2024
“Pastoralism and nomadism: an archaeological bifurcation,” paper presented at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (New Orleans, April 18, 2024)
“Old habits die hard: the historiography of the seventh century in the Balkans,” paper presented at the international workshop “The Balkans in the seventh century: ethnic and cultural transformations” (March 28, 2024)
2023
“De ce au dispărut căldările de lut?” paper presented at the 28th online symposium “Artă şi civilizaţie medievală” (“Lucruri şi cuvinte. Obiecte ale cotidianului în Ţările Române”), Suceava (November 1, 2023)
“In ore gladii: the Magyars as Israelites in Gesta Hungarorum,” paper presented at the International Congress “The New Children of Israel. Newcomers in Movement. From Constantine to Muhammad and Beyond,” Wolfson College, Oxford University (May 17, 2023)
“Aging levee. On the 25th anniversary of Gottfried Schramm’s Ein Damm bricht,” paper presented at the “Continuity & Change in Medieval Central Europe” conference (the Fifth Biennial Conference of Medieval Central Europe Research Network), Comenius University (Bratislava, April 27, 2023)
2022
“‘Mais ou est le preux Charlemaigne?’ Charlemagne’s wars with the Avars between memory and oblivion,” online paper presented at the conference “Between East and West. Studies on the History of Memory, Commemoration and Reception of Medieval Culture” (Toruń, June 18, 2022)
“Imperial borderlands to the north and west of the Black Sea,” online paper presented at the international conference “Contextualizing Imperial Borderlands (9th c. BC-9th c. AD, and beyond),” Vorarlberg Museum (Bregenz, June 21, 2022)
“‘A very old book’: Geoffrey of Monmouth and Gesta Hungarorum,” paper presented at the Ninth Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, St. Louis University (June 23, 2022)
2021
“Networks of masculinity: bearded warriors in East Central Europe,” paper presented at the online, Fourth Biennial Conference of the Medieval Central Europe Research Network (MECERN), University of Gdańsk, April 8, 2021
2020
“Anchor of faith: the cult of St. Clement in Eastern Europe, ca. 500 to 1050,” paper presented at the International Scientific Conference “History and Theology,” Ovidius University of Constanța, Faculty of Theology, November 17, 2020
“Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages (500-1300),” introduction at the panel “New handbooks of (South)Eastern European History,” 2020 virtual convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, November 14, 2020
2019
“Pseudo-Martin of Braga and the Slavs: a re-examination of the poem In basilica,” paper presented at the Department of History workshop, University of Florida, Gainesville, October 25, 2019
“Justinian’s walls and the ethnogenesis of the Slavs,” paper presented at the pre-modern symposium “Border-walls, fire-walls, sea-walls: global cultural resources as limits,” University of Florida, Gainesville, October 10, 2019
2018
“Breaking the glass ceiling. Women archaeologists under Communism (1945-1989),” paper presented at the Department of History workshop, University of Florida, Gainesville, October 25, 2018
“Outside the frame: the current state of research on the ‘Transformation of the Roman World’,” paper presented at the 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 10-13, 2018
2017
“Clay pans and pita bread in early medieval Europe (sixth to seventh century), from Spain to Eastern Europe,” paper presented at the 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 11-14, 2017
2016
“Oblivion and invention: Charlemagne and his wars with the Avars in the medieval Hungarian chronicles,” paper presented at the 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 12-15, 2016
“The archaeology of medieval nomadism in Eastern Europe (10th-13th centuries). The current state of research,” paper presented at the 81st annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (Orlando, April 8, 2016)
2015
“Counterfeiting the substantivist vs. formalist debate. Remarks on the broad implications of the economic and funerary uses of imitations,” paper presented at the international conference on “Early medieval imitational coinages” (Royal Coin Cabinet, Stockholm, November 7, 2015)
“Troubling crusade: the Vlachs as Saracens in the Chronicle of Robert de Clari,” paper presented at the 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 14-17, 2015
“Of amphorae and seals: the ‘sub-Byzantine’ Avars and the quaestura exercitus,” paper presented at the workshop “Material culture in Late Antiquity: continuities and change,” University of Florida, Gainesville, February 7, 2015
2014
“Islam and markets in 10th-century Europe: al-Andalus and Volga Bulgharia,” paper presented at the 49th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 8-11, 2014
2013
“Gift-giving and violence: a comparative approach to ruling strategies,” paper presented at the 48th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 9-12, 2013
“Coins and burials in Dark-Age Greeks. Archaeological remarks on the Byzantine ‘Reconquista’,” paper presented at the 46th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Birmingham, March 22-24, 2013
2012
“Linear frontiers in the early Middle Ages: Bulgaria and Wessex,” paper presented at the 47th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 10-13, 2012
