Of temples & favourite things
Do you have a favourite thing? Something you can't part with? What does this object say about you? What about the time in which you live? Archaeologist Matthias Grawehr asks himself these and other questions about personal objects in antiquity.
Matthias Grawehr found his way to archaeology through the joy of working with his hands. The language and culture of the Romans and Greeks also aroused his interest at grammar school. This led him to study Classical Archaeology, Art History and Near Eastern Archaeology and later to write his dissertation in Classical Archaeology. He is now an expert in Hellenistic and Roman architecture, Roman imagery and the archaeology of the Levant in Hellenistic and Roman times.
Two sanctuaries
One of his next field research projects will also take place in the Levant region, more precisely in Lebanon: Two temples on Mount Hermon. The sanctuaries of Ain Aata and Aaqabeh are two buildings from the Roman imperial period (around the 1st or 2nd century AD). Both archaeological sites are heavily damaged. One is a temple that was bulldozed a few years ago to make way for agricultural terraces. It is necessary to establish what is still there before it can be documented. Reliefs have been found at the other site, but these are heavily exposed to the weather and also need to be documented in detail for the first time. However, both sites will have to wait, as the current situation does not allow archaeological work to be carried out in Lebanon, in an area bordering the Golan Heights.
Favourite things
Another of Matthias Grawehr's current research projects is concerned with the role of artefacts in shaping the social and cultural processes of the respective epoch. The focus is on people's relationship to things and how they dealt with them. Specifically, he examines so-called "favourite things" - objects that had a special emotional significance for people, which they often carried close to them and which were also used as burial objects. These objects include, for example, warming spheres - spheres made of dark material such as amber, which stores heat well and was intended to warm the hands in the cold months, as well as amulets or children's toys. Matthias Grawehr explores the question of how it can be proven that these were actually "favourite things" and also attempts to trace historical changes in the emotional relationships between people and things.
The dream of archaeology
What advice should be given to young people who want to become archaeologists? Matthias Grawehr is aware that archaeology is not one of the professions in short supply. If you choose this path, you have to focus on the right courses of action, get involved and thus create the conditions to be able to realise your own ideas. This is why it is also important to him in teaching to support his students individually and motivate them to follow their own interests. This is because he believes that the breadth of the subject of archaeology makes it possible to actually pursue one's own dreams.
Matthias Grawehr completed his doctorate at the University of Basel in 2006. After spending time in Damascus, Rome and Zurich, he habilitated in Basel in 2019 with his habilitation thesis "Akzidentelle Unfertigkeiten und intentioneller Bossenstil in der Architektur des Hellenismus und der Kaiserzeit". After holding temporary professorships in Mainz and Bonn, he was appointed Professor of Archaeology of Classical Antiquity at the Institute of Antiquity at the University of Graz in September 2025.