By reconsidering consequential aspects of the network created between the Yugoslav archaeologist Miodrag Grbić and members of two foreign expeditions in Yugoslavia during the 1930s it will be possible to review the meaning and significance of scholarly networking in the region as well as more generally. The German archaeological expedition led by Wilhelm Unverzagt initiated excavations of the Hellenistic settlement of Gradište near Lake Ohrid in present-day North Macedonia in 1931/1932. In the same year, the American School of Prehistoric Research, led by Vladimir Fewkes, a Czech-born American archaeologist, began excavating at Starčevo, an important early Neolithic settlement near Belgrade. As a prehistorian and curator of the National Museum in Belgrade, Grbić took part in both expeditions, serving as a guide and a mediator. Both expeditions shared a familiar set of ideas, among others the preconception that the Balkan region is a crossroads and the bridge between Asia and Europe, between East and West. Both expeditions were driven by a similar belief that the archaeological exploration of Yugoslavia could reveal crucial answers about European origins and identity. The contacts that Grbić established with the members of both expeditions illustrate the tight-knit interconnections between his personal motivations and his scientific and political ideas.