Marc Waelkens
Marc Waelkens is Professor of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), and has been involved in surveys and excavations in Greece, Syria, and Turkey since 1969. He specializes in Anatolian archaeology of the Graeco-Roman period and in ancient quarrying and stone technology. Professor Waelkens is the promoter of an 'Interuniversity Pole of Attraction' (IPA nr 4/12), the 'Centre for Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research', which co-ordinates ongoing multidisciplinary archaeological fieldwork in Europe and the Near East. He is also co-founder of the "Association for the Study of Marble and Other Stones Used in Antiquity" (ASMOSIA), and acting director of the multidisciplinary archaeological research at Sagalassos (Aglasun), one of the major classical excavations in Turkey. Among his recent publications are: Ancient Stones: Quarrying, Trade and Provenance, Leuven, 1992 (co-eds. N.Herz and L.Moens); Sagalassos I (1986-1991). First Report on the Surveys and the Excavations, Leuven, 1993; Sagalassos II. Report on the Third Excavation Campaign of 1992, Leuven, 1993 (co-ed. J.Poblome); Sagalassos III. Report on the Fourth Excavaion Campaign of 1993, Leuven, 1995 (co-ed. J. Poblome); Sagalassos IV. Report on the Survey and Excavation Campaigns of 1994 and 1995, Leuven, 1997 (co-ed. J. Poblome).

For information on Sagalassos see: http://www.sagalassos.be/
The lectures and seminars presented by Professor Waelkens on his tour are listed below.

 
LECTURES

1) Sagalassos. Fifteen years of interdisciplinary research in and around the metropolis of the Western Taurus Range:
This lecture illustrates the results of research in the urban site (developments from Hellenistic to Early Byzantine times involving urban layout, architecture, sculpture, economy and long distance trade, Hellenisation, Romanisation and Christinisation) at Sagalassos and in its 1.800 sq. km large territory (vegetation and landscape history during the Holocene, fauna, settlement history land-use, exploitation of raw materials). It involves a lot of new techniques applied to classical archaeology and produces a complete picture of the region in all possible aspects during the occupation of Sagalassos (from the Neolithic to Ottoman times).

2) The late antique to early Byzantine city in Southwest Anatolia: Sagalassos and its territory : a case study.
This lecture uses the rich evidence available from Sagalassos and its territory to evaluate one of the hot topics of this period: was the transition from late antiquity to early Byzantine times a process of decline or of a more gradual transformation. The evidence from Sagalassos rather favors the last hypothesis until the early 6th century. Yet real decline did set in after the mid 6th century AD.

3) The Romanisation of Pisidia
This lecture illustrates how a process such as Romanisation could be totally different in various cities of a same region. It emphasizes that Romanisation in Pisidia was a process of self-Romanisation initiated by the local elites for socio-economic reasons. That also explains why Sagalassos took the lead in this process, whereas other parts of Pisidia followed much later, when they as well could reap economic profits from it.

 

SEMINARS

1) Elite representation and euergetism in Sagalassos
This seminar shows how throughout time the local elite changed its attitudes and mechanisms of selfpromotion through different types of euergetism from the Hellenistic to the early Byzantine period. In Hellenistic times this was done on a diplomatic level, under Augustus by erecting opulent monuments honoring their own members. From Tiberius onwards, however, they shifted their euergetism more towards the Imperial family: under the Julio-Claudians by building honorific monuments for the emperor himself, in Flavian times by introducing the imperial cult. From the second century AD onwards they favoured the construction of utilitarian structures (e.g. monumental fountains, a library, a food market etc) in which they found an opportunity to display their own statues among those of the emperors and the Olympian gods. In the third century they invested in games carrying their names and during the fourth century by repairing some older monuments which they turned into real dynastic showcases. From the fifth century AD onwards the remaining members of the elite identified themselves with the city proper and now were mainly active in Christian euergetism and in the construction of palatial mansions.

2) Palaeoecological and palaeoeconomic research at and around Sagalassos;
This seminars shows the contribution of geomorphology, geology, seismology, geophysics, palynology and palaeobotany, bio-engineering, archaeozoology, archaeometry and residue analysis in reconstructing the environmental  history and the ancient economy of Sagalassos and its territory.

*The 2004 Visiting Professorship is generously sponsored by Mr Peter Burrows.