Barbara Hausmair
Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Vorderasiatische Archäologie/Near Eastern Archaeology, Post-Doc
Internationales Forschungszentrum Kulturwissenschaften (IFK), Vienna, International Research Centre for Cultural Studies (IFK), Vienna, Alumna
I am Assitant Professor in Medieval and (Early) Modern Period Archaeology at the University of Innsbruck/Austria. My research interests are in burial archaeology of the (early) middle ages, social identities and mortuary practices, subversive practices as driving force of social and cultural change, the archaeology of social spaces, the archaeology of modern conflicts (in particular the Nazi period), methods of historical archaeology and computer-based methods in archaeology (GIS and DB design).
Degrees:
2017 - Diploma in Geographic Information Systems (University of Salzburg, AT)
2013 - PhD in Pre- and Protohistorical Archaeology (University of Vienna, AT, topic: "At the brink of the grave. Death conceptions and mortuary practices in the early medieval Alamannia"; supervisor: Claudia Theune)
2008 - Mag. phil. (MA equivalent) in Pre- and Protohistorical Archaeology (University of Vienna, topic: "The early medieval cemetery of Micheldorf/Kremsdorf, Upper Austria"; supervisor: Erik Szameit)
Previous employment:
2018-2020: researcher at the State Office for Cultural Heritage in Baden-Württemberg, DE, Project: The Natzweiler concentration camp complex in Baden-Wurttemberg: assessment and study of the archaeological heritage of camps and places of force labour
2017: Post-Doc researcher, Department of Near Eastern Archaeology/Freie Universität Berlin, GER:
- Project: "Archaeology of Nazi-forced-labour camps at Tempelhof airfield, Berlin" (Co-PI with R. Bernbeck and S. Pollock)
- teaching (analyses of modern period material culture from internment contexts, basics in archaeological categorization and database-design)
2014-2016: Marie-Curie-Post-Doc researcher, Zukunftskolleg/University of Konstanz, GER:
- Projects:
“'…diu kint, diu âne den touf ersterbent…'. Unbaptized children between theological discourse and social practices in 12th to 16th century Central Europe" (PI, main project)
“Archaeology of Forced Labour in the Alps – The Montafon Valley” (PI, in cooperation with Montafoner Museen)
-"Constance Buildings Court Protocols (15th c.) and conflict in a medieval town" (Co-PI with G. Signori)
- teaching (GIS-applications in the humanities, archaeology of death and burial in the middle ages and the modern period, archaeological survey and field methods)
2008-2014: Research Associate, Department of Prehistory and Historical Archaeology/ University of Vienna, AUT (project-based):
- leading field officer of various excavations of the department in Austria and France (Bronze Age, Iron Age, Middle Ages, 19th-20th century)
- research associate in various projects of the department (incl. database management, analyses of finds, GIS-analysis, third party funding appilcations, perparation of exhibtions)
- teaching (archaeological field methods and digital documentation methods)
2012: PhD research scholarship, University of Vienna, AUT
2011: IFK Junior Fellow Abroad (scholarship as visiting PHD student at the University of Reading, UK; host: Roberta Gilchrist)
2010-2011: IFK Junior Fellow Abroad (scholarship as visiting PHD student at the University of Cambridge, UK; host: Catherine Hills)
2009-2010: IFK Junior Fellow, Internationales Forschungszentrum Kulturwissenschaften Wien, AUT (PhD scholarship)
2008-2012: Archaeologist, Centre Archéologique Européen, F (during summers)
- leading field officer at excavations of the Iron Age/Roman period fortification systems of the Oppidum of Bibracte
2008, 2009: Archaeologist, NÖ Kulturpark GmbH, AUT
- field officer at excavations of the Roman city of Carnuntum, AUT
2007, 2008: Archaeologist, University of Vienna/Department of Byzantine Studies
- archaeologist and field technician at excavations in Torrenova, ITA (Roman an Byzantine period)
2005-2009: Outreach officer, Natural History Museum Vienna, AUT
- guided tours through the museum's archaeology exhibitions, workshops with schools
