends that caused this
approach to Homer as a historic source.
Apart from archaeology, an important role in the formulation of the problem of Homeric epics was played by Milman Parry’s anthropological approach,
establishing the oral character of Homer’s language. Although this conclusion
remains key to understanding Homer as a historical source, other important conclusions of the study in oral tradition have remained largely unexplored from
the perspective of archaeological research. Therefore, in the second part of the
paper the proposition is put forward to approach the testimonial value of the
Homeric poems from a more general anthropological perspective, leading to
alternative paths to the archaeological understanding of Homer. The epics will
be presented as an historical source for understanding the cultural change indicated by the fact that the relatively long continuity of oral transmission of the
poems entered a new chapter during the Archaic period, when due to the new
technology of writing, they were translated from the oral to written medium of
communication.
The idea of universal linear course of time is an important element of the
basic framework of re... more The idea of universal linear course of time is an important element of the
basic framework of reference of the archaeological research into the past. However, even the fundamental theoretical premises of the discipline, such as the
conceptualization of time, may be changed and differently interpreted, depending upon the social and cultural context of research. The history of archaeology
in Serbia testifies that, contrary to the generally implicit linear course of time,
the regional past is seen as a series of repetitions, stagnations and detours, implying the assumption of a different, a-historical course of time in the Balkans.
This narrative is especially noticeable in the works dealing with the role of the
Classical Greek-Roman civilization in the Balkan past. The ambivalence of the
leading narratives in Serbian archaeology towards the presumed sources of the
European culture corresponds to the images of the Balkans identified by M.
Todorova as the discourse of Balkanism.
Keywords: discourse of Balkanism, continuity of autochthonous culture, stylistic
archaism/cultural conservatism, the Balkans, archaeological conceptions of time
Starting from the fact that the present knowledge of the late praehistory of the Central Balkans ... more Starting from the fact that the present knowledge of the late praehistory of the Central Balkans is based almost exclusively upon interpretations of funerary remains, the aim of this paper is to investigate the theoretical premises of the archaeological research into burials in this region. Problems and limitations of the traditional culture-historical approach to funerary practices are discussed, and the second part of the paper aims to demonstrate that the shift in theoretical perspective may result in fundamentally different insights into the explanatory potential of funerary rites in archaeology. Keywords: funerary rite, dis/continuity of funerary practice, theory of practice, late praehistory of the Central Balkans, Glasinac
Drawing from the constructivist approach to heritage that defines it as a reflection of contempor... more Drawing from the constructivist approach to heritage that defines it as a reflection of contemporary social circumstances, we attempt to outline the key agencies and processes shaping the reception of the Roman heritage in contemporary Serbia. Our case study points to the process of creation of the main narrative of Roman heritage in the country as Serbia – homeland of the Roman Emperors and to its role in the construction and promotion of social ideologies and identities. Analysis of the increasing popularisation of the legacy of the Roman past in public discourse presents considerable opportunities for questioning the social reality reflected by the reception of Roman heritage in Serbian context.
This lecture will explore the origins and development of three types of ancient ships which appea... more This lecture will explore the origins and development of three types of ancient ships which appear in the written sources connected with the protohistoric eastern Adriatic area: Liburnian liburnian, south Adriatic ('Illyrian') type of lemb and serilia made of laced planks. The relative abundance of written sources suggests that both ships played significant roles in ancient times, especially liburnian, which became the main type of light warship in early Roman imperial fleets and ultimately evolved into a generic name for warships in the Roman Imperial period and Late Antiquity. The lecture will provide an extensive overview of written, iconographic, and archaeological evidence on eastern Adriatic shipbuilding traditions before the Roman conquest of eastern Adriatic in the late first century BC/early first century AD questioning the existing scholarly assumption that
The ancient city of Gitana is the largest and most well-known archaeological site in Thesprotia (... more The ancient city of Gitana is the largest and most well-known archaeological site in Thesprotia (Northwestern Greece). It was founded around the middle of the 4th c. B.C. and was abandoned in the last decades of the 1st c. B.C. Apart from its organized urban plan and public buildings such as the Prytaneion and the Theater, further evidence points to the city as the political center of the Thesprotians who were probably organized into a Koinon (League). The discovery of inscriptions mentioning the name of a prostates (magistrate) along with the archive of approximately 3,000 clay sealings for validating documents, as well as the numerous names which are engraved on the hedolia (seats) of the theater denoting acts of slave manumission, testify to the significance of the city.
