ResearchSpace is an innovative digital platform that is being developed to provide researchers with a unique, powerful tool for the administration, use and analysis of heterogeneous data. Using the Egyptological special case of the ancient Egyptian village of Deir el-Medina as an example, all associated data sets will be comprehensively collected, documented, analyzed and published for the first time – each at a central location, the ResearchSpace Deir el-Medina.

The project is currently in a pilot phase, which was funded between March 2022 and June 2023 with the support of the Research Fund Junior Researchers of the University of Basel. The project has been based at JGU Mainz since 2024. Tomb TT 217 serves as a case study for building the platform. The tomb offers an impressive variety of data: from digitized archival materials to objects discovered during (recent) excavation campaigns, museum pieces and even newly created 3D models. This mix makes it the perfect test case for the development and optimization of ResearchSpace Deir el-Medina.

A preview was launched during the XIIIth ICE in Leiden (August 2023), ThinkingFrames [Deir el-Medina ResearchSpace] (kartography.net).

Employees

Prof. Dr. Kathrin Gabler (project manager)

Cooperations

Mission d’étude et de conservation Deir el-Médina(https://www.ifao.egnet.net/archeologie/deir-el-medina/), IFAOResearchSpace (ResearchSpace – representing knowledge with context)Kartography Community Interest Company (D. Oldman, D. Tanase, A. Kozlov, C. Giancristofaro. https://kartography.org/)N. Spencer as well as M. Lehmann (ResearchSpace Amara-West. https://amara-west.researchspace.org/resource/rsp:Start).

A new project has been based in Ancient Near Eastern Philology since October 2022: Akkadian and Hittite Emotional Terms in Context (subtitle: Towards a Lexicon of Emotions in Cuneiform Texts from Ancient Mesopotamia and Asia Minor). The project is a cooperation with the university in Tel Aviv, Israel – the Mainz team, headed by Prof. Dr. Doris Prechel and Dr. Ulrike Steinert, is working on Akkadian, the Israeli team under Prof. Dr. Amir Gilan on Hittite.

The research project prosecutes a comprehensive study of the semantic domain of emotions in both Akkadian and Hittite. It will systematically explore how emotions have been linguistically and contextually differentiated and delimited in the two spokespersons; the investigations will include the semantic properties, similarities and relationships between different emotion terms, their usage and developments in different text genres, periods and contexts. With its thematic focus and its comparative, corpus-linguistic approach, the proposed project will open up new possibilities for collaboration with other philological and historical disciplines, further expanding the scope of Ancient Near Eastern Studies and emphasizing its relevance by making an important contribution to a recent and extremely lively field of research.

Employees

Prof. Dr. Doris Prechel (Project Leader)

Dr. Ulrike Steinert (Project Leader)

Jonas Klöker B.A. (2022-2023, Research Assistant)

Letizia Savino M.A. (seit 2023, Research Assistant)

Financing

DFG (since 2022)

The more than 30.000 clay tablets and clay tablet fragments in cuneiform script from the archives of the Hittite capital Ḫattuša (Central Anatolia) as well as from other Hittite sites include texts in Hittite, the oldest documented Indo-European language, as well as in other Anatolian and non-Anatolian languages (Luwian, Palaic, Hattic, Hurrian, Akkadian, Sumerian) and represent one of the richest and most important textual traditions of the ancient Near East. The transliterations of the various texts and fragments are currently mainly available in the Hittitological specialist literature, and only to a lesser extent in the form of digital editions. However, the challenges of modern research require a comprehensive digital collection that functions as a searchable database of texts in transliteration.

This desideratum of Hittitology will be fulfilled by the DFG-funded project Thesaurus Linguarum Hethaeorum digitalis (^TLHdig), in which the universities of Mainz, Würzburg, Marburg and the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz are involved. The aim of the project is to create a digital, open-access and annotated repository of transliterations of all accessible cuneiform texts from the Hittite archives, which will be integrated into the digital infrastructure “Hittitologie-Portal Mainz” (HPM) and enable complex search functions. An online creator interface will allow the thesaurus to be regularly updated by the Hittitological community beyond the planned duration of the project. ^TLHdig will thus open up new access to the Hittite primary sources in transliteration and offer sophisticated research opportunities.

Employees

Gerfrid G. W. Müller (ADW, Project Manager)

Doris Prechel (JGU, Project Manager)

Elisabeth Rieken (UMR, Project Manager)

Daniel Schwemer (JMU, Project Leader)

Fabio Bastici (JGU, Research Associate)

Birgit Christiansen (UMR, Research Associate)

Björn Eyselein (JMU, Research Associate)

Paul Herdt (UMR, Research Assistant)

Gudrun Samberger (JMU, Research Assistant)

Letizia Savino (JGU, Research Assistant)

Financing

DFG (2020-2023)

In addition to the German-Tunisian excavations led by Stefan Ritter and Sami Ben Tahar, archaeologists from the universities of Mainz and Tübingen, construction researchers from the Technical University of Berlin and geologists from the University of Bochum carried out an architectural and sculpture survey in Meninx between 2017 and 2019.

The aim of the work was to gain insights into the original construction and statuary of the ancient city based on the architectural elements of the ancient city area visible above ground and the unpublished building elements and sculptures from Meninx in the Bordj el Ghazi Mustapha in Houmt Souk. This is because decontextualized finds can also be used to draw conclusions about the minimum number, size, wealth and functions of ancient buildings and their furnishings. Furthermore, a stylistic analysis offers the possibility of dating the buildings and sculptures as well as shedding light on workshop issues and related communication channels in the Imperium Romanum. Finally, the monuments obtained through the documentation of the building elements will be compared with the results of the geophysical investigations and the excavations. On this basis, the architectural-historical position of Meninx is to be claused against the background of its location between the Tunisian interior and the rest of the Mediterranean world.

Employees

Prof. Dr. Johannes Lipps (project manager)

Cooperations

• INP (Tunisia) (Sami Ben Tahar)
• LMU Munich (Stefan Ritter)
• University of Tübingen (Martin Kovacs)
• University of Bochum (Vilma Ruppiene)
• TU Berlin (Katharina Sahm)

Financing

Funded by the SFB 1070 since 2017

Previous publications

Arndt, Robert C. / Stoeßel, L. / Gabler, Lena / Aoudi, Mekki: Trench 4 – Early Punic Occupation and Roman Forum, in: Stefan Ritter / Sami Ben Tahar (eds.): Studies on the Urban History of Meninx (Djerba). The Meninx Archaeological Project 2015-2019, Wiesbaden 2022 (Archaeological research 43), pp. 93-104.

Kovacs, M. / Lipps, J.: Fragmentierte Skulptur: ein monumentaler Kopf des Serapis vom antiken Forum, in: Stefan Ritter / Sami Ben Tahar (eds.): Studies on the urban history of Meninx (Djerba). The Meninx Archaeological Project 2015-2019, Wiesbaden 2022 (Archaeological research 43), pp. 266-270.

Lipps, J.: Looking over the builders’ work: foreign architects, artisans, and marble at Meninx (Djerba), in: Lybian Studies 53 (2022), pp. 1-12.

Lipps, J.: Architekturhistorische Untersuchungen in Meninx: Die Bauteile im Pavillon, in: Stefan Ritter / Sami Ben Tahar (eds.): Studies on the urban history of Meninx (Djerba). The Meninx Archaeological Project 2015-2019, Wiesbaden 2022 (Archaeological research 43), pp. 183-192.

Stoeßel, L.: Section 6 – The Forum Basilica, in: Stefan Ritter / Sami Ben Tahar (eds.): Studies on the Urban History of Meninx (Djerba). The Meninx Archaeological Project 2015-2019, Wiesbaden 2022 (Archaeological research 43), pp. 116-126.

