Projects / Programmes
January 1, 2015
- December 31, 2021
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.02.00 |
Humanities |
Archaeology |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H340 |
Humanities |
Archaeology |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 6.01 |
Humanities |
History and Archaeology |
Archaeology, Prehistory, Antiquity, Middle Ages, Epigraphy, Basic and Interdisciplinary Research, Databases, Slovenia, South-eastern Alpine Region.
Researchers (27)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The proposed programme, ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH, will be focused on basic research aiming to develop knowledge about the development of humans and society in the early history of the south-eastern Alpine region.
The multileveled programme comprises an ample spectrum of essential topics, from introducing and verifying new research methods, creating databases and documentation systems for analysing settlement patterns, economy, social processes and the way of life of the people who settled the SE Alpine region from the Prehistory to the Early Middle Ages.
The archaeology of the Neolithic and Eneolithic will focus on investigations of the chronology, the settlement pattern dynamics, the economy and the palaeo-environment in various geographical regions of Slovenia.
The economic and social dynamics of the Bronze Age will be discussed while analysing cemeteries, funeral rituals, hoards and stray finds.
The cultural phenomena and processes of the Iron Age will be studied regarding the interregional connections with central Europe, Italy and the western Balkans. The large Early Iron Age settlement Most na Soči will be analysed, the relative chronology for the Dolenjska Hallstatt group will be renewed, and the study of the Iron Age iron tools and equipment will be prepared. Findings at the important archaeological site of Mokronog will be published.
Roman settlements will be explored on three different levels representing autonomous towns, small central settlements and villae rusticae. The processes of Romanization will also be investigated.
The database of Roman inscriptions from Slovenia will be upgraded steadily. A study of the Roman inscriptions from Emona will be finished. The translation with comments on the selected chapters from the Strabo’s Geography will be prepared. The synthesis The History of Slovenian territory in the Roman period will be finished.
The settlement and material culture of the Late Antiquity will be researched with the focus on important sites (e.g. Korinjski hrib and Križna gora) and the defence system (Claustra Alpium Iuliarum).
In the context of the Early Middle Ages studies, structural analysis of cemeteries, settlements and the landscape will be carried out. The development of society, economy and ideology and their stratification will be studied with specific emphasis on the thus-far neglected Early Medieval elites in the period from 9th to 11th centuries.
In the field of palynology, Late Pleistocene and Holocene vegetation in Slovenia and the impact of human settlements and economy on vegetation will be studied. In archaeobotanical research, the macro-remains of plants from archaeological sites will be studied to determine the nature of the plant diets of the inhabitants and suggest the economy and the vegetation. In archaeozoology, the economic conditions in complex societies will be studied as well as their social, functional and ethnic differentiation. Attention will also be paid to the noneconomic exploitation of animals and human impact on the environment.
Significance for science
Archaeology is a scientific discipline in the field of the humanities that plays a decisive role in creating awareness of human development and activities in periods of the remote past. Accordingly, a critical distance is established towards opposing ideological and mythic explanations of past developments that still have a great influence on the current relations in the contemporary society. In an attempt to go beyond actual state borders, which do not correspond with the past frontiers between archaeologically defined groups, we extend our research to a broad area of the eastern Alps and western Balkans. However, the research programme ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH, as it is proposed, represents an important segment of archaeological research in the territory of central Europe.
Significance for the country
The research programme ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH is a complex one, binding all necessary types of research approaches that must be performed by the Institute of Archaeology at the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU) as the central national research institution in the field of archaeology. The extent of the research programme is wide. It covers the topics from the questions concerning methodology, creating databases and publishing archaeological artefacts to the syntheses of socioeconomic processes and development of the societies from the Prehistory to the Early Middle Ages. The importance of the programme shall also be seen in rising sensitivity about the meaning of national identity, protecting and presenting the cultural heritage and in the valorization of the cultural landscape. The research programme is also incorporated into the educational processes of two Slovenian universities and, as such, has an educational importance.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2015,
interim report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2015,
interim report
