Heinrich Winkelmann Fellowship

Since 2014, the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum has offered two research fellowships per year in the areas of mining history and mining archaeology. The three-month research visits to the DBM offer PhD holders in history and archaeology an excellent opportunity to carry out their own project in mining history, mining archaeology or material science, at a respected research museum belonging to the Leibniz Association. The Heinrich Winkelmann Fellowship comprises three months’ funding, a total of 6000€. Applications from outside Germany are encouraged.

You can find the current call for applications here.

Our fellows

Zahra Hashemi, is an archaeologist graduated in 2018 with a PhD in oriental archaeology from Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne University. Her main scientific interests are related to the Bronze and the Iron Age in the Zagros region (Iran/Iraq). She is a member of several international archaeological teams and has participated in various excavations in Iran, Iraq, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan. Associated as researcher to the VEPMO team (du Village à l’Etat au Proche et Moyen Orient) of ArScAn laboratory (Archeologies et Sciences de l’Antiquité), in France, between 2018 and 2020, she was grantee of Shelby White Leon Levy program for archaeological publications. The monograph of Sangtarashan’s archaeological site in Luristan (western Iran) is currently in press (Peeters edition).  Between 2020 and 2022 she was employed as a porstdoctoral researcher, by LABEX (Les Passés dans le Présent), where she focused on the enigmas of the Luristan Bronzes within the LurPaP project (Luristan from the Past to the Present) by studying two French collections: Louvre Museum and MAN (Musée d'Archaeologie Nationale).

From Mine to Artifact: The Emergence and Development of Metal Technology in the central Zagros through the study of « Luristan Bronzes »

In continuity with her interest for Luristan Bronzes and in the framework of Heinrich Winkelmann Fellowship, she investigates the origin of raw materials of these fabulous metallic objects. Bronzes of Luristan, consist of enigmatic artifacts of great morphological variety, mostly in bronze but also partly in iron and silver, often bearing a very elaborate and original iconography dated to ca. 2500-1800 BC / 1250-600 BC. These artifacts have become a significant cultural marker of the Luristan region, in the central Zagros, during the Bronze and Iron Age. They are poorly known archaeologically and even less so archaeo-metallurgically. Despite almost a century of studies and archaeological investigations, their history is still suffering from a poor understanding in many aspects. Numerous articles have been written about the typology, typo-chronology, and iconography of Luristan Bronzes, but little research has been done on the technical aspects of these enigmatic artifacts.

Through physio-chemical and isotopic analysis of slags from several slag heap sites in the Luristan region, she aims to start an ambitious research program to understand; the development of metal technology in the Zagros region, technical aspects of the Bronzes of Luristan, the source of raw materials, and the role of Zagros region in the trade and exchange networks in ancient Near East.

Publication

Zahra Hashemi, « An overview of studies on the Bronzes of Luristan », In : Hasanzadeh, Y., Vahdati, A.A., Karimi, Z., Proceedings of the International Conference on the Iron Age in Western Iran and Neighbouring Regions, 2019, pp. 175-183

Mehrdad Malekzadeh, Ata Hasanpur, Zahra Hashemi, “Bronzes of Luristan in a Non-funerary Context: Sangtarashan, an Iron Age Site in Luristan (Iran)”, Proceedings, 10th ICAANE, Vienna, 2018

Ata Hasanpur, Zahra Hashemi, Bruno Overlaet, “The Baba Jilan Graveyard near Nurabad, Pish-I Kuh, Luristan, A preliminary report”, Iranica Antiqua 50, 2015, pp. 169-210

Zahra Hashemi, « D10-D13, in Chapter D, Excavating Gird-i Bazar: the 2016 season », In: Janoscha Kreppner, Andrea Squitieri (Eds.), Unearthing the Dinka Settlement Complex: The 2016 Season at Gird-i Bazar and Qalat-i Dinka, Peshdar Plain Project Publications 2. Gladbeck, PeWe-Verlag, 2017, pp. 95-102

Eleanor Barbanes Winkinson, Andrea Squitieri, Zahra Hashemi, « Samples and finds from Gird-i Bazar », In: Karen Radner, Janoscha Kreppner, Andrea Squitieri (Eds.), Exploring the Neo-Assyrian Frontier with Western Iran: The 2015 Season at Gird-i Bazar and Qalat-i Dinka, Peshdar Plain Project Publications, vol. 1. Gladbeck, PeWe-Verlag, pp. 100-108

