The Interdisciplinary Centre at the Departmentof Archaeology and Museology at the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University focuses on research in to the history, population, and social structures of settlements from prehistory to the High Middle Ages. The departments of archaeology and many other social sciences, as well as many fields of natural sciences, take part in this research.

Everyday life in human settlements

Research teams are involved in the project from both a theoretical and a practical perspective. They focus on the surroundings and natural environments of the settlements, their changes overtime, the types of settlements, spatial archaeology, the development of technological processes, human relationships with the natural environment, and the symbolism of artefacts, objects, and landscapes. Special attention is devoted to everyday life in settlements, from villages to towns, and further to casteology and monasteriology. Team archaeologists use advanced technologies, such as magnetometers, georadar, and electro-resistance methods. When working on analytical surface collections, they work with the help of GPS, Real-Time Kinematics, and other navigation tools. This comprehensive approach significantly enhances the knowledge about the development and organization of human communities and social changes from the earliest embryonic forms to the formation of the first centres of power, primary cities, early urban centres, and early medieval settlements of rising aristocracy, and later to the fully institutional towns and fortified settlements of aristocracy in the High Middle Ages, in connection with the natural environment and its changes.

The oldest Department of Museology and a UNESCO World Heritage Site

The UNESCO Chair of Museology and World Heritage is at the Department of Archaeology and Museology at the Faculty of Arts MU. It is the first and only UNESCO department in the Czech Republic. At the time of its founding in 1994, it was the only UNESCO department focusing on Museology and World Heritage worldwide. In relation to Resolution No. 43 adopted by the 37th session of the UNESCO General Conference, the activities in the Department aim to support the scientific roles of museums, the scientific background of the field of museology, and applied everyday museum practice in three key areas: the theory of museology and the history of the museum phenomenon, exhibitions in museums, and museum education. Through the UNITWIN Chairs Programme network, this workplace is interconnected with the world’s leading research centres, which are promoted and established by UNESCO.

Further Research Topics