Contributions in: S. Ritter – S. Ben Tahar (eds.), Studies on the Urban Historyof Meninx (Djerba): The Meninx Archaeological Project 2015-2019, Archaeological research 43 (Wiesbaden 2022)

J. Lipps, Looking over the builders’ work: foreign architects, artisans, and marble at Meninx (Djerba), Lybian Studies 53, 2022, 1-12

Stoeßel, L.: Adaption and Autonomy in the Architecture of Roman North Africa. The Basilica of Meninx, a Case Study, in: Antonio Dell’Acqua / Orit Peleg-Barkat (eds.): The Basilica in Roman Palestine. Adoption and Adaption Processes, in Light of Comparanda in Italy and North Africa, Rome 2021, pp. 241-264.

The material culture of the western Greek landscape of Acarnania is largely unknown despite its geostrategically and economically favorable location, which is why the finds of the Plaghiá Peninsula Survey Project and the Stratiké survey in collaboration with the project manager Prof. Dr. Franziska Lang from the TU Darmstadt and published in the series Akarnanien Forschungen series.

After the large find group of loom weights, which were also presented at the international conference on Textiles in Ancient Greece of the Faculty of Classical Archaeology at JGU and the presentation of the archaic finds from the Plaghia Peninsula at a workshop of the Norwegian Archaeological Institute in Athens, further finds such as an imperial tomb on the Plaghia Peninsula and all other types of vessels, bricks and small find groups such as terracottas, weapons, agricultural implements, jewelry, glass objects, etc. are now to be successively documented and presented. This was achieved, among other things, through the joint JGU and TU Darmstadt find processing internships and qualification work.

The multifaceted finds from the Plaghiá peninsula and the Stratiké make a large part of the ancient material culture of this landscape accessible and open up the possibilities of agricultural use, military conflicts, social destinction, domestic activities, etc.

Employees

Dr. Anne Sieverling (project manager)

Cooperations

Prof. Dr. Franziska Lang, TU Darmstadt, Classical Archaeology

PreviousPublications

A. Sieverling – F. Lang, The Plaghia peninsula and its Archaic material culture, in: S. Barfoed – C- Morgan (ed.), Stylistic Innovation in Western Greek Ceramics. Western Archaic Polychrome Pottery (WAPP) in Context, Proceedings of the International Workshop “Archaic ‘Elian Style’ Pottery in Western Greece” at the Norwegian Institute at Athens, November 18, 2022, Papers and Monographs from the Norwegian Institute at Athens 14? (in print Athens)

A. Sieverling – J. Weber, Dying without ageing. A child’s grave from the Plaghia peninsula in western Greece, in: J. Althoff – A. Gramsch – S. Kayan – M. Lebek – M. Renger – S. Schreiber (eds.), Altern und Sterben. Herausforderungen des vulnerablen Lebens, Proceedings of the Area “Umsorgtes Leben” of the core research area “40,000 Years of Human Challenges” (in preparation)

A. Sieverling – G. A. Th. Pantelidis – D. Schulz – C. Wawrzinek, On the woolen thread. The loom weights from the Plaghia peninsula, in: H. Frielinghaus – J. Stroszeck – A. Sieverling (eds.), Textilien im antiken Griechenland. Production, Use, Connotation, Contributions to the Archaeology of Greece 8 (Möhnesee 2023)

F. Lang – P. Funke – L. Kolonas – E. L. Schwandner – D. Maschek (eds.), Interdisciplinary research in Acarnania. Διεπιστημονικές έρευνες στην Ακαρνανία, Akarnanische Forschungen 1 (Bonn 2013)

Qualification work

J. Nicodemus, Ixous on the Plaghia Peninsula (MA in progress)

S. Beck, The Choironisi site and its significance in the region. An evaluation based on the finds of the Plaghia Peninsula Survey (MA 2023)

J. Weber, The decoration of the imperial tomb at Kalami on the Plaghia peninsula (BA 2023)

N.M. Angermeier, A Hellenistic burial find in Acarnania (BA 2020)

The central importance of the Temple of Hera at Olympia over the centuries is made clear by the installation or display of several sculptures, votive offerings and cult objects inside the temple, as described by Pausanias, including the Hermes with the Dionysus boy of Praxiteles, which was found in situ.

A rare phenomenon can be seen in the columns of the heraion, which were not only successively replaced, but also feature recesses for pinakes of different sizes and shapes. In addition, stelae and other sculptures were erected on the stylobate, which, together with the pinakes on the columns, greatly changed the external appearance of the temple.

The aims of the research project are to identify the type of pinakes and stelae and to determine their installation concept and their effect. These results will be linked to the other furnishings of the temple and the sanctuary in general in order to understand their significance in the overall context: It is assumed that the external transformation processes of the heraion were accompanied by a change in the meaning of the temple, which in turn had an impact on the cult topography of Olympia and was therefore of central importance for the entire sanctuary.

A 3D model of the temple and its furnishings will be created to visualize the appearance of the Heraion. The creation of the model is financed by the Friends of Mainz University and will be made available open access after completion.

Employees

Dr. Anne Sieverling (project manager)

Cooperations

Prof. Philip N. Sapirstein, Department of Art History at the University of Toronto

Dr. Daphni Doepner, Institute for Archaeology and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Bonn

German Department of Archaeology, Athens Division

Conference papers and lectures

Ancient advertising pillars. The Columns of the Heraion of Olympia as Information Carriers at the Research Colloquium of the Institute for Classical Archaeology at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen

Preliminary work

S. Wetherington, Practical project on the visibility analysis of the pinakes at the Heraion with Q-GIS
A. Sieverling, Investigations into the traces of fortification on the columns of the Temple of Hera at Olympia (unpubl. MA FU Berlin 2008)

The Museo Gregoriano Profano houses around 1000 pieces of Roman architecture. Their scientific importance lies on the one hand in their often outstanding quality, and on the other hand in the fact that some of them can be assigned to well-known contexts from Rome, Ostia and Tivoli. Despite their scientific value, many of them have not yet been published. Building on decades of cooperation between the Research Archive for Ancient Sculpture at the University of Cologne and the Vatican Museums, all the components were documented photographically between around 1980 and 1990. The aim of the present project is now to study the architectural parts of the Museo Gregoriano Profano by an international team of experts and thus make the objects fully accessible to research for the first time.

A new concept was developed for this and a collective of authors was formed, consisting of experts for the respective category of component types. In 2016, the participants undertook a study trip to Rome supported by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and reviewed the material.

Employees

Prof. Dr. Henner von Hesberg (project manager)

Prof. Dr. Johannes Lipps (project manager)

Cooperations

• Vatican Museums (Giandomenico Spinola, Claudia Valeri and Daniele Battistoni)
• Research Archive for Ancient Sculpture at the University of Cologne (Dietrich Boschung, Thoralf Schröder and Philipp Groß)
• Authors: Sara Bozza, Sabina De Luca, Ulrich-Walter Gans, Carlo Hofmann, Kristine Iara, Dominik Maschek, Marion Mathea-Förtsch, Christiane Nowak, Georg Plattner, Charlotte Schreiter, among others

Financing

Funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation since 2016

Previous publications

• Most of the components are now in the Arachne database
• Eck – H. von Hesberg, A reused basin base with inscription in the Vatican Museums, ZPE 210, 2019, 263-266
• von Hesberg, A group of round bases from the time of the Republic, in M. Fuchs (ed.), Ahoros. Commemorative publication for Hugo Meyer by companions, co-workers and friends (Vienna 2018) 51-58

The Forum of Pompeii has been a central object of classical archaeological research for around 200 years. The abundance and good state of preservation of the monuments as well as the knowledge of numerous historical contexts make the site particularly attractive for archaeology. However, the long and disparate history of research with its many unpublished excavations also means that fundamental questions about the history of the site and the associated history of the city have still not been conclusively clarified.

