The book presents the contributions offered to Professor Jan Bouzek at
the conference "Contacts, Migrations and Climate Change" in honor of his
80th birthday held in May 2015 in Prague. The conference goal was not
only to honor his exceptional professional achievements but also to
create a broad forum for discussion across the archaeology of Europe and
the Black Sea, and specifically to include the following topics: The
Black Sea Area; The Aegean and Anatolia; Central Europe; Classical,
Hellenistic, and Roman; Climate; Celts on the Move; Thrace and its
Rulers. Jan Bouzek has been one of the most influential and prolific
archaeologists in Europe over the course of his career, with interests
spanning climate change, the world of later prehistory in central and
eastern Europe, and the archaeology of the Iron Age and Classical world
from central Europe, through Bulgaria, to Turkey and the Black Sea area.
The papers in this volume reflect these concerns. The world of ancient
Thrace is an important area of interest, especially in view of the
excavations at Pistiros (Bulgaria) which he led between 1993 and 2015.
Contributions relating to the prehistoric Aegean, to Bronze and Iron Age
central Europe, to the Classical and Hellenistic Balkans, and to the
ancient Pontic world, are among those which reflect the many interests
of this wide-ranging and learned - but very human - scholar, and the
numerous friendships he formed over the whole of Europe and beyond.