2005, 2006: Archaeologist, AS Archäologie Service Krems, AUT
- archaeologist at various rescue excavations in Austria
Degrees:
2017 - Diploma in Geographic Information Systems (University of Salzburg, AT)
2013 - PhD in Pre- and Protohistorical Archaeology (University of Vienna, AT, topic: "At the brink of the grave. Death conceptions and mortuary practices in the early medieval Alamannia"; supervisor: Claudia Theune)
2008 - Mag. phil. (MA equivalent) in Pre- and Protohistorical Archaeology (University of Vienna, topic: "The early medieval cemetery of Micheldorf/Kremsdorf, Upper Austria"; supervisor: Erik Szameit)
Previous employment:
2018-2020: researcher at the State Office for Cultural Heritage in Baden-Württemberg, DE, Project: The Natzweiler concentration camp complex in Baden-Wurttemberg: assessment and study of the archaeological heritage of camps and places of force labour
2017: Post-Doc researcher, Department of Near Eastern Archaeology/Freie Universität Berlin, GER:
- Project: "Archaeology of Nazi-forced-labour camps at Tempelhof airfield, Berlin" (Co-PI with R. Bernbeck and S. Pollock)
- teaching (analyses of modern period material culture from internment contexts, basics in archaeological categorization and database-design)
2014-2016: Marie-Curie-Post-Doc researcher, Zukunftskolleg/University of Konstanz, GER:
- Projects:
“'…diu kint, diu âne den touf ersterbent…'. Unbaptized children between theological discourse and social practices in 12th to 16th century Central Europe" (PI, main project)
“Archaeology of Forced Labour in the Alps – The Montafon Valley” (PI, in cooperation with Montafoner Museen)
-"Constance Buildings Court Protocols (15th c.) and conflict in a medieval town" (Co-PI with G. Signori)
- teaching (GIS-applications in the humanities, archaeology of death and burial in the middle ages and the modern period, archaeological survey and field methods)
2008-2014: Research Associate, Department of Prehistory and Historical Archaeology/ University of Vienna, AUT (project-based):
- leading field officer of various excavations of the department in Austria and France (Bronze Age, Iron Age, Middle Ages, 19th-20th century)
- research associate in various projects of the department (incl. database management, analyses of finds, GIS-analysis, third party funding appilcations, perparation of exhibtions)
- teaching (archaeological field methods and digital documentation methods)
2012: PhD research scholarship, University of Vienna, AUT
2011: IFK Junior Fellow Abroad (scholarship as visiting PHD student at the University of Reading, UK; host: Roberta Gilchrist)
2010-2011: IFK Junior Fellow Abroad (scholarship as visiting PHD student at the University of Cambridge, UK; host: Catherine Hills)
2009-2010: IFK Junior Fellow, Internationales Forschungszentrum Kulturwissenschaften Wien, AUT (PhD scholarship)
2008-2012: Archaeologist, Centre Archéologique Européen, F (during summers)
- leading field officer at excavations of the Iron Age/Roman period fortification systems of the Oppidum of Bibracte
2008, 2009: Archaeologist, NÖ Kulturpark GmbH, AUT
- field officer at excavations of the Roman city of Carnuntum, AUT
2007, 2008: Archaeologist, University of Vienna/Department of Byzantine Studies
- archaeologist and field technician at excavations in Torrenova, ITA (Roman an Byzantine period)
2005-2009: Outreach officer, Natural History Museum Vienna, AUT
- guided tours through the museum's archaeology exhibitions, workshops with schools
2005, 2006: Archaeologist, AS Archäologie Service Krems, AUT
- archaeologist at various rescue excavations in Austria
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Books by Barbara Hausmair
Open access: http://www.sidestone.com/library/am-rande-des-grabs
http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:352-0-283673
The original circumstances in which archaeological remains came into being are crucial for the interpretation of the material record. Burials are first and foremost a result of a very traumatic event in a society – the death of one of its members. It is due to this context that burials represent a primary source for understanding past societies’ attitudes towards death.
