Archaeology of Human Contacts

The Viking Age in popular culture is often set in a dark and lawless era, a
Hollywood conception of Ultima Thule, in which individual warriors fought
for personal glory. But the archaeological evidence suggests a much different
reality; the tale told by the inanimate objects uncovered from archaeological
sites is one of a highly organized society in which justice
and equality mattered. This view is also supported by the written sources.
Most scholars concede that society in Roman Iron Age to Viking Age
Scandinavia was well organized, and that a process of state building was
under way. Less focus, however, has been put on warfare and military
tactics during this period. What was warfare really like in Norway and
Scandinavia in the years before, and during, the Viking Age? In this paper,
an attempt will be made to analyze the extent to which early Scandinavian
society was organized for warfare, and possible external influences on
Scandinavian tactics in the Roman Iron Age and up to the Viking Age/
early medieval period will be explored.

""Résumé - A la fin du VIIe et au VIe s. av. J.-C., seule la frange méridionale des Garrigues du Languedoc oriental et la valJée du Rhône sont concernés par la diffusion des produits grecs et étrusques. Ce sont essentiellement des vases à boire, proportionnellement aussi abondants que dans les secteurs littoraux et témoignant des mêmes sources d'approvisionnement. En revanche, et contrairement à ce Languedoc côtier, les amphores y sont fort peu nombreuses. Les Indigènes des Garrigues parviennent à obtenir les biens étrangers sans doute les
moins coûteux, et qui possèdent néanmoins une signification
symbolique forte, comme le montre leur présence dans les sépultures des personnages importants. Il faut attendre le Ve s.
av. J.-C. pour voir la distribution évoluer et se rapprocher de
ce que connaissait la région littorale depuis la fin du VIIe s.

Abstract - At the end of the VIIth and in the VIth century B.C. only
the southern fringe of the garrigues of the eastern Languedoc
and the Rhone valley are involved in the diffusion of Greek and Etruscan products. These are mainly drinking cups, proportionally
as abundant as in the coastal areas and witnessing to the same supply sources. On the other hand, in contrast with the coast of the Languedoc, amphorae are very rare. The indigenous inhabitants of the Garrigues manage to obtain the doubtless least expensive foreign goods that possess nevertheless a strong symbolic meaning, as is proved by their preence in the graves of important persons. Only in the Vth century B.C. the distribution is noted to expand and to approach that already existing in the coastal area since the end of the VIIth century."

// Археология Евразийских степей. 2018. №1. С.130-177.
The Azelino: the movement to the East. The Azelino Artefacts Eastward of their Home Area
В статье рассмотрены случаи обнаружения предметов азелинских типов в комплексах мазунинской культуры. На основании составленного каталога находок определяются особенности распространения азелинских вещей к востоку от собственно азелинского ареала. Движение происходило однонаправленно – с запада (из азелино) на восток (в мазунино); обратное движение было минимальным. Механизм продвижения различен: распространение вещей (отдельные предметы) и продвижение людей с вещами (наборы предметов в одном комплексе).

Abstract in Englisch:
This diploma thesis is a critique of the concept of “contact”. The central starting point for this critical analysis is the identification of “Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation” as “uncontacted”, or “Uncontacted Tribes”. This critique is centred on the meaning of “contact” in and for Eurocentric colonial and imperial contexts. Here, “contact” is identified as the mission, message and proclamation of Eurocentric power, which transmits, translates, differentiates and claims perception, identification and space. Taking this perspective, “contact” is identified as a central concept for Eurocentric ("post"-) colonial and imperial structure and oppression, as well as pursuit and projection of the frontier, the “self” and the “other”. The pursuit of “contact” is marked by the increased importance of messengers and travellers, along with their messages and travel stories, for example about the priest king Prester John, which makes them identifiable as precursors of conquistadors and “discoverers”.
A central point for deconstructing “contact” as Eurocentric differentiation and power proclamation is the problématique of the uncertainty of perception. With this uncertain perception, challenges for the Eurocentric “self” are identifiable. These challenges are discussed through the “uncanny” in the Freudian sense, as well as through the paternalistic identification of “women”, which opens the concluding analysis of “isolation”. The final argument of the thesis seeks to understand the term “isolation”, as in the case of “Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation”, as questioning the territoriality of states, because it undercuts the hidden claims of “contact”-”ability”, the Eurocentric message, mission, proclamation and claim of “contact”, and thus the legitimisation of its “self”-perception, colonial structures and access to space and life. The thesis closes by advocating a perspective which makes ways of encounter and messaging discussable elements which can significantly translate, occupy and enforce perceptions and structures, as with the claim of “isolation” and “contact”.

