On May 7 & 8, 2008 a symposium was held at the Gasteig in Munich – Germany, on the topic Bronze Age Architectural Traditions in the Eastern Mediterranean: Diffusion and Diversity. The Symposium was an initiative of the Society for the Study and Propagation of Hellenic History, based in Weilheim – Germany, which has organized several scientific gatherings in the past on philology and archaeology. Co-organizers were Verein Ägais (The Aegean Club), Munich. An interna­tional array of scientists, specializing in different parts of the eastern Mediterranean, such as the Aegean, Cyprus, Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine, took part.

The subject of the symposium was Bronze Age architecture, as known to varying degrees through excavations in and around the extensive region of the eastern Mediterranean. Its main scientific goal was the analysis of the architectural traditions of the cultures and peoples of this region. The vast amount of material available, and the diversity of the subject matter, were of course not able to be comprehensively discussed within the scope of this small symposium. The examples presented, however, served to foster direct discussion of factors that might have influenced and shaped local traditions. One basic factor appears to be the tight relations and interconnections of eastern Mediterranean cultural groups and peoples. These connections have been documented by smaller finds, sometimes scripts but mainly in a variety of objects of art. Numerous conferences and publications in the past have treated issues such as cultural ex­change and interactions, but architecture has to date only played a secondary role in these dis­cussions. The primary goal of the Munich symposium was, to make this desideratum visible, open new analytical pathways for trans-cultural comparisons, describe the phenomena of con­tact and adaptation – distinguishing it from local developments.