Barbara Hausmair traces death concepts and their influence on mortuary rituals in early medieval communities in what is today known as southwest Germany. Using the cemeteries of Bad Mingolsheim, Horb-Altheim and Weingarten as case studies, the author compares archaeological patterns based on grave goods and grave arrangements with anthropological data on age, sex, pathologies, trauma and migration patterns of the deceased. By connecting the observed patterns with social theories on human death behaviour, Hausmair dissects the complex network of the burial communities’ social structures, death concepts and the newly constructed identities of the dead in the afterlife. Her thanatological approach provides original insights into the relationships between burial practices and ideas about death in Merovingian-period Alamannia by sensibly combining theoretical considerations with a thorough analysis of archaeological material.
Alle Kulturen lösen dieses Urproblem [den Tod] der menschlichen Existenz auf ihre Weise, und es gibt gewiß keine Kultur, die sich nicht als Lösung dieses Problems verstehen und auf diese Kernfrage hin analysieren ließe. (Jan Assmann, Der Tod als Thema der Kulturtheorie)
Der Entstehungskontext archäologischer Befunde und der darin fassbaren Objekte spielt eine bedeutende Rolle für die Interpretation materieller Hinterlassenschaften. Gräber sind in erster Linie das Resultat eines emotional und sozial prekären Ereignisses in einer Gesellschaft – dem Tod eines ihrer Mitglieder. So stellt das Grab auch aus archäologischer Sicht eine primäre Quelle für die Auseinandersetzung mit dem Todesverständnis in vergangenen Gesellschaften dar.
Barbara Hausmair geht in ihrer Untersuchung dem Einfluss von Todeskonzepten auf die Bestattungspraktiken der Bevölkerung in der frühmittelalterlichen Alamannia nach. Am Beispiel der Gräberfelder Bad Mingolsheim, Horb-Altheim und Weingarten unternimmt sie einen Vergleich von archäologischen Mustern auf Basis der Grabbeigaben und Grabgestaltung mit anthropologischen Daten zu Alter, Geschlecht, Herkunft, Verwandtschaft und Gesundheitszustand der Bestatteten. Die durch diese Clusteranalysen eruierten Gruppen setzt sie in Beziehung zu soziologischen und kulturanthropologischen Theorien und Modellen zum Umgang mit dem Tod und zeichnet so das komplexe Zusammenspiel von Sozialstrukturen in den jeweiligen Bestattungsgemeinschaften, Todeskonzepten, Folgeweltmodellen und neu konstruierten Identitäten der Toten im Jenseits nach. Die thanatologische Herangehensweise bietet neue Einblicke in die Bestattungspraktiken und Vorstellungen merowingerzeitlicher Gemeinschaften in Südwestdeutschland und präsentiert eine sensible Verknüpfung theoretischer Überlegungen mit einer archäologischen Materialanalyse.
Edited Volumes by Barbara Hausmair
https://books.google.de/books?id=WEMtDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PR1&dq=archaeologies%20of%20rules%20and%20re&hl=de&pg=PR1#v=onepage&q&f=false
Barbara Hausmair, Ben Jervis, Ruth Nugent and Eleanor Williams (eds)
How can we study the impact of rules on the lives of past people using archaeological evidence? To answer this question, Archaeologies of Rules and Regulation presents case studies drawn from across Europe and the United States. Covering areas as diverse as the use of space in a nineteenth-century U.S. Army camp, the deposition of waste in medieval towns, the experiences of Swedish migrants to North America, the relationship between people and animals in Anglo-Saxon England, these case studies explore the use of archaeological evidence in understanding the relationship between rules, lived experience, and social identity.
