EXC 2150:  ROOTS – Social, Environmental, and Cultural Connectivity in Past Societies

• Subject Area: Ancient Cultures ; Atmospheric Science, Oceanography and Climate Research ; Geography ; Geophysics and Geodesy ; History ; Computer Science ; Microbiology, Virology and Immunology ; Plant Sciences ; Philosophy ; Economics
• Term: since 2019
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 390870439

ROOTS explores the deep history of the tightly intertwined relation of social and environmental processes in order to explain their long-term trajectories and to understand how they resonate into the present. ROOTS reveals, assesses and evaluates trends and regularities of these connectivities, and thus contributes to an understanding of the origins of current global socio-environmental challenges. To achieve this, ROOTS combines expertise from a wide array of disciplines, ranging from the archaeologies to other natural sciences, life sciences and humanities, creating a unique bridge between different scientific cultures. Six topical subclusters (SCs) investigate the deep roots of relevant parameters, such as climate and environmental hazards, diet and diseases, settlement and urbanity, knowledge transmission and innovation, inequalities of wealth and power, and violence and conflict escalation. ROOTS 1 has been successful in uncovering distinct biographies of socio-environmental change, which can be implemented to reconstruct a number of crucial short to long-term trajectories of human-environmental interaction and establish scientific narratives about the roots of socio-environmental developments. A number of unexpected new insights, such as a high degree of non-linearity and versatility of processes in (pre-)history, challenge widespread assumptions about triggers of socio-environmental change, human responses to them and underlying motivations. Therefore, ROOTS 2 significantly upgrades its research approach by further exploring the diverse expressions of socio-environmental connectivity, applying a more concerted effort towards identifying multidimensional patterns and regularities in (pre-)history. We incorporate new expertise and methodological approaches to strengthen our possibilities of modelling socio-environmental interrelations and to evaluate the underlying motives and drivers. This includes insights from non-European research traditions, and the integration of non-European case studies. In a new structural unit, the Core of Synthesis, ROOTS 2 systematically targets the diverse interrelations and interdependencies of key parameters of socio-environmental connectivity, namely 1) human subsistence and biodiversity, 2) inequality and conflict, 3) technology and human environmental impact, and 4) boundaries and well-being. This contributes to a better understanding of the deep histories of current global challenges: vulnerability, polarisation, exploitation and division, and thus supports a broader view on the strength of structural constraints and degrees of freedom for societal and political negotiation processes. As these insights are of high societal relevance, the dissemination of our research to colleagues working on present challenges, as well as societal stakeholders and the general public, together with our academic and non-academic partner institutions, is an important focus of ROOTS.

• DFG Programme: Clusters of Excellence (ExStra)
• Applicant Institution: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
• Participating Institution: IPN - Leibniz-Institut für die Pädagogik der Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik; an der Universität Kiel; Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (LEIZA); Max-Planck-Institut für Evolutionsbiologie; Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf
• Spokespersons: Professorin Dr. Eileen Eckmeier; Professor Dr. Martin Furholt; Professor Dr. Johannes Müller
• Participating Researchers: Dr. Michaela Ecker; Professorin Dr. Alexandra Erfmeier; Professorin Shira Gur-Arieh, Ph.D.; Dr. Andrea Göhring; Professorin Dr. Annette Haug; Professorin Eva Holtgrewe-Stukenbrock, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Lorenz Kienle; Professorin Dr. Wiebke Kirleis; Professor Dr. Ben Krause-Kyora; Professor Dr. Patric-Alexander Kreuz; Professor Dr. Peer Kröger; Professor Dr. Sebastian Köhne; Professorin Dr. Cheryl Makarewicz; Professor Dr. Ulrich Müller; Professorin Dr. Ilka Parchmann; Professor Dr. John Michael Peterson; Professor Dr. Dieter Quast; Professor Dr. Andreas Schwab; Professor Dr. Gerald Schwedler; Professor Dr. Athanasios Vafeidis; Privatdozentin Dr. Mara Weinelt; Professorin Dr. Christiane Zimmermann