PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The project "Landscapes of Identities: History, Culture, and Environment" (No VPP-LETONIKA-2021/1-0008) is implemented within the framework of the National Research Programme "Letonika – Fostering Latvian and European Society".

Project No: VPP-LETONIKA-2021/1-0008

Project implementation period: 20.12.2021–19.12.2024

Project funding: 1 068 000 EUR

Project funding authority: Latvian Council of Science of the Ministry of Education and Science

Project partners : Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of of Latvia (leading partner), Rezekne Academy of Technologies, Liepaja University, Latvian Academy of Culture, Art Academy of Latvia

Project leader: Ieva Garda-Rozenberga

Projectcoordinator (LAC): Ieva Vītola

Project research group (project participants from a partner institution): Lolita Ozoliņa, Rūta Muktupāvela, Ieva Vītola, Juris Urtāns, Jānis Meinerts, Lote Katrīna Cērpa

Contact information: ieva.vitola@lka.edu.lv (LAC), ideum@lulfmi.lv (LU LFMI)

Summary: The IDEUM project proposes a fundamental study of the history of Latvia, identity of Latvians and ethnic minorities that will be carried out on the basis of an interdisciplinary research environment in the humanities (environmental, digital, and arts) and citizen science, thus developing fundamentally and applied innovative solutions. Thereby, in accordance with the overarching aim of the programme which is to establish an inclusive Latvian and European knowledge society in Latvia, based on democratic values, the Latvian language and culture, the IDEUM will be implemented in three different ways:

• fundamentally by developing innovative, cross-disciplinary research, outreach and collaboration with academia in Latvia and respective international organizations;
• collaboratively by focusing on the citizen science and the involvement of society in collaborative online activities and interacting with humanities data;
• educationally by integrating the knowledge and project results into the Latvian higher education (study programmes and courses will be developed or improved, as well as master and doctoral thesis elaborated).

Within the framework of the project, the working group of the Latvian Academy of Culture will explore the landscape of hillforts, its significance, and changes, conducting research projects mainly in Northern Latgale, Baltinava surroundings, where two hillforts are known so far (Puncuļeva or Obeļeva and Alotāju hillfort), but in the last few years two new hillforts were discovered (Svātiunes Zvonu and Puncuļeva hilffort II). During the research, using an approach based on landscape archaeology and regional research practices, the archaeological landscape of Baltinava hillforts will be reconstructed and analysed. The aim of the study is to understand the spatial structure of the region in its prehistory, i.e., how the geographical space was used on the farm, what cultural meanings were given to it, how it reflected the social structures of the society that inhabited it and how the space itself influenced the society that inhabited it. One of the main tasks of the research is to gain an understanding of the place of hillforts in the landscape from the time of their active use to the present day.