Keywords in Englisch:
ability, perception, encounter, mission/message, frontier, isolation, Indigenous Peoples, unknown, contact, eurocentrism

Abstract in Deutsch:
Die vorliegende Diplomarbeit setzt sich kritisch mit dem Konzept „Kontakt“ auseinander. Die kritische Analyse der Identifikation von „Indigenen Völkern in freiwilliger Isolation“ als „unkontaktiert“, bzw. „Unkontaktierte Stämme“ ist hierfür zentraler Ausgangspunkt. Die Kritik wird anhand der Bedeutung von „Kontakt“ in und für eurozentrisch kolonial-imperiale Kontexte ausgeführt. Hierbei wird „Kontakt“ als Botschaft und Proklamation eurozentrischer Macht verortet, welche Wahrnehmung, Identifikationen und Räume vermittelt, übersetzt, differenziert und beansprucht. Aufbauend auf dieser Perspektive, wird „Kontakt“ als zentrales Konzept für eurozentrisch („post“-) kolonial-imperiale Strukturen und Unterdrückung, sowie Streben und Projektion des Grenzraums, des „Selbst“ und des „Anderen“ identifiziert. Entscheidend für dieses „Kontakt“-Streben ist die gestiegene Bedeutung von Botschafter*innen und Reisenden, bzw. ihrer*seiner Botschaften und Reisegeschichten über z.B. den Priesterkönig Johannes, wodurch sie als Vorgänger zu Konquistadoren und „Entdecker*innen“ identifiziert werden.
Zentraler Ansatzpunkt für die Dekonstruktion von „Kontakt“ als eurozentrische Differenzierung und Macht-Proklamation, ist die Problematik der unscharfen Wahrnehmung. Anhand dieser unscharfen Wahrnehmung werden Herausforderungen für das eurozentrische „Selbst“ identifiziert. Diese Herausforderungen werden als „unheimlich“ im Sinn von Freud und anhand der paternalistischen Identifizierung der „Frau“ thematisiert und eröffnet dadurch die abschließende Analyse von „Isolation“. Das Schlussargument der Arbeit ist, das „Isolation“, wie im Fall „Indigener Völker in freiwilliger Isolation“, Territorialstaatlichkeit in Frage stellt, da es den dahinter liegenden Anspruch auf „Kontakt“-Fähigkeit, bzw. die eurozentrische Botschaft, Proklamation und Beanspruchung von „Kontakt“, und somit der Legitimation von dessen „Selbst“-Wahrnehmung, kolonialer Strukturen und Zugang zu Räumen und Leben zuvorkommt. Die Diplomarbeit schließt mit dem Anspruch auf eine Perspektive welche Begegnungsweisen und Botschaften als Elemente diskutierbar macht, welche Wahrnehmung und Strukturen gesellschaftlich bedeutend übersetzen, besetzen und durchsetzen, wie durch den Anspruch von „Isolation“ und „Kontakt“.

