Univ.-Prof. Dr. Lorenz Rahmstorf
Head of the Department for Pre- and Protohistory
Lorenz Rahmstorf is Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology and Director of the Department of Prehistory and Early History at the University of Göttingen. From an early age he was enthusiastic about the ancient Romans and the Germanic people. During his studies in Heidelberg he was drawn to earlier epochs. He is particularly interested in the emergence and dynamics of early complex societies how cultures were in contact with each other and how they influenced each other. He took part in excavations in Germany, France, Greece, Israel and Egypt. He developed a special interest in the Aegean Bronze Age during his studies in Heidelberg (Germany) and Bristol (UK). During several years of work and research in Greece he wrote a dissertation on the Late Bronze Age small finds from the Mycenaean citadel of Tiryns in the Peloponnese. He was fascinated by the possibility of new research and understanding from small inconspicuous settlement finds. The discovery of markings on cylindrical stone objects initiated his research in 2002 to date on weights and measures. The investigations focussed on the importance of weighing equipment during the Bronze Age in the whole area from the Atlantic to the Indus. In a large research project (ERC-2014-CoG 'WEIGHTANDVALUE: Weight metrology and its economic and social impact on Bronze Age Europe, West and South Asia') he was able to investigate this as the Principal Investigator with several collaborators. His research focuses is on early trade and cultural contacts in late prehistory.
Biography
2017: Professor for Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Göttingen, Germany
2015-2016: Associate Professor at the SAXO-Institute of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark
2014: Affiliated external lecturer at the SAXO-Institute at the University of Copenhagen and guest researcher at the Centre for Textile Research of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark
2013: Replacement of chair [Professor for Prehistoric Archaeology], University of Saarbrücken, Germany
2012: Habilitation with the thesis “Studien zu Gewichtsmetrologie und Kulturkontakt im 3. Jahrtausend v. Chr. [Studies on weight metrology and cultural contact in the third millennium BC]” at the faculty “FB 07 Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften” of the University of Mainz, Germany
2008-2012: Lecturer at the Institute for Prehistory and Early History at the University of Mainz, Germany
2006: Invited Guest Researcher, Centre for Textile Research, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
2002-2006: Lecturer at the Institute for Prehistory and Early History at the University of Mainz, Germany
2002 : PhD. Dissertation advisor: Prof. Joseph Maran. Dissertation title: “Die Kleinfunde aus Tiryns aus Terrakotta, Stein, Bein und Glas/Fayence vornehmlich spätbronzezeitlicher Zeitstellung [Small finds from Tiryns: Objects of Terracotta, Stone, Bone, Glass and Fayence mainly from the Late Bronze Age]” at the University of Heidelberg, Germany
1998-2002: Research Assistant, German Archaeological Institute, Athens, Greece
1996-1997: Further studies in Prehistory Archaeology, Classical Archaeology, Ancient History, Near Eastern Archaeology and Assyriology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany
1996: Master of Arts, Supervisor: Prof. Peter Warren, Department of Archaeology, University of Bristol, UK
1994-1995: Master Studies at the Department for Archaeology, University of Bristol, UK
1991-1994: Studies in Prehistory Archaeology, Classical Archaeology, Ancient History at the University of Heidelberg, Germany
Publications
Monographies and edited works
Rahmstorf, L., Barjamovic, G., Ialongo, N. (eds), Merchants, Measures and Money. Understanding the Technologies of Early Trade in a Comparative Perspective. Proceedings of Two Workshops Funded by the European Research Foundation (ERC). Weight & Value 2 (appears in December 2020).
Rahmstorf, L., Studien zu Gewichtsmetrologie und Kulturkontakt. Habilitation thesis, University of Mainz 2012 [in preparation for the series Universitätsforschungen zur Prähistorischen Archäologie].
Rahmstorf, L., Stratford, E. (eds), Weights and marketplaces from the Bronze Age to the early modern period. Proceedings of two workshops funded by the European Research Foundation (ERC). Weight and Value 1 (Kiel, Hamburg 2019). DOI 10.23797/9783529035401
Siennicka, M., Rahmstorf, L., Ulanowska, A. (eds) First textiles. The beginnings of textile manufacture in Europe and the Mediterranean (Oxford 2018).
