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Anthropology

Alena Lukes

Alena LukesAlena received a doctorate in Archaeology from the University of Sheffield.  Her doctoral research involved primary analysis of pottery from two main sites in the Czech Republic: Vedrovice (settlement) in Moravia, and Praha-Křeslice in Bohemia. Pottery from the Vedrovice settlement was studied as part of the "Vedrovice Ohrazená Osada" [Vedrovice: Enclosed Settlement] project directed by Dr. Alena Humpolová of the Moravské Zemské Muzeum in Brno, and Mgr. Tomáš Berkovec of the Archeologické Centrum in Olomouc. The study of pottery from the Praha-Křeslice site was made possible by Dr. Jaromír Beneš of the Archeos archaeology unit in Prachatice. 

Alena’s post-doctoral research involved managing the AHRC Vedrovice project which, under the direction of prof. Marek Zvelebil and Dr. Paul Pettitt of the Archaeology department at the University of Sheffield, comprised a bioarchaeological analysis of the Vedrovice cemetery.

Research Interests

Alena's broad research interests include the study of the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods in Europe, hunting-gathering societies and material culture studies. She is interested in the informative potential of social and anthropological approaches in archaeology, especially the concepts of inter-generational transmission of culture, habitus, agency and the influence of activity spaces on material culture production/use in the study of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Europe.

Recent Publications

In Press 
Zvelebil, Marek; Lillie, Malcolm; Montgomery, Janet; Lukes, Alena; Pettitt, Paul and Richards, Mike
The emergence of the LBK: Migration, Memory and Meaning at the transition to agriculture. Submitted to Conference Volume: Migrations in Prehistory and Early History: Stable Isotopes and Population Genetics – New Answers to Old Questions?  (Römisch-Germanische Kommission des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Berlin Frei University - 24-26 March 2010).
2010
Zvelebil, Marek; Lukes, Alena and Pettitt, Paul
The Emergence of the LBK Culture: Search for the Ancestors.  IN: D. Gronenborn and J. Petrasch (eds) Die Neolithisierung Mitteleuropas/ The Spread of the Neolithic to Central Europe.   Mainz: RGZM Tagungen. pp. 301-326.
2009
Zvelebil, Marek; Pettitt, Paul and Lukes, Alena
Život, Lásky a Smrt: Bioarcheologie Vedrovických Hrobů [Life, Loves and Death: Bioarchaeology of the Vedrovice Burials]. Vesmír (Czech Republic) 88 (2): 86-92.
2008 Lukes, Alena; Zvelebil, Marek and Pettitt, Paul
Biological and Cultural Identity of the First Farmers: The Vedrovice Bioarchaeology.  Anthropologie: International Journal of the Science of Man (Czech Republic), Special Issue 46(2-3): 117-124.
2008
 Zvelebil, Marek; Pettitt, Paul and Lukes, Alena
Lives, Loves and Deaths of Neolithic Farmers: Bioarchaeology of Burials from Vedrovice (Czech Republic) and the spread of Agriculture in Europe. North Atlantic Archaeology Journal (Memorial University, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada) 1: 103-116.
2008 Lukes, Alena and Zvelebil, Marek
Inter-Generational Transmission of Culture as An Approach to LBK Origins: Some Indications from Eastern Central Europe.  IN: Douglass Bailey, Alasdair Whittle and Vicki Cummings (eds) Living Well Together: Settlement and Materiality in the Neolithic of South-East and Central Europe. Oxford: Oxbow Books. pp. 139-150.
2008 Lukes, Alena; Zvelebil, Marek and Pettitt, Paul (eds)
Vedrovice Research Project Monograph.  Anthropologie: International Journal of the Science of Man (Czech Republic), Special Issue 46(2-3): 117-315.
2004 Lukes, Alena and Zvelebil, Marek (eds)
LBK Dialogues: Studies in the Formation of the Linear Pottery Culture. Published by British Archaeological Reports (B.A.R.), International Series S1304, Oxford: Archaeopress. ISBN 1841716545.
2004  Lukes, Alena and Zvelebil, Marek
Social Perspectives on the Constitution of the Linear Pottery Culture (LBK) IN: Alena Lukes and Marek Zvelebil (eds)  LBK Dialogues: Studies in the Formation of the Linear Pottery Culture. Published by British Archaeological Reports (B.A.R.), International Series S1304, Oxford: Archaeopress: Oxford. pp. 17-33.
2004 Beneš, Jaromír; Kypta, Jan; Lukes, Alena; and Věšínová, Kamila
Sídliště z Doby Počátků Kultury s Lineární Keramikou v Praze-Křeslicích  [Early LBK settlement at Praha- Křeslice].  Otázky Neolitu a Eneolitu Našich Zemí [Questions Regarding the Neolithic and Eneolithic of Our Lands] (Czech Republic) 2003: 29-40.
2004 Lukes, Alena and Zvelebil, Marek
Book Review: Dvě Pohřebiště Neolitického Lidu s Lineární Keramikou Ve Vedrovicích Na Moravě [Zwei Gräberfelder Des Neolithischen Volkes Mit Linearbandkeramik in Vedrovice in Mähren] by Vladimír Podborský et al. Antiquity 78 (302): 945-956