Schlagwörter in Deutsch:
Fähigkeit, Wahrnehmung, Begegnung, Botschaft, Frontier, Isolation, Indigene Völker, das Unbekannte, Kontakt, Eurozentrismus

Résumé - Prospections et fouilles fournissent un inventaire de 52 gisements ayant livré des fragments d'amphores massaliètes, groupés pour la très grande majorité dans les Garrigues; aucun n'a été repéré dans la montagne cévenole et un seul en Lozère où pourtant les céramiques fines méditerranéennes ont pénétré sur plusieurs sites. Les seules données chiffrées concernent la période du VIe au IVe s. av. J.-C. et paraissent indiquer une
raréfaction progressive du sud vers le nord.
Abstract -
Prospecting and excavating have yielded a list of 52 sites where fragments of Massaliote amphorae were found, for the most part located in the Garrigues ; none have beeen foun in the Cévennes mountains and only one in Lozère, even though flne Mediterranean pottery has penetrated into several
sites. The only counting data concern the period from the
VIth to the IVlh century B.e. and appear to indicate an increasing
scarcity from south to north.

This paper is primarily oriented to young scholars interested in comparative studies involving diverse genres, multiple modes of representation or evidence from multiple cultures in order to help navigate a common problem area.  It outlines certain distinctions that are important for the study of traditions.  These are distinctions between the formal, surface level of representation (e.g. language, iconographic symbols), that which is represented or communicated (e.g. narrative) and more abstract conceptual models (e.g. beliefs about mounds or hills being inhabited by invisible people). 

Discussion is illustrated through a number of briefly addressed examples several of which will be familiar to Old Norse scholars, including Thor's fishing adventure with the World Serpent.

В активно публикуемых в последнее время материалах могильника Нейзац в центральном Крыму есть несколько групп находок, привлекших внимание параллелями в археологии Прикамья. Здесь речь идет об одном типе ножен, единично встреченным в прикамских материалах сарматского времени. Такая конструкция получает большее распространение позднее (Прикамье, рязано-окские могильники). В порядке обсуждения раннюю находку из Усть-Сарапул, погребение 88 возможно сопоставить с конструктивно близкими из могильников Дружное и Нейзац.
Materials from Neizats cemetery in the Central Crimea that are being actively published in recent years contain several groups of finds attracting attention due to their parallels in the archaeology of the Kama Area. This paper addresses a type of scabbard, which isolated find occurs among the materials from the Sarmatian period in the Kama Area. Its construction became widespread later (in the Kama area and in the cemeteries in the Riazan’ – Oka Area). The idea is to discuss the connection between an early find from Grave 88 in Ust’-Sarapulka  cemetery  and  the  artefacts  of  similar construction  originating  from  Druzhnoe  and  Neizats cemeteries.

A semi-popular article describes the supraregional contacts of the Central European Barbarians based on the archaeological finds and written sources. The archaeological assemblage consits of the finds made of garnets/almandines, ivory, and silk. Pointed out is also an archaeobotanical evidence (black pepper, etc.).

So far, the significance and choice of location of early-medieval silver-hoard deposition sites in western Slavic regions have been interpreted on the assumption that the hoards were to be later recovered. In consequence, practices such as depositing hoards in topographically-distinct zones (elevations, lakeshores, riverbanks and marsh edges), covering them with single stones or stone heaps and concealing them in abandoned cemeteries or settlements have been construed as methods of marking the hiding spots of particular deposits, which would have enabled an easy recovery of the buried valuables in the future.
However, reconstructions of the medieval system of values and perception of space allow a different interpretation of the phenomena observable in the source material. An analysis of the topographic features of hoard deposition sites has demonstrated their remarkable similarity to places which appear in the written sources as boundary marks delimiting medieval land grants. This correlation implies that deposition sites could have been understood in the past as 'sites-signs': expressions of the social perception of space and its limits. As illustrated by numerous examples, this perception was based on magical and religious evaluation of space. The choice of liminal areas for hoard deposition could have therefore depended on their symbolic character, which was rooted in the culturally-determined model of shared meanings and values of the period.
A hypothetical demand for hiding metal deposits in liminal areas invites a reassessment of the function of the deposits themselves. Keeping in mind the sacred chapter of liminal zones, we must allow the possibility that some deposits, contrary to recent assumptions, could have functioned as sacrifices or foundation grants connected with a ritual delimitation of space. On the other hand, the burying of hoards in places marked with the power of sacrum could also have had a magical significance as a practice ensuring a safe preservation of valuables while not in use.
At present, it is impossible to decisively support one of the possibilities presented above. However, whichever motivation is taken to be the case, our considerations lead major conclusion. Namely, contrary to recent assumptions, the process of silver-hoard deposition in the early Middle Ages was not determined exclusively by what we understand today as purely technical factors. The main agent in this process was person who endowed his activities with significance by adhering to a culturally-conditioned system of values and beliefs. The selection of a suitable deposition spot was inherent in the contemporary magical and religious mode of evaluating the world. Not only did the actions performed have a utilitarian dimension but they also expressed the world of symbolic imagery, which is often overlooked in modern analyses. Both aspects merged to form a syncretic unity and they therefore provide the only possible basis for the interpretation of actions performed in the early Middle Ages. In the early medieval world, boulders, barrows, elevations and rivers were not only orientation points informing the depositor about the location of the buried hoard. Endowed with magical and religious values, their significance extended far beyond what we regard as their material aspect.