Zahra Hashemi, Mehrdad Malekzadeh, Ata Hasanpour, 2022, Sangtarashan: L’Âge du Fer au Pish Kuh du Luristan, Acta Iranica, Peeters, Levanii (in press)

Cynthia Browne (Ph.D. 2019, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA) is an anthropologist and media practitioner. She was a 2020-2021 Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, Germany and is currently a post-doctoral research associate with the Documentary Practices: Excess and Privation research group at the Ruhr University, as well as an Associate with the Anthropology Department at Harvard University. Her current research focuses on the afterlives and material legacies of mining across differently situated bodies and landscapes. Her doctoral and post-doctoral research has been supported by the DAAD, the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, the Dan David Foundation, and the National Science Foundation, among others. 

Underground Vibrations: Towards a Media Archaeology of Mining

This research project draws together approaches from German media studies, sensoryethnography, historical anthropology, and science and technology to contribute to scholarship on the sensory history of mining through attention to sound. My research agenda consists of three pillars: 1) an historical exploration of the “acoustemology” of the underground, 2) a media archaeology of sound-emitting objects in the montan.dok collection, and 3) a phenomenological and genealogical investigation of Lärmschwerhörigskeit (noise-induced hearing loss). Through this research, I aim to demonstrate how a phenomenological approach attentive to an historically contingent acoustemology* of the underground will yield insight into how listening practices informed mining work and the acquisition of embodied forms of knowledge, while simultaneously altering the very epistemological grounds of hearing itself.

* This term, coined by anthropologist, musician, and sound artist Steven Feld, indexes a form of knowing through sound and sound as an embodied form of knowledge.

Rocío Gomez (Ph.D. 2014, University of Arizona, Tucson) is an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. Her main area of research is environmental history of Latin America with a focus on environmental health and the history of science. In 2020, her first book, Silver Veins, Dusty Lungs: Mining, Water, and Public Health in Zacatecas, 1835-1946 was published with University of Nebraska Press. It received Honorable Mention for Best Book in the Social Sciences from the Latin American Studies Association-Mexico Section. She has held fellowships at Linda Hall Library, Science History Institute, and the American Philosophical Society.

Victors and Vanadium: A History of Latin American Science

In this project, I examine how chemistry served as a facilitator for material culture and technology as well as empire. By exploring the intersection of science and empire, this project addresses questions of power, access, and toxic legacies. It places chemistry at the heart of technology and material culture while buoying the imperial endeavor. More specifically, this project examines the extraction history of vanadium in material culture and incorporation in technology while also asking who had access to these technologies. Unlike histories of chemistry that do not leave the laboratory, this project situates chemistry in the production of both material culture, technology, and empire. It has continued relevance in an era where interventionist political coups are taking place in developing nations for the sake of minerals and where empires now take the form of multinational corporations. The application of experimental history, technological improvement, and experimental philosophy to raw materials found in colonized regions spawned material objects imbued with signifiers of empire.

Laura Perelló Mateo (PhD 2017, University of the Balearic Islands, Spain) is member of the ArqueoUIB Research Group (University of the Balearic Islands). Her main lines of research are metallurgical technology and the exploitation of mineral resources during prehistory.

She is currently hired as a Superior Technician in the Area of ​​Prehistory at the UIB and is a teacher of the subject Prehistory of the Iron Age. She actively participates in the research projects that ArqueoUIB carries out in Mallorca and Menorca (Spain) and co-directs research projects related to the study of copper and lead mineral resources in Mallorca and Menorca, including archaeological interventions in the Sa Mitja Lluna (Menorca) and others studies of archaeological metals.

Mining practices, consuming strategies and insular dynamics: Analysis of copper supply and exchange in the Balearic Islands during Prehistory.

During the Bronze Age, we find two different models for the neighbouring and culturally homogeneous Balearic islands. The exploitation of local copper resources in this period has been confirmed in Menorca through excavations in the only prehistoric mine that has been documented in the Balearic Islands—Sa Mitja Lluna, Illa den Colom—and through isotopic analyses. However, no archaeological evidence of local copper exploitation has been found in Mallorca so far. Isotopic data on bronze and copper archaeological metals are beginning to shape a picture in which the island communities mainly consume foreign metals, despite having their own resources.

