Dissertations
- Die Rolle der Musik in antiken griechischen Prozessionen
This thesis is based first of all on the fact that the most commonly used instrument in processions, the aulos, belonged to the loudest instrument group in ancient times, the wind instruments.
- Sites of Bronze Age Deposition in Central Europe
The doctoral research projects of Daniel Neumann and Tilmann Vachta analysed the spatial characteristics of selective deposition in the Bronze Age landscape in two adjacent regions of Central Europe: the Alpine Area and the low mountain range. Tilmann Vachta’s research focused on places of bronze age deposition in the area between Moselle and Bohemia. Daniel Neumann’s research focused on places of bronze age deposition in the Central European Alpine area.
- The Pythaïs. A study of the procession from Athens to Delphi.
The goal of this project was, by means of archaeological and literary sources, to try to localise the course of the procession and to study the correlations between the space the procession went through, including the sacred places and the ritual activities of the participants. Furthermore the aim was to visualize the reconstructed sacred space in a Geographic Information System.
- The use of ceramic vessels in commensal contexts of the Ubaid and Uruk periods in southern Mesopotamia and southwest Iran.
The doctoral research of Carolin Jauß is studying culinary practice in the context of societal change at the time of early urban and state development in southern Mesopotamia and southwest Iran (5000–3000 BCE). The focus is on the analysis of pottery vessels as instruments for food preparation and consumption.
- Verticality in procession and ritual. The Fiesta de Santiago in the South-Central Andes
The work addressed the extent to which the strongly vertically segmented high-mountain landscape influences the perception and representation of space in religious rituals. In addition, analysis was conducted into how the diverse Fiestas de Santiago are combined into an entire festival season and integrated into a complex ritual landscape. In this context, for example, the intensive reciprocal relations existing between ceremonies in rural and urban space were worked out.
Research Projects
- Commensality and Shared Space in the Context of Early State and Urban Development in Mesopotamia and Southwest Iran
The project poses three main questions: (1) whether and how the processes associated with the emergence of early state and urban societies in Mesopotamia and southwestern Iran had an impact on commensal practices spatially and socially; (2) how commensality contributed to the production and transmission of collective identities; and (3) how special feasts related to quotidian commensality.
- Die Erschließung von Räumen durch Prozessionen in der Antike
Die übergeordnete Forschungsfrage beschäftigte sich mit der Konstruktion sakraler Landschaften und der Analyse der Interaktion zwischen Raum und rituellen Handlungen im antiken Griechenland.
- Heilige Berge – Rituelle Topographien
Innerhalb dieses Projektes wurde hinterfragt, in welcher Weise sakrale Räume durch rituelles Handeln im Kontext von Pilgerreisen und Prozessionen sowie durch die Alltagspraxis konstituiert, angeeignet und verändert werden.
- Hort und Raum
In dem Forschungsprojekt Hort und Raum wurde erstmals versucht, Horte und einzeln deponierte Bronzegegenstände für die Identifizierung “anderer” oder “besonderer Orte” der Bronzezeit zu verwenden. Dadurch ließ sich anhand der Horte nicht nur eine Perspektive auf den Raum gewinnen, sondern auch eine bislang völlig unterrepräsentierte und weitgehend unerforschte Kategorie von Orten erschließen.
- Musikarchäologie der Räume – Vergangene Klangwelten im kulturgeschichtlichen Kontext
Im Zentrum des Projektes stand die Frage nach der Funktion von Musik in Räumen, die durch politische und religiöse Sachverhalte gekennzeichnet sind.