This study attempts to interpret the symbols (a falcon “crowned” with a cross, a key, and a Riurikid bident) found on a newly discovered tenth-century trapezoidal pendant from Pskov. Aside from a handful of imitation dirham coins that carry identical images of the falcon, no other parallels of these symbols or their combination have yet been discovered. Based on various sources, it is argued that the pendant was jointly issued to a Rus’ administrator-revenue collector by Grand Princess Olga and her son Sviatoslav at the time of his minority but not prior to Olga’s administrative reforms in the late 940s, i.e., ca. 950. While the bident was Sviatoslav’s dynastic emblem (reserved for reigning male Riurikids), Olga’s authority over the realm and her minor son was represented by way of a key (latchlifter) and a falcon. The key carried legal and possibly religious symbolism of right over the domain, while the falcon represented religious as well as royal authority. But, both emblems can ...

The article of A.A. Krasnopeorov is dedicated examines the problem of «the End» of Mazunino archaeological culture that existed in the Kama-river valley. This commonality was one of the brightest in the southern borderlands of forest zone during the most of the 1st millennium AD.
Important events take place at the turn of the 4th-5th centuries, when the population completely leaves the right bank of the Kama River, but continues to live on the left bank. The reasons for the incident are not yet clear. The return of people to the right bank is recorded only at the end of the 5th century.

Krasnoperov A.A., Bakhshiev I.I. Materials of the Nizhnearmetovsky cemetery of the Late Sarmatian period from Bashkir Museums collection
Статья посвящена публикации и анализу материалов Нижнеарметовского могильника (Ишимбайский район Республики Башкортостан) хранящихся в музеях Уфы. Приводится по-дробная характеристика памятника и история его изучения. Набор артефактов соотносится с позднесарматскими древностями Южного Приуралья, датируется первой половиной III в. н.э. Датировку определяют находки зеркала-подвески группы Хазанов-2, пряжка Малашев-П2, и фи-була группы Амброз-13. Показано культурное своеобразие населения правобережья среднего те-чения р. Белая, обусловленное контактами поздних сармат с оседлым населением Приуралья. Необычный для позднесарматских памятников предмет-костяная ложка. Эта категория имела распространение в раннесарматское время. Сюльгама специфического типа связывает комплекс с памятниками азелинской (Азелинский и Суворовский могильники, Кировская обл., р. Вятка), «древнемордовской» (Селиксенский и Тезиковский могильники, Пензенская обл.), рязано-ок-ской (могильник Заречье, Рязанская обл.) и дьяковской (Щуровский могильник, Московская обл.) культур. Нижнеарметовский, и ближайшие, Ахмеровский II и Салиховский могильники, отличаются своеобразным сочетанием сарматских и не сарматских элементов, и, вероятно, оставлены смешанным населением, или группами, испытавшими существенные взаимные влия-ния. Три перечисленных могильника составляют территориально компактную группу, от кото-рой заметно отличается четвертый могильник этого времени, Дербеневский, расположенный южнее, и не показывающий не-сарматских черт. Перспективной выглядит попытка привлечения керамических материалов со стоянок горно-лесной зоны Южного Урала и некоторых поселений северной части правобережья р. Белая. И со стороны оседлого населения (мазунинская культура) фиксируются подвижки ареала в южном направлении. Причины этих процессов еще только предстоит определить. Ключевые слова: Приуралье, позднесарматская культура, курганный могильник, вещевой инвентарь, хронология, контакты. На рубеже III-IV вв. н. э. в степной зоне Южного Урала исчезают позднесарматские па-мятники. Одновременно с этим на правобережье среднего течения р. Белой и в долине р. Се-леук, появляются достаточно компактно расположенные курганные некрополи оставленные смешанным населением позднесарматского времени (Дербеневский, II Ахметовский, Сали-ховский и Нижнеарметовский) (рис. 1). Несмотря на то, что последний памятник известен давно и даже эпизодически упоминается в литературе (Пшеничнюк, 1992: 81; Овсянников, 2007: 312; 2009: рис. 7, 20), для широкого круга специалистов его материалы оказались не доступны. В предлагаемой статье сохранившаяся часть вещевого комплекса публикуется полно-стью впервые. Относительная редкость позднесарматских погребальных памятников на Южном Урале лишний раз актуализирует необходимость ввода в широкий научный оборот неопубликован-ных материалов. Эти, возможно, не очень яркие, но показательные археологические ком-плексы, позволяют, тем не менее, сделать ряд важных заключений. Общая характеристика и история изучения памятника Нижнеарметовские курганы располагаются на восточной окраине дер. Нижнеарметово Ишимбайского района Республики Башкортостан, на территории мусульманского кладбища.

