|
 |
The long-established research of Prehistory and West Asian/Northeast African archaeology (the former
Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology, OREA) at the Austrian Academy of Sciences
was transformed into a department of the »new« Austrian Archaeological Institute (OeAI) at the
Austrian Academy of Sciences in 2021. This merging of several institutes into the new OeAI offers a
wide range of new opportunities for basic and interdisciplinary research, which support the traditional
research focus as well as the development of new projects in world archaeology.
The research areas of the Department of Prehistory and West Asian/Northeast African Archaeology
include Quaternary archaeology, Prehistory, Near Eastern archaeology and Egyptology. The groups
cover an essential cultural area of prehistoric and early historical developments in Europe, Northeast
Africa and West Asia. Prehistory is embedded in the world archaeology concept without geographical
borders, including projects beyond this core zone, as well as a scientific and interdisciplinary approach.
The focus lies in the time horizon from the Pleistocene about 2.6 million years ago to the transformation
of societies into historical epochs in the 1st millennium BC. The chronological expertise of the
groups covers the periods Palaeolithic,
Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. The
archaeology of West Asia and Northeast Africa is linked to the Mediterranean and Europe, which
enables large-scale and chronologically broad basic research on human history. The department consists
of the following seven groups: »Quaternary Archaeology«, »Prehistoric Phenomena«, »Prehistoric
Identities«, »Archaeology in Egypt and Sudan«, »Archaeology of the Levant«, »Mediterranean
Economies« and »Urnfield Culture Networks«. The groups conduct fieldwork and material analyses
in Austria, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Serbia, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Greece, Cyprus, Türkiye, Iran, the United
Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Sudan and South Africa.
|
