Outline

The numerous recent, much needed and important narratives coming out of research on the exploitation of urban sites and their cultural heritage in 19th and early 20th century Asia Minor and the Middle East, have increasingly focused on the role of the individual in the driving of (legal and illegal) export of cultural heritage. This has also included the role which these individuals played through their positions, connections or roles in a variety of institutions and organisations and as single actors. Despite the importance of such studies, this focus has led to fragmented narratives which have focussed either on a single site or a single individual’s central role or impact, often not allowing for an overarching analytical insight into the potential patterns or lack thereof in such frameworks and their developments over time. 

With this conference, however, we aim to investigate the period and region in question from the perspective of the larger and complex networks (the weak- or strong-ties networks) that framed and enabled the exploration, excavation and exploitation of urban sites in Asia Minor and the Middle East from the late 19th to the early 20th century (the Late Ottoman period and early Mandate period). We invite papers, which focus on the understanding of the larger and overarching frameworks in an analytical perspective, taking as the point of departure the contemporary shaping of societal and political structures and networks in the first place and the role of the individual agents on all levels in the second place. 

In particular we are interested in contributions from researchers, who are willing to rethink approaches to archival material and legacy data; “data”, which often is incomplete and often has been produced by a single person or a single institution or excavation, but which in fact is an expression of much wider and potentially overlooked patterns that still remain underexplored. Such an “inverted” approach might in turn contribute to a broader and more refined understanding of networks in the broader sense of societal networks - taking studies from the micro to the macro level.

Programme

Book of Abstracts (incl. programme)

Please note that registration is required by 4 May 2026 at isl@smb.museum for the conference (7-8 May) and evening lecture (6 May), as seating is limited.

Speakers and discussants

• Alexandra Solovyev (University of London)
• Anne-Lise Guigues (Musée du Louvre)
• Dagmar Schäfer (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science)
• Eva-Maria Troelenberg (Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf)
• Hana Navratilova (University of Oxford)
• Miriam Kühn (Museum für Islamische Kunst )
• Olaf Matthes (Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte)
• Rubina Raja (Aarhus University)
• Šárka Velhartická (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici)
• Sebastian Willert (Leibniz-Institut für jüdische Geschichte und Kultur – Simon Dubnow)
• Thomas Gertzen (Freie Universität Berlin)
• Vanessa Rose (Independent Researcher, Paris)
• Zoya Masoud (Forum Transregionale Studien)

Accommodation for speakers

B&B HOTEL Berlin‑Mitte

Albrechtstraße 25

10117 Berlin

Phone: +49 (0) 30 526800 -0

E-Mail: berlin-mitte@hotelbb.com

Dinner, 7th May (self-paid)

Limited seating capacity / Registration required by 4 May 2026 / Please register at isl@smb.museum