The ROOTS International Symposium took place on Monday and Tuesday June 17 and 18 in the Audimax of Kiel University. Invited speakers from across Europe and South America gathered in Kiel to share ideas and open new research perspectives on the study of socio, cultural and environmental connectivity in past societies.

Talks included the reconstruction of the dynamics of social inequality in prehistoric societies, the production and transfer of knowledge, the understanding of agency and perception in ancient and medieval urban contexts, the investigation of the emergence of conflicts and their resolution in the Baltic Region during the late Iron Age and Early Medieval Period. Moreover, presenters discussed methodological advances for the study on human-environmental-interdependencies in the area of dendro-archaeology, as well as for computational biological analysis of various organic materials from prehistorical and historical contexts. The speaker of ROOTS, Prof. Dr. Johannes Muller, noted that the wide range of topics covered at the symposium brought innovative perspectives to existing research initiatives and were of great value to advancing the interdisciplinary emphasis of the cluster. The event was an important part of the initial phase of the seven-year cluster.

The program of the Symposium is available here

Text: Andrea Ricci
Photos: Tine Pape