A project based at the University of Augsburg since 2003 under the direction of Valentin Kockel therefore set itself the goal of re-examining the long history of research on the Forum Square and the buildings in the south and systematically documenting the supposedly well-known collection for the first time using photogrammetry and building surveys. From 2007, the work was supplemented by targeted sondages in the southern Forum area, which above all helped to thoroughly document and better understand Amedeo Maiuri’s old excavations. In addition, by extending the sections, it was possible for the first time to obtain stratified find material in order to outline the structural development in this area of the Forum over time on a secure foundation.

A follow-up project, now based at the universities of Kiel and Mainz, builds on this in terms of content, methodology and personnel. The starting point for this project are problems and questions that have arisen in the course of the Augsburg research. The focus is on the so-called Comitium, which was geophysically investigated in 2015 and parts of which were excavated between 2017 and 2019. This led to a new reconstruction and dating of the building with implications for our understanding of the development of the forum as a whole.

Employees

Prof. Dr. Johannes Lipps (project manager)

Dr. Manuel Flecker (project manager)

Cooperations

Soprintendenza di Pompei (Massimo Osanna and Francesco Muscolino)

University of Kiel (Manuel Flecker)

Financing

Funded by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities since 2015

Publications

M. Flecker – J. Lipps – M. Broisch, Geophysical investigations in the so-called Comitium at the forum of Pompeii, Kölner und Bonner Archaeologica 5, 2015, 153-165

The reports at Fasto online: http://www.fastionline.org/excavation/micro_view.php?item_key=fst_cd&fst_cd=AIAC_4627

V. Kockel – M. Flecker, Pompeii – Forum. Preliminary report on the excavations of the University of Augsburg 2007/2008, RM 114, 2008, 271-303

Based on an examination of the places of worship in the Roman colonies, the sacred landscape of the areas colonized by the Romans in the Republican period is deciphered and analysed in detail in order to find out which public cults and sanctuaries were to be found in Roman colonies, what context they originated from and whether certain patterns of action for the institution and use of places of worship of a public character can be identified in the colonies in the period from the first Roman expansion into central Italy in the 5th century BC to the complete subjugation of the Apennine Peninsula in the 2nd century BC. century BC until the complete subjugation of the Apennine peninsula in the 2nd century BC. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between the colonists sent by Rome and the respective indigenous environment of the colonies.

Employees
PD Dr. Marion Bolder-Boos (project manager)

Funding
Duration 2024-2027; funded by the DFG

In 2021, the Classical Archaeology departments of the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz will launch an excavation project in the newly discovered sacred district of the Etruscan-Roman metropolis of Vulci, continuing the successful field research both universities have already been conducting there.
The project is carried out in cooperation with the Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio for the Metropolitan Area of Rome, the Province of Viterbo, and Southern Etruria, the Fondazione Vulci, and the Parco di Vulci, and is under the academic direction of Dr. Mariachiara Franceschini (University of Freiburg) and Paul Pasieka, M.A. (JGU Mainz).
The Fritz Thyssen Foundation is generously funding the new project, titled “Dimensions of the Sacred: The New Temple and the Cityscape of Vulci.”
At JGU, the project is part of Thematic Area 3 – Urban Density within the profile area “40,000 Years of Human Challenges: Perception, Conceptualization and Coping in Premodern Societies.”
More information is available at: https://vulcityscape.hypotheses.org/

Project staff
Paul P. Pasieka (JGU, Project Manager)

Mariachiara Franceschini (Uni Freiburg, Project manager)

Cooperations
Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio per l’area metropolitana di Roma, la provincia di Viterbo e l’Etruria meridionale
Fondazione Vulci
Parco di Vulci
Department of Classical Archaeology at the University of Freiburg

The urbanization process in Etruria and central Italy between the 7th and 5th centuries BC is likely to have been accompanied by the spatial reorganization of settlements and towns. The spatial structure of towns such as Veii, Tarquinia, Vulci and Gabii is now largely known thanks to non-invasive investigations, but these settlements were inhabited over many centuries, so that it is not possible to differentiate between the various phases of urban organization.

At the invitation of the Parco Naturalistico Archeologico di Vulci and in close cooperation with the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per la provincia di Viterbo e per l’Etruria meridionale, the Etruscan settlement of Regae/Regisvilla (Lazio, Italy), which served as a harbor town or emporion Vulcis in the Late Archaic and Early Classical periods and about which very little is known, is being offered a unique opportunity for an almost complete geophysical investigation. Emporion Vulcis in the Late Archaic and Early Classical periods and about which very little is known. Regisvilla was last investigated in the 1980s through spatially limited excavations. The new activities of the Soprintendenza and the Parco di Vulci herald a new phase in the archaeological exploration of Regisvilla.

The aim of the project is to use non-invasive geophysical prospection to investigate the spatial structure, the organization of the city and the relationship between different functional areas. The aim is to provide a chronological fixed point for urban development in southern Etruria for the Archaic period, as the settlement only dates from the late 6th century to the second half of the 5th century BC. This provides a unique insight into the phenomenon of urbanization and town planning.

A generous grant from the Gerda Henkel Foundation made it possible to carry out a first geophysical measurement campaign between 23 and 31 July 2024 together with Eastern Atlas GmbH & Co. KG, during which 11.67 ha were covered with geomagnetics and 3.19 ha with Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and a profile was created with Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) (360 m). The results are currently being analyzed and prepared for publication.
https://vulcityscape.hypotheses.org/projekt#regae

Employees

Paul P. Pasieka (JGU Mainz, Project manager)
Mariachiara Franceschini (Universität Freiburg, Project manager)

Geophysics: Eastern Atlas GmbH & Co. KG (Burkart Ullrich, Filippos Karipidis, Rudolf Knieß, Jochem Dorrestein, Luka Girling)

Cooperations

Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per la provincia di Viterbo e per l’Etruria meridionale

Parco Naturalistico Archeologico di Vulci

Financing

Gerda Henkel Stiftung

A number of houses from the Late Republic and Roman Imperial period contain pictorial allusions to tragedies or comedies, which appear in the form of individual actor-figures or multi-figure scenes and can occur in two or three-dimensional form. Focusing on the role of images in the Roman domestic context, the aim of the project is to contribute to the exploration of the hitherto largely neglected content-related components of theatre-related representations (e.g. situations of human coexistence, actions and behaviour, characterization of groups of people or role models). This also includes working out existing differences in design, connotations and functions between these representations and the figurative images of other categories placed in the house context (e.g. mythical images, landscapes of various kinds with staffage of people, scenes from the field of crafts and trade, etc.), i.e. contributing a hitherto missing building block for the analysis of house furnishings.

Research Staff
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Heide Frielinghaus (Projektleitung)

The supply of ancient cities was essentially based on the production of handicraft products, the yields from livestock and agriculture and the trade in these products as well as other imported goods. The characteristics of these economic sectors, their interoperability and the range of goods produced and sold depended on local conditions, from which individual supply networks developed.

In contrast to the usual concentration on partial aspects of urban economic systems, such as certain types of finds or industries, the habilitation project Supply Networks of Roman Cities focuses on the connectivity, exchange and dependencies of workshops, occupational groups and economic sectors in order to develop the supply networks of selected cities, of which Ephesus is the starting point.