Karabournaki or Little Karabournou is located in North Aegean, on the edge of the promontory in t... more Karabournaki or Little Karabournou is located in North Aegean, on the edge of the promontory in the center of the Thermaic Gulf, in the area of modern Thessaloniki. The site preserves the remains of an ancient settlement, a harbor and cemeteries, flourished mostly in the Archaic and Classical times. The up-to-date findings are indicative for the commercial role of the site and its significance in the Aegean trade. The revealed architectural remains belong to residential buildings and storerooms dated mostly in the Archaic period (7 th-6 th c. BC).
20.05.2024 Miljana Radivojević-"The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia: Archaeological science and new... more 20.05.2024 Miljana Radivojević-"The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia: Archaeological science and new interpretations" This seminar talk will present the synthesis of more than two decades of work on the origins and evolution of early metallurgy in the Balkans, which is currently the world's earliest recorded. Extensive archaeomaterials and archaeological science research, combined with field campaigns and experimental reconstruction, provide an insight into the lives of metal-making communities 7,000 years ago. The quest for the 'earliest' has over the years been replaced with the quest for understanding the origins and evolution of the knowledge of metal-making.
Archaeological Theory at the Edge(s), eds. S. Babić and M. Milosavljević, Faculty of Philosophy - University of Belgrade, 2022
The paper provides a short overview of the archaeological approaches
closely related to the so-ca... more The paper provides a short overview of the archaeological approaches closely related to the so-called “ontological turn.” It is argued that the alleged reorientation of archaeological theory from epistemology to ontology, broadly referred to as the “ontological turn” strikingly mirrors the political, technological, and environmental issues and context of the contemporary world, and for that reason, its relevance in archaeological research of the past must be deeply, selfreflexively reconsidered.
Archaeology of Crisis. ed. S. Babić. Faculty of Philosophy - University of Belgrade, 2021
The paper aims to explain why ritual practices and related religious beliefs might have played а ... more The paper aims to explain why ritual practices and related religious beliefs might have played а crucial role in power relations and social development in prehistory. For that purpose, it analyzes the possible ritual function that prestige goods might have had in legitimizing someone’s high social status and power. While previous analyses of the ritual function of luxury objects have been focused on the importance of social ties and personal networks established by the practice of ritual exchange, here the focus is on the ritual function of luxury objects in enabling someone of high social status to access the realm of “supernatural” or “primordial” powers. The final discussion is focused on identifying the social crisis that could correspond to the changes in the ritual dealing with prestige goods and the possible social outcomes of the supposed crisis.
Antička Budva: Zbornik radova s Međunarodnog interdisciplinarnog naučnog simpozijuma po pozivu održanog u Budvi 28-30. Novembra 2018. , 2021
The jubilee dedicated to the anniversary of the archaeological
discovery of the ancient necropoli... more The jubilee dedicated to the anniversary of the archaeological discovery of the ancient necropolis in Budva is the opportunity to perceive and revise the phenomena and processes established in the past, i.e. the results of the previous researches, in order to expand the knowledge about them based on the modern scientific methods and prospects. From the first archaeological research in Budva to the present day the archaeology has developed and changed in all aspects, theoretical, methodological and interpretative, and therefore it is likely that some of the initial research results are to be critically reviewed and re-examined so as to open up for formulating new research questions and interpretations of the past of this area. In this context, this paper aims to re-examine and problematize the previous conclusions and assumptions about the first inhabitants of Budva, and based on the modern approach and knowledge offers another angle of interpretation. Unlike the traditional culture-historical approach whose key methodological procedure uses the ethnic-cultural attribution of the findings, the contemporary perspective for solving this dilemma requires the account of social and cultural aspects that the identity of the ancient Budva inhabitants could be based on. Only after explaining the broader social and cultural context of the period when the settlement of Budva was formed, it would become more clear how the archaeological findings from its necropolis could help answer the question – who were the inhabitants of ancient Budva.