Rahmstorf, L., Kleinfunde aus Tiryns. Terrakotta, Stein, Bein, Glas/Fayence vornehmlich aus der Spätbronzezeit. Tiryns, Forschungen und Berichte XVI (Wiesbaden 2008).
Rahmstorf, L., The External Relations of Prepalatial Crete with the Eastern Mediterranean: a Review of the Evidence (unpublizierte M.A. thesis Universität Bristol 1996).
Papers
Im Druck/ eingereicht
Prell, S., Rahmstorf, L., Ialongo, N., Weights and Weight Systems in Tell el-Dabʿa in the Middle and Late Bronze Age. In: M. Bietak, S. Prell (eds), The Hyksos Enigma Vol. Changing Clusters and Migration in the Near Eastern Bronze Age. Collected Papers of a Workshop held in Vienna 4th-6th of December 2019, CAENL. Wiesbaden: Harassowitz, 2021.
Ialongo, N., Rahmstorf, L., "Kannelurensteine" – balance weights of the Bronze Age? In: D. Hofmann, F. Nikulka, R. Schumann (eds), The Baltic in the Bronze Age. Proceedings of a conference at Hamburg 2018. Leiden: Sidestone, 2021.
Hermann, R., Paule, A., Rahmstorf, L., Later Bronze Age gold ornaments in France and Britain: new investigations into the data and their potential weight regulation (rebutted). Bulletin de l’ Association pour la Promotion des Recherches sur L’Age du Bronze (Bulletin APRAP) 19, 2021.
Rahmstorf, L., Mesopotamian weights, a potential Indus weight and other tools in the Archaeological Museum in Istanbul. In: A. Otto, G. Chambon (eds), Weights and Measures as a Window on Ancient Near Eastern Societies. Münchner Abhandlungen zum Alten Orient 8. München: PeWe-Verlag, 2020.
Rahmstorf, L., Barjamovic, G., Ialongo, N., Merchants, measures and money in the Bronze Age and later periods. An introduction. In: L. Rahmstorf, G. Barjamovic, N. Ialongo (eds), Merchants, Measures and Money. Understanding the Technologies of Early Trade in a Comparative Perspective. Proceedings of Two Workshops Funded by the European Research Foundation (ERC). Weight & Value 2. Kiel, Hamburg: Wachholtz.
Prell, S., Rahmstorf, L., Implications for Trade - Weights from Tell el-Dab'a as Indicators of Eastern Mediterranen Influence on Egypt. In: Kilian, A., Zöller-Engelhardt, M. (eds), Excavating the Extra-Ordinary. Challenges and Merits of Working with Small Finds. Proceedings of the International Egyptological Workshop at Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, 8-9 April 2019 (Heidelberg 2020).
Mordant, C., Rahmstorf, L., Ialongo, N., Peake, R.., Roscio, M., Staniaszek, L., Les porteurs d’équipements de pesée de l’étape ancienne du Bronze final en France orientale dans leur contexte européen : statut et compétences, mobilité. In: (Im)mobiles? Circulation, échanges des objets et des idées, mobilités, stabilités des personnes et des groupes durant la Pré-et Protohistoire en Europe occidentale. In: Troisièmes Rencontres Nord-Sud de Préhistoire récente Lyon, 29-30 novembre & 1er décembre 2018 Université Lumière Lyon 2 (Paris 2020).
2020
Rahmstorf, L., Ialongo, N. Sind Kannelurensteine Gewichte? Rätselhafte Objekte aus der Bronzezeit. Archäologie in Niedersachsen 2020, 53–56.
Rahmstorf, L., Weight metrology in the Harappan civilization In: E. Myrdal (ed.), South Asian Archaeology and Art 2014. Papers presented at the Twenty-second International Conference of the European Association for South Asian Archaeology and Art held at the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities/National Museums of World Culture, Stockholm, Sweden, 30th of June to 4th of July 2014 . New Delhi: Dev Publishers & Distributors, 77–96.
