The organisation of pottery production and specialised handcraft (Z-COFUND-7)

Third-party funded project

The main purpose of this research project is to examine through an archaeometric approach the pottery production from Arslantepe in the Malatya Plain (Eastern Anatolia) and the Upper Euphrates Valley between the Late Chalcolithic 1 and the Early Bronze Age III (4250-2000 BCE) in order to define: the raw material procurement patterns, the complexity level of the production modes, the nature of interactions between the communities of the Malatya plain, the Euphrates valley and the surrounding Anatolian world. In more detail, the aim ist to assess the elements of continuity/discontinuity of such aspects in connection with the significant social, economic and political changes occurred during the two millennia under investigation.

Dayr Anba Hadra (B-4-6)

Research project

Deir Anba Hadra, also known as monastery of St. Simeon, is located on the West bank of Assuan across from Elephantine island about one kilometer inland on the gebel, overlooking a desert valley. Its ruin, dominated by the monumental residential tower, belongs to the best-preserved specimens of monastic architecture from late antique and early Islamicate Egypt. The ongoing work on the monastery, a cooperation between the German Archaeological Institute, Dept. Cairo, and the Excellence Cluster Topoi further expands on the architectural history of the church, its painted decoration, the economic buildings of the monastery, and archaeo-botanical research.

Glass Production in Komariv (A-6-10)

Research project

The settlement of Komariv is associated with extensive production of glass vessels, which required corresponding know-how and employed Roman production methods. The initial studies in this project focus on the site itself and an analysis of the glass fragments salvaged from there.

Diet and subsistence practices in the Dnieper area of the North-Pontic region (A-2-1-1)

Dissertation

The research of this dissertation is focused on the analysis of organic residues in ancient pottery vessels whose fragments derive from several prehistoric settlements in the Dnepr region of the Ukraine and date from the 4th to the 3rd Mill. B.C. The scientific procedure that will be applied on these vessels has the purpose to investigate both the variations in food processing and also the human palaeodiet with the idea to decrease the difficulties of reconstructing paleoeconomic systems of the steppe regions and thus to provide new and concrete data in the study of an area historically very complex.

Oikonomia and Domestic Economy in Classical Greece (B-3-5-1)

Dissertation

There is a certain irony involved in the discussion of ancient Greek household economy. Although the very concept of ‘Hauswirtschaft’ sparked the debate on the nature of the Ancient economy at the end of the 19th century, this debate never ventured far in developing a theory of household economy. This may be no accident. Despite all the polarization, so called ‘modernists’ and ‘primitivists’ shared a common notion of household economy (or ‘domestic economy’). It was supposed to be an archaic form of economic organization, aiming at autarky and self-sufficiency.

This Ph. D.-thesis follows a different lead. In classical times (ca. 450 – 300 B. C. E.) the Greek household economy adapted to the monetized markets of its urban environment. Not only that: the household was never surpassed as the most efficient form of economic organization.