Contents
Introduction: Archaeologies of Rules and Regulation: An Introduction
Barbara Hausmair, Ben Jervis, Ruth Nugent and Eleanor Williams
PART I: NETWORKS
Introduction: Rules, Networks, and Different Kinds of Sources
Natascha Mehler
Chapter 1. Rules, Identity and a Sense of Place in a Medieval Town. The Case of Southampton’s Oak Book
Ben Jervis
Chapter 2. Meat for the Market. The Butchers’ Guild Rules from 1267 and Urban Archaeology in Tulln, Lower Austria
Ute Scholz
Chapter 3. Rubbish and Regulations in the Middle Ages: A Comparison of Urban and Rural Disposal Practices
Greta Civis
Chapter 4. How to Plant a Colony in the New World: Rules and Practices in New Sweden and the Seventeenth-Century Delaware Valley
Magdalena Naum
PART II: SPACE AND POWER
Introduction: Rules and the Built Environment
Harold Mytum
Chapter 5. Embodied Regulations: Searching for Boundaries in the Viking Age
Marianne Hem Eriksen
Chapter 6. What Law Says That There Has to be a Castle? The Castle Landscape of Frodsham, Cheshire
Rachel Swallow
Chapter 7. Shakespearian Space-Men: Spatial Rules in London’s Early Playhouses
Ruth Nugent
Chapter 8. US Army Regulations and Spatial Tactics: The Archaeology of Indulgence Consumption at Fort Yamhill, Oregon, United States, 1856–1866
Justin E. Eichelberger
Chapter 9. Religion in the Asylum: Lunatic Asylum Chapels and Religious Provision in Nineteenth-Century Ireland
Katherine Fennelly
Chapter 10. Prison-Issue Artefacts, Documentary Insights and the Negotiated Realities of Political Imprisonment: The Case of Long Kesh/Maze, Northern Ireland
Laura McAtackney
PART III: CORPOREALITY
Introduction: Maleficium and Mortuary Archaeology: Rules and Regulations in the Negotiation of Identities
Duncan Sayer
Chapter 11. Gone to the Dogs? Negotiating the Human-Animal Boundary in Anglo-Saxon England
Kristopher Poole
Chapter 12. Adherence to Islamic Tradition and the Formation of Iberian Islam in Early Medieval Al-Andalus
Sarah Inskip
Chapter 13. Break a Rule but Save a Soul. Unbaptized Children and Medieval Burial Regulation
Barbara Hausmair
Chapter 14. Medieval Monastic Text and the Treatment of the Dead. An Archaeothanatological Perspective on Adherence to the Cluniac Customaries
Eleanor Williams
Chapter 15. ‘With as Much Secresy and Delicacy as Possible’: Nineteenth-Century Burial Practices at the London Hospital
Louise Fowler and Natasha Powers
The Archaeology of Rules and Regulation: Closing Remarks
Duncan H. Brown
Die ältesten Konstanzer Baugerichtsprotokolle enthalten eine Serie von rund 190 durch das Konstanzer Siebenergericht gefällten Urteilssprüchen aus den Jahren 1452–70. Gegenstand der Sprüche sind überwiegend Nachbarschaftsstreitigkeiten, die um unerwünschte Abfallbeseitigung, strittige Grenzverläufe oder lästige An- und Umbauten von Fenstern, Latrinen oder Mauern kreisen. Aktiv wurde das Konstanzer Baugericht im Durchschnitt zehnmal pro Jahr, eine Häufigkeit, die auf Anhieb eher unbedeutend erscheint. Doch gewähren uns die Sprüche des Konstanzer Siebenergerichts überaus wertvollen und in mancherlei Hinsicht einzigartigen Einblick in das soziale Mit- und Gegeneinander einer spätmittelalterlichen Stadtgesellschaft.
Vergleichbares, in sich geschlossenes Quellenmaterial ist nördlich der Alpen sonst nirgendwo nachzuweisen, was die Konstanzer Baugerichtsakten nicht nur für die Geschichtswissenschaft, sondern auch für die Mittelalterarchäologie und die historische Bauforschung zu einer instruktiven Quelle macht.
Papers by Barbara Hausmair
Open access: http://www.sidestone.com/library/am-rande-des-grabs
http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:352-0-283673
The original circumstances in which archaeological remains came into being are crucial for the interpretation of the material record. Burials are first and foremost a result of a very traumatic event in a society – the death of one of its members. It is due to this context that burials represent a primary source for understanding past societies’ attitudes towards death.
