Sabina Cveček, PhD

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Postdoctoral Fellow, Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, United States; Austrian Archaeological Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria 

Visiting Scholar, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois–Chicago

Abstract:

While many contemporary socio-cultural anthropologists might dispute the notion that ‘kinship is to anthropology what logic is to philosophy or nude is to art’ (Fox 1967: 10), archaeogenetic studies have sparked renewed interest in kinship within Eurasian archaeology. This resurgence is notably attributed to the development of new archaeogenetic methods, which have seemingly eliminated challenges in identifying residence, descent, and alliances from archaeological remains.  However, explaining the social through the genetic lens more often than not occurs without consulting cross-cultural, socio-cultural anthropological insights. In this talk, I argue for the continued importance of collaboration between socio-cultural anthropologists and archaeologists, emphasizing the need for an interdisciplinary approach in addressing questions of gender, kinship, and relatedness in the past. The significance of this interdisciplinary collaboration will be explored through the lens of household archaeology and the project X-KIN: Exploring Patterns of Prehistoric Kinship from Socio-Cultural Anthropological Perspectives, highlighting the ongoing relevance of anthropological insights in understanding complex archaeological contexts.

Bio:

Dr. Sabina Cveček is the author of Çukuriçi Höyük 4: Household Economics in the Early Bronze Age Aegean and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Postdoctoral Fellow at the Field Museum of Natural History and the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Her research focuses on contextualizing prehistoric households, kinship, and social organization in the eastern Mediterranean from socio-cultural anthropological perspectives. She earned her Ph.D. in socio-cultural anthropology with distinction from the University of Vienna in 2021. In 2023, Cveček received the AAA Archaeology Division Symposia Development Award and will co-organize an Advanced Seminar at the School for Advanced Research in 2026. She is an elected Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, co-chair of the “Archaeology and Gender in Europe” network of the European Association of Archaeologists, and an incoming At-Large-Director of the Coalition for Archaeological Synthesis (CfAS).