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Abstracts
Keynote Lectures

Die genetische Geschichte Europas: Migration und Anpassung in der

Vorgeschichte
Johannes Krause
Jena

Mit Hilfe von genetischen Analysen prähistorischer Skelette lassen sich

Ereignisse aus der Menschheitsgeschichte rekonstruieren, die für
Archäologen und Historiker häufig im Verborgenen bleiben. Im
Besonderen der Zusammenhang zwischen Migration und
Epochenübergängen in prähistorischen Zeiten, welcher sich anhand
von Grabbeigaben und anderen archäologischen Artefakten nur
begrenzt untersuchen lässt. So wurde über viele Jahre diskutiert, ob
der Übergang von Wildbeutern zu Ackerbauern am Beginn der
Jungsteinzeit in Europa mit einer Einwanderung aus Anatolien
verknüpft war oder ob es sich um eine kulturelle Weitergabe von
innovativen Techniken und domestizierten Tieren und Pflanzen
handelte. Eine ähnliche Frage stellte sich in Bezug auf den Übergang
zwischen Steinzeit und Bronzezeit. Um diesen Fragen auf den Grund
zu gehen, wurden in den letzten Jahren tausende prähistorische
Individuen genomweit untersucht, um Veränderungen in der
genetischen Zusammensetzung der frühen Europäer im
Zusammenhang mit Epochen-wechseln zu beleuchten. Dabei wurden
Hinweise auf zwei massive Migrationsereignisse gefunden, die ihre
Spuren in allen heutigen Westeurasiern hinterlassen haben

Migration Research in Turbulent Times: Past and Present
Gianni D'Amato
Neuchâtel
Based on an analysis of social transformations in connection with
migration, this contribution will outline the political and social
challenges linked to migration and its shift to mobility studies. The
current socio-economic and political context is characterized by an
accelerated globalization and a simultaneous relativization of the
welfare state consensus. On the one hand, the loss of cohesiveness is
characterized by the global spread of the market and a new regional
security architecture. On the other hand, new social and civil society
actors have emerged and once powerful political institutions such as
trade unions and churches are competing to set relevant social issues.
Especially in phases of social turbulence, such as after the economic
crises of 1973 and 2007, solidarity and rights are increasingly
politicized. In this context, this politicization of the migration issue is
evidence of the spread of resentment in the political system of liberal
democracies. A different view of immigrants is therefore necessary.
A mobile age : Mesopotamia in the 18th century BC
Nele Ziegler
Paris
The rich written documentation of the Old Babylonian period shows a
world in which interregional contacts, the exchange of knowledge and
goods were commonplace throughout the Near East. The inhabitants
of Mesopotamia could travel or be sent to remote areas, people from
other parts of the Orient came to their cities, whether as messengers,
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allied soldiers or slaves. Nomads and sedentary people were in
constant contact. This lively exchange led to common standards,
which can be seen above all in writing, but also in material culture, but
it could also be conflictual. The deportation of defeated populations,
their forced settlement in foreign places and the consequences of this
policy will be addressed. The lecture will illustrate the consequences
of the mobility of the people of that time by means of a few selected
examples.
The numerical traditions of the ancient Near East:
Contact, transformation, and the preservation of cultural identity
Karenleigh A. Overmann
Colorado Springs
The ancient Near East was a place where at least three independent
numerical traditions, those of the peoples today usually known as
Sumerians, Akkadians, and Elamites, came into contact through the
movements of people. Each of these traditions is examined anew
through comparisons to contemporary number systems. Next
discussed are the transformations realized by their being brought into
contact, particularly through the availability, adoption, and spread of
writing as an essential technology. In modern scenarios, indigenous
numerical traditions are often displaced or near-totally replaced
through contact. Yet after thousands of years of contact, social
interaction, and transformational change, the outcome for the Near
Eastern numerical traditions was ultimately one in which cultural
identity was preserved. This is brought into particular focus by
Akkadian numbers and the decimal identity they retained despite
millennia of using Sumerian sexagesimal numbers.
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ID Compass
Alexandra Cabral Movalatex – Carmen Carmona – Anneke Gräper
Lisbon – El Coronil – Hamburg

