PhD studies topics starting in 2025, the exact date of the admission procedure will be specified. It will probably take place in June 2025.
Faculty of Arts, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, 3 years
Historical sciences,
study programme: Archaeology
For further information, you can contact us at: https://ff.ukf.sk/studium/doktorandske-studium/
Closing date for applications: 31.5.2025
1. FF UKF Nitra (3-ročné štúdium denné)
Topic: Social structure of Germanic communities in the old Roman period on the basis of graves and burial sites in western Slovakia
Supervisor: prof. PhDr. Eduard Droberjar, PhD. (droberjar@seznam.cz)
Date of admission: Juny 2025
Annotation:
The aim of the dissertation will be to create a model of the structure of Germanic society based on analyses (typological-chronological, chorological, anthropological and sociological) of large burial sites (Abrahám, Kostolná pri Dunaji, Sládkovičovo), other smaller necropolises and isolated graves from the older Roman period in western Slovakia. An integral part will be a comparison of the findings with the results of research at other burial sites within the Elbe-Germanic cultural circle (Moravia, Bohemia, Central Germany).
2. FF UKF Nitra
Topic: Animal husbandry in the Roman period in western Slovakia
Supervisor: Mgr. Branislav Kovár, PhD.
Consultant: Mgr. Zora Bielichová
Date of admission: Juny 2025
Annotation:
The dissertation project deals with the part of the Roman period economy related to animal husbandry, livestock production, and food of animal origin in the Germanic and Roman Provincial milieu north of the Danube. The main aim is to contribute to the debate on animal husbandry strategies in the context of changing Roman-Germanic relations and the differentiated structure of Germanic society in the Central Danube area. The work also intends to capture the manifestations of the Romanization of the Quadi, e.g., in animal husbandry techniques or in the diet of the “barbarians”. The animal bone remains are the main sources of knowledge, considering the available archaeological, historical, and archaeobotanical sources. One of the contributions of the thesis is the processing of extensive, previously unpublished, bone assemblages from key Quadi sites in western Slovakia using modern analytical methods of archaeozoological research.
Faculty of Arts, Comenius University Bratislava, 4 years
Historical sciences, study programme: general history
For further information, you can contact us at: https://fphil.uniba.sk/pk/doktorandske-studium/prijimacie-konanie-na-ar-20242025/
Closing date for applications: 31.5.2025
1. FF UK Bratislava
Topic: Central Hillfort of the Púchov culture on Havránok hill in Liptovská Sielnica – Liptovská Mara. Development, function, and heritage presentation
Supervisor: PhDr. Karol Pieta, DrSc.
Consultant: Mgr. Lucia Benediková, PhD.
Date of admission: Juny 2025
Annotation:
The topic includes the development of the use and interpretation of the importance of the dominant site of the Liptovská basin – the hill Liptovská Mara – Havránok in the protohistoric period based on the rich materials from the long-term excavations of the Institute of Archaeology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV). The hill was fortified and used as an important sacrificial place from the Middle La Téne to the beginning of the Roman period. The topic will also include reconsideration of the reconstructions of selected archaeological features and the use of the site for cultural tourism.
2. FF UK Bratislava
Topic: Exchange and trade as a socio-economic phenomenon if the Protohistorical and Early Medieval period in the western part of the Carpathian Basin. Coins and non-monetary exchange media
Supervisor: PhDr. Karol Pieta, DrSc.
Consultant: Mgr. Péter Prohászka, PhD.
Date of admission: Juny 2025
Annotation:
The definition of the development of trade and exchange relations in the specified area in the Protohistoric and Early Medieval Periods. The interpretation of the minting and use/non-use of coins and other instruments of exchange and their various functions in different periods and communities, focused on the local coin production and relevant raw material resources in Slovakia.
3. FF UK Bratislava
Topic: Women in the Eastern Hallstatt culture
Supervisor: Mgr. Anita Kozubová, PhD.
Date of admission: Juny 2025
Annotation:
The thesis focuses on exploring the lives of women in the Eastern Hallstatt culture from various perspectives. Its primary aim is to identify women in the archaeological record and address questions such as: What was the position, role, and perception of women in Hallstatt society? To what extent did burial rites and grave goods reflect the social identities of women within the horizontal and vertical social structure? What factors influenced female visual identity (including costumes)? And what potential profane and ritual activities were performed by women? The distribution area of the Eastern Hallstatt culture consisted of several regional groups. Therefore, it will be important to identify any potential common features or differences in the researched issues across the various regions of the Eastern Hallstatt culture (with the aim of identifying possible interregional female communication networks). In addition to case studies of richly furnished graves, the graves of women with less rich grave goods or without any grave goods present an additional methodological and interpretative challenge.
The starting point of the thesis is almost exclusively on published cemeteries, supplemented by information from settlements. The successful completion of the thesis also requires an interdisciplinary approach – particularly the involvement of knowledge from physical anthropology, paleodemography, ethnoarchaeology, as well as cultural, social, and gender anthropology.
An additional contribution could be the comparison with the results of similar research in the Western Hallstatt culture, which has received more attention than the Eastern Hallstatt area. The issue of women and the female aspect has not yet been comprehensively addressed for the Eastern Hallstatt culture. Therefore, this topic is promising not only for the doctoral study itself but also offers the potential for further exploration during postdoctoral research, considering additional aspects.
4. FF UK Bratislava
Topic: From ore to tool. Iron mining and production in selected areas of the Western Carpathians from the early historic period to the early modern period
Supervisor: PhDr. Peter Bednár, CSc.
Consultant: PhDr. Karol Pieta, DrSc.
Date of admission: Juny 2025
Annotation:
The aim of the dissertation is to elaborate the finds fund related to iron production in selected areas of the Western Carpathians, with a focus on southern Slovakia (in the region of Gemer and, for comparison, in the region of Považský Inovec). The work should document and evaluate the existing knowledge on the method of ore extraction (mud ores, mine workings), production of pig iron and iron products. In addition to archaeological descriptive methods, physical and chemical analytical methods could also be used thanks to the cooperation with Hungarian partners and the results of research in the different mining and production regions could be compared.
5. FF UK Bratislava
Topic: Rotation querns and their significance in the Middle Ages
Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Matej Ruttkay, CSc.
Date of admission: Juny 2025
Annotation:
The The aim of the thesis is to summarize, analyze and evaluate the archaeological and historical sources on the rotation querns in the territory of present-day Slovakia. From the excavations of settlements, as well as surface surveys and exceptionally graves, there is an enormous finds fund of both whole pieces and fragments. Their detailed archaeological as well as material analysis in the context of knowledge from the Central Danube area will provide important information for the reconstruction of life in the Middle Ages – sources of raw materials, diet, mining and processing technologies, transport, trade/exchange, etc. The precondition for a successful solution of the thesis is interdisciplinary cooperation – especially comparison with historical and art-historical sources, and cooperation with geologists.
6. FF UK Bratislava
Topic: Late Medieval and Modern Pottery from Upper Požitavia on the Example of Recent Archaeological Researches from the Castles of Gýmeš and Hrušov
Supervisor: Mgr. Mário Bielich, PhD.
Date of admission: Juny 2025
Annotation:
Between the 14th and 17th centuries, significant social and economic changes took place in Upper Hungary, which is also reflected in the development of ceramics. The Hussite raids and the Ottoman invasion influenced the life of the inhabitants of Upper Požitavie. The thesis focuses on the analysis of ceramics from the castles of Gýmeš and Hrušov, which will be compared with the findings of ceramics from the surrounding villages and the town Zlaté Moravce. The first pottery centres in Pukanec and Brehy were discovered, whose products supplied the area under study.