Tobias Schade
I am an archaeologist at Tübingen University, working in the SFB 1070 ResourceCultures and for the Department of Medieval Archaeology.
I have manifold interests in archaeological topics but also in the reception of archaeology, e.g. views of history and ways of receiving the past in the museums and the media.
I studied prehistoric archaeology, scandinavian studies and history at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel.
My Magister-thesis was about the Viking-age burial ground of Kosel-Ost in Northern Germany.
In my PhD-project I focused on the settlement of Kosel-Ost, and compared it with other rural settlements in Viking-age Denmark.
The archaeology of Viking-age rural landscapes is still one of my areas of research.
I have worked with theories and concepts about materiality, networks, resources and authenticity as well as in archaeology and in museum studies.
At the moment I am PostDoc at the SFB 1070 ResourceCultures, studying the meanings of "authenticities" for different institutions working with archaeological objetcs – in this context I am also analysing ways of staging/presenting objects and narratives and the valorisation of these: in the museum, but also by the use of replicas in the public, and the representation of historicised virtual worlds in digital media.
Additionally, I am a member of the editorial staff of the journal Arkæologi i Slesvig/Archäologie in Schleswig,
Address: Tübingen, Germany
I have manifold interests in archaeological topics but also in the reception of archaeology, e.g. views of history and ways of receiving the past in the museums and the media.
I studied prehistoric archaeology, scandinavian studies and history at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel.
My Magister-thesis was about the Viking-age burial ground of Kosel-Ost in Northern Germany.
In my PhD-project I focused on the settlement of Kosel-Ost, and compared it with other rural settlements in Viking-age Denmark.
The archaeology of Viking-age rural landscapes is still one of my areas of research.
I have worked with theories and concepts about materiality, networks, resources and authenticity as well as in archaeology and in museum studies.
At the moment I am PostDoc at the SFB 1070 ResourceCultures, studying the meanings of "authenticities" for different institutions working with archaeological objetcs – in this context I am also analysing ways of staging/presenting objects and narratives and the valorisation of these: in the museum, but also by the use of replicas in the public, and the representation of historicised virtual worlds in digital media.
Additionally, I am a member of the editorial staff of the journal Arkæologi i Slesvig/Archäologie in Schleswig,
Address: Tübingen, Germany
less
Related Authors
InterestsView All (40)
Uploads
Papers by Tobias Schade
Even though soils are a fact and have been present on the Earth's surface and used by people, at least for food production, at different times and in different cultures, the ways of dealing with soils and the valuations of soils are extremely diverse. Researchers in anthropology, archaeology, and agriculture, for example, are investigating different perspectives like soils as common good or as private property. This concerns not only different knowledge orders about soils, but also beliefs, techniques, foodways, practices, and power relations concerning soils and cereal cultivation.
Based on the example of agriculture with a focus on cereal cultivation, we argue that there is still a great need for interdisciplinarity between the sciences and humanities. However, there is also a need to distinguish and explain between fundamental interdisciplinary research and application of findings in a socio-economic context. It is necessary to understand different knowledge orders and valuations in time or space and to reevaluate today's perspectives on soils and agriculture for facing modern problems such as soil degradation, erosion, salinization, and an overall loss of soil fertility.
be supposed. Since it’s difficult to identify ‘Herrschaft’ only on the basis of archaeological data, this paper is
working with the concept of ‘control’. Following the assumption that ‘control’ and practices of ‘controlling’
are shaping space, this paper is discussing ‘controlled space’ in rural landscapes of the Viking-age in a multiscale
approach. On macro-level vegetation and topography arranged areas of settlement in which human
activities shaped spaces, for example borderlands like the area between North Sea and Baltic Sea. Part of this
border area is the sea inlet Schlei, with the fortification system Danevirke and the proto-urban settlement of
Hedeby. On this meso-level the supraregional lifestyle of an elite is identified by grave finds, settlements, rune
stones and hoards. The arrangement of these sites reflects zones of ‘control’ in the landscape. On a microlevel special finds and features as well as the arrangement and usage of space support this impression. In the Viking-age settlement of Kosel-East, district Rendsburg-Eckernförde, it was possible to identify a social
group which differs from other groups because of their burial rites and ways of living. Presumably these actors
‘controlled’ Kosel and its infrastructural important hinterland.
Through museum practices and social dynamics, for example reconstruction and conservation, the archaeological find became a museum exhibit – always accompanied by the public and media. This process seemed to be completed with the exhibition of the conserved wreck in 2000. However, the wreck deformed, so that a new form of presentation had to be found. Today, the wreck no longer hangs from the ceiling, but is supported by a 'corset', and any changes in the material are still monitored.
With the help of diachronic exhibition studies and interviews with experts, a process of musealisation is traced using the example of the 'Bremen cog'. Also, perceptions of authenticities and processes of valuations in the museum are examined. Because authenticity is not given, it is a social-cultural attribution: this is done by authorities and is also related to aspects of uniqueness, originality and age.
