Prehistoric demography, social transformations and woodland in Central Europe

Abstract

Recent developments in science, such as the emergence of big data, advancements in computation possibilities and an effective shift towards interdisciplinarity, or even transdisciplinarity, significantly transformed the current research practice. Nowadays, we can ask ourselves much more complex questions but what is more important, we can answer them. In my paper I will demonstrate how modelling approaches and the combination of big data from archaeology, palaeoecology and vegetation ecology can answer questions on settlement dynamics and its relation to prehistoric forests, how prehistoric human activities are or are not documented by pollen indicators and how the present plant biodiversity is rooted in the settlement patterns of prehistoric farmers.

UCL Institute of Archaeology Research Seminars Programme | Term I, 2023-24

The Term I seminar series will again highlight current Institute of Archaeology research. These are scheduled to be in-person events; where speakers have agreed, a recording may be made available afterwards.

Mondays, 5pm 

• 9 October: Victoria Lucas (Archaeological Sciences): "Everything Old is New Again" early medieval glass recycling: technology, change, and resourcefulness
• 16 October: Jan Kolar (Archaeological Sciences): Prehistoric demography, social transformations and woodland in Central Europe - this seminar will take place in Room 609 (Staff & Research Student Common Room)
• 23 October: Giacomo Fontana (World Archaeology): Computational and landscape approaches to non-urban political centralisation in the 1st millennium BCE Mediterranean: the Samnites 
• 30 October: Ulrike Sommer (World Archaeology): Varna, Bodrogkeresztúr and the development of formal cemeteries in the Carpathian Basin

[6 November: Reading Week - no seminar]

• 13 November: Johanna Zetterstrom Sharp (Heritage Studies): Mid-century Museum ‘Best’ Practice and Self-Defined Anti-Racism
• 20 November: Cristina Castillo & Dorian Fuller (Archaeological Sciences): Evolutionary Dynamics of Enset Vegeculture in Ethiopia
• 27 November: Rafie Cecilia & Theano Moussouri (Heritage Studies): Inclusive Digital Museum Innovation 
• 4 December: Veronica Occari (Archaeological Sciences/World Archaeology): The Technology of Medieval Venetian Glass and the Levantine Connection 
• 11 December: Rodney Harrison (Heritage Studies): Ghosts of Solid Air: Using Augmented Reality to Engage with Debates Regarding Contested Monuments in London