Frontier studies. Investigation into identity and cultural contacts in the border area of ancient Macedonia
Abstract
Until recently, the early history of the ancient Macedonia before the unification by the Argead dynastie (7th-4th ct. BC) had been studied mainly based on the literary evidence.
Only few archaeological findings supplemented the information passed to us by Herodotus or Thucydides. However, the situation has changed dramatically in the last two decades.
The intense excavations around the Thermaic Gulf unearthed several necropolises and settlements, which shed light on the socio-cultural development, economic and environmental fundaments or ideological beliefs. Distinctive data found in the necropolis around Thessaloniki are also attested at some iron age burial sites to the west of the gulf, reaching up to the lake Ohrid, with that at Trebenište or Ohrid (Gorna Porta) being the best known.
The graves contained rich grave-goods, gold lozenge-shaped sheets which covered the mouth of the deceased, jewellery of the type "Macedonian bronzes", imported weapons and pottery from Greece. Bearing the advance of the proto-state structures in the southern Macedonia in mind, the question arises how should one interpret this comparability of the burial goods, albeit there are some local nuances? Different explanations have been postulated in the past: expansion of the Argead dynasty, Hellenization etc.
However, these assumptions were mainly constructed on a later historical evidence and a lack of verifiable archaeological data. This poster will introduce an ongoing survey project in the region of the lake Ohrid, a hub on a super-regional connection between the Adriatic and Aegean Sea, later known as Via Egnatia.
The project would first allow a detailed reconstruction of the historical landscape and - on this basis - the complex socio-cultural environment, in which the identity of the elites in this part of the ancient Macedonia was constructed in the early history. The presented results are embedded in the broader cooperation between the Charles University in Prague and the Archaeological Museum of Macedonia.