ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to establish a dialogue on the crucial relationship between society and material culture and on its reflection in the exceptionally rich material record of the prehistoric Balkans. It discusses the role of German scholarship in shaping and propagating culture-historical approach to the later prehistory of the Balkans and exposes its focus on chronology and diffusion as the roots of numerous problems that still impair the field today. Hahn reflects on the historical embedding and consequences of the concept of ethnicity, as well as on the repeated revivals of the ethnicity argument as indicators for the failure of the nation-state, for the impact of increased mobility, and for other effects of globalization. The book illustrates the problematic relation between archaeological practice and popular narrative through the case study of the Maligrad Archeological Project, operating in an area of inter-ethnic tensions.