This thesis studies the contacts between Scandinavia and the Mediterranean area during the
Scandinavian Bronze Age. These contacts have been the topic of controversy for a long time as
one side of the debate believes in direct contacts between Scandinavia and the Mediterranean
area, and the other side believes that contacts between the two areas could only have been by
down the line trading contacts. This thesis then aims to see what evidence there is that the
contacts would have been direct or otherwise. This is done by studying the archaeological
evidence as well as the pictographic depictions on rock art in Scandinavia and painted pottery
from the Mediterranean area, as well as ships and ship technology to understand if Scandinavian
ships would have been able to travel to the Mediterranean in the first place. Further, this thesis
also studies the urn burials introduced to Scandinavia during the Bronze Age from northern
Italy to see the spreading of ideas, as well as isotope analysis of bronze from Sweden and
Denmark together with strontium analysis of Bronze Age individuals to form a complete picture
about these contacts and how they took place.

Грунтовая часть Тураевского могильника стала известна в 1969 г., раскопки осуществлялись в 1986-1990 гг., памятник полностью опубликован. Среди инвентаря Тураево, п. 73 есть не-сколько пластинчатых подвесок прямоугольной и трапециевидной формы, вопрос о происхож-дении которых требует повторного анализа. Подвески из Тураево, п. 73 совсем не характерны для мазунинских. При простоте формы и техники подвески почти не находят аналогий в син-хронных памятниках. Таких нет в ближайших родственных культурах, гляденовской, кара-абызской, азелинской, их нет ни у сармат, ни в «древнемордовских» памятниках, ни у рязано-окцев. Ближайшие территории, где представлены пластинчатые украшения, это ареалы дьяков-ской и мощинской культур. Контекст находок показывает, что и на позднедьяковских, и на мо-щинских памятниках такие украшения сопряжены с находками вещей круга восточноевропей-ских эмалей, и являются местным локальным вариантом «эмалевого» комплекса. Кроме киев-ской, пластинчатые вещи представлены на памятниках зарубинецкой и культуры поздней штрихованной керамики. Дата комплекса Тураево, п. 73 неоднозначна. Железные височные подвески и железная бабочковидная фибула характерны для второго большого периода мазу-нинской культуры. Но бусинный материал дает дату в пределах III в., скорее второй его поло-вины или середины. В пользу этой датировки свидетельствует набор подвесок, пластинчатых, имеющих истоки в уборе круга эмалей, и из фрагмента эполетообразной застежки предшест-вующей пьяноборской культуры. Находки круга эмалей эпизодически встречаются в Прикамье, и относятся ко 2-й (азелинские могильники) и 3-й (мазунинские могильники) стадиям развития. Механизм передачи можно предполагать через среду позднезарубинецкого (Ахмедов, 2018: 150, 157) и киевского населения (Бикляньское селище) в процессе их продвижения на восток (Ахмедов, Белоцерковская, 2007: 273). Ключевые слова: погребальный инвентарь, пластинчатые украшения, хронология, мазу-нинская культура, Прикамье, восточноевропейские выемчатые эмали.

