Florin Curta | |
---|---|
Born | Romania | March 16, 1966
Nationality | Romanian, American |
Occupation(s) | Archaeologist, historian |
Academic background | |
Thesis | Making an Early Medieval Ethnie: The Case of the Early Slavs (Sixth to Seventh Century A.D.) (1998) |
Academic work | |
Notable works | The Making of the Slavs:History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region (2001) |
Florin Curta (born March 16,1966) is a Romanian-born American archaeologist and historian who is a professor of medieval history and archaeology at the University of Florida . Curta is known for an unorthodox approach and interpretation of the ethnogenesis of the Early Slavs ,a hypothesis published first in The Making of the Slavs:History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region (2001),and met with negative criticism.
Curta works in the field of Balkans history and is a professor of medieval history and archaeology at the University of Florida in Gainesville,Florida. [1] Curta's first book, The Making of the Slavs:History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region ,was named a 2002 Choice Outstanding Academic Title and won the Herbert Baxter Adams Award of the American Historical Association in 2003. [2] Curta is the editor-in-chief of the Brill series East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages,450–1450. [2] In 2011,he contributed to The Edinburgh History of the Greeks . He is a member of the Institute for Advanced Study,School of Historical Studies,Princeton University (Spring 2007) and a visiting fellow,Corpus Christi College,Oxford University (2015). He attends an Eastern Orthodox Christian parish. [3]
Being inspired by Reinhard Wenskus and the Vienna School of History,Curta's work since The Making of the Slavs:History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region (2001) is known for his usage of post-processual and post-structuralist approach in explaining Slavic ethnogenesis and migrations (especially regarding Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe),arguing against the mainstream view and primordial culture-historical approach in archaeology and historiography. [4] [5] [6] [7] Curta's hypothesis is opposed to both allochthonic (majority) and autochthonic (minority) concepts of Slavic ethnogenesis. [8] Curta argues against theories of Slavic mass expansion from the Slavic Urheimat and denies the existence of the Slavic Urheimat. His work rejects ideas of Slavic languages as the unifying element of the Slavs or the adducing of Prague-type ceramics as an archaeological cultural expression of the Early Slavs. Instead,Curta advances an alternative,"revisionist" [9] [10] hypothesis which considers the Slavs as an "ethno-political category" invented by the Byzantines which was formed by political instrumentation and interaction on the Roman Danubian frontier where barbarian elite culture flourished. [4] [11] [12] [13] [14] He considers that the Slavic language was not an ethnolect,but a koinélanguage and lingua franca which formed by interaction of different languages and cultures and did not spread with the migration of a distinctive ethnic group of speakers. As such,the identity of Slavs was formed and spread by communities speaking the koiné language through language shift. [15] According to Curta,questions of identity and ethnicity are modern social constructs,imposed externally. [16] In 2024,Curta also rejected recent genetic research supporting the migration of the Slavs,insisting on his interpretation of archaeological,historical and linguistical data and literature that "no class of evidence attests to the existence of any migration across the territory of Romania. Migration is certainly not the mechanism responsible for the spread of Slavic [language]". [17]
Curta's conjectures were met with substantial disagreement and "severe criticism in general and in detail" [18] by other archaeologists,historians,linguists and ethnologists,who "unanimously agree on the highly debatable nature of Florin Curta's concept". [8] The scholarship in East Central,Southeastern and Eastern Europe in particular mostly ignored or rejected Curta's hypothesis. [19] It was mostly ignored by Polish allochthonists,and negated by some neo-autochthonists. [8]
Scientists criticized what they saw as Curta's "arbitrary" [20] and "relativistic" [15] selection of historical and archaeological data (using only 1/3 of latter available data [20] ),sites and his interpretation of chronologies to support his preconceived conclusions,in addition,they felt his "interpretative" [21] cultural model inadequately explained the emergence and spread of the Slavs,Slavic culture and language. [18] [20] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] Some also noted lack of criticism of own theorization and analysis while refuting old ideas in literature. [9]