Barbara Hausmair traces death concepts and their influence on mortuary rituals in early medieval communities in what is today known as southwest Germany. Using the cemeteries of Bad Mingolsheim, Horb-Altheim and Weingarten as case studies, the author compares archaeological patterns based on grave goods and grave arrangements with anthropological data on age, sex, pathologies, trauma and migration patterns of the deceased. By connecting the observed patterns with social theories on human death behaviour, Hausmair dissects the complex network of the burial communities’ social structures, death concepts and the newly constructed identities of the dead in the afterlife. Her thanatological approach provides original insights into the relationships between burial practices and ideas about death in Merovingian-period Alamannia by sensibly combining theoretical considerations with a thorough analysis of archaeological material.
Alle Kulturen lösen dieses Urproblem [den Tod] der menschlichen Existenz auf ihre Weise, und es gibt gewiß keine Kultur, die sich nicht als Lösung dieses Problems verstehen und auf diese Kernfrage hin analysieren ließe. (Jan Assmann, Der Tod als Thema der Kulturtheorie)
Der Entstehungskontext archäologischer Befunde und der darin fassbaren Objekte spielt eine bedeutende Rolle für die Interpretation materieller Hinterlassenschaften. Gräber sind in erster Linie das Resultat eines emotional und sozial prekären Ereignisses in einer Gesellschaft – dem Tod eines ihrer Mitglieder. So stellt das Grab auch aus archäologischer Sicht eine primäre Quelle für die Auseinandersetzung mit dem Todesverständnis in vergangenen Gesellschaften dar.
Barbara Hausmair geht in ihrer Untersuchung dem Einfluss von Todeskonzepten auf die Bestattungspraktiken der Bevölkerung in der frühmittelalterlichen Alamannia nach. Am Beispiel der Gräberfelder Bad Mingolsheim, Horb-Altheim und Weingarten unternimmt sie einen Vergleich von archäologischen Mustern auf Basis der Grabbeigaben und Grabgestaltung mit anthropologischen Daten zu Alter, Geschlecht, Herkunft, Verwandtschaft und Gesundheitszustand der Bestatteten. Die durch diese Clusteranalysen eruierten Gruppen setzt sie in Beziehung zu soziologischen und kulturanthropologischen Theorien und Modellen zum Umgang mit dem Tod und zeichnet so das komplexe Zusammenspiel von Sozialstrukturen in den jeweiligen Bestattungsgemeinschaften, Todeskonzepten, Folgeweltmodellen und neu konstruierten Identitäten der Toten im Jenseits nach. Die thanatologische Herangehensweise bietet neue Einblicke in die Bestattungspraktiken und Vorstellungen merowingerzeitlicher Gemeinschaften in Südwestdeutschland und präsentiert eine sensible Verknüpfung theoretischer Überlegungen mit einer archäologischen Materialanalyse.
https://books.google.de/books?id=WEMtDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PR1&dq=archaeologies%20of%20rules%20and%20re&hl=de&pg=PR1#v=onepage&q&f=false
Barbara Hausmair, Ben Jervis, Ruth Nugent and Eleanor Williams (eds)
How can we study the impact of rules on the lives of past people using archaeological evidence? To answer this question, Archaeologies of Rules and Regulation presents case studies drawn from across Europe and the United States. Covering areas as diverse as the use of space in a nineteenth-century U.S. Army camp, the deposition of waste in medieval towns, the experiences of Swedish migrants to North America, the relationship between people and animals in Anglo-Saxon England, these case studies explore the use of archaeological evidence in understanding the relationship between rules, lived experience, and social identity.