An artist collective, we explore a playful approach to the concept of

migration. The focus of the project “Identity Compass" lies not only on
the final objet d'art but also on the creative journey, employing diverse
ways of the artistic expression: drawing, projection, installation,
performance, painting, fashion & textiles. Understanding migration as
a phenomenon of movement, this is likewise experienced by the group
itself. While individual work and characters of group members
influence both research and the development of artistic expression,
working long distance in different countries and interacting digitally,
we exchange visuals and ideas, inspire each others’ work and question
the concept of authorship at the same time, merging concepts into a
artwork.
Online meetings offer space of expression, challenging the
status quo and leading to a new level. The project reflects on the
connection between migration and the concept of space in its broadest
sense: topographical, physical, affective, political, technical,
epigenetic, cultural and social. We investigate migration as a concept
of individual identity, developing several spaces intimately connected
to this. Individual change is constantly interacting with changing
dispositions between several spaces. Creative processes centre on
forces of attraction (emotional, spiritual, etc.), movement as a energy
(kinetic, astronomic, social, etc.), natural cycles/solar cycle. Individual
and collective changes through interaction are mirrored in our work
process and give our group it name: „Identity compass“.
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Workshop Novák – Payne Ancient migration and modern colonialism: constructions,

After the Collapse: An Anatolian Migration to the Northern Levant? comparisons and the vexed question of cultural interaction in the
• Burial Customs (Lorenzo D'Alfonso) context of the Phoenician westward expansion
• Migrating knowledge. Stoneworking in the LBA and beginning Marion Bolder-Boos
of the Iron Age from Anatolia (Marina Pucci) Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
• Scribal issues (Florian Lippke – Annick Payne)
• Stadtplanung & Architektur (Mirko Novák) European scholarship of the 18th to early 20th century often regarded
• Public affairs: on the polity of Karkemish in the early Iron age the Greeks as a great colonial power, whose westward migration
(Hasan Peker) brought cultural advancements to many supposedly backwards areas
• The North Orontes Valley as Refugia in the Early Iron Age? of the ancient Mediterranean and beyond. Contemporary Phoenician
(Tim Harrison) migration, on the other hand, was mostly interpreted as constituting
a network of ports-of-call set up to facilitate Phoenician trade
between the Levant and the central and western Mediterranean. The
Phoenicians were therefore often thought to have contributed very
little to the cultural development of indigenous peoples beyond
supplying them with foreign goods in return for local resources.
In some countries, notably Britain, this form of “colonisation”
was regarded to be most humanising and civilising, and British
intellectuals even saw a spiritual kinship with the ancient Phoenicians.
In other countries, were a closer relationship with the ancient Greeks
or Romans was cultivated, particularly Germany and France, a disdain
for the Phoenicians and their westward expansion developed, not
least due to growing rivalries with Britain. The proposed paper will
demonstrate how intricately the interpretation of Phoenician
westward migration was influenced by nationalist and colonialist
sentiments prevalent among European powers such as France, Britain
and Germany from the 18th century onwards, especially when those
powers sought to explain their own place in the world by drawing
comparisons to and constructing relationships with ancient
civilisations.

Les étrangers du Proche-Orient antique dans l'Égypte pharaonique :
représentations politico-religieuses et réalités sociales
Hélène Bouillon
Paris
L'attitude de l'Égypte envers les « Asiatiques » a évolué au cours des
siècles : représentés majoritairement comme des ennemis extérieurs
jusqu'à la fin de l'Ancien Empire, les âamou se sont transformés en «
envahisseurs » durant la Première Période Intermédiaire. Ce n'est qu'à
partir du Moyen Empire que les sources écrites révèlent des étrangers
du Proche-Orient comme habitants de la vallée du Nil.
Au Bronze Récent, le monde méditerranéen développe des
relations commerciales et diplomatiques à distance et le phénomène
migratoire devient plus visible. L'Égypte du Nouvel Empire n'est pas
isolée et subit les mêmes transformations. Des peuples encore
appelés « Asiatiques », viennent d'horizons encore divers. Leur
spectre sociologique est large et va du mineur au vizir. Contrairement
à ce que véhiculent les images figées par le dogme politico-religieux,
l'État pharaonique est un système ouvert, où il ne semble pas si
difficile pour le « vil Asiatique » de se faire une place au soleil égyptien.
Une étude approfondie des sources textuelles, mais aussi
iconographiques et archéologiques montre même que le Moyen-
Orient a considérablement influencé la société égyptienne. Le rôle de
ces étrangers venus du Proche-Orient, en tant que future épouse ou
serviteur royal, ambassadeur ou ingénieur, ouvrier qualifié ou simple
prisonnier de guerre, est crucial. Cette présentation propose une
courte synthèse ainsi que des pistes de réflexion pour étudier l'impact
de l'immigration proche-orientale sur la civilisation égyptienne.
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Importierte Seuche - die Pestgebete Murshilis II.
Melanie Carafa
Bern
In the context of my presentation on imported epidemics, I would like
to focus specifically on the Dahamunzu affair from the 2nd millennium
BC, in order to examine and present the circumstances, which led to
the grassing of a dangerous epidemic more closely. The Dahamunzu
Affair is a political phenomenon between the Ancient Egyptian Empire
and the Hittites that occurred at the end of the Egyptian 18th Dynasty,
which is the Amarna Period. This circumstance is one of the most
remarkable in the ancient oriental history and still meets with great
interest in the research world. The Hittite Great King Šuppiluliuma I
had just invaded the Egyptian borderland of Amka when the news of
the childless royal widow of Egypt reached him. In her letter, she
desperately asked for a son as a consort to take over the rule of Egypt.
This request astonished the Hittite king, who suspected intrigue
behind it, but he accepted the offer. Šuppiluliuma I sent his son
Zannanza to Egypt, who, it is believed, was murdered by the Egyptians.
In response to this atrocity, Šuppiluliuma I launched a retaliatory
strike. The prisoners of this campaign carried a disease, most likely the
plague, into Anatolia, to which Šuppiluliuma I also fell victim. The
outbreak of this devastating epidemic was able to prevent the
expansion of the Hittites towards Palestine and brought it to a halt for
the time being. It is not clear what exactly the disease was, researchers
speak of the "Syrian plague". It is said to have been so ravaging that
Muršili II, in his so-called plague prayers, asked the gods to put an end
to this misery. The cause was seen in the wrath of the gods. More

