Analysis of life conditions, settlement dynamics and human nutrition in medieval rural Brandenburg settlements

• Applicant: Dr. Susanne Jahns
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: from 2008 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 111676444

The project aims at the investigation of the life conditions in late medieval settlements lo-cated in the Brandenburg brown coal pit mining area and the location of the Berlin Schöne-feld airport, respectively.The scientific results will be part of a comprehensive evaluation in connection with the re-search done in these places by an archaeological project The late medieval land consolida-tion and the development of rural settlements in Brandenburg GZ: SCHO 838/5-1, 2).We expect a detailed analysis and description of regional attributes and characteristics. In addition the project will aim at a solid contribution to the historical environmental research in Germany and Central Europe through supra regional comparisons.In particular pollen analysis will be used to get insight into vegetation and settlement dynam-ics and the evaluation of botanical and zoological finds will be used to get more information on nutrition and economy. Health, origin and structure of the population will be investigated by applying anthropological methods. The results will be folded into the historical context. Geoarchaeological investigation of earth and relief developments as well as the analysis of the hydrologic and element budget in dependence of the climate conditions and landscape management provides an important contribution to the overall rural life conditions in middle ages.Final result of the overall investigation will be the reconstruction of medieval rural life based on a unique database compiled by applying interdisciplinary methods.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Persons: Dr. Susanne Hanik; Professor Dr. Franz Schopper