Border Zones - Meeting Places in the Ancient World, 9th International Postgraduate Conference PeClA 2022, Charles University, Prague, April 11–12, 2022

Borders, buffer zones, and frontiers between larger geographic, and cultural entities or social groups in the ancient Mediterranean as well as within the classical societies have always been a central and very popular research topic. According to their contradictory nature, these areas could serve both as demarcations of identities and/or places of interaction. Following the so‐called postcolonial turn, some of the interpretative models aiming the role of border zones have been reviewed (core‐periphery), on the one hand, while new views emerged in an unprecedented upsurge (various ‘‐isations’ phenomena, acculturation processes, and migration theories), on the other hand. Therefore, the primary aim of the conference will be to address all the possible facets of the border zones / meeting places in the ancient world, from the Bronze Age to the Late Antiquity.

The postgraduate conference follows the Adaptation and Creativity along the Border Zones conference, which focused on more general and methodological aspects. The main task and objective of our conference is to discuss concepts, strategies and transformations of border zones / meeting places in the ancient world using specific case studies from the Mediterranean in a broader sense; we seek to comment on the cultural and social aspects of the borders on a macro or micro level (e.g. Aegean region, Attica, polis), the geographic and environmental characteristics of assumed demarcations, the economic potentials of frontiers, the significance of border zones for the identity formation, and that of meeting areas as so-called spheres of interaction. These and further questions should allow us to understand the border zones as an inherent part of the ancient world relating to its transformation and development between the 3rd millennium BCE and 5th century AD. Conceived broadly, this theme gives postgraduate students and young researchers the full opportunity to present and discuss their opinions and thoughts applicable to the theme. Papers from postgraduates in all stages of their research, both theoretical and practical are welcome.