Studying the past with fragments from the fire: student research on an NSF-REU field school

Summary

Significant population increases, the intensification of craft production and new forms of agricultural output characterize a major transition between the18th and 17th century BC on the Great Hungarian Plain. Many archaeologists consider these changes hallmarks of an emerging social class. Yet research from different parts of Eastern Europe suggests that societies were organized in a variety of ways during this regional florescence. This session describes recent investigations into a Bronze Age community buried at the cemetery of Békés 103 in Eastern Hungary, including an international team of undergraduate students funded by the National Science Foundation and the Central European Institute at Quinnipiac University. During the 2015 summer field season a team of 15 students conducted independent research projects on a range of datasets from the cemetery and surrounding area, focused on understanding patterns in trade, identity, and cremation burial practice. In this session the students present their findings related to the site, the funerary customs, and how the cemetery population fit into the trade, population movement, and new identities emerging in Bronze Age Europe during the mid-second millenium.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Studying the Past with Fragments from the Fire: Student Research on an NSF-REU Field School

Keywords

Spatial Coverage