Dr Arkadiy Avdokhin secures funding for a major joint Russian-Austrian research project
On 26 March 2021, it was announced that Dr Arkadiy Avdokhin, Associate Professor at the Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies, Senior research fellow at the Centre for Medieval Studies, HSE University, was successful in his application for a research grant to fund a 4-year Russian-Austrian project on pilgrims’ inscriptions in Byzantium and Old Rus’. The project has received funding from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) and the Austrian science fund (FWF Der Wissensсhaftsfond).
“Magic in Mesopotamia”: a lecture by Dr. JoAnn Scurlock
24 March, Dr. JoAnn Scurlock (Elmhurst College, emerita) presented her lecture “Magic in Mesopotamia” at the seminar “Traditions of Magic in the Near East and Caucasus” (moderator: Alexey Lyavdansky, Senior Lecturer, IOCS HSE).
“How aggressive is Aramaic aggressive magic?”: a paper by Chaja‑Vered Dürrschnabel
February 3, 2021, Chaya-Vered Dürrschnabel (Researcher, University of Bern) presented her paper “How aggressive is aggressive magic? Apotropaic aspects of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic curse bowl texts” at the seminar “Traditions of Magic in the Near East and Caucasus” (moderator: Alexey Lyavdansky, Senior Lecturer, IOCS HSE).
International seminar “Bosporos and Northern Colchis”
On the 5th of December 2020 took place the International online seminar “Bosporus and the Northern Colchis. Greek colonies in a non‑Greek surrounding: dynamics of interaction of differently organized societies”, which was attended by participants from Russia, Georgia and Romania. The project was carried out under the direction of A.I. Ivantchik with financial support from the Russian Science Foundation.
The Earliest Cat on the Northern Silk Road
Associate Professor Irina Arzhantseva and Professor Heinrich Haerke from the HSE Centre of Classical and Oriental Archaeology (Faculty of Humanities) have been involved in the discovery of the earliest domestic cat yet found in northern Eurasia. The study has been published in Scientific Reports journal.
Middle Eastern Studies published an article by an IOCS HSE’s scholar Dr Denis Volkov
Middle Eastern Studies, a leading journal in the field, has published an article authored by Associate Professor Denis V. Volkov. ‘The evil genius of Iranian constitutionalism? “Bloody Shapshal” at the Qajar court’ presents the findings of Volkov’s research that is part of a major international project ‘Life Writing and Historiography of the Modern Middle East’ carried out under the aegis of the Centre for the Study of the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia (CSMECCA) with the participation of the IOCS’ researchers as well as scholars from France, Austria, United Kingdom and the USA.
Prof. Askold Ivantchik: “The King and Royal Power in the Scythian Ideas”
The IVth International Congress on the Archaeology of Eurasian Steppes “Nomadic Empires of Eurasia in the light of archaeological and interdisciplinary research” took place in Ulan‑Ude on September 16–21, 2019. The head of the Centre of Classical and Oriental Archaeology, IOCS HSE, Askold Ivantchik gave a paper at the opening session of the Congress on the subject “The King and Royal Power in the Scythian Ideas. Numismatics data”.
Prof. Askold Ivantchik: “Neue Forschungen zur Epigraphik Olbias”
On October 7–9, 2019, Frankfurt University hosted the international conference “An den Ufern des Bugs. Fünf Jahre deutsch‑ukrainische Ausgrabungen in Olbia Pontike” dedicated to the five‑year anniversary of German‑Ukrainian excavations in Olbia. The head of the Centre for Classical and Oriental Archaeology Askold Ivantchik gave a paper on “Neue Forschungen zur Epigraphik Olbias”.
International Scientific Conference “Archaeology of classical Bosporus and Pontus”
The conference “Archaeology of classical Bosporus and Pontus” dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Dmitry Borisovich Shelov was held in Rostov‑on‑Don, on October 28 — November 1, 2019. Head of the Centre of Classical and Oriental Archaeology Askold Ivantchik, Associate Professor Valentina Mordvintseva and students of the program “Classical and Oriental Archaeology” Alexey Devayev, Vladimir Lysenko and Pavel Nikulin presented there their lectures. The conference was very representative and brought together about a hundred experts on the archaeology of ancient Black Sea area from a dozen countries. It was held in a warm atmosphere thanks to the staff of the Tanais Archaeological Museum‑Reserve, the Southern Federal University and the Azov Museum of Local Lore, where meetings of scientific sections took place.
Archaeological Mission and Archaeological School in Agrigento, Italy
From the 1st to the 12th of May, 2019 an Archaeological School took place in the city of Agrigento on the Sicily, Italy. It was organized by the Centre of Classical and Oriental Archaeology, IOCS HSE (Prof. Dr.hab. Askold Ivantchik, Prof. Dr. Valentina Mordvintseva, Yuri Svoyski, Engineer). The School was conducted in the frame of an international archaeological expedition (University of Bordeaux-Montaigne, France and HSE, Russia, with the participation of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, USA).