ROOTS – Societal, Environmental and Cultural Connectivity in Past Societies
The aim of the Cluster of Excellence “ROOTS – Societal, Environmental and Cultural Connectivity in Past Societies” is to learn from the past for the future. Researchers from the fields of archaeology, humanities, natural sciences and life sciences are together investigating the roots of social, environmental and cultural phenomena and processes that substantially marked past human development in the long term.
Members of the interdisciplinary association are researching prehistoric, ancient and pre-modern societies based on the assumption that they were profoundly shaped by the interaction between people and their environment.
A better understanding of these “connectivities” should help improve the way we deal with social developments and crises like conflicts or climate and environmental change.
The association, made up of scientists from 15 institutes across six faculties of Kiel University (CAU), began its work at the start of 2019. Deutsches Archäologisches Institut (DAI) is an important ROOTS partner.
ROOTS uses the structures of the graduate school “Human Development in Landscapes” (GSHDL), which was funded by the Federal Government's Excellence Initiative from 2007 to the end of 2018. In future, additional professors and better equipment will aid research in the new cluster.
Header photo: Sara Jagiolla / Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte der CAU
Photo top: Christoph Engel
Fotos bottom (from left to right): Martin Furholt; Ingmar Unkel; Agnes Heitmann / Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte der CAU; Ingmar Unkel