“Avar Blitzkrieg, Slavic and Bulgar raiders, and Roman special ops: mobile warriors in the sixth-century Balkans,” paper presented at “Mobile Kriegergruppen in Europa und Afrika. Transkulturelle Perspektiven,” a workshop organized at the Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen, April 13-14, 2012
“The image and archaeology of the Pechenegs,” paper presented at the 45th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Oxford, March 24-26, 2012
2011
“Trade of taxes? Hoards of iron implements and weapons in ninth-century Moravia,” paper presented at the 46th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 12-15, 2011
2010
“Medievalism, post-1848 Czech nationalism, and the beginnings of medieval archaeology in Bulgaria and Ukraine,” paper presented at the 45th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 13-16, 2010
“Teaching medieval archaeology in the field: the experience of an archaeological summer school program,” paper presented at the 45th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 13-16, 2010
“Ethnicity in medieval archaeology,” paper presented at the Society for American Archaeology 75th anniversary meeting, St. Louis, April 14-18, 2010
“The archaeology of the Slavic Middle Ages: a comparative approach (Bulgaria and Slovenia),” paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Conference on Slavic Studies, Gainesville, March 25-27, 2010
2009
“The Corinth connection: was there a commercial revival in Greece in the ninth century?” paper presented at the 35th Annual Byzantine Studies Conference, Sarasota, November 6-8, 2009
“Out of Eastern Europe: service settlements in the early Middle Ages,” paper presented at the 44th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 7-10, 2009
2008
“The ‘stirrup controversy’ revisited: the earliest Avar stirrups,” paper presented at the 43rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 8-11, 2008
2007
“Medieval archaeology in Southeastern Europe,” paper presented at the conference Fifty Years of Medieval Archaeology organized by the Society for Medieval Archaeology, The Society of Antiquaries, London, December 8, 2007
“The Amber Trail in early medieval Eastern Europe,” paper presented at the 42nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 10-13, 2007
2006
“Greece in the early Middle Ages (ca. 500-1050): an economic and social perspective,” paper presented in the in the 2006-2007 Dumbarton Oaks Fellows Research Reports, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D.C., October 10, 2006
“The archaeology of identity in Old Russia (ca. 500 to ca. 650),” paper presented at the 41st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 4-7, 2006
“On ethnicity in medieval archaeology (or, where did Sebastian Brather go wrong?),” paper presented at the 81st Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, Boston, March 30-April 1, 2006
“Mission and frontier: Christianity and barbarians beyond the fourth- and sixth-century Danube frontier,” paper presented at the 15th biennial New College Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, New College, Sarasota, March 9-11, 2006
2005
“Gifts in the Merovingian and Carolingian times,” paper presented at the Florida MedievaList constitutive meeting, University of South Florida, Tampa, November 18, 2005
“The making of the Slavs: the history and archaeology of the Slavic ethnogenesis,” paper presented at the 12th Mediterranean Ethnological Summer Symposium, Piran, Slovenia, September 18-25, 2005
“It’s all about the ladies: gender and ethnicity in sixth-century ‘Gepidia’,” paper presented at the 40th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 5-9, 2005
2004
“Qagan, khan, or king? Power in early medieval Bulgaria (eighth to ninth centuries),” paper presented at the 2004 National Conference of the Historical Society, (Boothbay Harbor, June 3-6, 2004
“Barbarians in Greece: Slavs or Avars?” paper presented at the 39th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 6-9, 2004
“Merovingian and Carolingian gift-giving practices,” paper presented in the Mellon colloquium in the Medieval Institute at the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, May 1, 2004
2003
“No mission, no conversion? Christianity and barbarians beyond the Danube (ca. 500-700),” paper presented at the 38th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 7-11, 2003
“Late medieval or early modern? Mongols and Ottomans in the history of medieval Eastern Europe and the problem of periodization,” paper presented at the 78th Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, Minneapolis, April 10-12, 2003
2002
“Pavel Chinezul, Negru Voda, and ‘imagined communities’: medievalism in Romanian rock music,” paper presented at the 17th annual international meeting of the Conference on Medievalism (“Postmodern medievalisms”), Cedar Falls, October 18-19, 2002
“Border matters: cave monasticism and frontiers in the tenth century,” paper presented at the 28th annual meeting of the Southeastern Medieval Association, Tallahassee, September 26-28, 2002
Participant in the panel “The early medieval economy: a roundtable discussion with Michael McCormick,” 37th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 2-5, 2002
“Emblemic style: ‘Slavic’ bow fibulae in Eastern Europe,” paper presented at the 37th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 2-5, 2002
“‘The strongest possible line of first defense’: the sixth-century Danube frontier and the early Slavs,” paper presented at the 116th Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, San Francisco, January 3-6, 2002