2019
Prell, S., Rahmstorf, L., Im Jenseits Handel betreiben. Areal A/I in Tell el-Dabʿa/Avaris – die späthyksoszeitlichen Schichten und ein reich ausgestattetes Grab mit Feingewichten. In: M. Bietak, S. Prell (eds), The Enigma of the Hyksos Volume I, ASOR Conference Boston 2017 − ICAANE Conference Munich 2018 – Collected Papers, CAENL 9. Wiesbaden:Harassowitz, 165–197.
Ialongo, N., Rahmstorf, L., The identification of balance weights in pre-literate Bronze Age Europe: typology, chronology, distribution and metrology. In: L. Rahmstorf, E. Stratford (eds), Weights and marketplaces from the Bronze Age to the early modern period. Proceedings of two workshops funded by the European Research Foundation (ERC). Weight and Value 1. Kiel, Hamburg: Wachholtz, 105–126. DOI 10.23797/9783529035401
Rahmstof, L., Weights and their identification: a short introduction to the workshop. In: L. Rahmstorf, E. Stratford (eds) Weights and marketplaces from the Bronze Age to the early modern period. Proceedings of two workshops funded by the European Research Foundation (ERC). Weight and Value 1. Kiel, Hamburg: Wachholtz, 1–3. DOI 10.23797/9783529035401
Rahmstorf, L., Stratford, E., Weights and marketplaces: a short introduction to the workshop. In: L. Rahmstorf, E. Stratford (eds) Weights and marketplaces from the Bronze Age to the early modern period. Proceedings of two workshops funded by the European Research Foundation (ERC). Weight and Value 1. Kiel, Hamburg: Wachholtz, 139–142. DOI 10.23797/9783529035401
Rahmstorf, L., Weights, scales and weight-regulated artefacts in Middle and Late Bronze Age Britain. Antiquity 93 (371), 2019, 1197–1210. Doi:10.15184/aqy.2018.257
2018
Rahmstorf, L., Of middens and markets: the phenomenology of the market place in the Bronze Age and beyond. In: J. Hahn, G. Schmitz (eds.), Market as place & spaces of economic exchange. Perspectives from archaeology and anthropology. Oxford, Philadelphia: Oxbow, 20–40.
Siennicka, M., Ulanowska, A., Rahmstorf, L., Introduction. In: M. Siennicka, L. Rahmstorf, A. Ulanowska (eds), First Textiles. The Beginnings of Textile Manufacture in Europe and the Mediterranean.Proceedings of the EAA Session Held in Istanbul (2014) and the ‘First Textiles’ Conference in Copenhagen (2015). Ancient Textiles Series 32. Oxford, Philadelphia: Oxbow, 1–16.
Rahmstorf, L., Ökonomische Integration durch Gewichtsnutzung im bronzezeitlichen Anatolian. In: Ü. Yalçın (ed.), Anatolian Metal VIII. Eliten – Handwerk – Prestigegüter. Der Anschnitt, Beiheft 39. Bochum: Deutsches Bergbaumuseum, 195–203.
2017
Rahmstorf, L., The use of bronze objects in the third millennium BC – a survey between Atlantic and Indus. In: J. Maran, Ph. Stockhammer (eds), Appropriating innovations. Entangled knowledgement in Eurasia, 5000–1500 BCE. Oxford: Oxbow, 184–210.
Rahmstorf, L., Anglo-Saxons and Sea Peoples: comparing similar approaches for tracking ancient human migration. In: P. Fischer (ed.), The Sea Peoples Up-To-Date. New Research on transformations in the eastern Mediterranean in the 13th–11th 12th centuries BCE. Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Denkschriften 81, Contributions to the Chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean 35. Vienna: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 163–176.
Rahmstorf, L., Rezension zu Barbara Horejs, Mathias Mehofer (eds), Western Anatolia before Troy. Proto-Urbanisation in the 4th Millennium BC? Proceedings oft he International Symposium held at the Kunsthistorische Museum Wien. Vienna, Austria, 21–24 November, 2012. Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-historische Klasse. Oriental and European Archaeology (OREA) 1. Austrian Academy of Sciences (Wien 2014). Prähistorische Zeitschrift 92, 2017, 279–283.
