SFB 1266:  Scales of Transformation: Human-environmental Interaction in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies

• Subject Area: Humanities ; Geosciences ; Medicine
• Term: since 2016
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 290391021

The CRC “Scales of Transformation: Human-environmental Interaction in Prehistoric and Archaic Soci-eties” takes a long-term perspective, from 15,000 BCE to 1 BCE, to investigate processes of transformation in a crucial period of human history, from late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers to early state societies. This allows us to confront transformational processes in a wide array of societal formations and environmental settings. Here, we define transformations primarily as processes leading to a substantial and enduring re-organisation of socio-environmental interaction patterns. Transformations in prehistoric and archaic societies occur on different temporal, spatial and social scales. Thus, past environmental and archaeological archives of high quality are explored in different landscapes, from the Mediterranean to the Arctic, and in different social constellations, from Aegean polis to Palaeolithic camp sites. To detect the socio-environmental dimension of transformations, we use a combination of archaeological and palaeo-environmental methods.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• International Connection: Norway, United Kingdom

Current projects

• A01 - Theories of Transformation in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies (Project Heads Haug, Annette ;  Müller, Johannes ;  Ott, Konrad ;  Piezonka, Henny ;  Wunderlich, Maria )
• A02 - Integrative Modelling of Socio-environmental Systems Dynamics (Project Heads Duttmann, Rainer ;  Nakoinz, Oliver )
• B01 - Pioneers of the north: Transitions and transformations in Northern Europe evidenced by high-resolution datasets (c. 15000-9500 BCE) (Project Heads Eriksen, Berit Valentin ;  Weber, Mara-Julia )
• B02 - Transitions of Specialised Foragers (c. 9500–5000 BCE) (Project Heads Hartz, Sönke ;  Luebke, Harald ;  Meadows, John ;  Schmölcke, Ulrich )
• C01 - Neolithic Transformations on the Northern Central European Plain (Project Heads Hartz, Sönke ;  Makarewicz, Cheryl ;  Müller, Johannes )
• C02 - The Dynamics of Settlement Concentration Processes and Land-use in Early Farming Communi-ties in the North-western Carpathian Basin (Project Heads Furholt, Martin ;  Müller, Johannes ;  Wunderlich, Maria )
• D01 - Population agglomerations at Tripolye-Cucuteni mega-sites (Project Heads Bork, Hans-Rudolf ;  Kirleis, Wiebke ;  Müller, Johannes )
• D02 - Regional and Local Patterns of 3rd Millennium Transformations of Social and Economic Practic-es in the Central German Mountain Range (Project Heads Furholt, Martin ;  Rinne, Christoph )
• D03 - The Bronze Age in North Central Europe: Scales of transformation (Project Head Kneisel, Jutta )
• E03 - Transformations in the Interrelation between Humans and Landscape between the 7th and 1st Centuries BCE in the Eastern Mediterranean (Project Heads Haug, Annette ;  Kreuz, Patric-Alexander ;  Käppel, Lutz ;  Lattmann, Claas ;  Wiesehöfer, Josef )
• E04 - Interregional comparison of Iron Age transformations: from Mediterranean Etruria to Baltic Den-mark (Project Heads Nakoinz, Oliver ;  Stoddart, Simon )
• F01 - Climate Constraints of Western Mediterranean socio-environmental transformation and potential implications for central Europe (Project Heads Kneisel, Jutta ;  Rinne, Christoph ;  Schneider, Ralph ;  Weinelt, Mara )
• F02 - Socio-environmental transformations and interdependencies (Project Heads Bork, Hans-Rudolf ;  Dörfler, Walter ;  Kirleis, Wiebke )
• F03 - Dynamics of plant economies in ancient societies (Project Head Kirleis, Wiebke )
• F04 - Tracing infectious diseases by analysis of ancient human genomes and skeletal pathology (Project Heads Fuchs, Katharina ;  Krause-Kyora, Ben ;  Nebel, Almut )
• F05 - Social dimensions of technological change (Project Heads Eriksen, Berit Valentin ;  Kirleis, Wiebke ;  Müller, Johannes )
• F06 - Connecting Scales: Towards an Archaeological Demography of Transformations (Project Heads Kerig, Tim ;  Müller, Johannes )
• G01 - Timescales of Change (Project Heads Meadows, John ;  Meier, Thomas )
• G02 - Geophysical prospecting, classification and validation of settlement remains in changing environments (Project Heads Meier, Thomas ;  Rabbel, Wolfgang ;  Wilken, Dennis ;  Wunderlich, Tina )
• POÖ - Science communication and public outreach (Project Heads Kirleis, Wiebke ;  Müller, Johannes )
• Z01 - Central Administration and Coordination (Project Head Müller, Johannes )
• Z02 - Data Management, Analysis and Presentation. Construction of the Landscape Archaeology Geo-portal “LandMan” as a Service for the CRC1266 (Project Heads Blaschek, Michael ;  Duttmann, Rainer ;  Hamer, Wolfgang ;  Renz, Matthias ;  Thalheim, Bernhard )

Completed projects

• E01 - Transformations in early Greek societies and landscapes (Project Heads Haug, Annette ;  Schwark, Lorenz ;  Unkel, Ingmar )

• Applicant Institution: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
• Participating Institution: Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf; Zentrum für Baltische und Skandinavische Archäologie (ZBSA)
• Participating University: Universitetet i Oslo (UiO); University of Cambridge
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Johannes Müller