In early spring 2021, the Cluster of Excellence ROOTS invited its members to apply for funding in support of projects that apply innovative approaches to address overarching themes beyond single subcluster or disciplinary research topics.

On the basis of stringent selection criteria, which included novelty, methodology, interdisciplinarity, excellence in scientific approach, relevance in relation to the call, as well as collaborations and dissemination, five projects were selected for funding with the support of external reviewers from the eight applications. These projects will each be funded with up to 75,000 euros with a duration of up to 2 years. The Cluster of Excellence ROOTS funds these new interdisciplinary studies on social, environmental, and cultural phenomena and processes that substantially marked past human development with a total of 335,000€. 

A presentation of these newly funded projects will take place during the next plenary meeting, scheduled for November 26, 2021. 

We look forward to the results of these investigations!

The following projects were funded in the framework of the 2021 ROOTS internal research grant call:

• Project: “Food production pathways (FPP), dietary dynamics, and climate change in the southern Levant”. PIs: Cheryl Makarewicz, Ralph Schneider, and Henny Piezonka.
• Project: “Between domestication and invasion: rethinking the socio-environmental ROOTS of crops, weeds and invasive species”. PIs: Sofia (Sonja) Filatova, Wiebke Kirleis, Eva Stukenbrock, Alexandra Erfmeier, Konrad Ott, Ben Krause-Kyora, Katrin Schöps, Jens Schneeweiß, and Guillermo Torres.
• Project: “3DARK DEPTH - Describing, Discussing and Developing Analytical Research Knowledge of the Dark Earth Phenomenon in Theory and Practice”. PIs: Jens Schneeweiß, Eileen Eckmeier, Pawel Cembrzynski, Ben Krause-Kyora, Wiebke Kirleis, and Katrin Schöps.
• Project: “Interlinking exchange: The search for communalities in prehistoric networks (Europe, W-Asia, N-Africa - 8000 to 1 BCE)”. PIs: Johanna Hilpert, Tim Kerig, Lorenz Kienle, Jutta Kneisel, Oliver Nakoinz, Matthias Renz, and Andrea Ricci.
• Project: “The Forest Finns as a Model for the Early Slavic Migration”. PIs: Jens Schneeweiß, Magdalena Schmid, Vesa Arponen, Ben Krause-Kyora, Henny Piezonka, Wiebke Kirleis, Eileen Eckmeier, Sofia (Sonja) Filatova, and John Meadows.