2016
Sørensen, L., Rahmstorf, L., Snyd ikke på vægten! – nye fund af stenvægte fra den ægæiske bronzealder. Nationalmuseets Arbejdsmark 2016, 158–169.
Rahmstorf, L., Die Rahmenbedingungen des bronzezeitlichen Handels in Europa und im Alten Orient einschließlich Ägyptens. In: U. Dietz, A. Jockenhövel (eds), 50 Jahre Prähistorische Bronzefunde –Bilanz und Perspektiven. Internationales Kolloquium, 24. bis 26. September 2014. Prähistorische Bronzefunde XX, 14. Stuttgart: Steiner, 291–310.
Rahmstorf, L., Emerging economic complexity in the Aegean and Western Anatolia during the earlier third millennium BC. In: B. Molloy (ed.), Of Odysseys and Oddities: Scales and modes of interaction between prehistoric Aegean societies and their neighbors. Oxford: Oxbow, 225–276.
Rahmstorf, L., From ‘value ascription’ to coinage: A sketch of monetary developments in Western Eurasia from the Stone to the Iron Age. In: S. Krmnicek, C. Haselgrove (eds), The Archaeology of Money. Proceedings of the ‘Archaeology of Money’, Leicester Archaeological Monograph 24. Oxford: Oxbow, 19–42.
2015
Rahmstorf, L., Workshop activities and pyrotechnology at Mycenaean Tiryns. In: A.-L. Schallin, I. Tournavitou (eds), Mycenaeans up-to-date. The archaeology of the NE Peloponnese – current concepts and new directions. Skrifter utgivna av Svenska Institutet I Athen, 4°, 56. Stockholm: Swedish Institute at Athens, 143–149.
Rahmstorf, L., Siennicka, M., Andersson Strand, E., Nosch, M.-L., Cutler, J., Textile Tools from Tiryns, mainland Greece. In: E. Andersson Strand, M.-L. Nosch (eds.), Tools, Textiles and Contexts. Investigating textile production in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age. Ancient Textiles Ser. Vol. 21. Oxford: Oxbow, 267–278.
Rahmstorf, L., An introduction to the investigation of archaeological textile tools. In: E. Andersson Strand, M.-L. Nosch (eds.), Tools, Textiles and Contexts. Investigating textile production in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age. Ancient Textiles Ser. Vol. 21. Oxford: Oxbow, 1–23.
Siennicka, M. Ulanowska, A., Rahmstorf, L., Textiles in a social context. Textile production in Europe and the Mediterranean in the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE (Session report). The European Archaeologist 43, 41–44.
Rahmstorf, L., The Aegean before and after c. 2200 BC between Europe and Asia: trade as a prime mover of cultural change. In: H. Meller, H. W. Arz, R. Jung, R. Risch (eds), 2200 BC – Ein Klimasturz als Ursache für den Verfall der Alten Welt. Tagungen des Landesmuseums für Vorgeschichte Halle 12/1. Halle: Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie in Sachsen-Anhalt, 149–180.
Rahmstorf, L., Ur- und Frühgeschichte. In: M. Dabag, D. Haller, N. Jaspert, A. Lichtenberger, A. (eds), Handbuch der Mediterranistik. Systematische Mittelmeerforschung und disziplinäre Zugänge. Mittelmeerstudien 8. Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink/Ferdinand Schöningh, 481–491.
2014
Rahmstorf, L.,“Pebble weights“ aus Mitteleuropa und Waagebalken aus der jüngeren Bronzezeit (ca. 14.–12. Jh. v. Chr.). In: B. Nessel, I. Heske, D. Brandherm (eds), Ressourcen und Rohstoffe in der Bronzezeit: Nutzung – Distribution – Kontrolle. Arbeitsberichte zur Bodendenkmalpflege in Brandenburg 26. Wünsdorf: Brandenburgisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologisches Landesmuseum, 109–120.
