SPP 2361:  On the Way to the Fluvial Anthroposphere

• Subject Area: Humanities ; Geosciences
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 460849764

The Priority Programme 2361 “On the Way to the Fluvial Anthroposphere” will investigate the pre-industrial floodplains in Central Europe and the fluvial societies that operated there. Floodplains are global hotspots of sensitive socio-environmental changes, exceptionally dynamic landscapes, and key areas of cultural and natural heritage. Due to their high land-use capacity and the simultaneous necessity of land reclamation and risk minimisation, societies have radically restructured Central European floodplains. The Priority Programme aims to answer the questions of when and why humans became a significant controlling factor in floodplain formation and how humans in interaction with natural processes modified floodplains. Individual projects must focus on the medieval and pre-industrial modern periods and be based upon the systematic overlay of historical, archaeological, and geoscientific data that entails the use of the methodological expertise of at least one discipline in the natural sciences and one in the humanities. In the second funding period (2026–2029), the focus will be on in-depth analysis and comparative perspectives of case studies, categorisations and transferable models at both intra- and inter-basin scales, particularly building on the results of the first funding period. In order to achieve the ambitious common goals of the Priority Programme and to allow for a cross-project test of the key hypothesis of a pre-modern emergence of a Fluvial Anthroposphere, a semi-quantitative cross-project classification framework was developed and agreed upon in the first funding period. This is particulary based on a grid-based and interdisciplinary approach to parameterize (i) mills, (ii) channel patterns and floodplain land use, (iii) barriers, (iv) river-related craft and (v) conflicts. It builds upon the application of a low-threshold Virtual Research Environment for a joint and inclusive data-based synthesis. For the network’s general objectives, the SPP coordination will ensure standardized exploration, parameterization, specification, exchange and merging of research data from the individual sub-projects and the different disciplines. The SPP coordination will support managerial duties in five areas of responsibility: 1) General administrative and organisational issues, 2) Scientific management of the Priority Programme, 3) Operation and technical development of the Virtual Research Environment, 4) Research data management and scientific development of data-based synthesis and 5) Public relations and communication strategy.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• International Connection: Norway, United Kingdom

Projects

• Coordination Funds (Applicant Zielhofer, Christoph )
• Deciphering the fluvio-social metabolism of the Upper Rhine area (DEMUR) - Factors and actors in the transformation towards a fluvial anthroposphere prior to the industrial period (Applicants Blöthe, Jan Henrik ;  Glaser, Rüdiger ;  Preusser, Frank ;  Schenk, Gerrit Jasper )
• Headway or Escape? The Anthropogenic Riverscape Transition (HEARTs) – How did medieval settlement structures interact with landscape evolution in the Eastern Harz Mountains and its forelands? (Applicants Friederich, Susanne ;  Lehmkuhl, Frank ;  Schulte, Philipp )
• Leipzig, city in a state of flux - Urban-fluvial symbiosis in a long-term perspective (Applicants Bauch, Martin ;  Schmidt, Johannes ;  Schmidt-Funke, Julia Annette )
• Local pathways to the Fluvial Anthroposphere at Echaz (Rhine) and Eger (Danube). A comparative analysis from c. AD 1100 to 1800 (Applicants Frenzel, Peter ;  Klee, Silke ;  Kühn, Peter ;  Niessen, Iris ;  Schenk, Gerrit Jasper ;  Werban, Ulrike ;  Werther, Lukas ;  Zielhofer, Christoph )
• The irrigated meadows of the Wiesent River catchment (Northern Franconian Alb) in its historical depth. A blueprint for agrarian-dominated floodplain systems? (Applicants Dix, Andreas ;  Fuchs, Markus ;  Schreg, Rainer )
• The Lower Havel River and Greater Donaumoos Regions: ‘Failed’ or ‘successful’ reclamation of floodplains and peatlands? – A comparative analysis (Applicants Frenzel, Peter ;  Gudermann, Rita ;  Koehler, Anne ;  Linstädter, Anja ;  Mehler, Natascha ;  Werban, Ulrike ;  Zielhofer, Christoph )
• The River Weschnitz Fluvioscape and its Interaction with the Lorsch Abbey: Fluvioscape Lorsch Weschnitz (FLoW) (Applicants Becker, Thomas ;  Bubenzer, Olaf ;  Henselowsky, Felix ;  Mächtle, Bertil ;  Recker, Udo ;  Schenk, Gerrit Jasper ;  Vött, Andreas )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Christoph Zielhofer