Research Focuses

As a Mediterranean archaeologist, Matthias Hoernes is mainly interested in the funerary archaeology of pre-Roman southern Italy, especially in the early Hellenistic period. He has worked on funerary and post-burial practices in Apulia, subadult burials and the archaeology of childhood, and funerary landscapes co-evolving with settlement dynamics in the 4th century BCE. He is currently focusing on the representation and symbolic consumption of food in burial assemblages across southern Italy. Matthias is also passionate about transcultural encounters and dynamics in the Iron Age-Archaic Mediterranean, particularly in Sicily and southern Italy, social archaeology and archaeological methodology and theory in general, as well as archaeological university collections, their history and cultural heritage management.
 

Current Research Projects

• Fake Food: Lead Feasting Utensils, Terracotta Food, and Community Formation in Pre-Roman Southern Italy.
• Teaching Paradigms: Classical Archaeology Courses at German-Speaking Universities in the 21st Century.
• The Polygnotos Krater Revisited: Object History, Iconography, and Digitisation.
• Tracing the Transformation of Southern Italy in the Long Fourth Century BCE (volume co-edited with Christian Heitz [Innsbruck], Agnes Henning [HU Berlin], and Ted Robinson [Sydney]).

Work Experience

• Since 03/2021 Post-Doc Researcher for Greek Archaeology (Chair: Naoíse Mac Sweeney), Institute of Classical Archaeology, University of Vienna.
• 2014–2021 Coordinator (research assistant, then senior scientist) of the Research Area "Cultural Encounters – Cultural Conflicts", University of Innsbruck.
• 2016–2020 Lectureship at the Department of Ancient History and Ancient Oriental Studies, University of Innsbruck.
• 2017 Interim coordinator of the doctoral programme "Dynamics of Inequality and Difference in the Age of Globalization", University of Innsbruck.
• 2015/2016 Interim coordinator of the Research Centre "Digital Humanities", University of Innsbruck.
• 2010–2013 Collaborator of the FWF-funded project (P22642-G19) "Zwischen Aphrodite-Tempel und spätarchaischem Haus. Archäologische Untersuchungen zu Religion und Machtbildung auf dem Monte Iato im archaischen Westsizilien", PI: Professor Erich Kistler, Innsbruck.

Academic Education

• 2014–2019 PhD Classical Archaeology, University of Innsbruck | Project: "Gemeinsame Gräber: Formen, Praktiken und Kontexte von wiederholten Grabbelegungen im vorrömischen Südostitalien" ["Sharing Tombs: Forms, Practices and Contexts of Tomb Reuse in Pre-Roman South-East Italy"] | Supervisors: Professor Erich Kistler, Privatdozent Christian Heitz | Readers: Professor Erich Kistler, Innsbruck; Professor Martin A. Guggisberg, Basel.
• 2008–2013 MA Classical Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Innsbruck | MA theses "Die Dipinta-Keramik aus dem spätarchaischen Haus des Monte Iato in ihrem (west-)sizilischen Kontext" and "Homini humanitatem dare? Überlegungen zur römischen ‘Zivilisierungsmission’ im Spannungsfeld antiker Diskurse, literarischer Topik und moderner Projektionen".

Selected Prizes and Awards

• 2021 Promotio sub auspiciis praesidentis rei publicae.
• 2021 "Exzellenzstipendium des Bundesministeriums für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Forschung".
• 2020 "Margarete-Bieber-Preis" of the "Archäologische Gesellschaft zu Berlin" for archaeological PhD theses.
• 2020 Hypo Bank Dissertation Award.
• 2014 "Würdigungspreis des Bundesministers für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Wirtschaft für AbsolventInnen der wissenschaftlichen und künstlerischen Universitäten".
• 2013 Sponsorship Award of the "Deutscher Freundeskreises der Universitäten in Innsbruck e. V.".

Publications

Co-Edited Volumes

• [under contract] Ch. Heitz – M. Hoernes – A. Henning – T. Robinson (eds.), Tracing the Transformation of Southern Italy in The Long Fourth Century BCE, Global Perspectives on Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology (Milton Park: Routledge).
• E. Kistler – B. Öhlinger – M. Mohr – M. Hoernes (eds.), Sanctuaries and the Power of Consumption. Networking and the Formation of Elites in the Archaic Western Mediterranean World. Proceedings of the International Conference in Innsbruck, 20th–23rd March 2012, Philippika 92 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2015) | Book reviews: BMCR 2016.08.34 (Ch. R. Potts); Journal of Greek Archaeology 1, 2016, 440–446 (L. Donnellan); H-Soz-Kult 13.03.2017 (R. P. Krämer); L’Antiquite Classique 86, 2017, 579–581 (I. Algrain).

Journal Papers

• M. Hoernes, Staying local: Community formation and resilience in Archaic Southern Sicily, Journal of Social Archaeology 22, 3, 2022, 296–316 (peer-reviewed, Gold Open Access).
• M. Hoernes – Ch. Heitz – M. Laimer, Being to become? Childhoods, life courses and relational identities in pre-Roman northern Apulia and Basilicata, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 64, 2021, 101355 (peer-reviewed, Gold Open Access).
• M. Hoernes – Ch. Heitz – M. Laimer, Revisiting the Dead: Tomb Reuse and Post-Burial Practices at Ascoli Satriano (Pre-Roman Apulia, Seventh–Fourth Century BC), Cambridge Archaeological Journal 29, 2, 2019, 261–285 (peer-reviewed).