Evaluations in the society and the museum, as well as staging in the exhibitions, are subject to discursive processes. Thus, 'authentic things' also become 'resources'. The exhibit 'Bremen cog' is a socio-culturally constructed object that has a specific value and that can be activated and used by actors: In this case by the museum - be it as an attraction for visitors, as legitimation or as an object of research.
The video game has risen to the top of the media landscape. Not least because of this, the medium – also often a carrier of historical content – has increasingly moved into the focus of specialist science, history didactics and game studies in recent years. In particular, the game series 'Assassin's Creed' has come into the focus of academic work due to its supposed broad impact and historical authenticity in its design.
This contribution, published online at 'mittelalter.digital', deals with aspects of authenticity and ways of portyraying / interpreting the middle ages in the new game 'Assassin's Creed: Valhalla', which allows players to immerse themselves in early medieval England of the 9th century.
One possibility is that the archaeologically documented situation reveals a moment when a Slavonic group abandoned certain cultural attributes (jewellery, burial customs) in favour of Scandinavian fashion and Christian ideas, while other, longer-lasting cultural attributes were maintained (pottery production, architecture, foodways and the use of domestic space).
It is mainly focussing on the scientific research conducted during the years 1992-2017 in the area of Schwansen, a peninsula in the hinterland of Hedeby (Distr. Rendsburg-Eckernförde). Unfortunately no new excavations were conducted since the 1990ies - but in the last years some metal-detector surveys were done and some sites were revisited.
This paper highlights the (slavonic) pottery finds (e. g. in Kosel-East), considering the peninsula's position in the saxonian-slavonic-danish borderland.
In this manoeuvre 10 000 soldiers from different nations trained under a British command in the regions Niedersachsen and Nordrhein-Westfalen.
After abandoning the camp, the waste was partial burnt and afterwards buried.
The pit delivers insight into the military course of life of British soldiers who were garrisoned in Germany (British Army of the Rhine/Rhine Garrison). Besides it shows how the British troops were supplied and how they complemented their rations with foreign, e. g. german and scandinavian, products.
Books by Tobias Schade
Der Band beschäftigt sich mit Stadien der Neubewertung und Umwertung von Dingen im Museum anhand von Prozessen und Praktiken, akteursbezogenen Anforderungen, Strukturen und (Sach-)Zwängen.
Even though soils are a fact and have been present on the Earth's surface and used by people, at least for food production, at different times and in different cultures, the ways of dealing with soils and the valuations of soils are extremely diverse. Researchers in anthropology, archaeology, and agriculture, for example, are investigating different perspectives like soils as common good or as private property. This concerns not only different knowledge orders about soils, but also beliefs, techniques, foodways, practices, and power relations concerning soils and cereal cultivation.
Based on the example of agriculture with a focus on cereal cultivation, we argue that there is still a great need for interdisciplinarity between the sciences and humanities. However, there is also a need to distinguish and explain between fundamental interdisciplinary research and application of findings in a socio-economic context. It is necessary to understand different knowledge orders and valuations in time or space and to reevaluate today's perspectives on soils and agriculture for facing modern problems such as soil degradation, erosion, salinization, and an overall loss of soil fertility.
be supposed. Since it’s difficult to identify ‘Herrschaft’ only on the basis of archaeological data, this paper is
working with the concept of ‘control’. Following the assumption that ‘control’ and practices of ‘controlling’
are shaping space, this paper is discussing ‘controlled space’ in rural landscapes of the Viking-age in a multiscale
approach. On macro-level vegetation and topography arranged areas of settlement in which human
activities shaped spaces, for example borderlands like the area between North Sea and Baltic Sea. Part of this
border area is the sea inlet Schlei, with the fortification system Danevirke and the proto-urban settlement of
Hedeby. On this meso-level the supraregional lifestyle of an elite is identified by grave finds, settlements, rune
stones and hoards. The arrangement of these sites reflects zones of ‘control’ in the landscape. On a microlevel special finds and features as well as the arrangement and usage of space support this impression. In the Viking-age settlement of Kosel-East, district Rendsburg-Eckernförde, it was possible to identify a social
group which differs from other groups because of their burial rites and ways of living. Presumably these actors
‘controlled’ Kosel and its infrastructural important hinterland.
Through museum practices and social dynamics, for example reconstruction and conservation, the archaeological find became a museum exhibit – always accompanied by the public and media. This process seemed to be completed with the exhibition of the conserved wreck in 2000. However, the wreck deformed, so that a new form of presentation had to be found. Today, the wreck no longer hangs from the ceiling, but is supported by a 'corset', and any changes in the material are still monitored.
With the help of diachronic exhibition studies and interviews with experts, a process of musealisation is traced using the example of the 'Bremen cog'. Also, perceptions of authenticities and processes of valuations in the museum are examined. Because authenticity is not given, it is a social-cultural attribution: this is done by authorities and is also related to aspects of uniqueness, originality and age.
