SEAFRONT

Das Projekt ist Teil der Thematischen Area 2: Kreierte Welt

Our research is concerned with bridging the gap between temporal and spatial scales of climatic changes and human responses. The decisions of people in prehistory were often based on how they perceived their immediate environment and can thus only insufficiently be connected to remote climate archives on decadal- or centennial scales (e.g. marine cores or glacial records).

We are tackling this problem in the context of the Neolithic Dispersal across the Mediterranean, when pioneering farmers were advancing to new shores with a variety of success. Climatic conditions and the resulting agricultural risks are one part of this success, but differences in spatial and temporal resolution make their immediate impact intangible.

This project is using seasonally resolved climatic data from within archaeological layers in the form of mollusc shells, and is thus directly accessing local weather conditions that were observable by prehistoric populations.