Contents
Introduction: Archaeologies of Rules and Regulation: An Introduction
Barbara Hausmair, Ben Jervis, Ruth Nugent and Eleanor Williams
PART I: NETWORKS
Introduction: Rules, Networks, and Different Kinds of Sources
Natascha Mehler
Chapter 1. Rules, Identity and a Sense of Place in a Medieval Town. The Case of Southampton’s Oak Book
Ben Jervis
Chapter 2. Meat for the Market. The Butchers’ Guild Rules from 1267 and Urban Archaeology in Tulln, Lower Austria
Ute Scholz
Chapter 3. Rubbish and Regulations in the Middle Ages: A Comparison of Urban and Rural Disposal Practices
Greta Civis
Chapter 4. How to Plant a Colony in the New World: Rules and Practices in New Sweden and the Seventeenth-Century Delaware Valley
Magdalena Naum
PART II: SPACE AND POWER
Introduction: Rules and the Built Environment
Harold Mytum
Chapter 5. Embodied Regulations: Searching for Boundaries in the Viking Age
Marianne Hem Eriksen
Chapter 6. What Law Says That There Has to be a Castle? The Castle Landscape of Frodsham, Cheshire
Rachel Swallow
Chapter 7. Shakespearian Space-Men: Spatial Rules in London’s Early Playhouses
Ruth Nugent
Chapter 8. US Army Regulations and Spatial Tactics: The Archaeology of Indulgence Consumption at Fort Yamhill, Oregon, United States, 1856–1866
Justin E. Eichelberger
Chapter 9. Religion in the Asylum: Lunatic Asylum Chapels and Religious Provision in Nineteenth-Century Ireland
Katherine Fennelly
Chapter 10. Prison-Issue Artefacts, Documentary Insights and the Negotiated Realities of Political Imprisonment: The Case of Long Kesh/Maze, Northern Ireland
Laura McAtackney
PART III: CORPOREALITY
Introduction: Maleficium and Mortuary Archaeology: Rules and Regulations in the Negotiation of Identities
Duncan Sayer
Chapter 11. Gone to the Dogs? Negotiating the Human-Animal Boundary in Anglo-Saxon England
Kristopher Poole
Chapter 12. Adherence to Islamic Tradition and the Formation of Iberian Islam in Early Medieval Al-Andalus
Sarah Inskip
Chapter 13. Break a Rule but Save a Soul. Unbaptized Children and Medieval Burial Regulation
Barbara Hausmair
Chapter 14. Medieval Monastic Text and the Treatment of the Dead. An Archaeothanatological Perspective on Adherence to the Cluniac Customaries
Eleanor Williams
Chapter 15. ‘With as Much Secresy and Delicacy as Possible’: Nineteenth-Century Burial Practices at the London Hospital
Louise Fowler and Natasha Powers
The Archaeology of Rules and Regulation: Closing Remarks
Duncan H. Brown
Die ältesten Konstanzer Baugerichtsprotokolle enthalten eine Serie von rund 190 durch das Konstanzer Siebenergericht gefällten Urteilssprüchen aus den Jahren 1452–70. Gegenstand der Sprüche sind überwiegend Nachbarschaftsstreitigkeiten, die um unerwünschte Abfallbeseitigung, strittige Grenzverläufe oder lästige An- und Umbauten von Fenstern, Latrinen oder Mauern kreisen. Aktiv wurde das Konstanzer Baugericht im Durchschnitt zehnmal pro Jahr, eine Häufigkeit, die auf Anhieb eher unbedeutend erscheint. Doch gewähren uns die Sprüche des Konstanzer Siebenergerichts überaus wertvollen und in mancherlei Hinsicht einzigartigen Einblick in das soziale Mit- und Gegeneinander einer spätmittelalterlichen Stadtgesellschaft.
Vergleichbares, in sich geschlossenes Quellenmaterial ist nördlich der Alpen sonst nirgendwo nachzuweisen, was die Konstanzer Baugerichtsakten nicht nur für die Geschichtswissenschaft, sondern auch für die Mittelalterarchäologie und die historische Bauforschung zu einer instruktiven Quelle macht.
Abstract
Federal Ministry of the Interior / Department for War Graves Services. In practice, various institutions and interest groups have been involved in the identification and maintenance of so-called “war graves” and the recovery of human remains. This article aims to provide a brief outline of the current legal situation in Austria and discusses varying practices of handling war graves by presenting historical and recent examples.
