Workshop: The eastern Adriatic and the Balkans: trade and exchange in context, from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages

 

13. November 2024
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Raum / Room 01 114 - RW 5 (building Recht und Wirtschaft I)
Jakob-Welder-Weg 9, - 55128 Mainz

 

Ever since Prehistory, trade, exchange, and all kinds of economic activities have been a crucial factor to boost cultural transfer and even shape societies and human groups. Hence the study of production and distribution of goods, and the circulation of both artefacts and craftsmen, play a fundamental and irreplaceable role for the understanding of our past. Research in this field makes large use of archaeological sources, but this is even truer for the ‘Dark Ages’, as the surviving written evidence from these centuries is rather scarce compared to earlier and later periods.

In the 5th / 6th to the 9th centuries, the Eastern Adriatic and Balkan areas witnessed relevant political changes resulting from interaction and conflicts between Eastern, Western, and local powers: they are, therefore, an exceptional framework to study trade and exchange in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. However, a number of very meaningful categories of finds from these regions have not received sufficient attention in general economic studies.

The workshop will gather archaeologists and historians from a number of European Institutions who work on this extremely rich body of evidence, thus representing a precious opportunity to catch up on the most recent research results in this field.

Students are very welcome!

Contact: Dr. Michelle Beghelli

mibeghel@uni-mainz.de

 

 

Programme

 

13:00-13:20 Uhr – Michelle Beghelli, Vasiliki Tsamakda (JGU)

Welcome from the Department

 

13:20-13:40 Uhr – Neven Budak (University of Rijeka)

Economy in Late Antique to Early Medieval Balkans: a general introduction and the case of slaves’ trade

 

13:40-14:00 Uhr – Goran Bilogrivić (University of Rijeka)

Production and distribution of Carolingian swords – a view from the Empire's southeastern periphery

 

14:00-14:40 Uhr – Discussion & coffee break

 

14:40-15:00 Uhr – Michelle Beghelli (JGU, AvH Feodor Lynen), Ivona Galić (University of Zagreb)

Movement of makers, movement of goods, and their economic context. A general survey and some examples from the market of stone objects in the Eastern Adriatic regions (5th - 9th centuries)

 

15:00-15:20 Uhr – Giulia Marsili (University of Bologna)

Workshop networks from the Byzantine East to the Balkans and the Adriatic region: the case of stone artefacts (5th - 7th centuries)

 

15:20-15:40 Uhr – Alexander Sarantis (Leiza, Mainz)

The impact of raiding warfare on the economy of the central and northern Balkans, 565-626

 

15:40-16:20 Uhr – Discussion & coffee break

 

16:20-16:40 Uhr – Antonia Kovač, Branka Milošević (Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments, MHAS, Split)

Soapstone vessels from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages: distribution along the Eastern Adriatic coast. Analysis of new findings

 

16:40-17:00 Uhr – Sauro Gelichi (University Ca’ Foscari Venezia)

Trade and exchange in the Early Medieval Northern Adriatic regions. An overview.

 

17:00-17:20 Uhr – Paul Arthur (University of Salento)

Bread for Byzantium: the potential of the rotary quern

 

17:20-17:40 Uhr – Discussion

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