Sebastian Brather (born 28 June 1964) is a German medieval archaeologist and co-editor of ''

Germanische Altertumskunde Online ''Germanische Altertumskunde Online'', formerly called ''Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde'', is a German encyclopedia of the study of Germanic history and cultures, as well as the cultures that were in close contact with them. The first ...

''.

Career

Brather received his PhD in archaeology from the

Humboldt University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

in 1995 with a thesis '' Feldberger Keramik und frühe Slawen: Studien zur nordwestslawischen Keramik der Karolingerzeit''. In 2002 his habilitation thesis in

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...

was ''Ethnische Interpretationen in der frühgeschichtlichen Archäologie: Geschichte, Grundlagen und Alternativen''. In the next two years worked as research assistant at

Goethe University Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...

in Frankfurt and Main, to return to Freiburg where taught as a holder of GRF scholarship. Since 2006 has been Professor of Prehistoric and Medieval Archaeology at the same university. A member of the Historical Commission for Silesia and

German Archaeological Institute The German Archaeological Institute (german: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office of Germany ...

, since 2003 is co-editor of the Journal of Medieval ''Archaeology'' and since 2011 contributes as co-editor to the ''

'' published by

De Gruyter Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. History The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...

. Brather has conducted much research on the archaeology of

late antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...

and

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

especially about the

West Slavs The West Slavs are Slavic peoples who speak the West Slavic languages. They separated from the common Slavic group around the 7th century, and established independent polities in Central Europe by the 8th to 9th centuries. The West Slavic langu ...

. Brather in a similar fashion of

processual archaeology Processual archaeology (formerly, the New Archaeology) is a form of archaeological theory that had its beginnings in 1958 with the work of Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips, ''Method and Theory in American Archaeology,'' in which the pair stated ...

considers

ethnic identity An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

to be a social construct which is out of reach of archaeology and argues against culture-historical methodology of easily making direct links between material culture and ethnic identities.

Bibliography

* ''Feldberger Keramik und frühe Slawen: Studien zur nordwestslawischen Keramik der Karolingerzeit''. Habelt, Bonn 1996 (= ''Universitätsforschungen zur prähistorischen Archäologie'', Vol 34; ''Schriften zur Archäologie der germanischen und slawischen Frühgeschichte'', Vol 1), ISBN 3-7749-2768-5. * Editor: ''Archäologie als Sozialgeschichte. Studien zu Siedlung, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft im frühgeschichtlichen Mitteleuropa. Festschrift für Heiko Steuer zum 60. Geburtstag''. Leidorf, Rahden 1999 (= ''Internationale Archäologie. Studia honoraria'', Vol 9), ISBN 3-89646-389-6. * "Ethnische Identitäten als Konstrukte der frühgeschichtlichen Archäologie". In: ''

Germania Germania ( ; ), also called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a large historical region in north- ...

'' 78–2000, S. 139–177
auf journals.ub.uni.heidelberg.de
. *
Archäologie der westlichen Slawen: Siedlung, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft im früh- und hochmittelalterlichen Ostmitteleuropa
'.

, Berlin-New York 2001 (= ''

Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde ''Germanische Altertumskunde Online'', formerly called ''Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde'', is a German encyclopedia of the study of Germanic history and cultures, as well as the cultures that were in close contact with them. The first ...

'', Vol 30)
2nd edition
by de Gruyter, Berlin-New York 2008, Vol 61, ISBN 978-3-11-020609-8. *
The beginnings of Slavic settlement east of the river Elbe
. ''Antiquity'', Volume 78, Issue 300. pp. 314–329 *
The Archaeology of the Northwestern Slavs (Seventh To Ninth Centuries)
. East Central Europe, 31(1), pp. 77–97. *
Ethnische Interpretationen in der frühgeschichtlichen Archäologie: Geschichte, Grundlagen und Alternativen
'. De Gruyter, Berlin-New York 2004 (= ''

'', Vol 42); * Editor with Christine Kratzke: ''Auf dem Weg zum Germania-Slavica-Konzept. Perspektiven von Geschichtswissenschaft, Archäologie, Onomastik und Kunstgeschichte seit dem 19. Jahrhundert'.' Leipziger Universitäts-Verlag, Leipzig 2005 (= ''GWZO-Arbeitshilfen'', Vol 3), ISBN 3-86583-108-7. * Editor:
Zwischen Spätantike und Frühmittelalter: Archäologie des 4. bis 7. Jahrhunderts im Westen
'. De Gruyter, Berlin-New York 2008 (= ''

'', Vol 57), ISBN 978-3-11-020049-2. *
The Western Slavs of the Seventh to the Eleventh Century – An Archaeological Perspective
. ''

History Compass ''History Compass'' is a peer-reviewed online-only academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell. Originally launched in association with the Institute of Historical Research (London), it is unique in its purpose and structure, aiming to "solve th ...

''. Vol 9 (6), pp. 454–473 * Editor:
Recht und Kultur im frühmittelalterlichen Alemannien
'. De Gruyter, 2017 (= ''

'', Vol 102), ISBN 9783110452945 * Editor with

Wilhelm Heizmann Wilhelm Heizmann (born 5 September 1953) is a German philologist who is Professor and Chair of the Institute for Nordic Philology at the University of Munich. Heizmann specializes in Germanic studies, and is a co-editor of the ''Germanische Alter ...

and Steffen Patzold:
Germanische Altertumskunde im Wandel: Archäologische, philologische und geschichtswissenschaftliche Beiträge aus 150 Jahren
'. De Gruyter, 2021 ISBN 9783110561852

Sources

External links

Sebastian Brather
at the website of the

* 1964 births German archaeologists Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Living people People from Potsdam {{Germany-archaeologist-stub