As part of the research project, an international workshop would be organized in October 2022 to exchange ideas with colleagues working in Pergamon, Miletus and Ephesus and to present the initial results of the habilitation for discussion:

To the workshop on supply networks in Roman cities

Employees

Dr. Anne Sieverling (project manager)

Lectures and publications

Retail and Food Supply in Ephesos, in: L. Dietrich – M. Ergun – J. Fildhuth – A. Garlik – S. Lehnig – A. E. Reuter (Hrsg.), Food in Anatolia and its Neighbouring Regions. Fifth Scientific Network of the German Archaeological Institute Department Istanbul, Byzas ## (in print).

Duty-paid fish specialties, striking bakers and sacred wine. Investigations into the supply of the imperial metropolis of Ephesus, at the Institute for Classical Archaeology and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Bonn, January 20, 2022

Production and exchange mechanisms of Roman Ephesus, November 16, 2022, German Archaeological Institute of Athens

Synergasies in Ephesos. Sphere of Influence of the Collegia and Associated Institutions, 15. November 2023 Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Madrid

Globalization Processes of the Imperial Period in Ephesus, 13 November 2024 DAI Cluster 8 “Economic Networks” and SFB 1070 Resource Cultures, University of Tübingen

Violations of legal and moral, human and divine rules are an unchanging part of human behavior. Accordingly, at all times individuals as well as (social, religious or state) entities deal with the violations, discuss, evaluate and classify both the violations themselves and their potential consequences in this world and the hereafter. This can be done in an abstract, impersonal form or (exemplarily) on the basis of specific/named persons.

The chronologically and geographically differentiated analysis deals, among other things, with the question of which violations are thematized, which (type of) figures are used to illustrate them, how these same figures are depicted and in which contexts they appear. In addition to the pictorial sources, written sources are also included in the investigation; the focus here is on the one hand on the use and meaning of terms, on the other hand on a comparison of the content given in the various types of sources and an evaluation of the differences that emerge in the selection and depiction (e.g. of figures or offenses).

Research Staff
Heide Frielinghaus (Projektleitung)

In Ladenburg, the Roman Lopodunum, in the Rhine-Neckar region, individual architectural fragments – mostly made of sandstone – have been repeatedly found since the 19th century, which belong to various buildings of the Roman city and bear witness to a large number of monuments that are still unknown today. The aim of the work, which has been ongoing since 2016, is to document these components in drawings and photographs, evaluate them historically and publish them

Employees

Prof. Dr. Johannes Lipps (project manager)

Cooperations

• Lobdengau-Museum Ladenburg (Andreas Hensen)
• State Office for Cultural Heritage Management Baden-Wuerttemberg (Sara Roth)

Financing

2016-2019 funded by the University of Tübingen’s Institutional Strategy (ZUK 63); since then by Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Previous publications

J. Lipps – St. Ardeleanu – J. Osnabrügge – Ch. Witschel (Hrsg.), Die römischen Steindenkmäler in den Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen Mannheim. Mannheimer Geschichtsblätter Sonderveröffentlichungen 14 (Mannheim 2021) ISBN 9783955052164

J. Lipps, Lopodunum in Farbe: Bemerkungen zur Architekturpolychromie in den Nordwestprovinzen, in: A. Binsfeld – A. Klöckner – G. Kremer – M. Reuter – M. Scholz (Hrsg.), Stadt – Land – Fluss. Grabdenkmäler der Treverer in lokaler und überregionaler Perspektive. Akten der Internationalen Konferenz Neumagen und Trier 2018, TrZ Beih. 37 (Trier 2020) 187–195

J. Lipps, Ein monumentaler Tempel im römischen Ladenburg?, in: B. Porod (Hrsg.), XV. Internationales Kolloquium zum provinzialrömischen Kunstschaffen. Der Stifter und sein Monument, Kolloquium 14. –20. Juni 2017 Graz (Graz 2018) 250–261

J. Lipps, Transfer und Transformation römischer Architektur in den Nordwestprovinzen, J. Lipps (Hrsg.) zusammen mit K. Kortüm – C.S. Sommer, Transfer und Transformation römischer Architektur in den Nordwestprovinzen, TAF 22 (Rahden 2017) 13–31

The aim of the research project is to investigate the time and reasons for the late antique destruction of the Basilica Aemilia at the Forum Romanum in Rome. At the center of the project is the find material of the building from a uniform, late antique fire horizon, which, with its approx. 2600, previously unread coins, is a key find of late antique archaeology in Rome. Until now, the Basilica Aemilia has been regarded as one of the few examples that make barbarian destruction archaeologically comprehensible due to the link between its destruction and the sacking of Rome by the Goth Alaric in 410 AD. This interpretation is to be verified by cleaning and identifying the remaining coins. In addition to the concrete results on the event and economic history, this will open up a new panorama for late antique forum chronology and the dating of the subsequent construction work on the Basilica Aemilia and adjacent buildings. The inclusion of the other finds should also provide information on the use of the building, which has generally been discussed almost exclusively on the basis of literary sources in the case of ancient secular basilica architecture due to the lack of finds.

Employees

Johannes Lipps (Project manager)

Philipp von Rummel (Project manager)

Suzanne Frey-Kupper (Project manager)

Cooperations

• Soprintendenza autonoma di Roma (formerly Roberto Egidi)
• Comune di Roma (formerly Fiorenzo Catalli)
• German Department of Archaeology, Berlin Division (Philipp von Rummel)
• University of Warwick (Suzanne Frey-Kupper)

Financing

Funded by the DFG since 2013

Previous publications

S. Frey-Kupper – J. Lipps – S. Ranucci – Ph. von Rummel, Münzen aus der BasilicaAemilia als Zeugnisse der Zerstörung Roms durch die Goten 410 n. Chr.?, in: Der Untergang des Römischen Reiches. Begleitband zur Ausstellung in Trier 2022. Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier, Museum am Dom Trier, Stadtmuseum Simeonstift Trier. Schriftenreihe des Rheinischen Landesmuseums Trier (Darmstadt 2022) 101–105

J. Lipps – C. Machado – P. von Rummel, The Sack of Rome in 410 AD: an Introduction, in: J. Lipps – C. Machado – P. von Rummel (Hrsg.), The Sack of Rome in 410 AD. The Event, its Context and its Impact. Proceedings of the Conference held at the German Archaeological Institute at Rome, 4.–6. November 2010, Palilia 28 (Wiesbaden 2013) 11–15

J. Lipps, Alarichs Goten auf dem Forum Romanum? Überlegungen zu Gestalt, Chronologie und Verständnis der spätantiken Platzanlage , in: J. Lipps – C. Machado – P. von Rummel (Hrsg.), The Sack of Rome in 410 AD. The Event, its Context and its Impact. Proceedings of the Conference held at the German Archaeological Institute at Rome, 4.–6. November 2010, Palilia 28 (Wiesbaden 2013) 103–122

S. Frey-Cupper – J. Lipps – S. Ranucci, Le monetedallostrato di distruzionedella Basilica Aemilia nelForo Romano, in: G. Pardini (Hrsg,), Preatti del I Workshop Internazionale di Numismatica. Kolloquium Rom 2011 (Rom 2011) 157–159

Similar to other important extra-urban Greek cult sites, the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia was home to numerous other gods and hero cults in addition to the cult of the main deity. This phenomenon, aptly termed “cult plurality”, has been known for a long time, but has only recently been the subject of closer employment by researchers. This research project is the first to take a comprehensive look at cult plurality in Olympia, but for reasons of feasibility it is limited to the period from the beginning of cultic activity in the middle of the 11th century B.C. to the end of the 5th century B.C. Essentially, the project aims to answer the question of how the pantheon of Olympia was structured at the end of this period. It also aims to reconstruct the development of cultic plurality in the context of the diachronic development of sacrificial and consecration practices in the sanctuary.