 
Contributions to volumes

• [in press] M. Hoernes, The Times They Are a-Changin’: Chronologie, Zeitdimension und Mehrzeitigkeit von Grabfunden, in: M. Renger – St. Schreiber – A. Veling (eds.), Theorie | Archäologie | Reflexion, Theoriedenken in der Archäologie 2 (Heidelberg: Propylaeum) (peer-reviewed, Gold Open Access).
• M. Hoernes, Deposits and Debris: Tomb Reuse, Secondary Deposition and Object Selection in Pre-Roman South-East Italy, in: M. A. Guggisberg – M. Billo-Imbach (eds.), Burial Taphonomy and Post-Funeral Practices in Pre-Roman Italy. Problems and Perspectives. Papers of the International Workshop held at the University of Basel, January 12th, 2021 (Heidelberg: Propylaeum 2023) 81–111 (peer-reviewed, Gold Open Access).
• M. Hoernes, Royal Coinage, in: B. Jacobs – R. Rollinger (eds.), Blackwell Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2021) 793–814.
• Ch. Heitz – M. Hoernes – M. Laimer, Il sepolcro condiviso: indagini sulle sepolture multiple e le tombe riutilizzate ad Ascoli Satriano/Giarnera Piccola, in: A. Gravina (ed.), 38° Convegno Nazionale sulla Preistoria – Protostoria – Storia della Daunia, San Severo 18–19 novembre 2017 (San Severo 2018) 319–340.
• M. Hoernes, Coining Continuity? Hellenistic Legacy in the Coinage of Arsakid Iran and the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (ca. 250 to first century BCE), in: I. Lindstedt et al. (eds.), Case Studies in Transmission, The Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient and Mediaeval Near East 1 (Münster: Ugarit-Verlag 2014) 73–101.
• M. Hoernes, Bilder und Konstruktionen einer Hetäre. "Und Phryne soll nicht durch die Gerichtsrede des Hypereides, sondern durch den Anblick ihres Körpers gerettet worden sein." in: F. M. Müller – V. Sossau (eds.), Gefährtinnen. Vom Umgang mit Prostitution in der griechischen Antike und heute, Spectanda 1 (Innsbruck: innsbruck university press 2012) 55–70.

 
Book Reviews

• Review of: E. Perego – R. Scopacasa (eds.), Burial and Social Change in First Millennium BC Italy. Approaching Social Agents, Studies in Funerary Archaeology 11 (Oxford: Oxbow 2016), Archäologische Informationen 40, 2017, 513–518. (peer-reviewed, Gold Open Access)
• Review of: L. Donnellan – V. Nizzo – G.-J. Burgers (eds.), Conceptualising early Colonisation (Brussels: Brepols 2016), Frankfurter elektronische Rundschau zur Altertumskunde 31, 2016, 52–60.
• Review of: J. St. P. Walsh: Consumerism in the Ancient World. Imports and Identity Construction (New York: Routledge 2014), H-Soz-Kult, 23.02.2015.
• Review of: N. Burkhardt, Bestattungssitten zwischen Tradition und Modifikation. Kulturelle Austauschprozesse in den griechischen Kolonien in Unteritalien und Sizilien vom 8. bis zum 5. Jh. v. Chr., Italiká 2 (Wiesbaden: Reichert 2013), Göttinger Forum für Altertumswissenschaft 18, 2015, 1021–1030.

 
Conference, Workshop and Session Organisation

• Session "Archaeological Approaches to Community Formation" | 4th Annual Meeting of the Mediterranean Archaeology Australasian Research Community, Macquarie University (online), 16–19 July 2024.
• Annual conferences of the Research Cluster 3 of the German Archaeological Institute | DAI Rome, 25–27 September 2024, DAI Athens, 17–19 October 2023, DAI Berlin, 8–11 September 2022 [CFPs together with A. Gramsch et al.].
• Workshop "Das Heroon von Trysa – von Lykien nach Wien. Workshop anlässlich des 140-jährigen Jubiläums der Expedition Otto Benndorfs 1882" | University of Vienna and Ephesos Museum/Kunsthistorisches Museum, 25 April 2022 [organised together with N. Mac Sweeney and G. Plattner].
• Session "The Long Fourth Century BC: Tracing the Transformation of Southern Italy in its Mediterranean Context" | 27th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists, University of Kiel, 8–11 September 2021 [session organised together with Ch. Heitz, A. Henning and T. Robinson].

 
Activities Related to Teaching and University Collections

• 2024 Project "NereiD3 – Restaurierung, Rekonstruktion und Digitalisierung des Wiener Nereidenkraters" | Funded by the Vienna University Anniversary Fund, H-468690/2023, and the Collection Coordination of the University of Vienna.
• 2023–2024 Teaching/research project and Blog "Emotionen in der griechischen Antike" (organised together with M. Zepernick/University of Marburg).
• 2022–2023 Teaching/research project and Blog "Talking Pots: Vaseninschriften aus der Sammlung des Instituts für Klassische Archäologie an der Universität Wien".
• 2021 Round table "Quo vadis, Abgusssammlung? Potentiale, Probleme und Perspektiven archäologischer Universitätssammlungen" | University of Vienna, 17 December 2021.
• Outreach events: "Antike fühlen: Tiere in der Archäologischen Sammlung Wien", 20 October 2023 (together with L. Schlamp) | "ORF-Lange Nacht der Museen", 7 October 2023 (organised together with F. Heynen and L. Schlamp) | "Kinderuni", 13 July 2023 (organised together with J. Mišek) | "ORF-Lange Nacht der Museen", 1 October 2022.

 
Memberships

• Research Cluster 3 "Körper und Tod" of the German Archaeological Institute
• European Association of Archaeologists
•  "Deutscher Archäologen-Verband e. V."
• Working group "Etrusker und Italiker"
• Working group "Theorien in der Archäologie e. V."
• Working group "Gesellschaft für Universitätssammlungen e. V."