This article focuses on commodity exchange and its agents as seen in the material culture of the 11th and 12th century in Sigtuna, Sweden. It is claimed that historical archaeology has downplayed the role of merchants in the process of social structuring of society. The reason for this is twofold. Firstly, trade is problematic to investigate empirically and royal power in control of every-day transactions is overestimated. Secondly, the theoretical platform when studying exchange has been based on substantivist anthropological analogies, creating static conclusions. By doing so, the social transgression from dependent trader to free merchant is blurred. In this article I stress the need for a new theoretical framework and analyses conducted closer to the archaeological record to achieve regionally based interpretations. Thus, by confronting models and artefacts a contextual connection to the past can be gained. To understand the transformation of the agents, their social organisation is of importance. Social identities and cooperative efforts expressed in guilds and trade regulations show a considerable variation in spreading economic risks. Interpretations of German-Scandinavian trade based on written sources claim a late 12th century presence of the former in the Baltic Sea. In the article, small glass ovals, alsengems, are used to discuss the reification of social identities through emblematic style. Combining the gems with another category of artefacts, the Pingsdorf pottery, organised Saxon and Frisian merchants are suggested to be present in Sigtuna already in the 11th century.

El arte rupestre aborigen de la Tierra de Arnhem constituye un archivo grafico excepcional de la cultura, las creencias y las tradiciones de los moradores indigenas que habitaron aquellos territorios durante generaciones. En los ultimos 350 anos el imaginario indigena experimento algunas modificaciones interesantes, como la incorporacion de nuevos temas, los cuales derivan de los encuentros interculturales que se fueron produciendo entre los grupos locales y diversas poblaciones foraneas (inicialmente procedentes del Sudeste Asiatico y mas tarde de Europa) en la costa norte de Australia. En este trabajo se analizan esos encuentros y las representaciones de contacto visibles en el arte rupestre indigena. Asimismo se define que entendemos por arte de contacto y que valor tiene como documento historico y arqueologico para mejorar nuestra comprension de tales acercamientos. Por ultimo, se avanzan algunas novedades, como la constatacion de la continuidad de lasrepresentaciones de tipo tr...

