My main research aim is to understand the development of soils and landscapes under the influence of human agency on different spatial and temporal scales. I am interested in the effects of land-use on the environment and apply pedological and geochemical methods to interpret changes in soil characteristics due to soil use or even soil degradation – an important environmental hazard concerning societies in the past and the present. In cooperation with colleagues from different disciplines, mainly from archaeology and prehistory, I conduct fieldwork in the Eurasian steppe areas and the Near East, but also in Northern Germany and the Alps.