In recent years, the spatial, social and economic re-contextualization of ancient artifacts has reached an impressive level of analytic precision and complexity. The new workshop series 'Archäologische Grundbegriffe' (Archaeological Concepts) attempts to challenge the systemic particularization of our archaeological record – a particularization driven by endless data mining, historization, contextualization, and constructivist paradigms. In search for a new impact of ancient images and objects, we want to ask how to benefit from ancient messages under present conditions. Are we able to translate them into norms and strategies of wider concern, while appreciating their individual, historical situations?
The first workshop in our series will focus on a seminal concept of modern European thinking: the concept of freedom, which played a notoriously radical role already in the formation of archaeological hermeneutics in the Age of Enlightenment. We are calling for critical contributions highlighting ancient objects and images concerning that very concept. The archaeological record is to be analysed, for example, with regard to the following aspects: freedom as an anthropological concept; visualizations of political, religious, legal and civil freedom, e.g. relating to the terminology of eleutheria and libertas; notions of artistic and creative license; limits of visual expression. We also focus on the field of material evidence documenting deprivation of liberty and practices of mental or physical coercion. Both fragmentary spotlights deriving from peripheral or ephemeral contexts and masterpieces of the classical canon are welcome. We highly encourage close reading of images and objects. We appreciate a strong focus on case studies leading to a fruitful discussion of norms and values. In our workshop, the papers will be enriched by introducing key texts reflecting the European history of the concept of freedom, which will be communicated to participants in advance. We welcome contributions from both Classics and Archaeology. Inspiring papers will be published in the first issue of the 'Zeitschrift für archäologische Aufklärung'.
If you wish to contribute a paper (30 min), please send a title and a brief summary of discussion points to julian.schreyer@fau.de by the 31st of March. Travel and accommodation costs for invited participants will be covered.