Mgr. Jan Turek, PhD.

Czech archaeologist, studied in Prague, Bratislava (Czechoslovakia) and Sheffield (UK). Since 1993 he organized several research and field projects, published several books and numerous academic papers. Since 1998 he lectured Prehistoric Archaeology and Archaeological Theory in Pilsen, Prague, Hradec Kálové (CZ), Sheffield and Cambridge (UK). In 2007 was awarded the Ian Potter Research Fellowship at the Flinders University, Adelaide (South Australia). He is specialist in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic Period of Europe, especially in regards to the reconstruction of social and gender structure and symbolic systems of prehistoric communities. This includes an interest in continuity and change in funerary practices, settlement pattern and artefacts. From 2013 to 2020 he was the Editor-in-Chief of Archaeologies, Journal of the World Archaeological Congress (ISSN 1555-8622).

Main spheres of interest

Early Prehistory of Eurasia, Neolithic & Eneolithic Period; Bell Beaker Phenomenon; Reconstruction of prehistoric society, Gender archaeology, World archaeology and human rights.

Academic social networks

Jan Turek at ACADEMIA

Jan Turek at RESEARCHGATE

Jan Turek at Google Scholar

Jan Turek at ORCID

Syntheses and Monographs:

Šmejda, L., Turek, J. (eds.) 2004: Spatial Analysis of Funerary areas, Plzeň.

Turek, J. 2005: Praha kamenná. Neolit – mladší doba kamenná; Eneolit – pozdní doba kamenná, in: Lutovský, M., Smejtek, L. (eds.): Pravěká Praha, Libri, Praha, 157-348.

Šmejda, L., Turek, J.,Thrane, H. (eds.) 2006: Archaeology of Burial Mounds, Dryada, Plzeň.

Turek, J. 2008: 5.3 Kultura zvoncovitých pohárů, in: Neustupný, E. 2008 (ed.): Čechy v Pravěku 4 – Eneolit, Praha, Archeologický ústav v.v.i., 98-111, Tab. 50-59.

Turek, J. 2013: Na prahu nového řádu. První tvůrci chrámů a keramiky (10 000-4000 př. Kr.), In: Bárta & Kovář, M. (eds.): Civilizace a dějiny. Academia, Praha, 71-110.

Turek, J. (ed.) 2013: Abstracts. 19th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists 2013 Pilsen, Czech Republic. University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Plzeň.

Kristian Kristiansen; Ladislav Šmejda; Jan Turek (eds.) 2014: Paradigm Found: Archaeological Theory – Present, Past and Future. Essays in Honour of Evžen Neustupný, Oxbowbooks, Oxford.ISBN: 9781782977704.

Bartelheim, M., Peška, J., Turek, J. (eds.) 2013: From Copper to Bronze. Cultural and Social Transformations at the Turn of the 3rd/2nd Millennia B.C. in Central Europe. Gewidmet PhDr. Václav Moucha, CSc. anlässlich seines 80. Geburtstages. Beitrage zur Ur-und Frühgeschichte Mitteleuropas 74, Beier & Beran. Archäologische Fachliteratur, Langenweissbach.

Petr Krištuf, Jan Turek (et al) 2019: ANCESTRAL ARENAS. Cult and Ritual at the beginning of the Eneolithic Period, ZČU Plzeň.

Václav Cílek, Zdeňka Sůvová, Jan Turek a kolektiv 2020: Krajem Joachima Barranda. Cesta do pravěku země české. Dokořán, Praha. ISBN 978-80-7363-991-4, EAN 9788073639914.

Turek, J. (ed.) 2022: The Ninth World Archaeological Congress WAC-9: Abstract Book, Prague, Czech Republic 3–8 July 2022, (ISBN 978-80-908114-0-9).

Selected papers (since 2014):

Turek, J. 2014a: New evidence of FBC longhouses in Central Bohemia, In: Furholt, M. et al (eds.): Landscapes, Histories and Societies in the Northern European Neolithic, Frühe Monumentalität, Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn, 219 - 225.

Turek, J. 2014b: Social Foundations of the Beaker Phenomenon, Besse, M. (ed.): Around the Petir-Chasseur Site in Sion & New Approaches to the BB Culture, Archaeopress,Oxford,285-293.

Turek, J. 2015a: Lost and found paradigms: Creation of the Beaker World, In: Kristian Kristiansen; Ladislav Šmejda; Jan Turek (Eds.): Paradigm Found: Archaeological Theory – Present, Past and Future. Essays in Honour of E. Neustupný, Oxbowbooks, Oxford, pp.265-279.

Turek, J. 2015b: Bell Beaker stone wristguards as symbolic male ornament. The significance of ceremonial warfare in the 3rd millennium BC Central EuropeMaria Pilar Prieto Martínez & Laure Salanova (Eds.): The Bell Beaker Transition in Europe: Mobility and local evolution during the 3rd millennium BC, Oxbow Books, Oxford.

Turek, J. 2016d: Sex, Transsexuality & Archaeological Perception of Gender Identities, Archaeologies 12:3,340-358.

Rejšek, K., Turek, J., Vranová, V., Hadacz, R., Lisá, L. 2017: Is it possible to determine formation processes of organic deposits through polysaccharides? Pilot study from the prehistoric site in Brandýs nad Labem, Czech Republic. The Holocene, volume 27, Issue 9, pp. 1273-1280.

