The 20th European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) Annual Meeting (website) took place on the 10th – 14th of September 2014.

Dr. Hab. Alexandru Popa talked about Ancient political myths in Romanian and Moldavian textbooks: Case study – “The Romanization of the ancestors of the Romanian people”.

In this presentation the author briefly presented the results of his analyses upon the myths of Romanization, as they are shown in history textbooks, both in Romania and Moldavia. These were shown in comparison with the results of the actual archaeological researches, highlighting those conducted by the author himself in the past two years on the Roman Limes in Transylvania, as part of the "Roman Border in Eastern Dacia Province" project, supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, CNCS – UEFISCDI, project number PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-0652, contract nr. 339/5.10.2011..

Abstract: The demystification of history was an en vogue term used in the historical researches regarding the post-socialist region. One can ascertain that historical researches conducted in many countries of the communist block have revealed and outclassed a whole series of historical myths and fabrications of the preceding period. At the same time one can observe that new historical myths, with a downright political influence, have emerged and have been promoted in the communist period. In this presentation I intend to discuss the myth of “The Romanization of the ancestors of the Romanian people” that is a frequent subject found in the Romanian and Moldavian textbooks. On the other hand, I intend to track the differences between the modern historical discourse in regards of Romanization and the ways this phenomenon is presented in both older and newer textbooks. As a base for my investigation I have used the history textbooks from Romania and Moldavia issued after World War 2.

For further information related to the Meeting:
The full scientific programme
The abstracts of all the papers presented in the 6 main thematic sessions