The opening of the Kiel Conference on 13 March 2023. Photo: Jan Steffen, Cluster ROOTS

The Kiel Conference 2023 “Scales of Social, Environmental and Cultural Change in Past Societies” ended last Saturday (18th March 2023) with two excursions to prehistoric and historic monuments in the Kiel Region and to the “Kunsthalle Kiel”. Almost 350 scientists from more than 30 countries had previously spent five days at Kiel University presenting and discussing the latest findings and open research questions on the links between the environment, social relations, material culture, population dynamics and human perception in the past. The Collaborative Research Center 1266  "Scales of Transformation - Human-Environmental Interaction in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies” and the Cluster of Excellence ROOTS organized the conference in the framework of the Johanna Mestorf Academy. 

"The atmosphere was great. You could feel in many conversations with colleagues that after the Corona years, personal direct conversations are very important to foster scientific exchange," said conference chair Johannes Müller, speaker of the CRC1266 and the Cluster of Excellence ROOTS, after the conference. "The 30 sessions were also extremely productive. Almost all of them were of highly interdisciplinary nature, which allowed new perspectives on aspects of past societies. At the same time, this helped to identify research gaps that should be filled in the future," adds Johannes Müller.
 
Among the highlights of the conference were the four Central Keynotes, in which internationally renowned experts addressed current issues in research on earlier societies and presented examples of new results. 

The first keynote was given by Leonardo Garcia Sanjuán from the University of Seville, who spoke on "Environment, Aggregation, and Monumentality in Early Complex Societies: The Case of Valencina (Spain) (c. 3200-2300 BC)". Leonardo García Sanjuán is currently visiting Kiel as Chair of the Johanna Mestorf Academy. On Tuesday, Dorian Fuller from University College London followed with a talk titled "From grassland to granary: convergent evolution of millet agriculture in Africa and Asia". Carola Metzner-Nebelsick from Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität Munich focused on "Transformation through connectivity in the Central European Bronze Age" on Thursday afternoon. Closing the conference on Friday was the Swedish archaeologist Professor Kristian Kristiansen of the University of Gothenburg, who spoke on "Neolithic transformation: integrating genetic, cultural and environmental changes." 

In addition, Danish archaeologist Anders Fischer, visiting Kiel since January as Chair of the Johanna Mestorf Academy, gave a public lecture during the conference on "DNA results and initial archaeological considerations from a study of Danish prehistoric skeletons."  

An extra highlight right at the beginning of the conference was the presentation of the Johanna Mestorf Award to Iris Nießen for her excellent dissertation on the development of a settlement on the banks of the Danube into a full-fledged part of the medieval city of Regensburg. 

"The great interest of our colleagues in the conference as well as the feedback we have received so far show us that the interdisciplinary concept of the conference was fruitful. Now the proceedings of the conference should be published if possible, so that we can discuss them in an even broader context," Johannes Müller appeals to the participants and adds: "In two years we will hopefully all see each other again at the eighth edition of the Kiel Conference."

Almost 350 scientist from more than 30 countries participated in the Kiel Conference 2023. Photo: Jan Steffen, Cluster ROOTS

The Kiel Conference ended with two excursion. One of them led to prehistorc and historic monuments in the Kiel Region. Photo: Nadine Schwarck

 More pictures from the conference as picture gallery

Please note:
The Cluster of Excellence ROOTS and the CRC1266 support the publication of conference proceedings.
If you are interested, please contact office@roots.uni-kiel.de or office@sfb1266.uni-kiel.de.

Links:
Kiel conference website: here
Press release Johanna Mestorf Award: here