Turek, J. 2017d: Prehistoric ceremonial warfare. Beginning of institutionalized violence. Archaeologies, Volume 13:3, pp. 535-48

Turek, J. 2018a: Archaeo-propaganda: The History of Political Engagement in Archaeology in Central Europe, Archaeologies Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 142 – 163.

Turek, J. 2019: Bohemia and Moravia – Local and Beaker: Bell Beaker Domestic Sites In the Context of the Late Eneolithic/Early Bronze Age Cultural Sequence, In: A. Gibson (ed.): Bell Beaker Settlement of Europe. The Bell Beaker phenomenon from a domestic perspective. Prehistoric Society Research Paper 9, Oxford: Oxbow, pp. 195-215. ISBN-10: 1789251249

Turek, J. 2019: La belleza y el prestigio de la arquería en el periodo campaniforme, In: Delibes, G. & Guerra, E.(eds) Un brindis por el príncipe! El Vaso Campaniforme en el interior de la Península Ibérica (2500-2000 A.C.), Museo Arqueologico Regional, Madrid, 2019, pp. 109-125.

Turek, J. 2019: Beakers instead of monuments. Tradition and Changes in the Society and Cosmology of European Farmers in the 3rd Millennium BC, In: Bárta & Kovář: Civilisations: Collapse and Regeneration. Academia, Praha, pp. 55 -89. ISBN 978-80-200-2907-2

Turek, J. 2019: Copper Age transformations in gender identities. An Essay. In: J. K. Koch & W. Kirleis (eds.): Gender Transformations in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies. Sidestone Press, Leiden, pp. 205-220. ISBN: 9789088908217

Turek 2019, J.: Propaganda and political engagement of Central European Archaeology, In: Mellnerová-Šuteková, J., Bača, M. & Pavúk, P (eds): SALVE EDVARDE!, Studia Archeologica et Medievalia Tomus XII, Bratislava, pp. 203 – 221.

Kuna, M., Turek, J. 2019: 1999 - Příběh Amazonky. O bojovnici z doby kamenné a genderových rolích v pravěku, In: M. Kuna, M. Starcová, J. Maříková-Kubková (eds.): Sto příběhů české archeologie, Archeologický ústav AVČR, v.v.i., Academia, Praha, pp. 162 -163. ISBN: 978-80-200-3085-6; EAN: 9788020030856

Turek, J. 2020: Beer, Pottery, Society and Early European Identity, Archaeologies, Journal of the World Archaeological Congress Volume 16, No. 2, 396 - 423.

Turek, J. 2020: The story of Surmir, the archer, Gothic architecture and the Bell Beaker phenomenon L’histoire de Surmir, l’archer, l’architecture gothique et le phénomène campaniforme. Préhistoires Méditerranéennes 8/2020 Identité ? Prestige ? Quoi d’autre ? Electronic reference: Jan Turek, “The story of Surmir, the archer, Gothic architecture and the Bell Beaker phenomenon”, Préhistoires Méditerranéennes [Online], 8 | 2020, Online since 29 January 2021, connection on 29 January 2021. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/pm/2351

Turek, J. 2020: Cemeteries of the Bell Beaker Period in Prague III, Archaeologica Pragensia 25, 22-51.

Turek, J. 2021: Beer, pottery and prehistoric society. Archeologie ve středních Čechách 25, 2021, pp. 519–537.

Turek, J. 2021: Neolithic Long Barrows and Enclosures as Landmarks of Ritual Landscape of Central and North Bohemia. De Gruyter, Open Archaeology 2021; 7: pp. 1674–1684. Doi: 10.1515/opar-2020-0207

Cílek, V., Hladík, J., Havel, T., Turek, J., Záhora, J., Vopravil, J., Fučík, P., Khel, T., Meduna, P., Mudra, P., Navrátil, T., Sůvová, Z., Kinský, V., Keřka, J., Křížek, P. 2021: Půda a život civilizací, Co děláme půdě, děláme sobě, Dokořán, Praha. ISBN 978-80-7675-015-9

Turek, J. 2022: Sacred Mountains and Corded Ware cosmology, Dębiec, M. et al (eds.): From Farmers to Heroes? Archaeological Studies in Honor of Sławomir Kadrow, Bonn, pp. 17-31.

Turek, J. 2022: From Long Barrows to Ancestral Shrines: Bell Beaker Monuments and Cosmology in Central Europe, Archaeologies Volume 18 Issue 2, August 2022, pp. 402 – 435.

Turek, J. & Krištuf, P. 2022: Beakers, Death and Monuments in the Ceremonial Landscape Around the Czech Mythical Mountain of Říp, In: Claudine Abegg (Eds.) et al: The Bell Beaker Culture in All its Forms. Archaeopress: Oxford, pp.279-290.

Václav Cílek, Lubomír Hanel, Václav Zemek, Radovan Cáder, Jan Turek, Petr Hlaváček, Pavel Bolina, Tomáš Klimek, Zdeňka Sůvová, Pavel Křížek, Petr Meduna, Pavel Mudra, Pavel Pešout, Josef Keřka, Tomáš Navrátil, Jan Rohovec, Hana Pánková, Daniel Samek 2022: O památné hoře Blaníku a jejím kraji. Příběhy posvátných hor, Dokořán, Praha. ISBN 978-80-7675-057-9, EAN 9788076750579.

Turek, J. 2023: The social meaning of multiple burials in the Corded Ware culture. Přehledy výzkumů 64/1, 2023, pp. 77–83, Brno. https://doi.org/10.47382/pv0641-08