CALL. 06.10.2016: Networking in the Ancient World: Tracing Trade and Social Networks 1500BC-AD 400 -
We warmly invite graduate students and early career researchers in Classics, Archaeology, Near Eastern studies and other related disciplines to submit abstracts for a one-day workshop on Networking in the Ancient World.
Despite the absence of modern, quick, communication mechanisms, the ancient world was intersected by a myriad of networks, criss-crossing through and between a variety of different cultures. There is numerous evidence for the extent, distance, and sheer variety of trading and social networks across the ancient world: one of the most famous examples signifying trading networks is the Ulu Burun shipwreck, while the Amarna Letters provide a window into the social interactions of the Egyptian and Near Eastern royal courts and elite of the Bronze Age. Yet bridging the gap between what we can observe and the interpretation of probable events is not straightforward. Text, archaeological finds, and scientific analysis can provide rich sources of evidence for analysing and exploring ancient networks, giving archaeologists and historians a fuller understanding of the social, political, and economic interactions of everyday life over both the short and long term.
FECHA LÍMITE/DEADLINE/SCADENZA: 06/10/2016
FECHA CONGRESO/CONGRESS DATE/DATA CONGRESSO: 28/11/2016
LUGAR/LOCATION/LUOGO: University of Liverpool, Liverpool (England)
ORGANIZADOR/ORGANIZER/ORGANIZZATORE: Kate Caraway ; Juliet Spedding INFO: hsjspedd@student.liverpool.ac.uk ; k.caraway@liverpool.ac.uk CALL:
By bringing together scholars of many different periods and contexts, we intend to explore the variety of approaches for investigating networks. How do we go about untangling networks so that we might gain a fuller understanding of the interactions of ancient peoples and cultures? What different methods can we use? Networks allow us to trace artefact exchange, but can they also provide evidence for the spread of technological ideas and the movements of people? Can the approaches we take reveal social lives and behaviours of individual and groups?
Possible topics can be, but are not limited to:
· Tracing the trade of raw materials and finished objects
· Technological transfer
· Technological choice
· Movement of artisans
· Social networks, e.g. marriage alliance, elite gift giving, diplomatic exchange
· Identification of local imitation vs. importation of luxury goods
Those wishing to present a paper of 20 minutes should please submit an abstract of up to 500 words outlining the proposed subject of their discussion, no later than October 6th, to hsjspedd@student.liverpool.ac.uk