detailed investigations into the outbreak, its havoc and the request for
assistance from the gods in Muršili’s II plague prayers will be the focus
of this speech.
Interactions between Nomadism and Urbanism
in the Patriarchal Narratives of the Book of Genesis
Y S Chen
Hongkong
The Patriarchal narratives in the Book of Genesis are foundational for
the construction of social and religious identity of Israel. Within these
narratives, migration is an overarching theme. Starting from the Ur of
the Chaldeans in southern Mesopotamia, they migrated to
Haran/Paddam-aram in northern Mesopotamia, before they moved
southwards to the Levant, and then down to Egypt, with the
succeeding movements between the Levant, Egypt and Haran. In
between their nomadic movements, the Patriarchs also underwent
sedentary life periodically and interacted with urban settlements and
polities on an ongoing basis. This study aims to examine the causes,
modes, and effects of spatial, socio-economic, cultural, and political
ties and interactions between the Patriarchs and different sedentary
and urban establishments in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Levant in
the Patriarchal narratives. The study argues that these ties and
interactions play a pivotal role in shaping the development of the plots
of the narratives and the characterisation and identity of the
Patriarchs and their God YHWH.
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A migration story for every era:
Data interpretation and ideology in the tale of the Phoenician
settlement of Gades
Pamina Fernández Camacho
Cádiz
This paper will deal with the successive transformations of an ancient
narrative involving the migration of Phoenicians from Tyre to the
Atlantic coast of Spain, where they founded a city called Gades
(modern Cádiz). The first extant sources on this event, written in Greek
and Latin almost a thousand years after the fact, already established a
handful of common themes which remained a nuclear part of later
versions of the narrative. And yet, from the ‘Gaditanian informants’ of
Posidonius to the twenty-first century, we can also detect a strong
influence of social and historical context in how each of those versions
was built and presented. The migrant Tyrians came to represent many
things, ranging from legitimating device to dangerous foreign threat,
and their objectives, the manner of their settlement and their
relationship with the natives changed together with it, always in
connection with the fears and aspirations of those who wrote about
them.
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A Methodology for Identifying Immigration in the Archaeological
Record as Derived from Case Studies in the Ancient Levant
David Ilan
Jerusalem
Much has been written about the social mechanisms of migration in
archaeological contexts and material culture is integral to such

