Various manifestations of modern civilization are preconditioned by processes and developments in the remote past. In this sense, understanding the dynamics, the scopes, causes, and effects of people’s movements in prehistoric times, as well as disentangling their trails aids, effectively, our understanding of ourselves and provides us with the answer to the fundamental question of why we are there, where we find ourselves today, in the full sense of the word, as well as metaphorically, explaining the wickerwork of the cultural and linguistic heritage that we bear.
This is what brings the ALAnetics group together.
Despite constant increase in new data on human prehistory, it is still a crucial problem that most findings though impeccable in inner-disciplinary terms, tend to draw mutually incompatible and, therefore, much debated pictures. Common sense across disciplines warns against equating archaeological evidence, languages, and genes. Total equation is a fallacy, but all three aspects do not exist in parallel worlds, they are three dimensions of the same reality. Therefore, its adequate comprehension requires “thinking out of one’s own disciplinary box”. All this urges a well-balanced holistic approach, that goes beyond traditional triangular mapping. In our studies, we develop a new – bottom-up ‒ approach allowing us step-by-step interconnecting of stringent Intermediate Research Results (IRRs) on the key aspects of human interaction: material culture ‒ Archaeology, language ‒ historical Linguistics, and genes ‒ Archaeogenetics. Such IRRs, localizable in space and time, mutually constrain the spectrum of possible interpretations at lower levels of analysis. The resulting ALAnetics – a new cross-discipline focused on human prehistory – has shown effective to yield qualitatively different cross-informative output data.
Case studies
Presently, our research focuses on Southeast Europe, a gateway into the European continent over millennia and a particularly intriguing case due to the exceptional variety of highly entangled cultural, genetic, and linguistic imprints left here, crucial for the understanding of the prehistory of modern Europe. Compared to other regions of the continent, its “Indo-Europeanization” ‒ the last major event ultimately changing Europe’s demographic and linguistic landscape ‒ remains a major enigma.
People: yes. Is it perhaps also possible to place the fotos of the group members? + Name/Affiliaiton + Links?
Dr. Katsiaryna Ackermann
Department of Linguistics. Balkan Research Unit / IHB / ÖAW; Language-Culture-Cognition Lab, ACDH-CH / ÖAW
Dr. Mario Gavranovic
Department of Prehistory & West Asian/Northeast African Archaeology / ÖAI / ÖAW
Dr. Joachim Matzinger
Department of Linguistics. Balkan Research Unit / IHB / ÖAW
Pinhasi Lab. Department of Evolutionary Anthropology / University of Vienna
Collaborations:
- Institute for Prehistoric Archaeology / Department of History and Cultural studies / Freie Universität Berlin
Prof. Dr. David Reich
Principal Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, and Senior Associate Member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT
Ass. Prof. Wojciech Sowa (link will come soon)
- Institute of Classical Philology / Jagiellonian University in Krakow
Keywords:
- Archaeology
- Historical Linguistics
- Palaeogenetics
- Southeast Europe
People
[pP 2-3 sentences + foto + affiliation and link to a homepage]
Collaborations
List with links
Outreach and publications (with available preprints)
Public talks
Ackermann, K., Matzinger, J., Gavranović, M. “Albanian in the context of the Indo-Europeanization of the Balkans. New insights from the ALAnetics approach.” Albanian Academy of Sciences. Tirana, 04/11/2024
Ackermann, K., Matzinger, J., Gavranović, M. “The ALAnetics approach to understanding Indo-European migrations: Achievements and challenges. XVIIth IG Fachtagung – The Speakers of Indo-European and their World, University of Basel, 9-12/9/2024
Matzinger, J. “Il messapico tra i Balcani e l‘Italia.” Colloque international: Messapie et messapien: pour un nouveau bilan archéologique, épigraphique et linguistique, Sorbonne, Paris 4-5/6/2024
Ackermann, K., Matzinger, J., Gavranović, M. “Who are the Balkan Indo-Europeans: New evidence from ALAnetics.” Biannual Balkan and South-Slavic Conference (BASS) 23. Oxford, Miss. 03/05/2024
Ackermann, K., Gavranović, M., Matzinger, J. “Indo-Europeanization of the Balkans. Some new insights at the interface of Archaeology, Archeogenetics and Historical Linguistics.” Secondary Homelands of the Indo-European Languages. Arbeitstagung of the Indo-European Society. Leiden, Netherlands, 5-7/9/2022
Publications
Ackermann, K. “The centum – satem diversification revisited.” In: Journal of Indo-European Studies 52, 1-2 (2024).
Ackermann, K., Matzinger, J., Gavranovic, M., Petschko, I., Wang, C.C., Cheronet, O., Flegontov, P., Vyazov, L., et al. Indo-Europeanization of the Balkans. First results of the triangular investigation at the interface of Archaeology, Archaeogenetics and Historical Linguistics. In: Science. (forthc.) [preprint]
Ackermann, K., Matzinger, J., Gavranović, M. “Albanian in the context of the Indo-Europeanization of the Balkans. New insights from the ALAnetics approach.” In: Omari, A. et al. Proceedings of the Roundtable “Albanian among the Indo-European Languages: Origins and Antiquity.” Albanian Academy of Sciences. Tirana, 04/11/2024 (forthc.) [preprint]
Ackermann, K., Matzinger, J., Gavranović, M., Cheronet, O., Vyazov, L. Flegontov, P. “The ALAnetics approach to understanding Indo-European migrations: Achievements and challenges.” In: M. de Vaan & S. Neri (eds.) The Speakers of Indo-European and their World. Proceedings of the XVIIth Fachtgung of Indo-European Society in Basel, Switzerland, Sept. 9-12th 2024. Wiesbaden: Reichert. (forthc.) [preprint]
Matzinger, J. “Il messapico tra i Balcani e l‘Italia.” In: Dupraz, E. and Léger V. Actes du Colloque international: Messapie et messapien: pour un nouveau bilan archéologique, épigraphique et linguistique 4-5 juin 2024. Geneve: Droz. (forthc.) [preprint]
Gavranović, M. et al. …. “Absolute Dating of Bronze Age urn burial in the Central Balkans.” In: Radiocarbon.2025
Gavranović, M., Waltenberger, L., Petschko, I. M., Bujak, E., Cogo I. “Kopilo a newly discovered Late Bronze and Iron Age burial ground in Bosnia.” Antiquity 97 (392): e10, 2023, doi:10.15184/aqy.2023.10