Two projects rom the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology have received funding in the latest IDUB “New Ideas 3B” competition. Dr. Agnieszka Pieńkowska will investigate the impact of copper mining on the development of Bronze Age settlements in Oman, while Dr. Urszula Wicenciak-Núñez will study the contents of Phoenician vessels to identify aromatic substances.
Dr. Urszula Wicenciak-Núñez’s project is entitled “An interdisciplinary study of aromatic substances from Phoenicia in the Hellenistic and Early Roman periods. Identification of the organic content in unguentaria and amphoriskoi produced in Tyre.” It aims to identify and characterize the original contents of small ceramic containers (unguentaria and amphoriskoi) produced in Phoenicia’s principal city, Tyre (Lebanon), during the Hellenistic and Early Roman periods. The interdisciplinary study will help determine the type of substances for which Phoenicia was famous in Antiquity, their fragrances, and their aesthetic and practical properties. The findings will contribute significantly to sensory studies. The project will focus on Tyrian vessels from the Phoenician Semi-Fine Ware group from the Acropolis of Tyre, the necropolis of Sidon, the Agora in Paphos, as well as Olbia on the Black Sea. The allocated funds for the project amount to 76,413.00 PLN.
Dr. Agnieszka Pieńkowska’s project is “The role of copper mining in shaping Bronze Age settlements in northern Oman. Archaeological and geological research in the mountain region of Qumayrah“. It concerns the period of the 3rd millennium BC, when significant socio-cultural and settlement changes took place in Oman. At that time, Oman – called the land of Magan in ancient cuneiform texts – was an exporter of copper that reached markets as distant as Mesopotamia, Iran and the Indus Valley. The project aims to examine how participation in the copper mining, processing and export industry reflected on settlements in hitherto poorly understood mountainous areas. The funds awarded for the project are PLN 84,346.00.
The grants were awarded in Priority Research Area IV “Crossing the Frontiers of the Humanities,” which aims to strengthen and expand the potential of humanities research carried out at the University of Warsaw. “Initiative of Excellence – Research University” (IDUB) is a program of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, which offers an opportunity for the University of Warsaw to enhance the standard of scientific activities and its international standing.
Read more about the IDUB program at the University of Warsaw.