discussions. What seems to be lacking however, is an explicit material
culture framework for identifying migration—a checklist, so to speak.
This paper will identify explicit material culture attributes that signal
immigration (lacking texts, emigration is by nature difficult, if not
impossible, to discern). In constructing this checklist, I will cull
evidence from the Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age and Early Iron
Age Levant. It is to be hoped that conference participants will help in
supplementing the checklist, which should be viewed as a work in
progress.
Musicians on the move - mobility of Egyptian musicians and those
from abroad traveling to Egypt from the middle of the Third
Millennium BC to the Graeco-Roman Period
Heidi Köpp-Junk
Warsaw
In the Old Kingdom, the time of the Pyramids, a great number of
textual and iconographic documents refer to music and musicians.
Already in this period a lot of musicians are known by name. From time
to time, the textual and archaeological sources reveal the travel
activities of male and female musicians. Chantresses of a god like Re
or Amun were members of the elite and sometimes had a very large
radius of action. They traveled to religious occasions such as festivals
to quite distant places such as from Thebes to Heliopolis, a journey of
about 650 km. In addition, Egyptian female singers are documented in
Byblos and Megiddo, a travel of more than 100 km one way. But not
only for female musicians, but also for male musicians a large radius
of action is documented, as they sometimes accompanied the king on
his journeys. Thus, a high degree of mobility for at least some of the
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Egyptian musicians is attested. The lecture analyzes not only Egyptian
musicians traveling abroad, but those from foreign countries traveling
to Egypt as well.
Immigration, Adaptions, and Innovations: Changes in the Warfare
Practices in the Ancient Near East (ca. 1450- 550 BCE)
Zahra Kouzehgari
Lyon
The Late Bronze Age and Iron Age (ca. 1450-550 BCE) is the period
characterized by profound changes in the whole ancient world. The
period corresponds to great social and cultural transformations in a
vast dimension in the Ancient Near East which resulted in extreme
political, cultural, economic fragmentation in the region. Surviving
written sources and imagery documents indicate an increasing
population movement and arrival of new groups to the region. The
arrival of these new commers, which descended from steppe areas, is
associated with fundamental changes in warfare-related material
from the region. This paper aims to study the impact of the arrival of
these new groups, notably the Scythians, to the region, considering
the adaption and innovation of new weaponry traditions which led to
the emergence of new military classes and eventually to changes in
warfare practices during the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age in the
Ancient Near East. The material in this study includes the weaponry
repertoire from this region, contemporary cuneiform texts as well as
imagery documents represented on various objects.

"Foreign" elements in Idumea
Katarzyna Ewa Langenegger
Basel / Hamburg
The city of Maresha, already known from the Amarna letters, was
probably founded in 14.BCE. Until the time of the Babylonian captivity,
Maresha was a city inhabited by the Jewish population. In the Persian
era, migrants from the Phoenician city of Sidon settled there. The
influence of Sidonian culture can be seen above all on the example of
burials. However, it is not the only area in which changes have taken
place. In my contribution I will use this example to show how new
cultural influences mix with an existing cultural background. Emphasis
is placed on the list in which areas the processes of cultural exchange
can best be seen. I will also analyze the differences. Which areas of life
have changed the fastest or the most? Which remain the longest "re-
stage" to the new influences?
The research was based on archaeological and epigraphic remains and
is part of my PhD that deals with burials in Palestine in the Hellenistic
period.
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Mobilising Inequalities. Income Inequalities as an Incentive in Rural-
Urban Migration
Thomas Leibundgut
Stanford
In order to grow both in terms of number and population, the
thousands of Roman cities needed large-scale immigration. Rural-
urban migration is usually attributed to labour migration, but
the simple picture of masses of destitute peasants being pushed from
their fields by slave-run villae has been problematised within the last
few decades. Recently, the simplistic notion of one-off movement
directly to the cities has been challenged and scholars have argued
that urban labour markets were not as open as previously
thought. Nevertheless, these reconsiderations have not yet led to
a systematic re-evaluation of traditional notions of rural-urban
migration. In my paper, I analyse essential economic factors in rural-
urban migration to the city of Rome during the Principate: Using
census data from imperial Egypt, I reconstruct typical rural
families and model their livelihood over the course of a generation,
examining the relationship between calorie needs and agricultural
productivity, overhead costs, and opportunities for paid employment
in the countryside. I then compare their situation with modelled urban
families, discussing the structure of the labour market, average yearly
wages, costs of living, and in-kind subsidies. I thus show that a sizeable
percentage of families depended on urban labour opportunities but
calculate that urban wages could not have sustained (large) families,
and demonstrate that temporary migration was significant, with
young men constituting a large majority. Hence, my economic
computations refine the general demographic, epigraphic, and bio-
archaeological picture of rural-urban migration during the Principate.

