December 12, 2024
Congratulations to the individuals, projects, and publications that received AIA Awards. They will be formally recognized at the 2025 AIA Awards Ceremony, which will take place during the 126th Annual Meeting. We have contacted this year’s winners to gather insights about their projects, experiences, and what inspired them to pursue a career in archaeology.
Lorenc Bejko (University of Tirana)
Award: Anna Marguerite McCann Award for Fieldwork Reports
Project Description: “Archaeological Investigations in a Northern Albanian Province” gives a comprehensive and well-documented overview of cultural and social development of a Southeastern European region from earlier Prehistory to the modern times. It engages in a multi-disciplinary approach to identify and assess main factors of social change, including environmental change, settlement pattern, burial customs, economy and subsistence, conflict, trade, exchange and population movement. The analyses of the rich archaeological data place the discussion in a European context and offer an opportunity to view some of the continent-wide cultural processes with the eyes of the regional variations and specificities.
What drew you to archaeology?
I was born and raised in one of the most prominent historic towns of Albania (Berat, a World Heritage Site since 2007). ‘The past’ has been every day and everywhere present in the earlier part of my life in the form of archaeological remains, historic architecture, traditions, rituals, and a distinguished ‘spirit of place’. The decision to pursue the study of the past was thus a logical consequence of an existential interest in explaining the co-existence of the old and the new within the limits of my small world. It was, however, as much the result of a personal choice, as a product of strict planning by the state authorities, that had the final word on the future careers of the young citizens in the Communist Albania of the 1980s.
Tell us about your history with the AIA:
I came in contact with the AIA during my graduate studies at the Department of Archaeology, Boston University in the middle of 1990s. I have been regularly a member of the AIA since then. In 2009-2010 I have been a Samuel H. Kress Lecturer and since 2011 a Corresponding Member of the AIA.
What’s next for you professionally?
I am currently working on two major publication projects that focus on the population history of the southern Albania in the late prehistory. I am also involved on almost day-to-day basis with the assessment of heritage preservation projects in Albania, particularly those connected to the country’s World Heritage Sites.
How did you get started on your project?
Dr. Michael Galati and I had collaborated for more than one decade before we decided to join our research interests and institutional capacities on a project focused on the area of Shkoder in northwestern Albania. We have co-directed the project from its inception in 2010 to the final publication of its results and analyses in 2023. The Millsaps College, Mississippi State University and the University of Michigan where Mike has served during this period, and the University of Tirana (my university) have provided all the possible support for the project, which has become through these years the point of reference for the training and careers of dozens of Albanian and American students and young professionals.
Questions? Learn more about AIA Awards here or reach out to awards@archaeological.org
