Veranstaltung

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30.09.2025 - 02.10.2025 | Halle (Saale)

Unrest, Upheaval, Iconoclasm: The Archaeology of Rebellion

18th Archaeological Conference of Central Germany – International conference in Halle (Saale) from 30 September to 2 October 2025.

The Archaeological Conference of Central Germany is held every year by the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt since its inception in 2008. This international conference aims at gaining new transregional insights by selecting an archaeological subject for interdisciplinary discussion based on finds and features from Central Germany.

This year's conference will be devoted to the archaeological record of the German Peasants' War of 1524/1525, an event that has attracted much attention during the commemoration of its fifth centennial year. In addition to examinations of this event, other revolts and conflicts from antiquity to modern times will be presented and discussed in order to illustrate more comprehensively both the subject of rebellion in the archaeological record and its detectability in the form of material proof as well as various other methodological and theoretical perspectives. The approach is based on specific sites and finds as well as on extant written sources. The focus will lie on socially motivated uprisings but will also include those in which religious or other aspects played a role.

Programme

Tuesday, 30 September 2025

From 9.30 registration.
Lecture hall 1 at Steintor-Campus, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Adam-Kuckhoff-Straße 35, 06108 Halle (Saale).

10.00 to 10.15
Harald Meller (Halle [Saale]/DE), Felix Biermann (Halle [Saale]/DE and Szczecin/PL), Oliver Dietrich (Halle [Saale]/DE), Roberto Risch (Halle [Saale]/DE and Barcelona/ES): Welcoming and introduction.

10.15 to 10.40
Jens Schneeweiß (Schleswig/DE), Oliver Nakoinz (Kiel/DE), Jutta Kneisel (Kiel/DE), Anna K. Loy (Kiel/DE): Konflikte in der Ur- und Frühgeschichte erforschen – Ansätze, Methoden und erste Ergebnisse aus Kiel.

Archäologie des Bauernkrieges 1524/25 und von Konflikten der Reformationszeit

10.45 to 11.10
Gerrit Deutschländer (Halle [Saale]/DE): Für oder wider die göttliche Ordnung? Elf Fragen zum deutschen Bauernkrieg.

11.15 to 11.45 – coffee break.

11.45 to 12.10
Lucas Wölbing (Leipzig/DE): Rebellen, Banditen, Eiferer? Thomas Müntzer und die Brandstifter von Mallerbach (1523 bis 1525).

12.15 to 13.00
Felix Biermann (Halle [Saale]/DE and Szczecin/PL): Der Bauernkrieg 1524/1525 in archäologischen Zeugnissen.

13.00 to 14.00 – lunch break.

14.00 to 14.25
Holger Grönwald (Halle [Saale]/DE): Kloster Memleben im Bauernkrieg – der Befund einer am 01.05.1525 zerstörten Küche.

14.30 to 14.55
Daniel Scherf (Weimar/DE): Archäologische Untersuchungen an Orten des Bauernkrieges in Thüringen.

15.00 to 15.25
Holger Grönwald (Halle [Saale]/DE): Das Bauernlager auf der Wachtenburg bei Wachenheim 1525.

15.30 to 16.00 – coffee break.

16.00 to 16.25
Daniel Gutscher (Bern/CH): Der Bildersturm im Rahmen der Reformation Huldrych Zwinglis – ein Überblick aus archäologischer Perspektive.

16.30 to 16.55
Jens Beutmann (Chemnitz/DE): Kopflose Heilige – Keramische Kleinplastiken als Opfer eines reformatorischen Bildersturms in Sachsen?

17.00 to 17.30 – coffee break.

17.30 to 17.55
Bernd Thier (Münster/DE): »Dat wort is fleis gworden« – Archäologische Spuren des Königreichs der Täufer in Münster 1534/1535.

18.00 to 18.25
Gunnar Möller (Stralsund/DE): Sla dot den papen! Anmerkungen zum Kirchenbrechen 1525 in Stralsund.

18.30 zo 18.45
Maria Albrecht (Halle [Saale]/DE): Papst und Teufel – Eine Dessauer Ofenkachelmatrize.

From 19.30 there will be the opportunity to have dinner together (self-paying). The location will be announced.

Wednesday, 1 October 2025

Rebellionen der Neuzeit und des Mittelalters im Befund

9.30 to 10.10
Carlos Barros (Santiago de Compostela/ES): The Galician revolt of the Irmandiños in its European context, 14th to 16th centuries.
Translation by Roberto Risch.

10.15 to 10.40
María José Bóveda Fernández (Santiago de Compostela/ES), Xosé Ignacio Vilaseco Vázquez (Santiago de Compostela/ES): The people against the archbishop: the slow agony of the Rocha Forte castle (Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain).