In weiten Teilen Mittel- und Westeuropas lassen sich in christlichen mittelalterlichen Friedhöfen Gräber von Frühund Neugeborenen beobachten, die durch räumliche Gruppenbildung auffallen, häufig in unmittelbarer Nähe der Kirchenmauern unter der Dachtraufe. In den letzten Jahren hat sich in der deutschsprachigen Archäologie für solche Bestattungen die Ansprache als ‚Traufkinder‘ oder ‚Traufbestattungen‘ durchgesetzt. Zunächst handelt es sich hierbei um einen terminus technicus, der die räumlichen Verhältnisse solcher Bestattungen bezeichnet. Häufig wird mit dem Begriff aber auch die Interpretation lanciert, es handle sich um ungetauft verstorbene Kinder, die unterhalb der Traufe beigesetzt wurden, um post mortem durch das vom Kirchendach tropfende Regenwasser getauft zu werden. Anhand einer kritischen Durchsicht der historischen Quellenlage und Sekundärliteratur zeigt der Beitrag zunächst auf, dass hier mit aller Wahrscheinlichkeit ein neuzeitliches Phänomen auf die Bestattungspraktiken mittelalterlicher Bevölkerungen projiziert wird und mittelalterliche ‚Traufkinder‘ im interpretativen Sinne eher einem argumentativen Zirkelschluss der fachinternen Zitierpraxis entspringen als einer historischen Realität. Anhand eines Überblicks zu mittelalterlichen Taufpraktiken, Jenseitsvorstellungen und Raumkonzepten wird anschließend diskutiert, wie der Taufstatus frühverstorbener Kinder in mittelalterlichen Bestattungskontexten durch eine methodische Verknüpfung archäologischer und historischer Kriterien abgewogen werden kann, um der Komplexität dieses nur scheinbar uniformen Phänomens näher zu kommen.
insbesondere an Standorten ehemaliger Zwangslager, als Schwerpunktthema etabliert, das neben zahlreichen methodischen und praktischen Herausforderungen für Forschung und Denkmalpflege in besonderer Weise eine Reflexion des Verhältnisses zwischen denkmalpflegerisch- archäologischer Praxis und gesellschaftlichen Diskursen erfordert. Als Manifestationen der NS-Terrorherrschaft und dem damit verbundenen Leid von Millionen von Menschen sind Orte von NS-Verbrechen höchst ambivalente Entitäten. Können sie einerseits als
authentische und örtlich verankerte Überreste von Terror und Leid zu historischen Quellen für die verbrecherische Vergangenheit und Bestandteile von Erinnerungsdiskursen werden, ermöglicht ihre Negation andererseits das Vergessen einer schuld- und schmerzhaften Geschichte. Am konkreten Beispiel eines aktuellen Projekts am Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Baden-Württemberg, das sich den materiellen Spuren der Außenlager des KZ Natzweiler in Baden-Württemberg widmet, befasst sich dieser Beitrag mit dem Verhältnis von staatlicher Denkmalpflege und bürgerlichen Initiativen, die sich an ehemaligen Außenlager-Standorten für Gedenken und Vermittlung engagieren.
“Camp archaeology” between citizen activism and heritage management on the example of the Natzweiler concentration camp
complex
Abstract – In German archaeology the engagement with material traces of the modern period is a rather recent development which is
dominated by the focus on remnants of Nazi crimes, in particular at sites of former internment camps. While research as well as heritage
protection faces numerous methodological and practical challenges when studying or assessing remains of the recent past, an archaeology
of recent crimes in particular requires a reflection on the relationship of the conservation and archaeological practice and social discourse. Places of Nazi crimes are physical reminders of Nazi terror and the suffering of millions of people and thus constitute highly ambivalent entities. As authentic and locally rooted remains of violence and suffering they may become historical sources of past atrocities
or focal points for remembrance discourses, while their deliberate negation on the other hand may cast a criminal and painful history into
oblivion. The Baden-Wuerttemberg State Office for Cultural Heritage Management currently runs a documentation project that archaeologically assesses the material traces of satellite camps of the Natzweiler concentration camp in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Using this project as an example, this article discusses the relationship of state-led heritage protection and civil initiatives, who engage in commemoration and education at former satellite camps.
