The River Weschnitz Fluvioscape and its Interaction with the Lorsch Abbey: Fluvioscape Lorsch Weschnitz (FLoW)

• Applicants: Thomas Becker; Professor Dr. Olaf Bubenzer; Dr. Felix Henselowsky; Dr. Bertil Mächtle; Professor Dr. Udo Recker; Professor Dr. Gerrit Jasper Schenk; Professor Dr. Andreas Vött
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology ; Early Modern History ; Medieval History ; Physical Geography
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 509913470

The FLOW project aims to clarify when and why local and regional actors at and around the UNESCO World Heritage Site Lorsch Abbey began to gain control over the river Weschnitz floodplain and its dynamics, and how floodplain control was intensified through time to create the present fluvial landscape. The river Weschnitz is a medium scaled tributary of the River Rhine system within the Upper Rhine Graben (Hesse, Germany), and its floodplain represents an excellent field lab to study socio-economic and natural processes and their interactions over centuries. Within the FLoW project, scientists from different disciplines work closely together on historical documents, maps, structures, artefacts and sedimentary archives, both in the field and in the laboratory, using modern and innovative methods. Data management on a joint GIS platform represents the base to synthesize results on a highly interdisciplinary level. The FLOW research design and work programme reflects the systematic combination and integration of historical, archaeological, geoarchaeological, geoecological and geomorphological approaches. The overall aim is to enable the best possible holistic spatio-temporal reconstruction of past floodplain scenarios for different time slices and of the gradual manipulation and intensification of its use by considering different groups of actors, namely Lorsch Abbey, the dioceses of Mainz and Worms, and secular sovereigns and cities. Our approach will consider aspects of fishing and hydraulic engineering, their path dependencies and impacts on the present fluvioscape. FLoW’s hypotheses and work programme also aim to clarify pollution effects along the Weschnitz and its tributaries due to influences from the side of agriculture, crafts, manufacturing and the operation of mills, testing the concept of the “fluvio-social metabolism”. Other hypotheses deal with the navigability of the Weschnitz, and the question which hydraulic measures were taken to regulate the flow and water level of the river. Lorsch Abbey and the Weschnitz Fluvioscape are an example for the shaping and control of pre-industrial floodplains by humans from a wet peripheral floodplain into a centre of lively socio-environmental dynamics. Therefore, FLoW objectives are strongly interweaved with the overarching topic of PP 2361. The study area represents a key region of cultural and natural heritage in Central Europe reflecting the intensification of anthropogenic impact since the Early Middle Ages. On a supra-regional scale, FLoW aims to draw comparisons with the history and archaeology of other early medieval monastic infrastructure related to water courses in West and Central Europe in order to highlight the monastic influences on landscape changes both under comparable and significantly different natural conditions, specific infrastructure and religious politics, which last up to today.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 2361: On the Way to the Fluvial Anthroposphere