Head of Department
Staff
Benkő Elek, Berta Adrián, Csikiné Kolláth Ágnes, Csiky Gergely, Horváth Friderika, Kovács Bianka Gina, Kovács Gyöngyi, Langó Péter, Masek Zsófia, Mitcsenkov-Horváth Eszter, Soós Eszter, Szabó Máté, Szőke Béla Miklós, Takács Miklós, Vida Tivadar, Zatykó Csilla
Bálint Csanád professor emeritus, Gabler Dénes Research Professor, Kovács László Research Professor, Vaday Andrea Research Professor
Main Research Topics
On the Frontier of Two Worlds: Rome and the Peoples of the Great Migration
On the Frontier of Two Worlds: Rome and the Peoples of the Great Migration
The central aim of this research project is the study and interpretation of the political, cultural, and social processes of the first millennium CE, an era with a decisive impact on world history characterised by the fall and transformation of the Roman world order and its crystallisation into early medieval Europe. The primary goal is to build a comprehensive picture of the political, cultural, and economic processes, which shaped the history of the Carpathian Basin during the millennium before the arrival of the Hungarians in the late 9th century CE, with a perspective on the broader socio- cultural contexts.
The research group focuses both on the political and cultural changes that had a decisive impact on the region’s population and on those phenomena, which contributed to a certain degree of stability and continuity on the cultural level, with a special focus on Christianity. Key research areas include the study of late Roman Pannonia, with a special emphasis on burial sites and deposits such as the Seuso Treasure, as well as the archaeology of the Hunnic and the Avar periods, and thus the histories of two major steppe societies that have particularly captured the imagination and interest of the wider public in Hungary. To reintegrate local early Christianity into its wider late antique context, a research project studies the emergence of Christian mortuary practices in the Holy Land.
Funding of the research
NKFI K-128237: The Late Roman fortress at Ságvár – Archaeological research 1971–1979 (2018–2024) — lead researcher: Horváth Friderika
NKFI K 135932: China, Byzantium and the Steppe Peoples in the 6th–10th centuries: Some Cultural Aspects of the Interrelations (2020–2025) — lead researcher: Bálint Csanád
NKFI PD-138585: Late Roman villa landscape around Sopianae. History, economy, culture and lifestyle behind the frontier (2021–2024) — lead researcher: Szabó Máté
About the program on the Institute's website
NKFI PD-134712: A Germanic group in northern Pannonia in the early Roman Period. The complex archaeological analysis of the cemetery from Vinár-Cseralja (2023–2026) — lead researcher: Soós Eszter
About the program on the Institute's website
Priority Research Theme proposal of the Eötvös Loránd Research Network: Zalavár-Vársziget archaeological excavation and the publication of the Mosaburg/Zalavár series (2021–2025) — lead researcher: Szőke Béla Miklós
Gap-filling Research of the Eötvös Loránd Research Network: Publication of archaeological findcorpus of the Migration Period (2023–2025) — lead researcher: Vida Tivadar
János Bolyai Research Fellowship: "Local Christianities" in the Early Middle Ages: The Carpathian Basin, the Eastern Balkans and the Middle East. Comparative Studies. (2021–2024) — PI: Ádám Bollók
János Bolyai Research Fellowship: Hun-period Burial Pottery in the Carpathian Basin (2019–2021, 2024–2025) — PI: Zsófia Masek
János Bolyai Research Fellowship: The Przeworsk culture in Hungary (2018–2020, 2023–2024) — PI: Eszter Soós
ERC Synergy: HiIstoGenes, Integrating Genetic, Archaeological & Historical Perspectives on Eastern Central Europe 400–900 AD (2020–2026) — PI: Tivadar Vida, ELTE BTK RI; Participants: Ádám Bollók, Gergely Csiky, Zsófia Masek
Centre and Hinterland: Monasteries, Castles, and Settlements in the Medieval Carpathian Basin
The religious, economic, power, and cultural centres of different eras cannot be efficiently studied without an understanding of the broader context of their hinterland. The research project explores this dynamic network of relationships between central places and their periphery, as well as the diverse approaches to their study by examining the monasteries of the Medium Regni within their environment and the Transdanubian castle districts, alongside the structure and landscape context of regional settlement networks. Historical, architectural, and environmental issues related to castles and monasteries, the settlement and road networks of the monastic landscape, and castle estates occupy a prominent place in national and international popular interest and are also important sites for domestic tourism and settlement development. A landscape approach to the study of medieval settlements can be expected to yield valuable results in the fields of water management, climate history, historical ecology, and traditional landscape use as well. The research group addresses the issues of centre and periphery from a local scale to the European perspective, and provides a broad methodological approach that includes the evaluation of historical sources, conducting archaeological excavations, applying non-destructive site diagnostic techniques, and integrates several analytical techniques of the life sciences.
Funding of the research
NKFI K-143099: Castles, settlement system, material culture, 1300-1700 - Complex micro-regional research on the history, landscape history, and archaeology of Transdanubia (2022–2026) — PI: Gyöngyi Kovács
About the program on the Institute's website
NKFI K-135383: River, Landscape and Settlement in the Middle Ages: Studies on Landscape Archaeology, Environment History, and Site Dynamics in the Körös Region (2022–2025) — PI: Csilla Zatykó
About the program on the Institute's website