Displacement, unity and disintegration in Hilary of Poitiers’ Ad
Constantium:
The condition of a bishop exiled from his see (356-360)
Melissa Melo
Nancy
At the end of the fourth century, the intense imperial involvement in
doctrinal conflicts pointed to a significant change in the jurisdictions
of bishops, who now needed to find a balance between their roles as
agents of the empire and mediators of theological discourses. In this
new context, exile became a key factor in defining episcopal political
power, as well as the strategies in which emperors would seek
religious uniformity in the future and how individuals and groups
would build their identities. To support our argument, we will analyze
the letter Ad Constantium Imperatorem, written by exiled bishop
Hilary of Poitiers, in 360, and directed to Emperor Constantius II. This
consisted of a request by Hilary for a royal hearing to discuss the
questions of his exile in the presence of his opponents. In an attempt
to convince the emperor, Hilary ( Ad Const ., 1, 8) used a rhetoric of
persuasion, referring to Constantius as "the most devout emperor"
and "a man according to the Scriptures".
Hilary's banishment differs from those of other Western
bishops in several respects, whether by its circumstances, duration,
location, or by its relationship with the Eastern bishops and its
reintegration into public life. Hilary was sent to Phrygia, where the
majority of the bishops were non-Nicenes. His exile to Phrygia was a
minimal sentence: as far as is known, no other bishop was elected to
replace him in Poitiers. In this regard, Hilary ( Ad Const. , 2) attributes
to himself a relevant position in the conflict, stating that “I am a bishop
in communion with all the churches and bishops of the Gaul and,
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although, in exile, I remained a bishop and administered communion
through my priests”. In Ad Constantium , he subverts his status as an
exiled bishop and uses it to affirm his right to be present.
Our main objective in this paper is to discuss how the behaviour
assumed by the bishop of Poitiers in Ad Constantium transmits the
reaction of bishops displaced from their sees during the government
of Constantius II. From this, we extend our discussion on how exile
policies have reflected on the practices of resistance, transgression,
and assertion of bishops' authority, even if in an imagined way.
How mobility affects society: Syracuse and its migrations during the
5th century BC
Valentina Mignosa
Venice
The history of Syracuse and its territory was characterized by several
migrations from and to the city, starting from its settlement to the 4th
century BC. This mobility reflected the politics of tyrants who aimed to
control the population and expand their power to the outside of the
city. It sometimes served as a means of repopulating Syracuse during
or after periods of crisis. The city was also frequently subjected to
migrations of mercenaries from southern Italy or Greece who were
ordered to settle there by the tyrants in exchange for land and
citizenship. The continuous and substantial immigration and
emigration from the city did indeed change the subdivision of the
relationships among the social groups which constituted the civic
body. The analysis I will present in this paper focuses on mobility on
a small scale, electing the city as the primary subject of the research
and showing the impact migration has on incoming populations

groups and on the relationship between them and old citizens during
the 5th century BC. Through a thorough analysis of the ‘social actors’
involved in mobility and of the interrelations among them as social and
political groups, the paper will provide a complete overview of the
society in Syracuse during one of the main periods of mobility, Gelon’s
tyranny. In particular, I will show how the introduction of new citizens
changed the dynamics of power and privileges between the
aristocracy and the damos and contributes to a gradual abolition of
aristocratic privileges.
The Balkan Migration to Anatolia: Re-thinking Ethnolinguistic and
Cultural Landscape of the Region in the Early Iron Age
Rostislav Oreshko
Paris / Harvard
Historical and linguistic discussions of Anatolia in the 2nd and 1st
millennium BC are for the most part focused on two major
ethnolinguistic/cultural components. The first one is associated with
the Anatolian peoples who appeared in the region in the late 3rd mil.
BC and remained its dominant ethnolinguistic group up until the end
of the Late Bronze Age. The second complex is associated with the
Greeks, who settled in the coastal parts of Anatolia already around
1000 BC and eventually colonised practically the entire region during
the Hellenistic period. To a large degree, this two- pronged focus is
predefined by the available written sources.
The picture was, however, arguably more complex and
included at least one more element: the ethnocultural complex
connected with the Phrygians, who are commonly thought to have
migrated to Anatolia from the Balkans after ca. 1100 BC. Although well
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known by name, the Phrygians remain a relatively marginal theme in
the Anatolian studies, belonging for the most part to the domain of
archaeology, since the number of inscriptions in the Phrygian
language, as well as the level of their comprehension is rather modest.
And yet, despite the dearth of direct evidence, there are reasons to
think not only that the Phrygian migration was a momentous event in
the history of Anatolia, but also that it was only one of the aspects of
a much broader phenomenon which involved other peoples of Balkan
origin, more or less closely related to the Phrygians.
In the present contribution I will attempt to sketch a general
perspective of this phenomenon, discussing different sorts of indirect
evidence bearing on it. My special focus will be onomastics, toponymy
and the later ethnolinguistic composition of the region, especially the
question of the formation of the Armenian ethnos. I will argue that the
Balkan migration had a much more significant impact on the entire
Anatolian region and beyond than hitherto thought, dramatically
changing not only its ethnic and linguistic map, but also profoundly
transforming its cultural landscape.
Amorite identity: view from the proto-cuneiform sources
Jasmina Osterman
Zagreb
The starting point of this research is the problem of identity and
migration of Amorites. The Sumerian MAR.TU, for which we still do
not know what it originally meant, is the oldest and most common
compound that is translated as “Amorite”. I analyzed proto-cuneiform
texts and tried to identify original meaning of the symbols MAR and
TU. MAR symbol is written on 138 tablets. This symbol is relatively rare

