Archaeology and Linguistics in the modern world.
Exchange of knowledge in the History of Mankind.

Place:

The Crimea is an autonomous republic of the modern Ukraine, with three official languages (Ukrainian, Russian, and Crimean Tatar). It is a region for which both, archeology and linguistics are of a great importance. Geographically, the Crimea is a peninsula, almost an island in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. It is the most north-eastern territory connected by waterways to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Through the North Pontic steppes, the westernmost extent of the Eurasian steppe belt, the Crimea is also connected to the countries of the Far East and the Pacific Ocean.
Thus, these are two great ways connecting East and West from the ancient times. It is, therefore, not a coincidence that the Crimea has been at all times home to different peoples linked by their origins to the West as well as the East: Greeks, Scythians, Sarmatians, Goths, Huns, Khazars, Tatars, Genoese, and others. This rich cultural history makes it a particularly suitable venue for the colloquium on “Archaeology and Linguistics in the Modern World”.

Concept:

Archaeology and Linguistics have many common features in their history. The basic discoveries in these fields were made at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century (e.g., W. Jones, The Sanscrit Language, 1786; W. von Humboldt, Über den Dualis, 1827; Ch. J. Thomsen, A Ledetraad til Nordisk Oldkyndighed (Guideline to Scandinavian Antiquity), 1836).
In the 19th century both disciplines played an important role in the society, which was mainly linked to the process of the formation of nations and national states. At the time, the world of scholarship did not really have any boundaries. New books with the new concepts and methods spread very quickly. Every scholar of the time was expected to be aware of the most recent developments in his field of research. A command of several foreign languages was a prerequisite for the exchange of information and for the acquisition of relevant academic qualifications.
The political events of the 20th century in Europe had a tremendous influence on the development of science and scholarship. After World War I and the Russian Revolution, the scientific world was divided into two camps. For more than 70 years, the developments of science went different ways in the ‘western’ and ‘eastern camps. This applied primarily to the humanities as it was here that the political pressures were particularly felt. Despite the fact that in the previous period a pan-European research field had been established and common research problems had been formulated, the limited ways of communication between scholars of the ‘western’ and ‘eastern’ camps, poor access to academic literature, differences in methodological approaches, and language problems created significant barriers between them.
In the late 1980s and the early 1990-s, the collapse of the ‘eastern’ camp was followed by a gradual political unification of the Old World. This process is continuing today. Freedom of speech and of movement, and new opportunities for sharing knowledge have provided the necessary conditions for creating a community of scholars. How does this convergence proceed in concrete terms? What are the challenges for the creation of a common scientific and scholarly space? To what extent are these problems due to historical differences in the development of scholarship? What are the aims of archeology and linguistics in the modern world, and what role does international cooperation play in achieving these aims? How does the exchange of knowledge between different countries work at the present stage?
The current situation of the humanities is also reflected in the relevant research issues. One of the most important topics in archeological and linguistic research are cultural relations and cultural exchange. Both disciplines give insights into the exchange of knowledge and cultural achievements in the east and the west took place in the past, allowing us to build bridges between societies past and present.