Curta has also been criticized for inadequate argumentation and for contradicting information given by ancient Byzantine historiographers such as Theophylact Simocatta, [9] [23] or arbitrary evulation and citation of Jordanes. [15] Curta's viewpoint was considered similar to the Romanian historiography's minimization of the role of Slavs in the history of Romania. [15] In a separate case,Hungarian historian Istvan Vasary in his response to Curta's review of his book,noted Curta's defensiveness of Romanian national historiography and Daco-Romanian continuity, [28] claims which Curta denied. [29]
The renewed version of the hypothesis published as Slavs in the Making:History,Linguistics,and Archaeology in Eastern Europe (ca. 500-ca. 700) (2020) was criticized to "still does not appear more convincing". [30] Although Curta's work found partial support by those who use a similar approach,like Walter Pohl and Danijel Džino, [18] [31] and sparked new scientific debate (with some importance for archaeology [8] ), [15] the migrationist model remains in the view of many as the most acceptable and possible to explain the spread of the Slavs as well as Slavic culture (including language). [11] [32] [33] [15]
The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and Northern Asia, though there is a large Slavic minority scattered across the Baltic states and Central Asia, and a substantial Slavic diaspora in the Americas, Western Europe, and Northern Europe.
The Pannonian Avars were an alliance of several groups of Eurasian nomads of various origins. The peoples were also known as the Obri in chronicles of Rus, the Abaroi or Varchonitai, or Pseudo-Avars in Byzantine sources, and the Apar to the Göktürks. They established the Avar Khaganate, which spanned the Pannonian Basin and considerable areas of Central and Eastern Europe from the late 6th to the early 9th century.
The Migration Period, also known as the Barbarian Invasions, was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roman kingdoms.
Several theories, in great extent mutually exclusive, address the issue of the origin of the Romanians. The Romanian language descends from the Vulgar Latin dialects spoken in the Roman provinces north of the "Jireček Line" in Late Antiquity. The theory of Daco-Roman continuity argues that the Romanians are mainly descended from the Daco-Romans, a people developing through the cohabitation of the native Dacians and the Roman colonists in the province of Dacia Traiana north of the river Danube. The competing immigrationist theory states that the Romanians' ethnogenesis commenced in the provinces south of the river with Romanized local populations spreading through mountain refuges, both south to Greece and north through the Carpathian Mountains. Other theories state that the Romanized local populations were present over a wide area on both sides of the Danube and the river itself did not constitute an obstacle to permanent exchanges in both directions; according to the "admigration" theory, migrations from the Balkan Peninsula to the lands north of the Danube contributed to the survival of the Romance-speaking population in these territories.
The Vistula Veneti, also called Baltic Veneti or Venedi, were an Indo-European people that inhabited the lands of central Europe east of the Vistula River and the Bay of Gdańsk. Ancient Roman geographers first mentioned Venedi in the 1st century AD, differentiating a group of peoples whose manner and language differed from those of the neighbouring Germanic and Sarmatian tribes. In the 6th century AD, Byzantine historians described the Veneti as the ancestors of the Slavs who, during the second phase of the Migration Period, crossed the northern frontiers of the Byzantine Empire.
South Slavs are Slavic people who speak South Slavic languages and inhabit a contiguous region of Southeast Europe comprising the eastern Alps and the Balkan Peninsula. Geographically separated from the West Slavs and East Slavs by Austria, Hungary, Romania, and the Black Sea, the South Slavs today include Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs and Slovenes.
The Early Middle Ages in Romania started with the withdrawal of the Roman troops and administration from Dacia province in the 270s. In the next millennium a series of peoples, most of whom only controlled two or three of the nearly ten historical regions that now form Romania, arrived. During this period, society and culture underwent fundamental changes. Town life came to an end in Dacia with the Roman withdrawal, and in Scythia Minor – the other Roman province in the territory of present-day Romania – 400 years later. Fine vessels made on fast potter's wheels disappeared and hand-made pottery became dominant from the 450s. Burial rites changed more than once from cremation to inhumation and vice versa until inhumation became dominant by the end of the 10th century.
