On Thursday, October 26, Giulia Saltini Semerari, UMMAA curator and anthropology professor, will present a FAST lecture on "Connectivity in the Adriatic Sea between the Late Bronze Age and the Orientalizing period: current issues and future perspectives." The lecture is at 6 pm in the Classics Library (Angell Hall 2175). The talk is part of the Kelsey Museum's Field Archaeology Series on Thursday. Free and open to the public.
In antiquity the Adriatic Sea functioned as a seam between vast regions of the Mediterranean and Europe, bridging the long, culturally diverse shorelines of the Balkans and the Italian peninsula. It was also one of the more direct sea routes from anywhere in the Mediterranean to the heart of central Europe and, via the latter’s rivers, the Northern and Baltic Seas. These long-distance routes moved amber, and at specific times copper, along the Adriatic coasts and into the Mediterranean. At the same time, shorter-distance, cross-Adriatic connections have been documented from the Neolithic onwards. Yet while diachronic shifts in the shape and intensity of these connections are obvious, our understanding of the local social processes shaping Adriatic connectivity through time is still coarse. To tackle this question, Saltini Semerari conducted preliminary research in two river valleys situated on the opposite shores of the Adriatic (Southern Italy and Albania) with the aim of setting up a long-term collaborative project. This talk will provide a general introduction and very preliminary report of these activities, along with a discussion of future research perspectives within the framework of Mediterranean archaeology studies.