The various cults of gods and heroes in Olympia are spread over an extensive sanctuary area, the center of which is the Altis. This sacred landscape is not natural, but a cultically transformed physical (natural) space, which, as the product of ritual acts, corresponds to espace perçu (“perceived space”) with regard to the three dimensions of spatial production defined by Henri Lefebvre. A decidedly spatial approach will therefore be pursued in the investigation of the structure of the Pantheon of Olympia.

In addition to the ritual-relevant archaeological finds and features, epigraphic, literary and occasional numismatic diplomas will also be used as the material basis for the planned study. A systematic analysis of the sacred microtopography and topology of Olympia can both provide information about the structure of the pantheon of the cult site and contribute to the reconstruction of the cultic networks within the sanctuary.

Employees

PD Dr. Oliver Pilz (project manager)

Everyday stress and crisis situations that arise in the capital of the Roman Empire, the Metropolis of Rome, are examined in the case study Life Support in Late Republican and Early Imperial Rome – Life Support Today. Using relevant texts that refer specifically to coping with stressful situations, life crises and traumatic experiences, it will examine what is perceived as a challenge/crisis, how such individual challenges are conceptualized, and which prospective practices for life support are proposed for the intended recipients (in this case upper-class Romans in the city of Rome), but also exemplary for non-Roman recipients of these texts. In this context, it will also become clear which collective institutionalizations, restrictions and possibilities communities made available for coping with individual challenges and crises. Seneca’s writings, in particular, which largely address the question of how an individual can lead a good and contented life in the community, not only in the philosophical sense, and which could justifiably be claimed as the forerunner of modern behavioral therapy, were widely received in later eras and adapted to their own contemporary contexts. In a second step, the results will be compared with modern psychotherapy approaches. There are also broad interdisciplinary horizons beyond this, such as the question of how these texts were received in the Middle Ages and how they were adapted to their own lifeworld.

Employees
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Christine Walde

Prof. Dr. Annemarie Ambühl

Dr. des. Matthias Heinemann

Financing

DFG (Project No. 504936196, https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/504936196 )

The Histories of Gregory of Tours are among the most important literary diplomas and historical sources for the period of transition from late antiquity to the early Middle Ages. The verdict of research on the Latin literature and language of the first centuries of the Frankish Empire is often very negative. The publishers of the authoritative edition of the Histories, Krusch/Levison, also assume that Gregory’s original text could only have been written in poor Merovingian Latin. This is also the picture presented by the reconstructed text version, even though many manuscripts offer a much better text. Although this approach has been repeatedly criticized, a new edition of the Histories has not yet been published. The fundamental question facing the publishers of a new edition is that of the state of Gregory’s language. An analysis of the so-called prose rhythm can serve as a suitable indicator of an author’s stylistic ability and the quality of his language. Initial preliminary work has shown that the Bishop of Tours places great value on a stylistic-rhythmic structure. This provides an important argument for a positive assessment of his level of education and supports the demand for a new edition.

This DFG project aims to produce a digital critical edition and a faithful translation of the second book of the Histories, which will be published via the digital infrastructure of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica. The manuscript transcriptions and collations will also be published online once the project is completed. In addition, comprehensive colometric-rhythmic analyses of the text versions depicted in the collations will be carried out and evaluated; the results will be published in a separate publication. The edition of the second book will pave the way for a long-term project in which a complete edition of the Histories and a historical-archaeological commentary will be presented.

Employees

PD Dr. Rebekka Schirner

Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Blümer

Financing

DFG

Seneca’s Epistulae morales are not only an influential work of Latin literature, but also a central diploma of Roman Philosophy. Despite their importance, there are still some gaps in research on the Epistulae. In particular, there is a lack of commentaries that systematically analyze individual books.

This research gap has been increasingly closed in recent times, so that commentaries are now available for books 1 to 4 and for the beginning of book 6. Book 5, however, has not yet been adequately researched. This is all the more regrettable as this book raises questions and themes that are important for the work as a whole. First and foremost, the figure of Lucilius should be considered here, which takes on a clearer contour in this book. In addition, the book proves to be particularly coherent in terms of its structure, which is why it is worth tracing the means by which this coherence is achieved.

The project will address these and other questions in a volume on the 5th book of the Epistulae morales and thus close the aforementioned research gap. To this end, the eleven letters(Ep. 42-52) of this book will be comprehensively and coherently indexed for the first time by means of an introduction and a scholarly commentary. The volume will also be accompanied by a reading text and a German translation. Additional lectures and essays will focus on overarching issues such as the structure of the entire corpus and thus classify the insights gained from Book 5.

Employees

PD Dr. Dominik Berrens

Financing

DFG ( https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/516319177 )

thersites is an international open access journal for innovative transdisciplinary classical studies, published by Annemarie Ambühl, Filippo Carlà-Uhink, Christian Rollinger and Christine Walde.

• thersites expands ancient studies by publishing original works free of charge and by reflecting on Greco-Roman antiquity as a contemporary phenomenon and diachronic culture that is part of today’s transcultural and extremely diverse world. In our understanding, antiquity does not only belong to the past, but is always experienced and shaped in the present.

• thersites contributes to a critical review of methods, theories, approaches and topics in ancient studies, which currently seems awkwardly divided between traditional perspectives and cultural twists.

• thersites brings together scholars, writers, essayists, artists and all kinds of players in the culture industry to develop a better understanding of how antiquity forms part of today’s culture and (re)shapes our present.
  
  
• Link: https://thersites-journal.de/index.php/thr/index

Employees

Prof. Dr. Annemarie Ambühl (JGU Mainz, editor)

Prof. Dr. Christine Walde (JGU Mainz, editor)

Prof. Dr. Filippo Carlà-Uhink (University of Potsdam, publisher)

PD Dr. Christian Rollinger (University of Trier, publisher)

Prof. Dr. Katharina Wesselmann (University of Potsdam, editor)

Board members

Dr. Irene Berti (Heidelberg Higher Education Institution)

Prof. Dr. Domitilla Campanile (Università degli Studi di Program for International Student Assessment)

Prof. Dr. Emilia Di Rocco (Università di Roma La Sapienza)

Prof. Vered Lev Kenaan (University of Haifa)

Dr. Alexander Kirichenko (Humboldt University of Berlin)

“At ten days old, the chick and all its parts are already clearly visible.”Hist. an. VI, 561 a 26f.

The aim of the project is to translate and annotate Aristotle’sHistoria animalium, Books VI and VII. In these books (as in Book V), Aristotle deals with the reproductive biology of animals (Book VI) and humans (Book VII). Topics include the embryology of the chick, viviparous sharks, “spontaneously developing” fish, abruptly growing mouse populations, human puberty and the different course of pregnancies in Egypt and Greece. Famous discoveries include the “jumping point”, i.e. the beating heart of the few-day-old chicken embryo, and the yolk sac placenta of the smooth dogfish.

These fundamental texts on reproduction are explored from an ancient philological and biological perspective. What are the relevant ancient philological (including scientific-philosophical) backgrounds of the text? How do the facts described look from the perspective of modern biology? This provides valuable insights into the state of biology then and now, as well as interesting details about the everyday lives of humans and animals in ancient Greece.

An introduction toHistoria animaliumV-VII can be found in K. Epstein,Aristotle. Historia animalium Book V. Translated, introduced and annotated , Berlin-Boston 2019.

Employees

Dr. Katharina Epstein (project manager)

Financing

Karl and Gertud Abel Foundation

In awareness of the numerous ancient precursors of modern natural sciences (in Mesopotamia, Egypt and above all Greece), the interdisciplinary working group “Ancient Natural Sciences and their Reception (AKAN)” was founded in Bamberg in 1988 by the Greek scholar Prof. Dr. Georg Wöhrle (later Trier) with the aim of organizing an annual working meeting at which interested parties from Germany and abroad have the opportunity to present and discuss their research results in a knowledgeable circle. The first symposium took place in Bamberg in 1989. From 1994 onwards, the symposia were held in Trier. Since 2000, the AKAN conferences – with a few exceptions – have been held regularly in Mainz in June. They are headed and organized by the Mainz-based Greek scholar Prof. Dr. Jochen Althoff.

