Call for Papers

 

CALL FOR PAPERS:

Coastal regions and seas have always provided corridors for long-distance movement – of objects, ideas and people. They facilitate communication between geographically-separate communities, enable flows of goods between people and places, and are generally pivotal to political expansion, to raiding and colonisation.

Rather than exploring coastal and maritime contacts within defined temporal or geographic contexts, opening up discussion from prehistory to the present, and looking beyond national boundaries, may be far more beneficial for creating critical frameworks for understanding long-term connectivity and coastal maritime travel across millennia.

This one-day conference aims to evaluate the evidence of long term patterns of connectedness across different seaboards and coasts, with a view to examining coastal and maritime culture and identity in the longue durée.  By comparing and exploring evidence for coastal and maritime interactions in prehistory and the historic period, across the North and Irish Seas, the Channel, Atlantic, Red sea, Baltic and Mediterranean, this conference aims to create a more nuanced sense of connectedness and critique the changing nature of contacts and exchange mechanisms.

Possible areas for enquiry include, but are not limited to:

• How did the sea facilitate long distance contact/connections in the past?
• Did long-term trajectories of movement along coasts influence later connectedness?
• How did coastal communities optimise their maritime connections?
• How distinctive were maritime communities in material terms?
• Can we critique traditional labels and models of migration, trade and mercantile contact?

We welcome abstract submissions from postgraduates and early career researchers exploring maritime connectedness and evidence for networks of communication and exchange from different temporal and geographic perspectives. The workshop also provides the opportunity for poster presentations (A3) and welcomes interest from postgraduate students engaged with the theme.

In addition to the panels and poster session, the conference will include two keynote addresses, by  Prof. Chris Loveluck (University of Nottingham) and Prof. Chris Scarre (Durham University).

Please send abstracts of 200-300 words to mmccdurham2018@gmail.com for papers no longer than 20 minutes, by Monday 30th April 2018

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Blog:    MMCCDurham.wordpress.com                      

Research Dialogues: http://www.dur.ac.uk/archaeology/postgraduate/research_dialogues/    

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