so we need to consider southern Mesopotamian landscape, where the
primary means of transport was boat, but in certain seasons and for
certain activities wagons were also used. I believe that original
meaning of MAR was the thing/idea "wagon/wagon transport", what
is also one of the later Sumerian meanings. To this concept symbol TU
was added to designate a particular place or people. TU symbol in
proto-cuneiform texts appears on 55 tablets. Based on the analysis of
tablets and iconography of the symbol, I consider that it indicated a
certain type of land. Taking into account recent eco-historic studies of
southern Mesopotamia, this symbol maybe designate the territory
that was sown first after the floods what is preserved in later meaning
of symbol (“platform”, “create”). The TU symbol may have been just a
phonetic supplement, but MAR.TU could designate a collective name
for all areas that could be reached by wagons and also people who
traveled on wagons when flood water began to decline. In that case,
the original MAR.TU should be translated simply as "migrants" without
any other specification.
Çamçalık. A Newly-Detected Submerged ‘Minoanizing’ Settlement
in the Karian Chersonesos and the question of Minoan migration to
Anatolia
Harun Özdaş – Winfried Held – Nilhan Kızıldağ
İzmir – Marburg – İzmir
“The Coasts of the Karian Chersonesos” is the title of a new project in
cooperation of Dokuz Eylül University Izmir and Marburg University,
which aims at the investigation of coastal structures at the transition
of land and water. During the 2019 season, a Minoan settlement has
been detected with a rich variety of Middle Minoan III to Late Minoan
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I pottery. The settlement has been situated at the shoreline, and
through sea level change is now partly submerged. In 2021, three
more settlements of the same period were detected.
It seems to be a ‘Minoanizing’ settlement which played a role
in the trade of Minoan Crete with Anatolia and was part of a regional
network of Minoan settlements in Anatolia, as Iasos and Miletos on
the mainland and Rhodos, Kos and Samos on the islands opposite the
Anatolian coast. The route of the Minoan seafarers from Crete to
Anatolia most probably followed the line of the islands Karpathos and
Rhodos. If so, the Chersonesian settlement would be the first harbour
where Cretans reached the Anatolian mainland.
Along with the ongoing discussion on the ‘Minoanizing’
settlements in Anatolia, it has to be discussed whether Çamçalık has
to be interpreted as evidence for the presence of Bronze Age Cretans
which have migrated to Anatolia in order to establish emporia, or if
the inhabitants were local Anatolians heavily influenced by Minoan
culture through trade. In any case it proves a considerable mobility of
people between southwestern Anatolia and Crete in the Middle
Bronze Age.
‘Ptolemy pays very well indeed’: Patterns and Impact of Migration
in Hellenistic Egypt
Mario C. D. Paganini
Vienna
Immigrants from the Greek-speaking world flocked to Egypt in
Hellenistic times, to a land of opportunity much advertised in
literature by Greek poets who moved to Alexandria and were
sponsored by the Ptolemies. These immigrants were a minority in the