Evaluations in the society and the museum, as well as staging in the exhibitions, are subject to discursive processes. Thus, 'authentic things' also become 'resources'. The exhibit 'Bremen cog' is a socio-culturally constructed object that has a specific value and that can be activated and used by actors: In this case by the museum - be it as an attraction for visitors, as legitimation or as an object of research.
The video game has risen to the top of the media landscape. Not least because of this, the medium – also often a carrier of historical content – has increasingly moved into the focus of specialist science, history didactics and game studies in recent years. In particular, the game series 'Assassin's Creed' has come into the focus of academic work due to its supposed broad impact and historical authenticity in its design.
This contribution, published online at 'mittelalter.digital', deals with aspects of authenticity and ways of portyraying / interpreting the middle ages in the new game 'Assassin's Creed: Valhalla', which allows players to immerse themselves in early medieval England of the 9th century.
One possibility is that the archaeologically documented situation reveals a moment when a Slavonic group abandoned certain cultural attributes (jewellery, burial customs) in favour of Scandinavian fashion and Christian ideas, while other, longer-lasting cultural attributes were maintained (pottery production, architecture, foodways and the use of domestic space).
It is mainly focussing on the scientific research conducted during the years 1992-2017 in the area of Schwansen, a peninsula in the hinterland of Hedeby (Distr. Rendsburg-Eckernförde). Unfortunately no new excavations were conducted since the 1990ies - but in the last years some metal-detector surveys were done and some sites were revisited.
This paper highlights the (slavonic) pottery finds (e. g. in Kosel-East), considering the peninsula's position in the saxonian-slavonic-danish borderland.
In this manoeuvre 10 000 soldiers from different nations trained under a British command in the regions Niedersachsen and Nordrhein-Westfalen.
After abandoning the camp, the waste was partial burnt and afterwards buried.
The pit delivers insight into the military course of life of British soldiers who were garrisoned in Germany (British Army of the Rhine/Rhine Garrison). Besides it shows how the British troops were supplied and how they complemented their rations with foreign, e. g. german and scandinavian, products.
Der Band beschäftigt sich mit Stadien der Neubewertung und Umwertung von Dingen im Museum anhand von Prozessen und Praktiken, akteursbezogenen Anforderungen, Strukturen und (Sach-)Zwängen.
The contributions cover the topics of cross-sectional working groups and conferences that shaped the interdisciplinary collaboration on cultural, spatial and temporal dimensions of resources and ResourceCultures.
Kosel-Ost (LA 198), distr. Rendsburg-Eckernförde, was a Viking-age site in Schleswig-Holstein, not only situated in the hinterland of Hedeby, but also near the fjord Schlei and the Osterwall (a part of the Danevirke).
The settlement, dated to the late 9th and the 10th century, consisted mainly of pit-houses and a few longhouses. Archaeological, archaeobotanical and archaeozoological finds provided an insight into various ways of living and working as well as into consumption and waste disposal. Imported commodities of e. g. western origin proved that Kosel was integrated in a supra-regional network of exchange.
Livestock farming, agriculture, but also iron, glass, bone and amber processing were carried out, primarily for subsistence – a production for Hedeby couldn‘t be proved. (Archaeological and archaeobotanical) Striking was the focus on textile production and processing.
The results also implied year-round activities in the settled area, and that not all pit-houses were (only) used as workplaces – some were probably inhabited.
E. g. the hybrid constructed pit-houses, the peas cultivated and consumed as well as nearly 21 % of slavonic inluenced pottery-vessels proved intercultural contacts with i. a. the slavonic/saxon borderlands.
Another objective was to compare Kosel-Ost with contemporary rural sites in Denmark and southern Sweden by „cultural characteristics“ regarding to the aspects of jewellery, pottery, „trade”, production, pit-houses and longhouses.
From over 740 settlements only 40 rural sites with documented house-features could be dated to the 10th century. With social network analyses, based on the similarities of cultural characteristics, it was possible to construct networks of communication and exchange between these 40 sites. By this mean the Baltic sea served as a central connecting element and Hedeby, the Danish Islands as well as Scania were central parts in this Baltic sea network. Important rural settlements, viz those with high betweenness- and degree-values determined by social network analyses, were situated by the Schlei in the hinterland of Hedeby (e. g. Kosel-Ost), the Limjord, on Zealand and in Scania. These sites were high-ranking gateways of communication, production and distribution ("Zwischenzentrum") between the trading places and the hinterland.
Exhibition "The Vikings: A Myth between Pop Culture and Culture of Remembrance":
https://museum-ressourcenkulturen.de/en/exhibition/
Collection "Changing Colours: The Original and the Replica"
https://museum-ressourcenkulturen.de/en/collections/
Depot:
https://museum-ressourcenkulturen.de/en/depot/authenticity-as-a-resource/
Twitter lecture in
Robert Houghton: The Middle Ages in Modern Games: Conference Proceedings Vol. 2 (2021)