The contribution seeks to explore possible convergences in archaeological research, regardless of... more The contribution seeks to explore possible convergences in archaeological research, regardless of the theoretical/methodological approach, based on the case of the considerations of the Iron Age societies of the late prehistory in the Central Balkans. The typological-chronological analysis of decorated whetstones from the region of Glasinac, recently published by Blagoje Govedarica, points to the conclusion of diversification of social roles and horizontal distribution of power and authority, similar to the line of inquiry based upon the concept of heterarchy, currently explored by the authors of postprocessual affinities. In order to recognize these similarities, it is argued that a more efficient communication inside the discipline may be achieved by overcoming terminological barriers separating various theoretical approaches.
Building upon the long history of research in classical archaeology of the ancient Greek sculptur... more Building upon the long history of research in classical archaeology of the ancient Greek sculpture, the paper aims to explore the phenomenon emerging during the Hellenistic period of copying and imitating the Classical sculptors. Based upon the premise that the theory on the development of the Classical Greek art itself dates back into the Hellenistic times, the aim here is to associate the known examples of the Hellenistic sculpture to the then valid theories on the development of art. Furthermore, the stylistic phenomenon of Hellenistic copying is associated to the contemporaneous collectionary practice of the elites, thus indicating the meaning and function of these artefacts in their original context. As the result, the conclusion is proposed that copying and imitating in the Hellenistic art is the consequence of the newly established trend to refer through art to the great role models of the past, already elevated to the status of canonical art.
The second part of the paper investigates the possible social roles of these works of art, as well as the historic narrative promoted by them. On the grounds of the published work on reception of the past in the ancient Greek culture, the conclusion is proposed that the Hellenistic trend of artistic copying and imitating was promoted by the elites, with the intention to create permanent monuments of cultural memory. The Hellenistic sculpture thus had the function to confirm, codify, and materialize the perceptions of the Greek past and identity, and to legitimize certain social interests and values.
Through the critical research into the history of archaeology, the paper aims to explore the infl... more Through the critical research into the history of archaeology, the paper aims to explore the influence of linguistics and, more generally, the role of language in modern societies, upon the formation of the culture-historical approach in the discipline, focusing upon the situation in the Serbian archaeology. In doing so, the author follows the series of the similar critical historical accounts of the history of archaeology, pointing to the conceptual burden carried along with the culture-historical practice of attributing artefacts according to their cultural affiliation, automatically making inferences about the cultural/ ethnic identity of the people who used them. The need to analyse the relationship between linguistics and archaeology at the time of formation of the discipline originates from the standpoint that, even if we do not advocate the complete rejection of the culture-historical tradition (still impossible, however), it is nevertheless necessary to understand the ways i...
The text discusses the epistemological problems and dilemmas of the attempts to study religious l... more The text discusses the epistemological problems and dilemmas of the attempts to study religious life in prehistory by archaeological means. Among numerous difficulties, theoretical as well as practical, hindering these attempts, a general problem is discussed here: is archaeology of religion possible and on what grounds? This dilemma raised a series of discussions over the last decades of the 20th century, primarily among the English-speaking archaeologists. However, in the tradition of regional archaeology of Yugoslavian and post-Yugoslavian lands this discussion has not been initiated, and the religious life of the prehistoric communities has not been the subject of particular research interest. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to bring attention to the possibilities and limitations of research into religion in prehistory, referring to the recent discussions in wider archaeological community. Two questions are discussed: firstly, how religion is conceptualized and defined in...
