Virtual Summit Submission

Syracuse University
Anthropology & History

Biography

Blake Wilson is a sophomore at Syracuse University studying Anthropology and History. He has
participated in archaeological excavation and conservation in New York while pursuing his love
for the past. He hopes to continue this work in archaeology focusing on the ancient world,
notably early civilizations and cultures such as those of Europe with the ultimate goal of
achieving a PhD in this work and teaching a new generation of archaeologists about our past
and our place in the present.

Project

Ritual & Remains
My research is focused on the period of early human history known as the Bronze Age, roughly
3,000 to 5,000 years ago, with a focus on religion during this time. When people think of this
era we often think of places like Egypt or Greece and neglect places outside the Mediterranean.
Specifically in Europe, my project was based in Wroclaw, Poland and I hope to bring a more
complete view of our early history to people and promote further research into ancient Central
Europe. To do this I studied artifacts such as ceramics, tools, and burials in the Archaeological
Museum of Wroclaw and worked with a professor from the Archaeological Department at the
University of Wroclaw. Notably I learned that Central European bronze age cultures such as the
Lusitanians would ritually destroy a weapon usually by burying it, a tradition mirrored almost a
thousand years later by the Celtic Peoples. The study of the past gives us a new understanding
of the present by looking at historical patterns and studying the ancient past gives us a new
understanding of ourselves by looking at human habits such as religion and burial.