2001
“Color nomenclature and ‘heraldic’ use of color imagery in twelfth-century literature,” paper presented at the 36th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 3-6, 2001
“Pots, Slavs and ‘imagined communities’: Slavic archaeology in Bulgaria and Romania (1945-1989),” paper presented at the Sixth Annual Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities, Columbia University, New York, April 5-7, 2001
“Slavs in Greece: the Charanis-Setton controversy revisited,” paper presented in the Pozzetta Colloquium, Department of History, University of Florida, Gainesville, March 29, 2001
2000
“From Kossinna to Bromley: ethnogenesis and Slavic archaeology,” paper presented at the 35th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 4-7, 2000
“Stone dyke and rock monastery: on cave monasticism and the tenth-century frontier of Bulgaria,” paper presented at the 75th Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, Austin, April 13-15, 2000
“The ‘beech argument,’ the Prague pots, and the Slavic ethnogenesis,” lecture for the Linguistics Program weekly seminar, University of Florida, Gainesville, March 30, 2000
“Language, ethne, and national gods: a note on Julian’s concept of Hellenism,” paper presented at the 20th Year Celebration Symposium of the Center for Greek Studies, Gainesville, February 18-19, 2000
1999
“In boream Viscla tenus commorantur: Jordanes’ Slavic Venethi revisited,” paper presented at the 34th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 7-10, 1999
“The ‘Prague type’: a critical approach to pottery classification,” paper presented at the Symposium “The Dark Centuries of Byzantium” (Athens, May 6-9, 1999)
“Slavic archaeology and early Slavic ethnicity,” paper presented at the Mellon Seminar, Medieval Studies Program, Cornell University (Ithaca, April 15, 1999)
“Peasants as ‘makeshift soldiers for the occasion’: sixth-century settlement patterns in the Balkans,” paper presented at the Third Conference on Shifting Frontiers in Late Antiquity, “Urban and Rural in Late Antiquity (ca. 200-600)” (Emory University, Atlanta, March 11-14, 1999)
1998
“Corporeality, Neoplatonism, and the golden bowl from Pietroasa: on Julian’s aesthetics,” paper presented at the 130th Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association (Washington, December 27-30, 1998)
“Churches on the frontier: a tenth-century cave monastery at Basarabi (Romania),” paper presented at the 33rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 7-10, 1998
“Pots, ethnos, and Slavs: Slavic archaeology in Soviet Russia and Communist Romania,” paper presented at the conference “Vocabularies of Identity in Russia and Eastern Europe,” University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, April 3-4, 1998
“Feasting with ‘kings’ in an ancient ‘democracy’: on the Slavic society of the early Middle Ages (sixth to seventh century A.D.),” paper presented at the 15th Annual Meeting of the Illinois Medieval Association, Charleston, February 20-21, 1998
1997
“Trade or tarqans? Early medieval hoards of iron implements and weapons in Eastern Europe,” paper presented at the 23rd Annual Byzantine Studies Conference, Madison, September 25-28, 1997
“Slavs in Fredegar and Paul the Deacon: medieval gens or ‘scourge of God’?” paper presented at the 13th Annual Conference of the Medieval Association of the Midwest, Iowa City, September 19-20, 1997
“Limes and cross: the religious dimension of the northern frontier of the early Byzantine Empire,” paper presented at the 32nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 1-4, 1997
“Early medieval bow fibulae in Eastern Europe: ethnic or gender index?” paper presented at the 85th Annual Conference of the College Art Association, New York, February 12-15, 1997
1996
“Invasion or inflation? Sixth- to seventh-century Byzantine coin hoards in Eastern and Southeastern Europe,” paper presented at the 31st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 2-5, 1996
1995
“The last years of the Roman Empire’s northern frontier on the Danube,” paper presented at the Duquesne University History Forum, Pittsburgh, October 14, 1995
“Swamps and forests for cities: settlement patterns in the Early Slavic period (sixth to seventh century),” paper presented at the 30th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 4-7, 1995
1994
“How to do things with saints: on the iconography of St. Mercurius’ legend,” paper presented at the 29th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 5-7, 1994
1993
“Les dépôts d’outils et d’armes de fer du Haut Moyen Age découverts en Roumanie,” paper presented at the 28th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 1993
1992
“Unelte şi arme de fier în depozitul de la Dragosloveni,” paper presented at the symposium “Hoards and Hoarding in Prehistory and the Early Middle Ages,” Institute of Archaeology, Bucharest, June 1992
1991
“Fibulele digitate din România,” paper presented at the Institute of Archaeology, Bucharest, May 1991
1990
“Propaganda şi program politic în Discursul III al lui Iulianus Caesar,” paper presented at the Society for Classical Studies, University of Bucharest, February 1990
1988
“Cronologia tezaurelor de lingouri de aur romane de la Crasna şi Feldioara,” paper presented at the Institute of Archaeology, Bucharest, May 1988