Traditional debates on analogical thinking, which is at the root of all knowledge about the past,... more Traditional debates on analogical thinking, which is at the root of all knowledge about the past, were founded on the scientific-methodological postulate of the striving for increased control of conditions that affect the research situation, that is, the pre-methodological consensus on the need for objectifying, depersonalizing and regulating research. Faithful to the inherited ideals of objective social science, the archaeological discussion on analogy has for decades focused exclusively on logical-epistemological issues of general methodology; however, it has actually contributed very little to overcoming the fact that the past is not objectively knowable. By introducing the concept of reflexivity into the debate on the analogical character of archaeological thinking, the paper aims to recontextualize the analogy debate which aspires to the positivist ideals of a social science, into a debate on archaeology as a social practice which inevitably and continually draws analogies betw...
The decades-long reconsideration of the concept of culture in archaeology
has been aimed at over... more The decades-long reconsideration of the concept of culture in archaeology
has been aimed at overcoming the traditional culture-historical concept, assuming culture as a relatively stable and homogeneous system of values characteristic of a certain group or a community of people. The practice of cultural classification of artefacts, based upon the premise that people linked by the production and usage of stylistically homogeneous material culture form a group with the feeling of communal identity, has been criticized as a reflection of ethnocentric projection of the modern idea of cultural identity.
In spite of numerous critics of this concept, developed under the influence
of various theoretical strains from the beginning of the 1960s, it seems that the
implicit assumption is still present of the communal cultural identity of a group linked by the communal material culture. Furthermore, an attempt to counteract the critique and offer a multicultural interpretation of the past brings in the danger to rehabilitate the very concept of culture which archaeology has been trying to abandon for decades
Throughout the history of classical scholarship, the research into the presupposed historical tes... more Throughout the history of classical scholarship, the research into the presupposed historical testimonial value of the Homeric poems – Iliad and Odyssey,
has been founded upon the need to empirically confirm the contents of the epics,
or at least some of their elements, as a historical reality; the archaeological study
has been geared towards the confirmation through material evidence. The first
part of the paper lays out the circumstances and research trends that caused this
approach to Homer as a historic source.
Apart from archaeology, an important role in the formulation of the problem of Homeric epics was played by Milman Parry’s anthropological approach,
establishing the oral character of Homer’s language. Although this conclusion
remains key to understanding Homer as a historical source, other important conclusions of the study in oral tradition have remained largely unexplored from
the perspective of archaeological research. Therefore, in the second part of the
paper the proposition is put forward to approach the testimonial value of the
Homeric poems from a more general anthropological perspective, leading to
alternative paths to the archaeological understanding of Homer. The epics will
be presented as an historical source for understanding the cultural change indicated by the fact that the relatively long continuity of oral transmission of the
poems entered a new chapter during the Archaic period, when due to the new
technology of writing, they were translated from the oral to written medium of
communication.
The idea of universal linear course of time is an important element of the
basic framework of re... more The idea of universal linear course of time is an important element of the
basic framework of reference of the archaeological research into the past. However, even the fundamental theoretical premises of the discipline, such as the
conceptualization of time, may be changed and differently interpreted, depending upon the social and cultural context of research. The history of archaeology
in Serbia testifies that, contrary to the generally implicit linear course of time,
the regional past is seen as a series of repetitions, stagnations and detours, implying the assumption of a different, a-historical course of time in the Balkans.
This narrative is especially noticeable in the works dealing with the role of the
Classical Greek-Roman civilization in the Balkan past. The ambivalence of the
leading narratives in Serbian archaeology towards the presumed sources of the
European culture corresponds to the images of the Balkans identified by M.
Todorova as the discourse of Balkanism.
