Population dynamics: Land use patterns of populations between the Upper Pleistocene and Middle Holocene in Europe and the Middle East
Information
Principal Investigators: A. Zimmermann, S. Scharl
The Project E1 analyses large-scale prehistoric population dynamics and migration processes within the CRC 806 working area. Identifying driving forces and examining the formation of large-scale distribution patterns are essential to an enhanced understanding of such dynamics on a continental scale.
Demographic estimates for Prehistoric societies
We generated consistently derived estimates of population densities for Upper Palaeolithic societies (European scale). GIS-methods were combined in the frame of a scaling approach (Zimmermann et al. 2009; Kretschmer 2015), and possible relations between demographic shifts and climatic as well as cultural and environmental changes were discussed for selected case studies considering data provided by other projects of the CRC 806 (Kretschmer 2015; Maier et al. 2016; Schmidt et al. 2016; Maier & Zimmermann 2017; Schmidt & Zimmermann in prep).
Socio-spatial organisation through time
Building onto the socio-spacial and demographic data obtained so far, the focus is now placed on diachronic comparisons of demographic estimates from Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers to Neolithic farmers. This perspective allows looking for environmental and cultural factors possibly influencing the observed distribution patterns and population dynamics.
Another point is to integrate archaeological knowledge concerning resilience of populations as well as processes of interconnectedness and diffusion indicated by cultural similarities. We aim to explain different turnovers of areas of cultural tradition during Prehistory. This seems especially interesting comparing forager and farmer societies.
We will ask for factors triggering population movement, growth, stability and decline, although sometimes different configurations of factors probably led to very similar results.
Extending the area and timeframe of research
Standardised settlement areas will be generalized for the larger geographical scale of the CRC 806, including Europe and the Middle East, applying regression analysis. We will conduct a diachronic comparison of settlement areas from Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers until Neolithic farmers.
Perspectives
For the demographic developments in Europe we assume reversible (cyclic) and irreversible stepwise demographic changes. In our models, we expect to recognize attributes which govern the duration and the geographical distribution of such cyclic and stepwise changes. The output will be multiple-stranded and complex models on human migration and expansion within the CRC 806 working area.
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2nd Phase - Research Progrramme |
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