Working Group Aquatic Ecology, Palaeoecology and Geoarchaeology

We deal with biological, chemical and physical signals from natural archives such as lakes, rivers, moors or sediments/soils, which allow us to draw conclusions about the natural or anthropogenically influenced development of a landscape, a landscape element or a specific site.

On the one hand, palaeoecological questions deal with the development of a landscape in the Holocene, which was exclusively or largely controlled by natural processes. On the other hand, various studies focus on the question of when, how, with what intensity and where humans intervened in landscape development and what consequences this had for the respective time period in the corresponding area.

In the case of geoarchaeological questions, we use explorative methods of remote sensing and geophysics to find and localise archaeological sites. In addition, our scientific methods allow us to better record archaeological findings and classify them in a landscape.

Current Projects

Natural and cultural landscape analysis in the transition from the Wiehengebirge to the north-west German lowlands between the Hunte and Weser rivers (Link)

Geoarchaeology in Kalkriese and north-west Germany (Link)

Fossa Carolina: Linking the harbour networks on the Rhine and Danube. Studies on the crossing of the European watershed in the Middle Ages (Link)

Comparative palaeoecological studies on the genesis and naturalness of alluvial forests in riverine landscapes of Central Europe

Layer gaps in geoarchives