"The trials to reinterpret the senses attributed in the past to some phenomena of broadly defined sphere of the Slavic exchange done in recent years have faced a constant opposition of the adherents of the older conceptions. What is especially disliked among the Polish archaeologists are the trials to adopt the theories of anthropology or cultural studies, which describe the cultural specificity of the historical societies, in their field. These are the models to be the grounds for the new interpretations of the issues mentioned above. My guess is that a distrust of the trials to renovate the old metaphors is caused by the epistemological naturalism, i.e. an unaware appeal to the objective model of scientific knowledge, still dominant among many scholars and the positivistic belief in an axiological neutrality of so called material evidence. This is the inevitable root cause of the accusations made in discussions (e.g. by M. Bogucki). They are aimed at the authors of the new interpretations who are blamed for a seemingly botchy investigation, overinterpretation and manipulation of the sources.
What is the real source of the dispute being under way are not the subject matter arrangements, but the conceptual assumptions (the epistemological and methodological ones) that primarily direct the detailed studies made at a further stage. A lack of the agreement on the conceptual basis makes the subject matter disputes impossible. There will be no room for talk about the possible or impossible states of affairs of the past, if there is no common theoretical sphere elaborated to steer the epistemological process.
What suitably illustrates the lack of the postulated “communicative community” is M. Bogucki’s argument stand. It is based, among other things, on a fallacious reading of the leading theses of my conception. Apart from the explanations and formal corrections, in the text presented above I show the problem I raised did not concern the social functions of a precious metal and deposit, as my opponent claimed. What was at stake there was a line and nature of the process of depositing silver seen in the context of the postulated syncretism of the traditional Slavic culture of the early Middle Ages. From the point of view of the cultural studies that aim at taking the perspective of the historical subjects into consideration during an interpretation, the very appeal to the old distinctions to distinguish between so called economic and cult (returnable and not returnable) treasures remains the epistemologically vain and useless treatment. My position is essentially grounded in the idea that there is a tight and subjectively invisible conjunction of the symbolic sphere and the technological sphere of culture to be found in the traditional societies of the early Middle Ages. (The idea  is referred to the thoughts presented by the scholars like Max Weber, Ernst Cassirer, Johan Huizinga or Aron Guriewicz.) In other words, in the traditional societies of the period in question there were symbolic actions, although plainly indistinguishable in their status yet,  to be involved in any “practical” action (e.g. depositing a treasure). While trying to show the specificity of the early medieval deposits in terms of the classification valid up-to-date one could therefore say that any treasure was of both the economic and the cult nature. While considering the empirical observation the very duality of the treasures specificity may have been represented, as I postulate, by a special, i.e.“sacral” nature of  the sites where to hide the Western Slavic deposits in the early Middle Ages period.
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This thesis studies the contacts between Scandinavia and the Mediterranean area during the Scandinavian Bronze Age. These contacts have been the topic of controversy for a long time as one side of the debate believes in direct contacts between Scandinavia and the Mediterranean area, and the other side believes that contacts between the two areas could only have been by down the line trading contacts. This thesis then aims to see what evidence there is that the contacts would have been direct or otherwise. This is done by studying the archaeological evidence as well as the pictographic depictions on rock art in Scandinavia and painted pottery from the Mediterranean area, as well as ships and ship technology to understand if Scandinavian ships would have been able to travel to the Mediterranean in the first place. Further, this thesis also studies the urn burials introduced to Scandinavia during the Bronze Age from northern Italy to see the spreading of ideas, as well as isotope analy...

Understanding the first century of European and African presence in American lands demands an analysis of three terms that designate specific stages of the occupation and settlement process: discovery, conquest and colonization. Unfortunately, they are usually either taken as synonyms or as anachronisms, blurring the perception of the differences in History. Each one of these stages implicated the adoption of different interaction strategies between the seamen, the ships and boats, the environment and the native people. This fact has determined the construction of distinct maritime landscapes whose material remains are today spread and superposed in a space that is still inhabited and, therefore, in permanent mutation. The aim of this chapter is to propose interpretations, based on the archeological remains, on what these maritime landscapes might look like and how these landscapes could help to develop a more encompassing History of the forms of power that came to be from the contact between different societies, in the sixteenth century, in the Central South coast of Brazil.