land but, unlike what mostly happens in similar cases of migration, this
foreign minority occupied a privileged position and represented the
leading class of the newly established Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt.
Their status in society produced a theoretically reversed pattern of the
general attitudes that one usually expects for incoming and welcoming
groups. Beyond a simplistic dichotomy of resistance- assimilation,
locals and newcomers had to negotiate adaptable ways to make the
most of the situation and developed different strategies of interaction,
which have left their traces in the abundant documentary evidence of
the papyri. After presenting the possible problematics of migration
and the challenges for a critical evaluation of these ‘foreigners’ in the
sources, focus will be given to cases that exemplify the migrants’ turn
towards a more complex outlook and the long-term impact that the
socio-cultural developments triggered by migration had on the
migrants themselves and on the local environment. This research is a
work-in-progress showing how greatly the migrants adapted
themselves and the local socio-cultural environment in the process of
making Egypt their new home and how they in fact became—
consciously or unconsciously— ‘insiders’ as constitutive components
of the multifaceted society of the longest-lasting Hellenistic Kingdom.
Narratives of Migration in the Hebrew Bible
Meira Polliack
Tel Aviv
Biblical scholars are turning more and more to the study of narrative
sources as reflecting the world-view of the Bible's authors and
editors. The Books of Genesis, Exodus, Joshua and
Samuel, convey important
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information as to the ancient Hebrew understanding of human
nature at large, including aspects of psychology and emotion,
gender and environment. While these scriptural topics may
be ignored by some as irrelevant to the study of theology and
religion, they are widely recognized as offering an important window
to ancient Israelite (and Near Eastern) thought. My paper will focus
on a string of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament characters whose life story
is defined by the theme of migration(Abraham, Jacob, Joseph,
Hagar, Moses, Ruth and others),and whose narratives give expression
to the important place of migration in the world-view of the ancient
Hebrew authors. I will explore migration as a a central topic in the
spiritual, emotional and psychological literary formation of these
characters and also in their reception exegesis in post biblical times.
My intention is not to ask historical questions about the nature and
reality of migration as reflected in the biblical sources or to connect
these necessarily with the experience of Exile (as they have often
been studied). Rather, I will attempt to focus on the connection
between migration and personal trauma, as expressed in biblical
sources. Especially, on how migration is reflected as an internal
process which leaves a scar on the individual characters (beginning
with Cain). I will also address migration as a transformative
psychological experience, in the personal and communal sense, as
highlighted in a selected range of biblical narrative sources.

Towards a mobility archaeology: a transatlantic perspective on the
move
Renan Falcheti Peixoto
São Paulo / Bologna
One of the most significant current discussion in archaeology revolves
around the concept of mobility as the result of a perceived
paradigmatic shift going on in social sciences writ large. In the study of
the prehistoric past, the sequencing of ancient human DNA has
prompted in the past decade a so-called “third scientific revolution”.
It brought up “things” that many scholars thought out of date as folk
migration, questions of origins and cultural change. However, these
rapid changes in high-tech molecular genomics also require a
historiographical volte-face to help pushing us back on track in the
discussion of mobility-cum-migration that have been fostered in the
discipline over the last decades. This paper seeks to address 1) an
eclectic theoretical and methodological approach towards mobility of
human and things; 2) a stylistic perspective as to gauge forms of
mobility amidst the range of artifact attributes. In order to do apply
the insights of this “mobility archaeology,” I draw on a comparative
analysis of two case studies in pre- and proto-history of areas
separated by the Atlantic where migrationist claims have been
disputed. The first concerns with the polychrome ceramics in the 1st
millennium AD Amazonia. The second with the swords of Naue II type
in Italic and Aegean contexts from the 12th century BC. In a word, I
focus on the significance of similarity that should be read in the
distribution of these specific artifacts.
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FemiNetworX: A Feminist Approach to Ancient Greek Maritime
Migration
Lana Radloff
Quebec
While scholarship on ancient seafaring and maritime networks has
grown substantially since the new millennium, the role of women in
the creation and maintenance of these networks remains
underexplored. Women were important contributors to the domestic
economy and key agents of religion, nested within overlapping and
multiscalar Mediterranean-wide networks. They were also, as
commodities themselves, part and parcel of forced migration through
armed conflict and – willingly or not – marriage and motherhood. In
this paper, I will examine the agency of women as drivers of migration
networks at Hellenistic Miletus (323-31 BCE) in the southeast Aegean,
which was well-situated to benefit from the expanding networks of
the period due to its location on important sea-lanes to the Black Sea
and Eastern and Western Mediterranean and the overland and
riverine transportation routes to inland Anatolia and the east. To do
so, I will draw upon feminist geography and migration theory and
Indigenous gynocentric methodologies, and integrate them with
traditional approaches to maritime navigation, such as GIS and
network theory. Although temples, altars, and sanctuaries to female
deities situated on conspicuous promontories and coastlines within
the maritime landscape have traditionally been viewed as functions of
the male sphere, I contend that there is a second, double-reading: the
preponderance of female, foreign and domestic maritime deities
suggests that they are also reflective of the condition of migrant
women and the liminal moment of transition from childhood to
marriage and motherhood and/or from relative freedom to slavery.

