Research Projects
- (A-2-1) Pastorialism on the Eurasian steppes
Forms of pastoralism are at the heart of one project researching the Eurasian steppe and forest-steppe zone. Two projects investigated the remains of pastoralists in the 4th/3rd millennium BCE north of the Black Sea and of the 1st millennium BCE in the steppe north of the Caucasus.
- (A-2-2) Mobile village cultures in the foothills of the Kopet Dag
This research project investigated the complex local relations between the physical environment and village economies in the late Neolithic and early Aeneolithic in the Kopet Dag piedmont zone of southern Turkmenistan. Recent research indicated that this region represents a dynamic physical and sociocultural environment, leading to frequent relocations and resettlements, sometimes within a single site.
- (A-2-4) The Neolithic in the Nile Delta
The project investigated the mechanisms by which the first settlers arrived along the western edge of the Nile Delta. The research focus was the re-analysis and the re-evaluation of records and finds resulting from prior investigations at the site of Merimde Beni Salama.The project was initiated and directed by Joanne Rowland. Members of the project were postdoctoral researcher G. J. Tassie and the student assistants Sebastian Falk, Sophie Schmidt and Georg Cyrus as well as the senior fellows Giulio Lucarini and Mennat-Allah El Dorry.
Dissertations
- (A-2-1-1) Diet and subsistence practices in the Dnieper area of the North-Pontic region (4th – 3rd millennium BC): An integrated archaeological, molecular and isotopic approach
The research of this dissertation was focused on the analysis of organic residues in ancient pottery vessels whose fragments derive from several prehistoric settlements in the Dnepr region of the Ukraine and date from the 4th to the 3rd Mill. B.C.
- (A-2-1-2) On the informational value of isotope analyses using the example of Eneolithic–Early Bronze Age faunal remains from the west Eurasian steppe
With the introduction of significant amounts of heavy livestock (among other innovations) into the western Eurasian Steppe in the period of the Eneolithic/Early Bronze Age an increase of mobility is disputed within the scientific community. The project addresses this question from an osteoarchaeological point of view.
- (A-2-1-3) Regional climate and ecological modeling
In this project a complex experimental framework consisting of climate and ecological models at different temporal and spatial resolution and proxy reconstructions has been developed. The main goal of the research was to reconstruct climatic and ecological conditions during the mid-to-late Holocene, from 7000 years ago to present days. The work covered different areas, from the global to the local scale, with a main focus on Europe.
- (A-2-2-1) Tracing the change: A multiscalar look at dwelling and building practices in the prehistoric Kopet Dag
This project deals with temporality of archaeological evidence from the Neolithic and Aeneolithic settlement Monjukli Depe and other sites in the Kopet Dag region (southern Turkmenistan) with a main focus on changes in prehistoric building and living practices.