Keywords: discourse of Balkanism, continuity of autochthonous culture, stylistic
archaism/cultural conservatism, the Balkans, archaeological conceptions of time
Starting from the fact that the present knowledge of the late praehistory of the Central Balkans ... more Starting from the fact that the present knowledge of the late praehistory of the Central Balkans is based almost exclusively upon interpretations of funerary remains, the aim of this paper is to investigate the theoretical premises of the archaeological research into burials in this region. Problems and limitations of the traditional culture-historical approach to funerary practices are discussed, and the second part of the paper aims to demonstrate that the shift in theoretical perspective may result in fundamentally different insights into the explanatory potential of funerary rites in archaeology. Keywords: funerary rite, dis/continuity of funerary practice, theory of practice, late praehistory of the Central Balkans, Glasinac
Drawing from the constructivist approach to heritage that defines it as a reflection of contempor... more Drawing from the constructivist approach to heritage that defines it as a reflection of contemporary social circumstances, we attempt to outline the key agencies and processes shaping the reception of the Roman heritage in contemporary Serbia. Our case study points to the process of creation of the main narrative of Roman heritage in the country as Serbia – homeland of the Roman Emperors and to its role in the construction and promotion of social ideologies and identities. Analysis of the increasing popularisation of the legacy of the Roman past in public discourse presents considerable opportunities for questioning the social reality reflected by the reception of Roman heritage in Serbian context.
AEGAEON: Archaeology of the Aegean and the Southern Balkans
This series offers an innovative podium for debating interregional and interdisciplinary approach... more This series offers an innovative podium for debating interregional and interdisciplinary approaches of past populations lived in and around the Aegean basin from the Lower Palaeolithic through the era of Alexander the Great. Increasing research in the last decades on Mainland Greece, the Aegean islands and Crete, in western Anatolia and the southern part of the Balkan peninsula demonstrates the cultural idiosyncrasy of these regions, the formation of social and political complexity, as well as the economic-cultural interaction through land and sea, and their significance in bridging Asia and Europe and the central with the east Mediterranean. AEGAEON’s Editorial Board welcomes monographs (publication of excavations), thematic volumes with theoretical and interdisciplinary methods, and cultural heritage. Together with its companion series DANAPRIS, ARAXES, LEMA, SUBARTU, ARRATA, OXUS and INDUS, AEGAEON forms part of the ARWA collection associated with the International Association for Archaeological Research in Western & Central Asia.
With more than one century of research, Vinča culture is one of the best-studied Neolithic phenom... more With more than one century of research, Vinča culture is one of the best-studied Neolithic phenomena in the Carpathian basin and Southeastern Europe. The vast amount of accumulated data provides a solid ground for thorough discussions on all major aspects of culture's physiognomy. Vinča culture is a synonym for the Late Neolithic of the central Balkans. In the modern geo-political framework the area in question includes territories of Serbia, northern Macedonia, eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, parts of southern Hungary, significant parts of western Romania, as well as limited zones in western Bulgaria. In terms of absolute chronology, taking into account new AMS and carbon dating Vinča culture could be dated to the period between 5400/5300-4600 BC. The origin of Vinča culture communities is still an open question. Since the 1950s, the socalled Balkan-Anatolian migratory thesis has been one of the most accepted and dominant arguments regarding the question of its origin. Basic elements that provided the ground for the claim of Anatolian and south Balkan origins were certain elements in material culture, such as the introduction of reduction technology in pottery production,
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Papers by Zorica Kuzmanovic
closely related to the so-called “ontological turn.” It is argued that the alleged reorientation of archaeological theory from epistemology to ontology, broadly referred to as the “ontological turn” strikingly mirrors the political, technological, and environmental issues and context of the contemporary world, and for that reason, its relevance in archaeological research of the past must be deeply, selfreflexively reconsidered.
and the possible social outcomes of the supposed crisis.
discovery of the ancient necropolis in Budva is the opportunity to perceive
and revise the phenomena and processes established in the past, i.e. the
results of the previous researches, in order to expand the knowledge about
them based on the modern scientific methods and prospects. From the
first archaeological research in Budva to the present day the archaeology
has developed and changed in all aspects, theoretical, methodological and
interpretative, and therefore it is likely that some of the initial research
results are to be critically reviewed and re-examined so as to open up for
formulating new research questions and interpretations of the past of this
area. In this context, this paper aims to re-examine and problematize the
previous conclusions and assumptions about the first inhabitants of Budva,
and based on the modern approach and knowledge offers another angle
of interpretation. Unlike the traditional culture-historical approach whose
key methodological procedure uses the ethnic-cultural attribution of the
findings, the contemporary perspective for solving this dilemma requires
the account of social and cultural aspects that the identity of the ancient
Budva inhabitants could be based on. Only after explaining the broader
social and cultural context of the period when the settlement of Budva was formed, it would become more clear how the archaeological findings from its necropolis could help answer the question – who were the inhabitants of ancient Budva.