According to an approach commonly accepted in the humanities nowadays, the correct interpretation of the past requires one to consider the character and content of common ideas shared by the communities which are the subject of historical analysis. These days, researchers aim to interpret historical phenomena in terms of hypothetically reconstructed traditional epistemology. Therefore, in order to understand the circumstances in which members of early-mediaeval Slavonic communities used to conceal silver hoards, the author has reconstructed the historical social ideas concerning the material that constituted these deposits.
In traditional cultures, a significant criterion for the classification of an object was its aetiology. Folk communities explained the origins of objects not only through myths,but also through their proprietary and temporal-spatial connotations. In the early Middle Ages, silver was associated with the sacral zone of orbis exterior and was closely linked with those ruled by the chthonic deity Veles (for example merchants, women and the dead). Precious metal was classed among dangerous objects on account of its ability to awaken a man's desire, which was destructive to existing social bonds. The magic of silver can be compared to the power of the Germanic magic known as seidr: the art of raising reprehensible emotions leading to the loss of mind, and to diseases and death. Similarly, in the Christian tradition silver was usually associated with the infernal figure of the devil.
In folk cultures, objects remaining in constant social circulation were viewed with particular ambivalence. In the eyes of local communities, silver - used in the exchange of goods - acquired the characteristics of a ritually uncontrollable substance and thus needed to be treated according to the rules of taboo. One example of such rules being applied, which emerges from the source material, is the order to keep silver in a specially assigned place. Very often, Slavonic hoards were deposited on hilltops, under stones and boulders, near rivers, streams, lakes, and in swamps. In the folk worldview, these were mediatory places, boundary points where the familiar settlement space met the sacred space of the orbis exterior. Among Slavonic folk communities, the ritual removal of dangerous objects beyond village boundaries was practised as late as the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Such actions allowed the traditional mind to retain the important idea of harmony between the characteristics of a deposited object and the place of its deposition.
In the eyes of members of early-mediaeval traditional cultures, the very gesture of depositing silver in the ground could be linked to the 'mortal' classification of that metal. The deposit, an object subjected to ritual manipulation, could therefore be identified with the dead. This view is corroborated not only by known cases of depositing hoards in ancient and early-mediaeval cemeteries. It is also noteworthy that close analogies exist between the topographic features of early-mediaeval cemetery sites and places of hoard deposition, and that use is made of stones in an identical manner in both cases. In this context, it is also worth mentioning that vessels containing silver hoards occasionally included objects commonly used as grave goods (for example, glass and stone beads, knives, spindle-whorls). Furthermore, hoards were sometimes placed in vessels equivalent to locally used funerary urns.

The Tyrrhenian Sea appears as a geographically well defined space, enclosed within the Italian coasts and the big islands. During the Proto-historic Age, therefore, this is the scenery of development for a mosaic of cultures whose some will produce the under-layer of great ancient civilizations. With the setting of the cultural, commercial and colonial nets, of archaic and then classic periods, native and far-away peoples here give their contribution to the building up of new complex identities, although joined together thanks to the shared vector of the navigations and of the exchanges. Their cohabitation on a territory more and more reduced by the economic tensions and by the early will of predominance, at the origin of the first international conflicts in the Western Mediterranean Sea, will arrive therefore very often to some worthy forms of syncretism and of melting, voluntary or forced ones. Therefore, Ligurians, Etruscans and other peoples of the Pre-Roman Italy, Sicilians, Sardinians, Corses, but also Greeks and Punicians have given a contribute, after a balance concept, continuously put under discussion, into writing almost four centuries of small or big stories, up to the arrival of the Roman world.
The aim of the international day of studies FERTIGE13 (acronym of Iron –Age-, Tyrrhenian –Sea-, Genoa 2013) is to make dynamic the net of the young researchers, gathering about a dozen of PhD students and PhD doctors (up to five years since the end of the PhD), from different nations, who deal subjects concerning the space and the chronology in this way defined for the meeting, with a special remark for the inter-disciplinary approaches. The lecturers will be invited to present some papers related to this subject, pointing out the setting within a context on an inter-regional scale and focusing on the concerned methods, in the optic to compare at the best the nowadays dynamics of research among the different institutions.

This workshop will be kept on Thursday the 5th of December 2013 at the University of Genoa (University of the Studies of Genoa, via Balbi 2, 16126 Genoa). The papers will be in Italian, French or English; they will last 20 minutes and they will be followed by 10 minutes of discussion.

A summary of about 300 words with the presentation of title and of the content of the paper, as well as the affiliation and statute remarks of the lecturer (or lecturers), jointly to a CV summarized in an A4, will have to be sent within the 15th of September 2013 to the organizing committee:

Eliana PICCARDI
Doctorant, Università degli Studi di Genova, Université d’Aix/Marseille I
elianapiccardi@gmail.com
and
Kewin PECHE-QUILICHINI
Chercheur associé, LAMPEA, Université Aix-Marseille I, LRA Corse
bainzu.di.baiucheddu@voila.fr

The summary will be submitted to the scientific board of the workshop who will examine every proposal in sight of the acceptation or not, and will communicate it within the 15th of October 2013.