The Croats trace their origins to a southwards migration of some of the Early Slavs in the 6th- and 7th-centuries CE, a tradition supported by anthropological, genetic, and ethnological studies. However, the archaeological and other historic evidence on the migration of the Slavic settlers, on the character of the native population in the present-day territory of Croatia, and on their mutual relationships suggests diverse historical and cultural influences.
The Antes or Antae were an early Slavic tribal polity of the 6th century CE. They lived on the lower Danube River, in the northwestern Black Sea region, and in the regions around the Don River. Scholars commonly associate the Antes with the archaeological Penkovka culture.
Much of the territory of the modern state of Serbia was part of the Roman Empire and later the Eastern Roman Empire. In particular, the region of Central Serbia was under Roman rule for about 800 years, starting from the 1st century BC, interrupted by the arrival of the Slavs into the Balkans during the 6th century, but continued after fall of the First Bulgarian Empire in the early 11th century and permanently ended with the rise of the Second Bulgarian Empire in the late 12th century. The territories were administratively divided into the provinces of Moesia, Pannonia and Dardania. Moesia Superior roughly corresponds to modern Serbia proper; Pannonia Inferior included the eastern part of Serbia proper; Dardania included the western part of Serbia proper. After its reconquest from the Bulgarians by Emperor Basil II in 1018, it was reorganized into the Theme of Bulgaria.
The early Slavs were speakers of Indo-European dialects who lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages in Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe and established the foundations for the Slavic nations through the Slavic states of the Early and High Middle Ages. The Slavs' original homeland is still a matter of debate due to a lack of historical records; however, scholars generally place it in Eastern Europe, with Polesia being the most commonly accepted location.
The Penkovka culture is an archaeological culture in Ukraine, Moldova and reaching into Romania. Its western boundary is usually taken to at the middle Prut and Dniester rivers, where contact with the Korchak culture occurs. Its bearers are commonly identified as the Antes people of 6th-century Byzantine historiography.
Daurentius or Dauritas was a Slavic (Sclaveni) chieftain in the 6th century. He seems to have been the supreme chief of a Slavic tribal confederation, which "fellow chiefs" were or subordinated to him, or of the similar tribal rank and status as Daurentius.
Slavs began migrating to Southeastern Europe in the mid-6th century and first decades of the 7th century in the Early Middle Ages. The rapid demographic spread of the Slavs was followed by a population exchange, mixing and language shift to and from Slavic.
The Balkan–Danubian culture was an early medieval archaeological culture which emerged in the region of the Lower Danube in the 8th century and flourished until the 11th century. In Bulgaria it is usually referred to as the Pliska–Preslav culture, while in Romania it is called the Dridu culture. It is better represented in the territory of modern-day Central and Northern Bulgaria, although it probably spread north of the Danube as well due to the continuous extension of the First Bulgarian Empire over the territory of present-day Romania. The Balkan–Danubian culture is described as an early Slavic-Bulgar culture, but besides Slavic and Bulgar elements it also possesses some Romance components. However, this only appears in the southern regions of what is now southern Bulgaria, all of which were heavily influenced by the Byzantine Empire. Famous examples of this architecture are the early Bulgarian capitals of Pliska and Preslav, in addition to the Palace of Omurtag and the Murfatlar Cave Complex. Some scholars partition this culture in two subgroups. Because the Byzantine influence was stronger in the south, the northern finds are entirely Slavic with some Turkic impression.
Samo's Empire is the historiographical term for the West Slavic tribal union established by King ("Rex") Samo. It existed between 623/631 and 658 in Central Europe. The extent of Samo's power before and after 631 is disputed.
