Full name and title: Dr. Uroš Matić
Current position: Assistant lecturer
Institution: Institute of Classics, University of Graz, Austria
EAA Member since: 2009
TEA: Why do you do archaeology/How did you decide to do it?
U. Matić: Like many other archaeologists, I suppose I was first attracted to the image of the archaeologist as portrayed by the media and in video games when I was a kid. I am hardcore Tomb Raider fan. In fact, I knew when I was 7-year-old that I want to become an Egyptologist!
I was lucky to get my first insight into the work of real archaeologists at Petnica Science Center (Valjevo) in Serbia. The seminars I attended there as a high school student introduced me to the full spectrum of archaeological work from theories and research methods to field techniques. This was also the moment I decided to study archaeology and my primary interest back then (2006) was late Copper Age and early Bronze Age. I wanted to do research on the Yamnaya Culture and population movements, funnily enough. One could say that I somehow predicted the current hype!
At that point, Egyptology was on hold. This is probably because I was afraid that coming from Serbia (which does not have a strong research tradition in this field), I would never make it. Nevertheless, I did come back to my childhood dreams and decided to major in Egyptian archaeology. I was especially interested in Egyptian-Aegean interrelations in the Bronze Age. I finished my BA and MA at the Department for Archaeology in Belgrade and enrolled PhD at the Institute for Egyptology and Coptic Studies at the University of Münster (Germany). I guess I proved myself wrong in my initial scepticism of pursuing an Egyptological career. In fact, the primarily theoretical archaeological background I obtained at the Centre for Theoretical Archaeology in Belgrade shaped my theoretical approach. Fieldwork in Serbia, Hungary and Bulgaria provided me with the necessary field skills, too!
TEA: What is the most important and relevant part of your work?
U. Matić: I would say that the most important and relevant part of my current work is research on socially relevant topics, such as violence, gender, imperialism, and colonialism. People experienced it in the past, and we experience it now. Learning about the mechanisms of these phenomena in the past and in the present makes my work relevant because it allows us to see where people can go wrong in treating others and how we can collectively do better.
TEA: How do you see archaeology changing in the future?
U. Matić: I would like to see archaeology in the future as a more inclusive profession, all the way from the constituency of the student body to leading positions in the field. I would like to see clear, internationally defined and -recognized regulations of conduct to combat nepotism, bullying, toxic working environment, sexism, racism and homophobia.
TEA: What/How does archaeology contribute to society at large?
U. Matić: I think that the knowledge of the deep human past and the many forms of social organization that are found within it make archaeology uniquely equipped to contribute to some of the burning issues faced by society today. We are able to show that different forms of social organization, gender systems, economy, subsistence and interaction with the environment are possible. Without necessarily taking sides or labelling them as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, we are able to demonstrate that what we have hitherto considered to be ‘unchangeable’, ‘fixed’ or even ‘natural’ can (and should!) be changed for the benefit of all!
TEA: What is the biggest issue facing European archaeology?
U. Matić: I think that one of the biggest issues facing European archaeology is its failure to provide work conditions and career paths which are less precarious and more family- or partnership-friendly. The image of the lone archaeologist travelling the world, making discoveries and having no serious commitments is both sexist and colonial and should be dismantled.
TEA: What archaeology literature are you reading right now?
U. Matić: I am always reading several books parallel. At this very moment it is Debbie Challis’ The Archaeology of Race. The Eugenic Ideas of Francis Galton and Flinders Petrie (2013, Bloomsbury) and Sarah F. Derbew’s Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity (2022, Cambridge University Press).
TEA: If you could go back in time, would you go? Where and when?
U. Matić: Definitely ancient Avaris! Today, we call it Tell el-Dabca, but in the Second Intermediate Period (1650-1550 BC) it was the capital of the Hyksos kingdom in Lower Egypt. I would like to go there in the wake of king Ahmose´s conquest of the town. Why? I would like to know if the taking was as violent as we think based on the textual sources and which persons were the most affected by it. I would like to know if the people of the town saw themselves as ethnically different than people living further south in Egypt and if and how they used material culture to express ethnic affinities and/or differences. Finally, I would like to know if the famous palaces in the town had already been decorated with Minoan frescoes during the reign of Ahmose. That would actually provide some answers to the still much debated issues of chronological synchronizations of the Eastern Mediterranean, the Levant and Egypt!
TEA: Any advice to new archaeologists just starting out?
U. Matić: If you want to secure yourself work or positions, get training in current hot topics, such as archaeological science (especially isotopes or ancient DNA)! If you want to be part of an archaeology which could make the word a better place, then deal with socially relevant topics (poverty, war, climate change) and be prepared for unconventional career paths, also outside the narrowly defined field of archaeology. Learn foreign languages and learn how to write project applications, fast!
Go back to top