Doralice Klainscek

Since 2024: PhD candidate (Department of Prehistory and Historical Archaeology, University of Vienna, DSHCS) as project member in the FWF-funded project I6562 “ANAPAN: A New Approach to Pottery of Arabia and its Neighbors” (ANAPAN - FWF, PI: Prof. Dr. Marta Luciani).

2020: Student coworker in P-Networks Project (Superv: Prof. Luciani, Dr. Pamela Fragnoli)

Since 2019: Joint Qurayyah Archaeological Project (University of Vienna – Saudi Heritage Commission; Directors: M. Luciani – A. Abualhassan)

After moving from Italy, my entire academic training at the University of Vienna has focused on prehistoric archaeology and ceramic studies. Work on LBA pottery from the site of Qurayyah, NW Arabia, was central to both my BA (2020; Superv: Profs. Luciani and P. Ramsl) and MA (2024; Superv: Prof. Luciani) degrees.
The academic stimuli I received, along with participation in archaeometric courses and workshops and my enthusiasm for pottery analysis, have fostered the development of specific skills, including morpho-typological and technological study, ceramic petrography and graphic documentation.

Research interests:
Western Asian and Prehistoric Archaeology; Archaeometry and Geoarchaeology; Ceramic Studies and Pottery Technology; Petrography; Chaîne Opératoire

Current research project: Tracing Socio-Economic Dynamics through Pottery Manufacture and Distribution: a Diachronic and Interregional Perspective from NW Arabia.

My dissertation is embedded in the FWF-funded ANAPAN Project, which elaborates on the increased archaeological interest in Northwestern Arabia and its interconnection with the Greater Levant. Addressing the lack of comprehensive and systematic research on pottery from this region, the holistic and interdisciplinary methodology has the potential of establishing a solid baseline on its material culture. In this context, my goal is to investigate the social practices and long-term changes involved in the production, use and distribution of the pottery from Qurayyah –a 300ha walled multi-phase oasis-settlement in the Hejaz region of NW Arabia. The study will cover the site’s entire diachronic scale, spanning from the Early Bronze Age to the Late Iron Ages. I will employ an interdisciplinary chaîne-opératoire-oriented approach, studying the material through macroscopic and microscopic analyses and combining archaeological, technological and archaeometric perspectives.

The results will be contextualized within an interregional frame through a systematic comparison to the pottery collected and documented in Tayma and in four Southern Levantine sites. This project will therefore be pioneer in the comprehensive inter-site research and reconstruction of networks in the region, clarifying the role of NW Arabia’s prehistory in the geographical and chronological frameworks of Western Asia. The study will add a link to the intricate network of people and communities that inhabited these territories and shaped the region’s history.

Publications:

Luciani M. – Fragnoli P. – Sterba J.H. – Klainscek D. – Gilstrap W.D. – Green J.A. – Bourke S. – Donnelly P. (in prep.) Creating a Brand. Genesis, Transformation and Diffusion of Qurayyah Painted Ware.
Luciani M. – Klainscek D. (in prep.) A New Look at the Pottery from Qurayyah from the National Museum, Riyadh.