AEA_31 The Early Metal Ages in Europe

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Klára Šabatová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. Mgr. Jiří Macháček, Ph.D.
Department of Archaeology and Museology – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Jitka Šibíčková
Supplier department: Department of Archaeology and Museology – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites (in Czech)
Absolvování kurzu AEA_31 The Early Metal Ages in Europe výhodou nikoli podmínkou.
Předmět je součástí bloku teoretických přednášek k pravěkým a historickým dějinám Evropy a je určen zájemcům o problematiku.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
This course is intended to provide a superstructure of knowledge in a Europe-wide context, on top of the knowledge of the Bronze Age and the Hallstatt Period in Central Europe. Emphasis is put on the European system of periods and the chronological systems of the early metal ages and orientation in academic literature.
Learning outcomes
After completion of the course, student will be able to:
- compare the concept of the Bronze Age in different geographic regions of Europe;
- identify the key issues of Bronze Age research in Europe;
- characterize the main periods of the Bronze Age in Europe;
- describe the methodological problems of the Bronze Age research.
Syllabus
  • 1. General characteristic of the European Bronze Age. When does the Bronze Age begin?
  • 2. Basic periodisation systems of the European Bronze Age (O. Montelius, P. Reinecke, S. Müller, N. Aberg, G. V. Childe, J. Kostrzewski, A. Mozsolics, I. Bóna, H. Müller-Karpe, B. Hänsel etc.). Problems of mutual synchronisation. Absolute chronology of the Bronze Age.
  • 3. Bronze Age in the Aegean. Minoan and Mycenaean Cultures. Main figures in Aegean archaeology.
  • 4. Western coast of Anatolia in the Bronze Age. History of research at Hissarlik. Trojan stratigraphy. Problem of the “Sea Peoples”.
  • 5. Bronze Age in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula (Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania). Overview of individual cultures.
  • 6. Bronze Age in Serbia, Bosnia, Dalmatia, Croatia and Slovenia. Overview of development of tell cultures.
  • 7. Bronze Age in Carpatho-Ukraine and in East Europe. Territorial regions. Chronological criteria. Overview of cultures.
  • 8. Bronze Age in Poland. Periodisation. Research on the complex of Lusatian Urnfields.
  • 9. Nordic Bronze Age
  • 10. Bronze Age on the Apennine Peninsula. Pile-dwelling settlements (palafittes, terramares). Alpine Bronze Age.
  • 11. Bronze Age in the Upper Danube region, Rhineland and Central Germany. Bronze metallurgy centres. Complex of Middle Bronze Age Tumulus cultures. South German Urnfields.
  • 12. Problems of the “pre-Scythian archaeology”. Cimmerians, Thraco-Cimmerians. Mezőcsát complex.
Literature
    required literature
  • The Oxford handbook of the European Bronze Age. Edited by Harry Fokkens - A. F. Harding. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, xxxi, 979. ISBN 9780199572861. info
  • HARDING, A. F. European societies in the Bronze Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, 552 s. ISBN 0521367298. info
  • FALKENSTEIN, Frank. Feudvar : Ausgrabungen und Forschungen in einer Mikroregion am Zusammenfluß von Donau und Theiß. Edited by Bernhard Hänsel - Predrag Medović. Kiel: Oetker/Voges, 1998, 396 s. ISBN 3980433246. info
    recommended literature
  • HÄNSEL, Bernhard, Kristina MIHOVILIĆ and Biba TERŽAN. Monkodonja :Forschungen zu einer protourbanen Siedlung der Bronzezeit Istriens. Edited by Claudia Gerling - Helmut Kroll - Damir Matošević - Igor Medarić - B. Pula: Arheološki muzej Istre, 2015, 588 stran. ISBN 9789536153930. info
  • IVANČIK, Askol'd Igorevič. Kimmerijcy i Skifykulturno-istoričeskije i chronologičeskije problemy archeologiji vostočnoevropejskich Stepej i Kavkaza pred- i ranneskifskogo vremeni. Moskau: Deutsches archäologisches Institut Eurasien-Abteilung, 2001, 323 s. ISBN 589526008X. info
  • Mensch und Umwelt in der Bronzezeit Europas : [Abschlußtagung der Kampagne des Europarates: Die Bronzezeit: das erste goldene Zeitalter Europas an der Freien Universität Berlin, 17.-19. März 1997 : Beitrage und Ergebnisse] : Die Bronzezeit : das erste go. Edited by Bernhard Hänsel. Kiel: Oetker-Voges Verlag, 1998, 576 s. : i. ISBN 3-9804322-2-X. info
  • Gaben an die Götter :Schätze der Bronzenzeit Europas. Edited by Alix Hänsel - Bernhard Hänsel. Berlin: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1997, 241 s. ISBN 3-88609-201-1. info
  • BOUZEK, Jan. Greece, Anatolia and Europe :cultural interrelations during the early Iron Age. Jonsered: Paul Aströms Förlag, 1997, 322 s., [1. ISBN 91-7081-168-7. info
  • Handel, Tausch und Verkehr im bronze- und früheisenzeitlichen Südosteuropa. Edited by Bernhard Hänsel. München: Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft, 1995, 377 s. ISBN 3-925450-47-5. info
  • BOUZEK, Jan. The aegean, anatolia and Europe : cultural interrelations in the second millennium B.C. 1. vyd. Praha: Academia, 1985, 269 s. info
  • HÄNSEL, Bernhard. Beiträge zur regionalen und chronologischen Gliederung der älteren Hallstattzeit an der unteren Donau. Bonn: Rudolf Habelt, 1976, v, 13. ISBN 3774913013. info
Teaching methods
lectures
Assessment methods
Requirements for the examination:
- reading of specialised literature
- knowledge of basic periodisation systems of the Bronze Age and fundamental facts about two out of three geographic spheres:
1. Mediterranean and the Balkans
2. Poland, Russia and Pontic area in the Bronze Age, Cimmerians
3. Italy, Germany and Nordic Bronze Age
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Information on completion of the course: Informace ke způsobu ukončení viz sylabus.
The course is taught once in two years.
The course is taught: every week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 1999, Autumn 2001, Autumn 2003, Autumn 2005, Autumn 2007, Autumn 2009, Autumn 2011, Spring 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2020.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
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