We work on the assumption of the rejection of the concept of an island as an isolated territory; therefore, we defend the approaches that affect the analysis of mobility and connectivity. For all these reasons, we believe that it is important to conduct an in-depth examination of the phenomena that influenced the supply of materials as significant as metals.

Consequently, this project has a double purpose: on the one hand, we intend to deepen the understanding of small-scale mining practices and what this activity implies for the communities involved; on the other hand, we intended to analyse the circulation system and provenance of the archipelago metals in these chronologies. The ultimate goal is to better understand the dynamics of copper supply as a whole, while considering the exchange networks, the real impact that they had on the inhabitants of the islands and what reflection this material culture has.

We aim to achieve these objectives through an analysis of the archaeological record of Sa Mitja Lluna, using the resources that the Deutsche Bergbau-Museum Bochum makes available to the fellows. In addition, through an analysis of lead isotopes, we propose the study of possible interpretive models that help us understand how the archipelago system works in the context of the Western Mediterranean.

Mai Lin Tjoa-Bonatz, art historian and archaeologist (Ph.D. 2001, Technische Universität Darmstadt), is teaching on Southeast Asia’s culture and history at several German universities. She has joined excavations in Syria and Indonesia. She was formerly a Visiting Research Fellow in Singapore. In 2018, she was appointed as visiting professor at the National University of the Philippines. Curating exhibitions her interest also addresses missionary history and maritime cultural heritage of Southeast Asia. At the Technische Universität Darmstadt she joined research projects on “Housing of Historic City Centers” and “The Global History of Technology, 1850-2000” focusing on goldworking and -mining in colonial-period Indonesia. As curator she has published on art historical and archaeometric aspects of ancient Javanese gold jewelry.

History of Goldmining and Goldworking in Southeast Asia, 1850-1945

As part of  the research project GLOBAL-Hot at the Technical University Darmstadt the study aims to analyze the global history of technology by investigating artefacts and technological systems of gold mining and goldworking in insular Southeast Asia of the late colonial period. The focus lies on island Indonesia, which was described as the fabulous ancient „goldland“. In the first millennium CE Indian goldsmiths came. Later, in the seventeenth century saxon miners worked on the island of Sumatra. In the nineteenth century Chinese, American or European mining workers, companies, geologists or entrepreneurs engaged in the quest for the islands‘ precious metals.

With this research I want to highlight rather dynamic instances on transcultural transfer, circulation and encounter. The study is promising in evaluating primary written sources, ethnographic writing together with so far unpublished museum artefacts and other visual material. Not only the instances of transcultural transfer of technologies, resources or tools used by acteurs from different ethnic groups or origin but also the cross-breading and co-existence of local and transcultural notions as well as recycling or tinkering resulting in hybrid technological systems or artefacts  contradict to the assumption of a continuous history of development and the one-sided perspective of a Western-influenced modernisation paradigm. The thematically wide-ranging academic environment of the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum offers valuable reading on the research subject and provides transformative experiences.

From June – August 2019, Tracy carried out research dedicated to the development of low-molecular weight cyclohexanone-based polymeric varnishes for paintings conservation with improved chemical properties. Under the leadership of Dr. Elena Gómez-Sánchez, Tracy’s research capitalized on her background in synthetic organic chemistry to establish a route towards tailor-making an analog of MS2A, a popular varnish currently used by paintings conservators, with chemical modifications to make the final varnish more resistant to yellowing.

Prior to arriving in Bochum, Tracy obtained a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley (2006 – 2010) and a Ph.D. in Organic Synthesis at Princeton University in the MacMillan Group (2012 – 2017). Given her life-long appreciation for easel paintings, Tracy elected to apply her knowledge and skills in chemistry to the conservation of easel paintings and continued basic research towards the development of improved materials tailor made for paintings conservation. After completing her Ph.D., Tracy began training in Paintings Conservation in the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, where she is currently entering her final year of study.

Immediately following her departure from the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum, Tracy will begin a one year internship in Paintings Conservation at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam as part of her final year curriculum towards obtaining her Masters in Art Conservation (degree expected August 2020).

