Philipp W. Stockhammer is professor for prehistoric archaeology with a focus on the Eastern Mediterranean at Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich and co-director of Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean, Jena. His research focuses on the transformative power of intercultural encounters, human-thing-entanglements, social practices and the integration of archaeological and scientific interpretation. From 2015-2018, he acted as Speaker of the Collaborative Research Project “BEFIM”. He published monographs on Urnfield swords, pottery of the post-palace period in the lower city of Tiryns, the appropriation of foreign pottery in the Eastern Mediterranean Late Bronze Age, and countless papers.
Janine Fries-Knoblach studied prehistory, ancient history, classical and provincial-Roman archaology in Munich and Oxford and worked for heritage authorities and as a lecturer at the universities of Erlangen, Würzburg, and Freiburg. She spent much time editing and translating and was project coordinator of BEFIM at Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich from 2016-2018. Her research focuses on technical aspects (agriculture, metalworking, textiles, salt production, architecture) and human handedness. She published monographs on pre- and protohistoric agricultural technique on the British Isles and the Continent, on tools, methods, and significance of Iron Age salt production in Central and North-Western Europe and on the Celts, and many papers.