The second part of the paper investigates the possible social roles of these works of art, as well as the historic narrative promoted by them. On the grounds of the published work on reception of the past in the ancient Greek culture, the conclusion is proposed that the Hellenistic trend of artistic copying and imitating was promoted by the elites, with the intention to create permanent monuments of cultural memory. The Hellenistic sculpture thus had the function to confirm, codify, and materialize the perceptions of the Greek past and identity, and to legitimize certain social interests and values.
has been aimed at overcoming the traditional culture-historical concept, assuming culture as a relatively stable and homogeneous system of values characteristic of a certain group or a community of people. The practice of cultural classification of artefacts, based upon the premise that people linked by the production and usage of stylistically homogeneous material culture form a group with the feeling of communal identity, has been criticized as a reflection of ethnocentric projection of the modern idea of cultural identity.
In spite of numerous critics of this concept, developed under the influence
of various theoretical strains from the beginning of the 1960s, it seems that the
implicit assumption is still present of the communal cultural identity of a group linked by the communal material culture. Furthermore, an attempt to counteract the critique and offer a multicultural interpretation of the past brings in the danger to rehabilitate the very concept of culture which archaeology has been trying to abandon for decades
has been founded upon the need to empirically confirm the contents of the epics,
or at least some of their elements, as a historical reality; the archaeological study
has been geared towards the confirmation through material evidence. The first
part of the paper lays out the circumstances and research trends that caused this
approach to Homer as a historic source.
Apart from archaeology, an important role in the formulation of the problem of Homeric epics was played by Milman Parry’s anthropological approach,
establishing the oral character of Homer’s language. Although this conclusion
remains key to understanding Homer as a historical source, other important conclusions of the study in oral tradition have remained largely unexplored from
the perspective of archaeological research. Therefore, in the second part of the
paper the proposition is put forward to approach the testimonial value of the
Homeric poems from a more general anthropological perspective, leading to
alternative paths to the archaeological understanding of Homer. The epics will
be presented as an historical source for understanding the cultural change indicated by the fact that the relatively long continuity of oral transmission of the
poems entered a new chapter during the Archaic period, when due to the new
technology of writing, they were translated from the oral to written medium of
communication.
basic framework of reference of the archaeological research into the past. However, even the fundamental theoretical premises of the discipline, such as the
conceptualization of time, may be changed and differently interpreted, depending upon the social and cultural context of research. The history of archaeology
in Serbia testifies that, contrary to the generally implicit linear course of time,
the regional past is seen as a series of repetitions, stagnations and detours, implying the assumption of a different, a-historical course of time in the Balkans.
This narrative is especially noticeable in the works dealing with the role of the
Classical Greek-Roman civilization in the Balkan past. The ambivalence of the
leading narratives in Serbian archaeology towards the presumed sources of the
European culture corresponds to the images of the Balkans identified by M.
Todorova as the discourse of Balkanism.
Keywords: discourse of Balkanism, continuity of autochthonous culture, stylistic
archaism/cultural conservatism, the Balkans, archaeological conceptions of time
Keywords: funerary rite, dis/continuity of funerary practice, theory of
practice, late praehistory of the Central Balkans, Glasinac
closely related to the so-called “ontological turn.” It is argued that the alleged reorientation of archaeological theory from epistemology to ontology, broadly referred to as the “ontological turn” strikingly mirrors the political, technological, and environmental issues and context of the contemporary world, and for that reason, its relevance in archaeological research of the past must be deeply, selfreflexively reconsidered.
and the possible social outcomes of the supposed crisis.