The Slavs were Christianized in waves from the 7th to 12th century, though the process of replacing old Slavic religious practices began as early as the 6th century. Generally speaking, the monarchs of the South Slavs adopted Christianity in the 9th century, the East Slavs in the 10th, and the West Slavs between the 9th and 12th century. Saints Cyril and Methodius are attributed as "Apostles to the Slavs", having introduced the Byzantine-Slavic rite and Glagolitic alphabet, the oldest known Slavic alphabet and basis for the Early Cyrillic alphabet.
The Saragurs or Saraguri were a Turkic nomadic tribe mentioned in the 5th and 6th centuries. They may be the Sulujie mentioned in the Chinese Book of Sui. They originated from Western Siberia and the Kazakh steppes, from where they were displaced north of the Caucasus by the Sabirs.
The Ipotești–Cândești culture was an archaeological culture in Eastern Europe. It developed in the mid-6th century by the merger of elements of the Prague-Penkovka and Prague-Korchak cultures and local cultures in the area between Prut and Lower Danube. It stretched in the Lower Danube over territory in Romania and Moldova. The population of the area was mostly made up of Early Slavs. There are views that it derived from the Chernyakhov culture and represented a group of the Antes, but also mixed with Sclaveni. The houses were identical to the Slavic huts of the Prague-Korchak and Penkovka areas. The sites in Romania are known as Ipotești-Candești-Ciurel or Ipotești-Ciurel-Cândești.
The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region c. 500-700 is a work about early Slavic history by Florin Curta and published in 2001 by Cambridge University Press. It introduces a new approach about the ethnogenesis of the Slavs, especially in Southeastern Europe, advancing a hypothesis that the early Slavic identity was an invention of the Byzantine Empire on the Danubian Limes, and with Slavic language it spread without mass migration from Slavic Urheimat.
The lexical content of the living culture of the ancient Slavs before their separation refutes Curta's conclusions. As if Curta before our eyes were writing a new historiographic myth about them (Belaj, V., Belaj, J. 2018). Negative answers to such considerations were not in short supply either. Suffice it to mention the 2009 and 2013 works by the Ljubljana scholar Andrej Pleterski, and the 2010 work by the Ukrainian scholar Maksim Žih. The latter mocked Curta: "in summary, we could say that F. Curta's works are frequently structured on the principle leading "from (an a priori) concept towards sources". We may add that Curta's way of thinking is suspiciously similar to the stadial theory of the Soviet scholar Nicholas Yakovlevich Marr9 (see: Belaj, V., Belaj, J. 2018) ... In addition to the fact that Curta's conclusions cannot withstand a logical critique, they are also based only on selected evidential material he necessitated in order to infer the conclusions he had already made in advance.
The controversial and provocative Curta's view of the Slavic ethnogenesis has been challenged by several historians and archeologists. As far as I know, linguistic arguments have not been used in the discussion too much, even though the new theory gave rise to several linguistic issues. If the Slavs "were made" by the Byzantines from different ethnic groups on the border of the empire, how to explain the affinity of Slavic and Baltic languages? Why should the Proto-Slavic serve as lingua franca in the Avar khaganate? Is it possible that the speakers of Proto-Slavic came from "nowhere"? How to explain the early presence of the Slavs and Slavic in Poland, Ukraine and Russia, far from the Byzantine Empire and out of range of the Avar khaganate?
Despite Florin Curta (2015) declaring the prehistoric Slavs as a "fairy tale", they certainly existed at least in a linguistic sense: the Slavic language family is unexplainable without an earlier protolanguage, this Proto-Slavic must have had speakers, and "Slav" is the name that mediaeval sources mainly propose as the designation of those ... but there is also no reason to argue that they are totally unrelated groups of people. Linguistics shows the spread of the Slavic language in Eastern Europe in the second half of the first millennium CE; history and archaeology tell us about at least some major migrations in this same period of worsening living conditions (due to the Late Antique Little Ice Age and Justinian's Plague); population genetics shows the relatively recent common ancestry of most of the population in this area. These are distinct stories, but not unrelated stories, and the challenge is to construct an integrated view of the early speakers of Slavic on their basis, not to bury the Slavs under ontological doubts and methodological scruples.