Ur- und Frühgeschichte und Archäologie des Mittelalters

Živković, Jelena, Dr.

Dr. Jelena Živković is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Tübingen. Her project Tracing connectivity via ceramic technology in riverine environment of the Middle Danube Region during the Ottoman period (DANUBE) integrates Post Medieval Archaeology, Ottoman Archaeology, and Materials Science to explore the transmission of knowledge among potters in frontier communities of the Middle Danube region, affected by long-term warfare, migrations, and displacement during the 16th and 17th centuries. The interaction between artisans played a key role in driving the process of cultureal change, commonly referred to as Ottomanisation.

Focusing on the riverine landscapes  defined by the Danube, Sava, and Drava rivers - natural corridors of cultural interaction - the project examines ceramics from multiple sites in Serbia and Croatia. It combines archaeological, petrographic, and chemical analyses of common pottery to study ceramic production technologies, reconstruct potting traditions, and map regional production sites, thereby illuminating connectivity along rivers.

The project is conducted in collaboration with the Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade (secondment institution), Belgrade City Museum, Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments in Sremska Mitrovica, National Museum in Šabac, Archaeological Museum Osijek and Museum Đakovštine.

Curriculum Vitae


Professional Background

2025 bis 2027Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, Tübingen University
2024 bis 2025Research Associate, the Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade
2019 bis 2024Postdoctoral Fellow, the Cyprus Institute STARC

 

Education

2020PhD in Islamic Archaeology, University College London
2014MA in Archaeology of the Arab and Islamic World. University College London
2011MA in Archaeology, Belgrade University
2010BA in Archaeology, Belgrade University

Research


Research projects

2025 - 2027Tracing connectivity via ceramic technology in riverine environment of the Middle Danube Region during the Ottoman period (DANUBE), Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action
2019 - 2024Byzantine and Ottoman ceramic workshops in the Eastern Mediterranean (PI Thilo Rehren), the A. G. Leventis Foundation.
2014 - 2016Late Islamic ceramics from al-Ain (PI Timothy Power), Zayed University and UCL Qatar.
2013 - 2015Iznik Ware from Belgrade, UCL Qatar and Institute of Archaeology in Belgrade.
2009 - 2011Židovar silver treasure (PI Thilo Rehren), UCL Institute of Archaeology and Belgrade Univeristy

 

Research Interests

Ottoman and Islamic Archaeology
Medieval and Post-Medieval Archaeology
Materials Science, petrographic and chemical analyses of ceramics
Archaeology of riverine environments
Archaeology of connectivity

Publications


Papers in scientific journals

Živković, J., Carvajal López, J., Biezeveld, I. & Döpper, S. 2025. The production of Bahlā Ware in the context of Late Islamic Oman. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 54. 

Thamnopoulou, A. & Živković, J. 2025. The Trikala ceramic workshop: Exploring a production centre of Ottoman Greece. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2025.105318. 

Živković, J., Raptis, K.T. & Slambeas, P. 2024. From Thessaloniki to Selânik: the long continuity of urban ceramic production in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 16, 146. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-024-02055-9 

Kelepeshi, C. & Živković, J. 2024. Reassembling the pieces, reassessing the picture: an analytical study of medieval pottery (mid. twelfth–sixteenth c.) from Polis Chrysochous, Cyprus. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 16, 8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01909-y 

Živković, J., Bikić, V., Georgakopoulou, M. & Carvajal López, J. 2021. Archaeology of craft and artisans in the Ottoman Empire: a case of ceramic production in Belgrade during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 13, 63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01306-3 

Živković, J., Bikić, V., Carvajal López, J. & Georgakopoulou, M. 2021. Ceramic production on the Middle Danube frontier: Belgrade in the 14th and 15th centuries. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.102809 

Živković, J., Power, T., Georgakopoulou, M. & Carvajal López, J. Defining new technological traditions of Late Islamic Arabia: a view on Bahlā Ware from al-Ain (UAE) and the lead-barium glaze production. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 11, 4697–4709 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00807-6

Živković, J., Bikić, V. & Georgakopoulou, M. 2017. Archaeology of consumption in Ottoman urban centres: the case study of Iznik ware from the Belgrade Fortress in the 16th and 17th centuries. Post-Medieval Archaeology 51, 1. https://doi.org/10.1080/00794236.2017.1290490

 

Edited volumes

Carvajal Lopez, J., Živković, J., Al Jawabra A. & Lababidi, R. 2021. Islamic heritage in three peninsulas: Qatar, Iberia and the Balkans. In Walker, B., Insoll, T. and Fenwick, C. (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Islamic Archaeology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199987870.013.31

Živković, J., Rehren, Th., Radivojević, M., Jevtić, M., & Jovanović, D. 2014. XRF characterisation of Celtic silver from the Židovar treasure, Serbia. In Pernicka, E. and Schwab, R. (eds.) Under the Volcano: Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Metallurgy of the European Iron Age held in Mannheim, Germany: 20-22 April 2010. Rahden/Westf.: Verlag Marie Leidorf, pp.157-175.

 

Databases

Živković, J. 2025. Macroscopic, petrographic, and chemical data on ceramics from the Paphos Gate site in Nicosia, Cyprus. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14742972 

Živković, J., Carvajal López, J. C., Döpper, S., & Biezeveld, I. 2024. Bahla ware from Central Oman: Petrological and chemical information of bodies, chemical information of glazes [Data set]. DIGITAL.CSIC. http://doi.org/10.20350/DIGITALCSIC/16704 

Honors and Functions

Awards

2014Award for extraordinary achievements during the MA studies “Archaeology of the Arab and Islamic World”, UCL
2009:Award for extraordinary achievements during BA studies, Belgrade University

Scholarships

2023MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship at Tübingen University
2019Postdoctoral grant of the A. G. Leventis Foundation for the project Byzantine and Ottoman ceramic workshops in the Eastern Mediterranean (Principal author of the grant application)
2014Academic scholarship for PhD studies, UCL Qatar
2013Scholarship of the Fund for Young Talents, Republic of Serbia
2012Academic scholarship for MA studies, UCL Qatar

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0539-788X 

Eberhardt Karls Universität Tübingen
Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte und Archäologie des Mittelalters
Burgsteige 11
72070 Tübingen