Publications

  • Bloom, S. P.*; Liu, C.*; Kölmel, D. K.; Qiao, J. X.; Zhang, Y.; Poss, M. A.; Ewing, W. R.; MacMillan, D. W. C. Decarboxylative Alkylation for Site-Selective Bioconjugation of Native Proteins via Oxidation Potentials, Nature Chemistry, 2017, 10, 205. (*co-first author)
  • Liu, C.; Oblak, E. Z.; Vanderwal, M. N.; Dilger, A. K.; Almstead, D. K.; MacMillan D. W. C. Oxy-Allyl Cation Catalysis: An Enantioselective Electrophilic Activation Mode, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2016, 138, 2134.
  • Naidu, S.; Liu, C.; Scherer, G. W. Hydroxyapatite-based Consolidate and the Acceleration of Hydrolysis of Silicate-based Consolidants, Journal of Cultural Heritage, 2015, 16, 94.

Nicolas Gailhard (Ph.D. 2007, Université de Paris I -Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris) was a member of the “Mines” ANR project directed by Catherine Marro (CNRS) and Thomas Stöllner (Ruhr-Universität Bochum). He has worked in Europe, Syria, Turkey, and the Caucasus for more than 15 years. His main area of research is archaeometallurgy and experimental archaeology in the Mediterranean and the Near East from the Chalcolithic to the Bronze Age. In 2010, he conducted a research programme on Iron metallurgy in Turkey at the Koç University's Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations. He is now Research Associate in the team “From Village to State in Ancient Near-East”, Department National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Nanterre, France and Director of Arkeoservice.

To the project (PDF)

Publications

  • Gailhard, N., Bode, M., Bakhshaliyev, V., Hauptmann, A. and Marro, C., (2017): “Archaeometallurgical investigations in Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan): What does the evidence from Late Chalcolithic Ovçular Tepesi tell us about the beginning of extractive metallurgy?”, in Journal of Field Archaeology.
  • Gailhard, N., (2014): “Experimental Archaeology and Science Center in Turkey. A presentation and popularization of Science: Early Bronze Metallurgy", in Arkeoloji ve Sanat (Journal of Archaeology & Art), vol. 146, Istanbu.
  • Gailhard, N., (2012): “Du Bronze au Fer, la transition entre deux métallurgies dans les civilisations antiques d'Anatolie, l’expérimentation comme moyen d’acquisition.”, Rencontres d’Archéologie de l’IFEA, Istanbul, 11-13 Novembre 2010, Les collections électroniques de l'IFEA, http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/71/91/92/PDF/007-Gailhard.pdf
  • Gailhard, N. (2009): Transformation du cuivre au Moyen-Orient du Néolithique à la fin du 3ème millénaire. Etude d’une chaîne technologique. PhD. publication, British Archaeological Reports, Series 1911, Oxford.
  • Gailhard, N., (2008): The Exchanges of Copper in the Ancient Middle East. Journal of Ancient Civilizations, n°23, IHAC, Changchun, China, 75-98.

Contact

nicogailhard@hotmail.com
info@arkeoservice.com

Regine Müller, Dr. des. – graduated in 2003 with Magister Artium in Early and Prehistorical Archaeology at the Justus Liebig University of Gießen, with the archaeological analysis of an early medieval graveyard. PhD thesis in Archaeology and History of the Roman Provinces at the University of Frankfurt about the archaeological-archaeometrical analysis of lead finds from the Roman republican site of Sanisera, Menorca, finished in 2014. The thesis was based upon a preliminary material study within the context of the international, European Union sponsored project „Rome’s Conquest of Europe: Military aggression, native response and the European public today“, during 2005/2006.

Subsequent research in provenance studies of lead sling bullets, momentarily focused upon material from Germany and Scotland, in cooperation with Prof. S. Klein (Deutsches Bergbau Museum, Bochum); J. H. Reid (Trimontium Trust, Scotland) and Dr. A. Posluschny (Research Centre Keltenwelt am Glauberg).

Since 2005 volunteer work within the non-profit organization “Archäologie im Gleiberger Land e.V.”; head archaeologist there since 2009, researching and undertaking rescue excavations at the late La Tène period oppidum of the Dünsberg (Biebertal) and its surrounding burial sites.