In 1990, it was decided to publish the presentations given at the symposia in the form of a series entitled “Ancient Natural Sciences and their Reception”. The presentations from 1990-1994 were published in volumes I to IV by Collibri in Bamberg. Since volume V, the series has been published by Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier. Since 2001, the AKAN series has been supplemented by an “AKAN-Einzelschriften” series, which includes monographs and conference proceedings on topics of ancient natural philosophy/natural sciences and their reception. The series is very successful and has now (as of 2025) published 34 volumes and 12 individual publications(https://www.wvttrier.de/c/fachgebiete/altertumswissenschaft/akan-antike-naturwissenschaft-und-ihre-rezeption). It is published by the Trier Greek scholar Diego De Brasi, the Marburg Greek scholar Sabine Föllinger, Georg Wöhrle and Jochen Althoff.

In addition to the presentations presented at the annual AKAN conferences, the AKAN series accepts contributions at any time that deal with ancient natural sciences and their reception. The contributions can be sent to a member of the editorial board as a PDF for review.

Employees
Prof. Dr. Jochen Althoff (project manager)

Project within the Verbund project “40,000 Years of Human Challenges”

Fire is an environmental phenomenon that was widespread in antiquity and can be observed in nature (lightning, volcanism, forest fires, etc.) as well as being produced artificially by humans and used in a variety of ways. However, the intellectual or conceptual mastery of this environmental phenomenon has caused great difficulties, and dealing with this intellectual challenge is the subject of the project outlined here. The various discursive practices used in this process of understanding and explanation will be examined and compared in individual case studies.

The human relationship to fire is very ambivalent, as it not only appears uncontrolled and catastrophic (especially in its natural representations), but is also warming and life-giving (insofar as its control is the prerequisite for numerous technical processes). Early on, it was associated with the luminous and warming celestial bodies and thus elevated to a divine rank. Empedocles included it in the circle of the classical four elements (together with earth, water and air), which he identified as the basic building blocks of the cosmos. Plato used fire as a source of light metaphorically (e.g. in his allegory of the cave in the State) to illustrate processes of knowledge. The way in which Aristotle sees fire as effective in organic contexts (body heat, respiration, nutrition, procreation) is particularly diverse, but also complex.

Taking Aristotle as a starting point, the project examines the intellectual or conceptual approach to the natural phenomenon of fire, with a particular interest in the role played by everyday perceptions and explanatory models. It is essential for Aristotle’s method of investigation, as well as that of many other Greek intellectuals, that the focus is hardly ever on practical application or technical improvement. Rather, it is explicitly about the theoretical mastery of the perceived environment, which is constantly undertaken anew in the confrontation with earlier and simultaneous attempts at explanation. One could almost speak of a culture of intellectual coping.

Employees
Prof. Dr. Jochen Althoff (project manager)

Haft Tappeh is located around 18 km south-east of Susa in the Khuzestan region of modern-day Iran. It is an ancient Elamite city of around 200-250 hectares from the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. Chr.

The investigations of the University of Mainz in Haft Tappeh began in the fall of 2002 under the direction of B. Mofidi-Nasrabadi, funded by the “Research Association Archaeology” of the University of Mainz.

Geophysical surveys were carried out in order to gain a more precise overview of the overall structure of the building complexes and their extent. This revealed several large complexes with extremely wide walls.

In winter 2004, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization and the Institute of Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz for further archaeological investigations in Haft Tappeh. The project was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in several stages between 2004 and 2017.

On the basis of the preliminary geophysical work, which provided an overall view of the building structures, several excavation campaigns were carried out by B. Mofidi-Nasrabadi took place. Interesting results were achieved. Among other things, an administrative building was uncovered in which more than six hundred clay tablets and tablet fragments came to light. They can be assigned to the Middle Islamic city, which is dated to between 1525 and 1435 BC on the basis of systematic C14 analyses.

Another interesting find was made in 2012. Skeletons of several hundred individuals were found piled up behind a wall in a street. The extremely large number of dead may have been the result of either an epidemic or a military conflict or massacre.

Cooperations

Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization

A small group of hermits established themselves on the Disibodenberg near Odernheim am Glan in the early Middle Ages. One of them, Disibod, became a highly venerated saint in the following centuries, which led to the foundation of a monastery on the mountain at the confluence of the Glan and Nahe rivers a good 1000 years ago. In the first half of the 12th century, St. Hildegard lived here, whose current veneration on the Disibodenberg has largely replaced that of Disibod. The monastery was abandoned in the 16th century and finally turned into a historical park of tourist interest in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the second half of the 20th century, building history studies and archaeological excavations were carried out, but many questions remained unanswered. This is where a prospection project (Peter Haupt, IAW) comes in, which uses both geophysical methods and metal detectors to tackle questions that arise as part of the training of students. For example, it is much easier to use georadar to check assumptions about the course of foundations than it is to carry out costly excavations that interfere with the existing monument. Hoof nails and other finds from the use of paths can be used to identify and date old paths, making it possible to reconstruct the access routes to the monastery.

Employees
Peter Haupt (project manager)

Peter Haupt (JGU) and Agnieszka Tomas (Wydział Archeologii, Uniwersytet Warszawski) have started an excavation project in the Roman town of Homburg-Schwarzenacker (the ancient name is unknown) in spring 2023. The aim of the investigations, which are generously funded by the Saaprfalz District, is to examine old interpretations and, if necessary, adapt them to the new state of research. In addition to gaining important chronological insights, the first campaign also expanded our knowledge of the cultural landscape genesis in the area surrounding the town. The eastern part of the city, which is now presented in an archaeological park, stands on thick colluvial sands. According to the material found, these date back to the first century AD and are obviously the result of deforestation on the slopes above the city. When the soil was uncovered, erosion increased and the eroded sand was deposited at the foot of the slope as the gradient decreased. There is very probably a connection with the consumption of wood by Roman craftsmen. The last campaign of the German-Polish project took place in October 2024, during which interesting insights were gained into the construction and use phases of a temple district located centrally in the city. Overall, it appears that the entire settlement was clearly characterized by manufacturing industry (pottery, iron) in the early imperial period, but that there was then major investment in public and private buildings in the early 2nd century. High-emission industries were now concentrated at some distance from the urban settlement, in which crafts nevertheless played an important role.

Employees
Peter Haupt (JGU, project manager)
Agnieszka Tomas (Uniwersytet Warszawski, project manager)

Since 2007, the Pre- and Early History Archaeology Department has been conducting research into ancient mining in the area around Imsbach am Donnersberg. According to the findings, the extraction of iron and copper ores in particular began here in early Roman times. It continued until the 20th century. The Roman mining traces consist of large trench pings, slag pits and residential sites. In the Middle Ages, Hohenfels Castle was built right next to the iron ore mines. Another castle was built near copper ore mines in the neighboring valley, both castles were besieged and destroyed in 1350/51. In order to separate the traces of ancient and medieval mining from the strong imprints of the more recent modern period, the work group led by Peter Haupt (IAW) also carried out surveys and measurements of the preserved underground facilities. This makes it possible to link traces of mining that are visible above ground but are undated with the underground structures, which are usually easier to date. In a manner of speaking, by process of elimination, suspected cases of particularly old mining can be identified if they cannot be linked to the frequent modern activities. The research is being carried out in close cooperation with the Palatinate Mining Museum in Imsbach.

