16th September 2022

Greek migrations – Ionian, Aeolian, and Dorian – into Anatolia at the beginning of the Early Iron Age have been a topic of immense interest to scholars since the 19th century. For over a hundred years, excavation and survey projects in western Anatolia have provided archaeological data that inform various aspects of this phenomenon. There is a global community of us still interested in this subject, and this workshop provides an opportunity to discuss questions related to mobility during the Iron Age in an argument-driven yet informal setting.

In a structured debate, this workshop aims to scrutinise the ways in which our notions about migrations have been constructed. A panel of invited participants will debate arguments in favour and against the paradigm of the ‘Ionian migration’ and of the concept of ‘Greek identity’ of the early first millennium BCE western Anatolian communities, followed by open discussion with the audience. While the focus is on the Early Iron Age and Archaic Ionia, we invite insights on parallel processes from the neighbouring regions of Caria, Lydia, Aeolis, Troad, and Phrygia for a more robust assessment of the question whether Ionia experienced different historical processes (i.e., migrations) than its Anatolian neighbours.

Organiser: Jana Mokrišová (Cambridge)

Chair: Christopher Ratté (Michigan)

Debators: Winfried Held (Marburg), Jan-Marc Henke (DAI), Gül Gütekin-Demir (Ege), Michael Kerschner (ÖAI), Michael Loy (BSA), Naoíse Mac Sweeney (Vienna), Olivier Mariaud (Grenoble), Marek Verčik (Prague).