“God does not remit sins but to the baptized". Following St. Augustine’s statement, medieval eschatology predicted a very unfavourable fate for children who died unbaptized. Since baptism was understood as the only means to redeem oneself from original sin and become a full-valued member of the Christian community, children who died without it were thought of being excluded from salvation and condemned to limbo for all eternity. The theological discourse on the fate of unbaptized infants was accompanied by a vast compendium of rules and regulations for their burial, denying them a Christian funeral in consecrated ground. This paper analyses the ambivalent relationship between the broader population and the church in regard to the salvation of society’s youngest by comparing theological perspectives on children and their place in the afterlife with archaeological remains of burial practices from the medieval period. Special attention will be paid to the medieval infant cemetery next to the secluded, church of St. Georg/Göttweig, Austria. It is argued that this cemetery served exclusively for the burial of unbaptized children and that the location of the site in relation to the surrounding parish churches and Benedictine abbey materializes the relationships between parents, children, local clergies and the official church. Starting from this observation it will be discussed whether these burials can be understood as manifestations of disobedience to ecclesiastic regulations, adapted interpretation of the official rules and/or embodied popular believes aiming to rescue “innocent” souls.
Social structures and ontologies are established, reinforced but also challenged through exclusion and inclusion of humans and objects in the material environment. Especially in the Middle Ages the social and metaphysical order of the world got inscribed in the structuring and connotation of both profane and sacred spaces. The celestial kingdom was considered to lie just above the atmospheric sky, while volcanoes or caves represented entrances to hell. In the Christian worldview children who died without baptism were considered to be confined to limbo – a special place at the margins of hell. This paper scrutinizes the spatial structures of medieval infant burials in central Europe by analysing parish cemeteries and separate burial places for presumably unbaptized infants. It will be argued that both intra-cemetery positions of infant graves as well as topographic locations of exclusive infant cemeteries (easily accessible and visible places; secluded and hidden locations; high or low altitude) possibly related to the lay population’s ideas about world order, which was projected onto their environment. Thus spatial patterns can provide an insight into people’s concepts about children’s place in the afterlife and reveal strategies that aimed to influence the afterlife scenario proposed by the Church.
Theme: 1. Archaeologists and Archaeology Here and Now, Regular session
In recent years, the importance of ethics has been increasingly debated in many subfields of archaeology. In this session we aim to advance discussions that concern ethics in regard to the study of 20th- and 21st-century violence, injustices and repression. There have been innumerable episodes of conflict worldwide, ranging from wars to state-led terror and dictatorship. These conflicts have been characterised by physical, structural and symbolic violence against individuals, as well as acts of violence directed against the identity and livelihoods of groups. Their tactics have included the targeted destruction of material possessions, homes, entire settlements, agricultural land, and cultural heritage perceived as constitutive of particular groups’ identities.
Studying the material dimensions of violence, repression and persecution opens up ways to trace the production of injustices and immoral actions in the recent past and present. However, the practice of such research also presents distinctive ethical challenges. For example, at the intersections of archaeological work and contested heritage and memory discourses, scholars may encounter resistance, rejection, or even violent opposition to their work. In many places worldwide the heritage of conflicts, their scholarship, representations and commemorations are themselves platforms for contemporary divisions and violent contestation. We welcome papers that either discuss interpretative approaches towards material remains of 20th- and 21st-century violence and/or engage with the ethical dimensions of archaeological practice, e.g. dissonant heritage, handling of human remains, contesting and contested narratives, and varying attitudes towards the material remains of recent conflict.
Keywords:
ethics, conflict archaeology, society, contemporary archaeology, heritage, public archaeology
Organisers
Barbara Hausmair (Austria, University of Innsbruck/Department of Archaeologies)
Claudia Theune (Austria, University of Vienna/Department of Prehistory and Historical Archaeology)
Gabriel Moshenska (United Kingdom, University College London/Institute of Archaeology)
Call for contributions is open until Thursday 10 February 2022. Submit your proposal on the EAA Annual Meeting registration platform.
https://www.e-a-a.org/EAA2022/Programme.aspx?WebsiteKey=13a70299-9cf2-4cc8-98c2-2862c5c6a8dd&hkey=01dc47f6-68bd-4d87-bcdf-183a7eb484d2&Program=3#Program