Architecture of Power or the Power of Architecture – the Late Bronze Age Fortified Settlement of Bresto, Bulgaria

Dr. Phillip W. Stockhammer and Bogdan Athanassov

Professor of prehistoric archaeology at Ludwig-Maximilians-University; Assistant prof. in Archaeology at New Bulgarian University;

on Thursday, March 30, 2023 

at   

1 pm New York (EDT),    

6 pm London, UK (GMT),    

8 pm Sofia, Bulgaria (EET)       

The event will last approximately 90 mins including Q&A.

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The Late Bronze Age site of Bresto is located on a small acropolis-like hill in the mountains of South-western Bulgaria, 125 km to the north of the Aegean coast. Despite its remote location, the site has yielded objects, as well as architectural features, that show it was far from isolated. In fact, it was probably well integrated into regional and over-regional networks as evidenced by the Aegean and other “foreign” objects that were appropriated and “translated” into the local context.

In this lecture, we will present the architectural remains and their significance in terms of power relationships. Furthermore, we will explore the role of architectural remains in the creation of socio-political realities at the end of the Late Bronze Age (1300-1200 BCE). This period is defined by the architectural heyday of the Mycenaean palaces, but also by the collapse of the most important polities in the entire Eastern Mediterranean.