Migration as Result of Natural Disasters in the Eastern
Mediterranean World in Antiquity
Mustafa Sayar
İstanbul
Natural disasters in Antiquity were one of the causes of migrations in
the Eastern Mediterranean region. The environmental changes also
caused a small migration effect. A better knowledge of the actual
connections is of great importance in order to be able to give
evidence-based policy recommendations for successfully dealing with
the consequences of climate change and natural disasters.
Migration in ancient times helped to cope with the negative
effects of natural disasters and gave the surviving people new
opportunities. In many Mediterranean settlements, emigrants are
increasing after natural disasters and play a major role in mitigating
their consequences in the settlements. Threatening agricultural
productivity is a cause of natural disasters and migration. The aim of
this contribution is to show some case studies of migrations in the
eastern Mediterranean region, which were relocated due to the
natural disaster.
Religion(s) and Religiosity(ies) on the Move in the Ancient Near East
Eric M. Trinka
Washington / Harrisonburg
Studies of movement, mobility, and migration in the ancient world are
becoming more numerous. Despite recent growth in some important
research areas, a key methodological component remains absent:
Few, if any, present works on mobility and religion in the ancient world
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integrate findings from modern mobility and migration studies
regarding the functions/intstrumentalization of religion in contexts of
mobility. Failure to do so has left noteworthy lacunae in researchers’
epistemologies of movement and place that require redress. This
paper provides a more solid theoretical and data-based grounding for
discussing the processes of human movement and religious contact,
and explores religion and religiosity as it is observed in contexts of
mobility. Mobility is a constituent element of spatial production. Thus,
we cannot fully understand instances or patterns of movement in the
ancient world without accounting for the “ideological codings of
mobility” (Cresswell, 2006) that obtained there. In working to
understand the reciprocal influence of movement on religiosity and
religion on cultures of mobility, this paper examines lived religious
praxis and belief found among our present textual and iconographic
sources. I analyze Mesopotamian and Egyptian sources for the
contours of religious creativity and internal pluralism that result from
the demands for efficacy in the highly mobile contexts of the Late
Bronze and Iron Ages. In doing so, I explore not only pragmatic human
appeals to divinities in contexts of movement, but also conceptions of
deities on the move, including the multiplicity of their personhood
across geographies and portrayals of their abilities and desires for
movement.
Migration and Identity
Jorit Wintjes
Würzburg
One of the more surprising elements of the Greek expansion in the
10th to 6th c. BC is how small if not outright tiny groups of Greek

settlers managed not only to preserve their identity but in fact in some
cases exert considerable cultural influence on the communities
surrounding them – as Justin famously noted (43.4.3), the Greeks of
Massilia had managed to make Southern Gaul to look as if it had been
transported to Greece. Likewise, several centuries later fairly small
Germanic groups like the Goths or the Vandals managed to preserve
their identity while interacting with, entering and eventually carving
out their own kingdoms from the Roman empire.
The experience of Greeks, Germanic groups and others in the
centuries in between them raises the question how migrating groups
managed to preserve their identity in the face of adversaries who were
superior in numbers, civilization or both. By taking a closer look at
three case studies from the early archaic, Hellenistic and Roman
imperial period which are fairly well-attested in the available sources,
the proposed paper will suggest that a key aspect in preserving
identity was maintaining institutions and internal organization either
already present or in an advanced stage of development before the
beginning of the migration. The paper will then discuss the
applicability of this result to cases where solid information about the
actual process of migration is currently unavailable, such as migratory
movements in the Late Bronze Age.
Migration in the Ancient Near East
Remzi Yağcı
İzmir
Migration dates back to prehistory. The first lifestyle of prehistoric
communities in human history was nomadic. Nomadic life forced
people to survive most harsh and primitive conditions during
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migratory movements, once their basic needs such as food,
accomodation and reproduction were ensured, they settled in Ancient
Near East ad the first civilizations began to flourish. These civilizations
were the bases of the continuity in the history. We can analyze
migratory movements in the Ancient Near East through our modern
terminology on migration. First, refugees that involve small or big
communities (families, relatives, citizens) or illegal immigrants
(individuals). Secondly, mass migrations due to war or natural
disasters (famine, draught, sudden climate changes) (ex. Sea Peoples)
and thirdly forced migrations, expatriation or deportation.
Refugees, fugitives and expatriated or deported people were
common in the Ancient Near East especially in the period between the
Late Bronze Age and Iron Age. For example, in a royal correspondence
in th Late Bronze Age between the King of Ugarit and the Hittite King
Mursili II, the Hittite King demanded the fugitives that were gone to
Ugarit from the Hatti land should be repatriated. These fugitives might
include opponents, senior officials, craftsmen or even farmers.
Deportations were common forced migartion movements in the Near
East. Mass deportations were carried out frequently during Middle
Assyrian and Neo Assyrian Empires enabling the Assyrian authorities
to take control over these people and lands. The deported people
were used as workmen while building new cities such as Kar-Tukulti
Ninurta and Dur Sarrukin or in farming activities. This paper will
analyze the migration movements and immigrants in Ancient Near
East especially in South Anatolia, North Syria and Mesopotamia and
how these affected the history of the region.