discovery of the ancient necropolis in Budva is the opportunity to perceive
and revise the phenomena and processes established in the past, i.e. the
results of the previous researches, in order to expand the knowledge about
them based on the modern scientific methods and prospects. From the
first archaeological research in Budva to the present day the archaeology
has developed and changed in all aspects, theoretical, methodological and
interpretative, and therefore it is likely that some of the initial research
results are to be critically reviewed and re-examined so as to open up for
formulating new research questions and interpretations of the past of this
area. In this context, this paper aims to re-examine and problematize the
previous conclusions and assumptions about the first inhabitants of Budva,
and based on the modern approach and knowledge offers another angle
of interpretation. Unlike the traditional culture-historical approach whose
key methodological procedure uses the ethnic-cultural attribution of the
findings, the contemporary perspective for solving this dilemma requires
the account of social and cultural aspects that the identity of the ancient
Budva inhabitants could be based on. Only after explaining the broader
social and cultural context of the period when the settlement of Budva was formed, it would become more clear how the archaeological findings from its necropolis could help answer the question – who were the inhabitants of ancient Budva.
The second part of the paper investigates the possible social roles of these works of art, as well as the historic narrative promoted by them. On the grounds of the published work on reception of the past in the ancient Greek culture, the conclusion is proposed that the Hellenistic trend of artistic copying and imitating was promoted by the elites, with the intention to create permanent monuments of cultural memory. The Hellenistic sculpture thus had the function to confirm, codify, and materialize the perceptions of the Greek past and identity, and to legitimize certain social interests and values.
has been aimed at overcoming the traditional culture-historical concept, assuming culture as a relatively stable and homogeneous system of values characteristic of a certain group or a community of people. The practice of cultural classification of artefacts, based upon the premise that people linked by the production and usage of stylistically homogeneous material culture form a group with the feeling of communal identity, has been criticized as a reflection of ethnocentric projection of the modern idea of cultural identity.
In spite of numerous critics of this concept, developed under the influence
of various theoretical strains from the beginning of the 1960s, it seems that the
implicit assumption is still present of the communal cultural identity of a group linked by the communal material culture. Furthermore, an attempt to counteract the critique and offer a multicultural interpretation of the past brings in the danger to rehabilitate the very concept of culture which archaeology has been trying to abandon for decades
has been founded upon the need to empirically confirm the contents of the epics,
or at least some of their elements, as a historical reality; the archaeological study
has been geared towards the confirmation through material evidence. The first
part of the paper lays out the circumstances and research trends that caused this
approach to Homer as a historic source.
Apart from archaeology, an important role in the formulation of the problem of Homeric epics was played by Milman Parry’s anthropological approach,
establishing the oral character of Homer’s language. Although this conclusion
remains key to understanding Homer as a historical source, other important conclusions of the study in oral tradition have remained largely unexplored from
the perspective of archaeological research. Therefore, in the second part of the
paper the proposition is put forward to approach the testimonial value of the
Homeric poems from a more general anthropological perspective, leading to
alternative paths to the archaeological understanding of Homer. The epics will
be presented as an historical source for understanding the cultural change indicated by the fact that the relatively long continuity of oral transmission of the
poems entered a new chapter during the Archaic period, when due to the new
technology of writing, they were translated from the oral to written medium of
communication.
basic framework of reference of the archaeological research into the past. However, even the fundamental theoretical premises of the discipline, such as the
conceptualization of time, may be changed and differently interpreted, depending upon the social and cultural context of research. The history of archaeology
in Serbia testifies that, contrary to the generally implicit linear course of time,
the regional past is seen as a series of repetitions, stagnations and detours, implying the assumption of a different, a-historical course of time in the Balkans.
This narrative is especially noticeable in the works dealing with the role of the
Classical Greek-Roman civilization in the Balkan past. The ambivalence of the
leading narratives in Serbian archaeology towards the presumed sources of the
European culture corresponds to the images of the Balkans identified by M.
Todorova as the discourse of Balkanism.
Keywords: discourse of Balkanism, continuity of autochthonous culture, stylistic
archaism/cultural conservatism, the Balkans, archaeological conceptions of time
Keywords: funerary rite, dis/continuity of funerary practice, theory of
practice, late praehistory of the Central Balkans, Glasinac