Rahmstorf, L., A ‘wall bracket’ from Kandia in the Argolid: notes on the local character and function of an ‘east Mediterranean’ artefact of the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age. In: Y. Galanakis, T. Wilkinson, J. Bennet (eds), ΑΘΥΡΜΑΤΑ. Critical essays on the archaeology of the Eastern Mediterranean in honour of E. Susan Sherratt. Oxford: Archaeopress, 187–195.
Rahmstorf, L., Early balance weights in Mesopotamia and western Syria: origin and context. In: Bieliński, P., Gawlikowski, M., Koliński, R., Ławecka, D., Sołtysiak, A., Wygnańska, Z. (eds), Proceedings of the 8th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Volume 3. Wiesbaden: Harassowitz: 427–441.
2013
Rahmstorf, L., Von Nordeuropa bis in den Orient: Beinstein in der Bronzezeit. In: D. Quast, M. Erdich (eds), Die Bernsteinstrasse. Archäologie in Deutschland, Sonderheft 04/2014, Jahrgang 02/2013. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 24–28.
Rahmstorf, L., Review of Eric H. Cline (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2010. In: sehepunkte 13, Nr. 3 [15.03.2013] URL: http://www.sehepunkte.de/2013/03/21542.html
2012
Rahmstorf, L., Control mechanisms in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, the Aegean and Central Europe, c. 2600-2000 BC, and the question of social power in early complex societies. In: Kienlin, T., Zimmermann, A. (eds), Beyond elites. Alternatives to hierarchical systems in modelling social formations. Universitätsforschungen zur Prähististorischen Archäologie 215. Bonn: Habelt, 311–326.
Rahmstorf, L., Review of Bryan E. Burns: Mycenaean Greece, Mediterranean commerce, and the formation of identity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2010. In: sehepunkte 12, Nr. 10 [15.10.2012], URL: http://www.sehepunkte.de /2012/10/18223.html
2011
Rahmstorf, L., Maß für Maß. Indikatoren für Kulturkontakte im 3. Jahrtausend. In: Kykladen. Lebenswelten einer frühgriechischen Kultur [Exhibition Catalogue Karlsruhe 16.12.2011–22.04.2012]. Karlsruhe/Darmstadt: Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe/Primus Verlag, 144–153.
Rahmstorf, L., Re-integrating ‘diffusion’: the spread of innovations among the Neolithic and Bronze Age societies of Europe and the Near East. In: T. Wilkinson, S. Sherratt, J. Bennet (eds), Interweaving Worlds: Systemic Interactions in Eurasia, 7th to 1st Millennia BC. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 100–119.
Rahmstorf, L., Handmade pots and crumbling loomweights: ‘Barbarian’ elements in the eastern Mediterranean in the last quarter of the 2nd millennium BC. In: O. Kouka, V. Karageorghis (eds), On cooking pots, drinking cups, loomweights and ethnicity in Bronze Age Cyprus and neighbouring regions. Nikosia: A. G. Leventis Foundation, 315–330.
2010
Rahmstorf, L., Indications for Aegean-Caucasian relations in the third millennium BC. In: S. Hansen, A. Hauptmann, I. Mötzenbäcker, E. Pernicka (eds.), Von Majkop bis Trialeti – Gewinnung und Verbreitung von Metallen und Obsidian in Kaukasien im 4.–2. Jts. v. Chr. Kolloquien zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte 13. Bonn: Dr. Rudolf Habelt, 263–295.
Rahmstorf, L., The concept of weighing during the Bronze Age in the Aegean, the Near East and Europe. In: I. Morley, C. Renfrew (eds.), The Archaeology of Measurement: Comprehending Heaven, Earth and Time in Ancient Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 88–105.
Rahmstorf, L., Die Funktion von Booten und Schiffen in der bronzezeitlichen Ägäis und die Fernkontakte der Frühbronzezeit. In: F. Bertemes, H. Meller (eds), Der Griff nach den Sternen. Wie Europas Eliten zu Macht und Reichtum kamen. Tagungen des Landesmuseums für Vorgeschichte Halle 5. Halle: Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt, 675–697.