Employees
Peter Haupt (project manager)

Together with the Kaiserpfalz Ingelheim research center (Holger Grewe) and Arno Braun (Saarland University), Peter Haupt and Leon Hermann (IAW) are investigating the area around Worms Cathedral. The main aim is to identify early sacred buildings and to expand our existing knowledge. Prospections with georadar in 2023 and 2024 made it possible to gain new insights into the baptisteries south of the cathedral – which no longer exist above ground except for an excavated and preserved baptismal piscina. However, the cathedral is not only centrally located in the medieval city of Worms, but the center of the ancient Borbetomagus is also assumed to be under the cathedral district. The foundations discovered during the cathedral excavations at the beginning of the 20th century were interpreted as a forum and/or sanctuary, but these interpretations are not certain. The ongoing archaeological and geophysical investigations could also provide new insights into this.

Employees
Peter Haupt (JGU, project manager)
Leon Hermann (JGU, project manager)
Arno Braun (Saarland University, project manager)
Holger Grewe (Kaiserpfalz Ingelheim Research Center, project manager)

The Bliesgau in southern Saarland represents a special cultural landscape in the Roman period, which promises important and new insights, particularly into the conditions handed down from the pre-Roman period. It is also a good place to work out how the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages took place. As part of the project, archaeological investigations were carried out at the terra sigillata manufactory in Blickweiler from 2013-2016 (Johanna Ney). Prospections were and are being carried out at various Roman period settlement sites, mostly villae rusticae next to/under medieval churches: In Gersheim, Reinheim, at Kirchheimer Hof and in Böckweiler, Roman settlement traces with later church construction were investigated archaeologically and geophysically. Further Roman farmsteads were prospected near Bliesdalheim and between Gersheim and Reinheim. The results of the project, led by Peter Haupt (IAW) and Andreas Stinsky (Saarpfalz-Kreis), will be incorporated into the international Blies Survey project, in which the wider area around the Roman vicus of Bliesbruck (France) will be examined archaeologically.

Employees
Peter Haupt (JGU, project manager)
Andreas Stinsky (Saarpfalz-Kreis, project manager)

Windeck Castle in Heidesheim is one of the few small castles on the Rhine that still has original (late) medieval masonry up to the top floor. The date of construction of the castle is disputed, but it is certain that it existed at the beginning of the 13th century. As a lowland castle, it is located near a stream, which at that time fed a moat surrounding the castle. However, these topographical features can no longer be traced today: The ditches have been filled in, and in the 20th century the local development in the vicinity of the castle was compacted without much consideration. Wisely purchased by the municipality of Heidesheim in the 1990s, Windeck Castle now belongs to the town of Ingelheim following the incorporation of Heidesheim. The younger residential part is used as a kind of community center, while the tower is supervised by a cultural and historical association. In 2024, the adjoining areas to the west were landscaped so that geophysical investigations are now possible, which are to be carried out in the winter of 2025. With a bit of luck, traces of an outer bailey or a farmyard belonging to the castle could be identified.

Employees
Peter Haupt (project manager)

On the northern outskirts of Bad Kreuznach, directly in front of the medieval town wall, the merchant Georg Heinrich Schmerz built a “Sentimental Garden” in the 1770s. This is a park with various landscaped areas designed to provoke emotions when viewed. In the case of Schmerz’s garden, the aim was to depict human life from birth to death. For the park, Schmerz chose an area in front of the city wall, about half of which consisted of a redoubt directly in front of the city wall. The Kreuznach casino company later acquired the park, and today it is partly used as a public green space with a playground, but also as a municipal parking lot. Traces of the baroque gardens are still present, but have only become apparent to the observer since the removal of vegetation that was damaging the monument. On the initiative of the town of Bad Kreuznach, Peter Haupt and Leon Hermann (IAW) are documenting the visible and invisible features in a prospection project. In particular, geophysical methods are being used.

Employees
Peter Haupt (project manager)
Leon Hermann (project manager)

SUSTAIN is a five-year research project (2020-2026) funded by the European Research Council. It seeks to understand the sustainability of Early Neolithic agricultural societies in Europe through a combination of climate and biodiversity informatics, bioarchaeology and agent-based modeling. It examines societies that have only recently settled in new environments and started to practice mixed agriculture and pastoralism. This then novel way of interacting with the environment involved a different scale of intervention in the life cycles of plants and animals and was of fundamental importance for later developments in Europe.

Further information: https://sustain-erc.org

Employees

• Prof. Maria Ivanova-Bieg (project manager; Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, JGU Mainz)
• Prof. Richard Evershed (University of Bristol, UK)
• Dr. Melanie Roffet-Salque (University of Bristol, UK)
• Prof. Thomas Hickler (Senkenberg Society, Frankfurt, Germany)
• Dr. Wolfgang Traylor (Senkenberg Gesellschaft, Frankfurt, Germany)
• Prof. Mark Thomas (University College London, UK)

• Dr. Sayuri Kochi (Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, JGU Mainz)
• Dr. Phoebe Heddell-Stevens (Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, JGU Mainz)

Cooperations

• Dr. Tina Lüdecke (Max Planck Institute of Chemistry, Mainz, Germany)
• Adrian Timpson (University College London, UK)

• Dr. Marie Balasse (MNHN, Paris, France)
• Dr. Elena Marinova (State Office for Cultural Heritage Baden-Württemberg, Germany)

Financing

European Research Council, CoG, GA 865515

The Seascapes project (2022-2025) investigates the Bell Beaker phenomenon in the western Mediterranean during the third millennium BC, a period characterized by increased human mobility and the emergence of maritime networks. Radiocarbon dating (including the analysis of specific compounds), the analysis of organic residues in the pottery and spatio-temporal modeling will be used to determine traffic routes, contact points and directions of movement.

Further information: https://seascapesproject.wordpress.com

Employees

• Prof. Maria Ivanova-Bieg (project manager; Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany)
• Assoc. Prof. Lucy Cramp (project manager; Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, UK)
• Dr. Eve Derenne (Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany)
• Dr. Alex Bayliss (Historic England, UK)
• Prof. Mark Thomas (University College London, UK)
• Adrian Timpson (University College London, UK)
• Dr. Elena Marinova (State Office for Cultural Heritage Baden-Württemberg, Germany)

Cooperations

• Dr. Michael Arts (retired from the German Archaeological Institute in Madrid)
• Prof. Ana Catarina Sousa (University of Lisbon, Portugal)
• Prof. Victor Gonçalves† (University of Lisbon, Portugal)
• Prof. Juan Antonio Cámara (University of Granada, Spain)
• Dr. Alberto Dorado Alejos (University of Granada, Spain)
• Prof. Manuel Calvo Trias (University of the Balearic Islands, Spain)
• Dr. Damià Ramis (independent researcher, Spain)
• Dr. Jaume Coll Conesa (Museo Nacional de Cerámica y Artes Suntuarias González Martí, Spain)
• Prof. Olivier Lemercier (University of Montpellier, France)
• Dr. Fabien Convertini (INRAP, France)
• Prof. Riccardo Cicilloni (University of Cagliari, Italy)
• Prof. Carlo Lugliè† (University of Cagliari, Italy)
• Dr. Vitale Sparacello (University of Cagliari, Italy)
• Dr. Gianfranca Salis (Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio, Cagliari, Italy)
• Dr. Enrico Giannitrapani (University of Palermo, Italy)
• Dr. Filippo Iannì (Arkeos Sicily, Italy)
• Dr. Salvatore Chilardi (independent researcher, Italy)
• Dr. Emilie Blaise (UMR 5140, Archéologie des Sociétés Méditerranéennes, France)

Financing

• Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
• UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)

This CSF-funded project investigates the origins and distribution of ceramic vessels in Mesoamerica during the 2nd and 1st millennia BC. Using lipid analysis and CSRA dating, we are investigating the earliest pottery in several regions, including the Pacific coast, the central highlands of Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico, the highlands of Guatemala and the Maya lowlands of Guatemala, Mexico and Belize. Our goals include determining when pottery was introduced, its earliest use, its connection to changes in subsistence, its importance to diet, ritual, and political developments during this transformative period.

