3 - 4 pm (CET)

Venue:

Einstein Center Chronoi

Otto-von-Simson-Straße 7, 14195 Berlin

Dr. Annapaola Passerini

Radiocarbon dating is the most widely used method to obtain independent calendar dates in the absence of written records. However, its application is often subordinated to pre-existing chrono-typological paradigms that favor a “block-time” model of the past, where all the action is concentrated at the transition between archaeologically defined “periods” or “cultural phases”. The juxtaposition of radiocarbon dates and archaeological units can be misleading when dealing with periods where the calibration curve is affected by chronometric ambiguity, sometimes resulting in multi-centennial ranges. Unless combined with contextual Bayesian chronological modeling, this ambiguity causes preexisting narratives of change to prevail in interpreting radiocarbon dates, reducing their value as independent observations.

This talk will examine the effects of chrono-typological thinking on the understanding of archaeological “transitions”, using the period between the Early and the Middle Bronze Age in the South Caucasus as a case study. This transition (ca. 2500-2000 BCE) is typically described as a historical acceleration – from the homogeneous egalitarian, village-based societies of the Kura-Araxes tradition to the more dynamic hierarchical, mobile communities of burial mound builders known as the “Early Kurgan cultures”. Scholars are at odds with explaining this transformation, failing to reconcile temporalities ascribed to seemingly incompatible lifestyles. This struggle is the artifact of chrono-typological assumptions about the nature of these periods, combined with the reliance on unmodeled radiocarbon dates. By providing an overview of chronometric and archaeological data against the intellectual background of Bronze Age studies in the South Caucasus, this talk conceptualizes transitions as an onto-chronological question. Rather than focusing on visible material typological change exclusively, the talk will examine the role of other invisible temporalities in explaining changes in socio-cultural aggregation and landscape inhabitation. In doing so, it will highlight the potential of contextual Bayesian chronological modeling to disclose the multi-temporal intersections at play in the archaeological record.

Participants can join the online Chronoi Talk by clicking on the following link:

https://fu-berlin.webex.com/fu-berlin/j.php?MTID=mf07a50b4622a478107b21f0e6d2c4c21

The conference room can be accessed using the following methods:

• Joining directly in your browser; simply click the link above, and look for a button with this option near the bottom of the webpage.

• Downloading the program to your computer (instructions can be found by following the meeting link)

• Using the smartphone app called "Cisco Webex Meetings."

You are welcome to enter the online conference room up to 15 minutes in advance of the start time.