Professor Thomas Stöllner holds the chair for Pre- and Protohistory at the Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany and directs the Department of Mining Archaeology at the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum (DBM), since 2014 also Head of research department at the DBM and member of the directorate of the DBM.
Thomas Stöllner’s research is centred on the social and economic development of mining communities throughout pre- and protohistory with a focus on the archaeometry of mining, the archaeology of technology and societal interrelations aided by research on settlements and cemetery sites. His research spans Old World archaeology including Central and East Europe and extends to the Caucasus, the Middle East and Central Asia as well as South America. Thomas Stöllner’s fields of study also include the European Bronze Age and further aspects of Iron Age Archaeology as well as methods in archaeology. Thomas Stöllner is an ordinary member of the German Archaeological Institute, scientific board member of the Keltenmuseum Hallein and of the Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology, and he is part of the scientific board of the Archaeologisches Korrespondenzblatt.
He has organized several renowned exhibitions e.g. Persiens Antike Pracht – Bergbau – Handwerk – Archäologie (2004/2005), Unbekanntes Kasachstan. Archäologie im Herzens Asiens (2013) and Bergauf-Bergab. 10000 Jahre Bergbau in den Ostalpen (2015). He has directed several DFG-projects and is speaker of the Leibniz-Graduate School: Raw materials, Innovations, Technology of Ancient Cultures (RITaK) and the Leibniz-Postgraduate-School “Resources in Societies” (ReSoc).