Extensive experience in field archaeology (excavation and surveying) within research programs, rescue excavations and field schools in Germany, Spain (Menorca) and Portugal, ranging from neolithic to modern times. Sites excavated include settlement sites, military forts, medieval castles, graveyards and urban archaeology.

Since 2015 employed at Sascha Piffko – Archäologische Untersuchungen (SPAU) as archaeologist, working as field director and technician, responsibilities including on-site documentation (digital and analogue), preparing reports, research and lectures (Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen).

To the project (PDF)

Publications

  • Contreras F. / Müller R. / Montaner J. / Valle F. J., Estudio pormenorizado de los glandes de plomo depositados en el Cehimo. Cehimo 33, 2006, 97–163.
  • Contreras F. / Müller R. / Valle F. J., El asentamiento militar romano de Sanitja (123–45 a.C.): una aproximación a su contexto histórico. Mayurca 31, 2006, 231–249.
  • Müller R., Die republikanische Militäranlage von Sanisera (Menorca), in: F. Teichner (Hrsg.), Aktuelle Forschungen zur Provinzialrömischen Archäologie in Hispanien. Kleine Schriften aus dem Vorgeschichtlichen Seminar Marburg 61 (2016), 119-124.
  • Müller R. / Brey G. P. / Seitz H.-M. / Klein S., Lead isotope analyses on Late Republican sling bullets. In: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 7. 4 (2015), 473-485. DOI 10.1007/s12520-014-0209-0.
  • Müller R. / Nickel C., Der Dünsberg im Gleiberger Land, Denkmalpflege und Kulturgeschichte 3/2016, 20–25.
  • Müller R. / Nickel C., Weitere spätlatènezeitliche Bestattungsplätze im Einflussbereich des Dünsbergs. Hessenarchäologie 2013 (2014), 95–97.
  • Müller R. / Schneider J., Angeschnitten – neue Einblicke in den Wetteraulimes, in: Hessenarchäologie 2016 (im Druck) .
  • Ramminger B. / Müller R. / Lasch H., Erdwerksgräben und tiefe Gruben in Nidderau-Windecken, Main-Kinzig-Kreis. Ein weiterer Mosaikstein zur neolithischen Besiedlung im unteren Niddertal, in: Hessenarchäologie 2016 (im Druck) .

Contact

mueller@spau-ausgrabungen.de

Ümit GÜDER, Ph.D. (1979) who has got bachelor’s degree in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, has prepared his doctoral thesis over Iron Metallurgy in Medieval Anatolia in Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkey. He has been conducting his researches over archaeometallurgy as academic supervisor of Archaeometry laboratory in the same university. He participated in EU funded projects with the theme traditional ceramic production and training systems in 2008 and 2013. With the financial support of Turkish Research Council (TUBITAK) he attended the Archaeometallurgy Summer School-2013 in University College London and worked as guest researcher in Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum and Max-Planck Institute for Iron Research-Düsseldorf for 6 months in 2014. His research interests are history of metallurgy and metal production, traditional materials for ceramics and glazes.

To the project (PDF)

Publications

  • Güder, Ü., Taşan, C., Yavaş, A. (2014), “Iron from Kubad-Abad: Iron Smithing at an Anatolian Medieval Palace”, Proceeding at the 20th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists, Istanbul.
  • Güder, Ü., Redford, S., Eger, A., Taşan, C.C., Raabe, D., Yalçın, Ü., (2015), “Iron at the Frontier: Medieval Iron Smithing at Kinet and Hisn al-Tinat”, Proceeding at the Archaeometallurgy in Europe IV, Madrid, Spain.
  • Güder, Ü., Yavaş, A., Yalçın, Ü., (2015). “Anadolu Selçuklu Dönemi Demir Aletlerinin Üretim Yöntemleri / Production Techniques of Anatolian Seljuks Iron Tools”, Turkish Studies -International Periodical for the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic-, Volume 10/9, p. 193-212.
  • Güder, Ü (in press), “Archaeometallurgical Analysis of Iron Objects from Kubad-Abad”, In Arik, R. (Ed.), Kubad-Abad, p. 466-480.

Contact

uguder@comu.edu.tr