Further information: https://www.grc.uni-mainz.de/maria-ivanova-bieg/

Employees

• Prof. Maria Ivanova-Bieg (project manager; Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany)
• Dr. Tim Lauschke (Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany)
• Dr. Emmanuelle Casanova (Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement – LSCE, France)

Cooperations

• Dr. Barbara arroyo (Universidad Francisco Marroquin, Guatemala)
• Prof. Timothy W. Pugh (Queens College and The Graduate Center/CUNY, US)
• Prof. Takeshi Inomata (University of Arizona, US)
• Prof. Daniela Triadan (University of Arizona, US)
• Prof. Guy David Hepp, Ph.D. (California State University, San Bernardino, US)
• Prof. Robert M. Rosenswig (University at Albany, US)

Financing

Gutenberg Research College of the JGU

Since 2008, the Prehistory and Early History working group has been involved in a joint project between LEIZA, hessenARCHÄOLOGIE and the city of Hofheim to research the Kapellenberg hilltop settlement near Hofheim with almost annual excavation internships. This is a hilltop settlement of the Michelsberg culture (4300-3500 BCE), surrounded by a rampart that is still very well preserved in parts.

Small sections of the extensive, now wooded, settlement area (40 ha) have been and are being successively investigated. In the first few years, the focus was on the ramparts; since 2013, small sections of the inner settlement area have been excavated, and since 2023, a presumed large burial mound located in the center of the complex.

Since 2024, the investigations have also included the area of the present-day municipality of Hattersheim, where settlement remains from the Michelsberg culture have been repeatedly discovered during construction work since the 1990s. There are increasing instructions that the two sites, which are only about 5 km apart, were connected. Hattersheim also has the advantage that botanical remains and faunal remains are much better preserved here, as are human skeletal remains.
The project is part of the research field “Interactions between humans and environments” at the Leibniz Centre for Archaeology (LEIZA).
https://www.leiza.de/forschung/forschungsfelder/wechselwirkungen-zwischen-menschen-und-umwelten/agglomerationen-und-siedlungsraeume/projekt/der-kapellenberg-ein-pompeji-der-steinzeit-im-rhein-main-gebiet

Excavation internships take place annually in the summer semester, and day excursions to the Kapellenberg and the Hofheim City Museum are also offered every six months.

An archaeological circular trail with information boards has been institutionalized since 2021: https://www.hofheim.de/kultur-sport-und-tourismus/tourismus/aktivitaeten-in-hofheim/ausflugsziele/

Employees

Project manager and contact: Prof. Dr. Detlef Gronenborn (LEIZA; JGU)

Excavation management and surveying: Ferenc Kántor M.A. (hessenARCHÄOLOGIE)

GIS and surveying: Dipl.-Ing. Anja Cramer (LEIZA)

Archaeobotanical analyses: Prof. Dr. Maria Ivanova-Bieg (JGU)

Faunal remains: Dr. Stefan Wenzel (LEIZA)

Anthropological investigations: Dr. Jörg Orschiedt (Landesdenkmalamt Sachsen-Anhalt, Halle)

Genetics: Dr. Wolfgang Haak (MPI Leipzig)

Soil Science: Prof. em. Dr. Heinrich Thiemeyer (Goethe University, Frankfurt)

Communities in peripheral areas of cultural influence in the Bronze Age were very probably less strongly integrated into defining social or political groups from the core area of cultural phenomena. This has an impact on aspects of social life, be it integration into networks or social and economic strategies. In many regions, however, little research has been conducted into these relationships. The project therefore aims to evaluate the settlement and economic practices of supra-regional communities on the fringes of cultural spheres of influence in the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1100 to 730 BC). The aim is to clarify how they were integrated into pan-European transportation routes and trade routes. Important questions are: Are there significant differences in settlement organization between core zones and peripheral areas of archaeologically classified cultural units? How do these differences manifest themselves concretely in features and finds? The north of the state of Brandenburg was chosen as the primary area of investigation, as it is located in the area of tension between two large cultural spheres of influence. At the same time, comparatively little information is available from this area about the transition from the 2nd to the 1st millennium BC. The excavations at the Lanke site in the Barnim district are a central part of the project to answer these research questions. An analysis of the settlement and organizational structure as well as the resource use and administration of this community promises a deep insight into the contact networks of the Late Bronze Age.

Employees

Dr. Bianka Nessel (project manager)

Chiara Mägerlein

Cooperations

Brandenburg State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments and Archaeological State Museum (BLDAM)

Financing

1. the Ministry of Science, Research and Culture of the State of Brandenburg (MWFK Brandenburg)

2. core research area “40.00 years of human challenges” at JGU

3rd Association for the Promotion of Pre- and Early Historical Archaeology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz e.V.

The Neumark-Nord project is investigating the survival strategies of Neanderthals during the interglacial period on the basis of a unique site in Saxony-Anhalt. Under the direction of Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser and Lutz Kindler, in cooperation with the State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments Saxony-Anhalt and the University of Leiden, the project is investigating how early humans shaped their environment. The exceptionally well-preserved interglacial deposits in Neumark-Nord provide high-resolution and precisely datable archives of human activity. By examining these materials, we will explore how Neanderthals actively modified their ecosystems to meet their specific needs. This diachronic “deep history” perspective provides valuable insights into the early stages of human impact on the environment – particularly relevant today, when almost all ecosystems show clear anthropogenic influences.

Employees

Prof. Dr. Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser (project manager)

Dr. Lutz Kindler (project manager)

Our research examines the fundamental role of hunger as a driver of human behavior in Prehistory. While humans exhibit conservative dietary patterns due to basic biological needs, food procurement and consumption goes far beyond mere energy supply and forms an essential part of social and cultural life. As omnivores, humans show a remarkable adaptability in the use of different plant and animal resources in different habitats. Our research particularly investigates the important role of animal resources in human evolution. Through complementary projects in Melka Kunture, Ethiopia, led by Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser and Lutz Kindler in collaboration with international partners, we are investigating early human food selection, procurement, processing and stockpiling, and the associated technologies and land use systems. The project focuses on understanding how early hominins adapted their subsistence strategies to the changing biotopes at the headwaters of the Awash during the Old and Middle Pleistocene. This research contributes to our long-term goal of developing a holistic understanding of the Stone Age diet from the first humans to the last hunter-gatherers and exploring how humans became the dominant species in the food web.

Employees

Prof. Dr. Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser (project manager)

Dr. Lutz Kindler (project manager)

Our research investigates how rules and sets of rules serve as fundamental building blocks of complex social structures, with the Breitenbach site providing important insights into early human spatial organization. Led by Olaf Jöris, in collaboration with the State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments Saxony-Anhalt and the Institute of Geography at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, this project explores how early hunter-gatherer societies developed and implemented social rules. Modern human communities are based on complex systems of rules that shape social environments, with internal dynamics being determined more by social rules than by external factors. These systems help to locate individuals in communities and create both individual and group identities. Archaeological evidence shows that the complexity of such rules varied across time and space. Our research at Breitenbach focuses on understanding how spatial and social organization interacted in Aurignacian societies and examines the evolutionary benefits of establishing rule systems and their associated social structures. This provides important insights into how early rules and frameworks extended into all areas of human life.

Employees

Dr. Olaf Jöris (project manager)