2009
Rahmstorf, L., Early Bronze Age balance weights from Tarsus, Alishar Höyük and other sites. In: 30. Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı [National Annual Conference on Archaeological Fieldwork, Surveys and Museum Studies], Ankara 25.05.-30.05. 2008 (Ankara 2009) 201–210.
Rahmstorf, L., C. F. E. Pare, Zu Gewichten der Späthallstatt- und Frühlatènezeit. Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz 54, 2007 [2009], 265–295.
2008
Andersson, E., Mårtensson, L., Nosch M.-L. B., Rahmstorf, L., New research on Bronze Age textile production. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies [London] 51, 2008, 171–174.
Rahmstorf, L., The Bell Beaker Phenomenon and the Interaction Spheres of the EBA East Mediterranean: Similarities and differences. In: A. Lehoërff (ed.), Construire le temps. Histoire et méthodes des chronologies et calendriers des derniers millénaires avant notre ère en Europe occidentale. Actes du XXXe colloque international de Halma-Ipel, UMR 8164 (CNRS, Lille 3, MCC), 7-9 décembre 2006, Lille. Collection Bibracte 16. Glux-en-Glenne: Bibracte, Centre archéologique européen, 149–170.
2007
Rahmstorf, L., In search of the earliest balance weights,scales and weighing systems from the East Mediterranean, the Near and Middle East. In: M. E. Alberti, E. Ascalone, L. Peyronel (eds), Weights in Context. Bronze Age Weighing Systems of Eastern Mediterranean: Chronology, Typology, Material and Archaeological Contexts. Proceedings of the International Colloquium, Rome 22–24 November 2004, Studi e Materiali 13. Rom: Istituto Italiano di Numismatica, 9–45.
2006
Rahmstorf, L.,Zur Ausbreitung vorderasiatischer Innovationen in die frühbronzezeitliche Ägäis. Prähistorische Zeitschrift 83/1, 2006, 49–96.
2005
Rahmstorf, L., Ethnicity and changes in weaving technology in Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean during the 12th. cent. B.C. In: V. Karageorghis, H. Matthäus, S. Rogge (eds), Cyprus: Religion and Society from the Late Bronze Age to the End of the Archaic Period. Proceedings of an International Symposium on Cypriote Archaeology, Erlangen, 23–24 July 2004. Erlangen: Bibliopolis, 143–169.
Rahmstorf, L., Terramare and faience. Mycenaean influence in Northern Italy in the Late Bronze Age. In: R. Laffineur, E. Greco (eds), Emporia. Aegeans in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean. Proceedings of the 10th International Aegean Conference. Athens, 14-18 April 2004, Aegaeum 25. Liège: Université de Liège, 663–672.
2004
Pare, Chr., Rahmstorf, L., Ausgrabungen im Annexbereich des Glaubergs. Hessen Archäologie 2003 [2004], 76–78.
2003
Rahmstorf, L., Clay spools from Tiryns and elsewhere. An indication of foreign influence in LH III C? In: N. Kyparissi-Apostolika, M. Papakonstantinou (eds), Η Περιφέρεια του Μυκηναϊκού Κόσμου. Β΄Διεθνές Διεπιστημονικό Συμπόσιο/ The Periphery of the Mycenaean World. 2nd International Interdisciplinary Colloquium. Lamia 26-30.9.1999. Lamia: Υπουργείο Πολιτισμοΰ, 397–415.
Rahmstorf, L., The Identification of Early Helladic weights and their wider implications. In: K. Foster, R. Laffineur (eds), Metron. Measuring the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 9th International Aegean Conference. Yale University 18-21.4.2002. Liège: Université de Liège, 293–298.
Rahmstorf, L., Kleinfunde aus Tiryns aus Terrakotta, Stein, Bein und Glas/Fayence vornehmlich spätbronzezeitlicher Zeitstellung. Archäologisches Nachrichtenblatt 8/1, 2003, 63–66.