10.45 to 11.10
Blas Ramos Rodríguez (Granada/ES), Jorge Rouco Collazo (Granada/ES), Cristina Martínez Carrillo (Granada/ES), José María Martín Civantos (Granada/ES): The Material Traces of the Morisco Rebellions in the Kingdom of Granada (1499 to 1501 and 1568 to 1571): The Case of Sierra Nevada.

11.15 to 11.45 – coffee break.

11.45 to 12.10
Pavel Drnovský (Hradec Králové/CZ): The Hussite Wars (1419 to 1434/7) in archaeological evidence. Examples from the Czech lands.

12.15 to 12.40
Sławomir Wadyl (Warszawa/PL): Archaeological traces of resistance: The Prussian rebellions against the Teutonic Order in the 13th century.

12.45 to 13.10
Jens Schneeweiß (Schleswig/DE): Der nordwestslawische Lutizenaufstand 983 aus archäologischer Perspektive.

13.15 to 14.15 – lunch break.

Archäologie der Rebellion im Römischen Reich

14.15 to 14.40
Johannes Preiser-Kapeller (Wien/AT): Victory! The Nika riots 532 AD and the spatial framework of urban rebellions in early medieval Constantinople.

14.45 to 15.10
Richard Hingley (Durham/GB): The uprising of Boudica in southern Britain, 60 AD.

15.15 to 15.40
Gabriele Rasbach (Kronberg im Taunus/DE): »cum ingenti terrore ac tumultu concursus in Forum populi est factus« – Archaeological traces of iconoclasm.

15.45 to 16.15 – coffee break.

16.15 to 16.40
Stefan Burmeister (Bramsche-Kalkriese/DE): Zerstört – geplündert – geopfert. Die Archäologie der Varusschlacht als wissenschaftliche Herausforderung.

16.45 to 17.10
Martin Luik (München/DE): Numantia und die römische Okkupation der Iberischen Halbinsel in den Krisenzeiten des 2. und 1. Jahrhunderts vor Christus.

17.15 to 17.40
Dominik Maschek (Mainz and Trier/DE): Die römischen Bürgerkriege 125 bis 31 vor Christus: eine archäologische Spurensuche.

17.45 to 18.30 – coffee break.

18.30 to 18.45
Greeting by Claudia Becker, rector, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg.

18.45 to 19.45 – keynote lecture
Lyndal Roper (Oxford/GB): Turbulence and the German Peasants' War of 1525.

Afterwards, from 20.15, there will be an evening reception with buffet at the State Museum of Prehistory (Richard-Wagner-Straße 9, 06114 Halle [Saale]).

From 21.00, there will be the opportunity to visit the permanent exhibition and the temporary exhibition ›Klöster. Geplündert. In den Wirren der Bauernaufstände‹ – each with guided tours in German and English.

Thursday, 2 October 2025

Archäologie der Rebellion in Vorgeschichte, Altertum und in außereuropäischen Kulturen

9.30 to 10.10
Arturo Ruiz (Jaén/ES): Broken bodies, faceless heads: Iconoclastic processes in the development of the Iberian city, 6th to 4th centuries BC.
Translation by Roberto Risch.

10.15 to 10.40
Christof Berns (Hamburg/DE): Die Katastrophe als Spiegel einstiger Größe. Zur archäologischen Konstruktion der Perserzerstörung von Milet.

10.45 to 11.10
Heidi Köpp-Junk (Göttingen/DE): Streik, Bildersturm und Aufstand im Alten Ägypten.

11.15 to 11.45 – coffee break.

11.45 to 12.10
Mercouris Giorgadis (Rethymno/GR): Problems and unrests in Late Minoan IB Crete (1550 to 1450 BC).

12.15 to 12.40
Barbara Bonora (Barcelona/ES), Adria Moreno (Halle [Saale]/DE), Marcello Peres (Barcelona/ES), Roberto Risch (Barcelona/ES and Halle [Saale]/DE): Collapse from Within? Social Rebellion and the End of the El Argar in southeast Iberia (circa 1550 BC).

12.45 to 13.10
Ruben Mendoza (Monterey Bay/US): Götterdämmerung und Teotihuacan: Iconoclasm, Transactional Violence, and the Epiclassic Reconstitution of Mesoamerican Power, 550 to 950 AD.

13.15
Final discussion.

Hinweise zur Teilnahme:
Please register by 15 September 2025 via email to cgaertner@lda.stk.sachsen-anhalt.de. The speakers have already been registered automatically.

The conference fees are 45.00 € per person, reduced 20.00 €. Speakers, employees of the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt, students of the Universities of Halle-Wittenberg, Leipzig, Jena as well as the voluntarily appointed officers of the archaeological service of the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt have free access to the conference. However, registration is also requested in these cases.

Claudia Gärtner M. A.
State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt
State Museum of Prehistory
Richard-Wagner-Strasse 9
06114 Halle (Saale)
Germany
+49 345 5247-372
cgaertner@lda.stk.sachsen-anhalt.de

During the event, photo and video recordings will be made for purposes of documentation and public relations.

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