Community of the Borderland between the East and West of Europe in the 2nd Millennium BC. 05-WPB-12-Arch-1a
The lecture discusses cultural phenomena taking place in the borderland between eastern and western Europe in the 2nd millennium BC.
1. Introduction. Different aspects of the borderland: chronological/historical, spatial/geographical, social, political, ethnic, linguistic, religious, mental, and cultural/civilization-related.
The area between the Baltic and Black seas as a borderland between the cultural traditions of eastern and western Europe.
2. The cultural situation in east-central Europe at the end of the 3rd and in the early 2nd millennia BC.
3. Major cultural formations in the area between the Baltic and Black seas in the 2nd millennium BC – a general taxonomic description.
4. Settlement rules and economic strategies.
5. Ritual life – orthodoxy and syncretic forms.
6. Social structures – the identity of borderland people.
7. Intra- and intercultural contacts. Long-distance communication routes. Peaceful interactions vs. armed conflicts.
Module learning aims
Major
Cycle of studies
Module type
Year of studies (where relevant)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Students should acquire understanding of complex processes producing a specific ‘borderland culture’ – a set of patterns of cultural behaviour, frequently syncretic and not found in the ‘centre’. As a result, students should be able to evaluate the situation in the said area at that time on their own. This knowledge will serve as a foundation for further study of the prehistory of east-central Europe in the Bronze Age. This may take the form of research projects and Master’s theses concerned with the culture of the area between the Baltic and Black seas.
Assessment criteria
exam
Bibliography
Routes between the Seas: Baltic-Bug-Boh-Pont from the 3rd to the middle of the 1st millennium BC, A. Kośko, V. I. Klochko (eds)„Baltic-Pontic Studies”, tom 14, Poznań 2009.
M. Ignaczak, A. Kośko, M. Szmyt (red.) Między Bałtykiem a Morzem Czarnym. Szlaki międzymorza IV – I tys. przed Chr., Archaeologia Bimaris, Dyskusje, tom IV, Poznań 2011.
Makarowicz P., Trzciniecki krąg kulturowy – wspólnota pogranicza Wschodu i Zachodu Europy, Poznań 2010.
D.W. Anthony, The horse, the wheel and language. How Bronze-Age riders from the Eurasian Steppes shaped the modern world, Oxford 2007.
Additional information
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