CRC 1266 Clusters & Projects

The CRC 1266 aims to study transformations, including crisis and collapse, on different scales and dimensions, and as involving different types of groups, societies, and social formations. The temporal frame accordingly spans the time between 15,000 and 1 BCE, a timeframe chosen because it starts with those complex hunter-gatherer societies, in which social transformations are detectable using archaeological sources. The span extends to the first literate and state societies, where transformations may have been reflected upon and processed in a more complex way and can be studied through additional means, including contemporary texts. This approach aims at a better understanding of the connection between patterns of social relations, culture, and economy on the one hand, and of climate, geosphere, and biosphere on the other hand, to reveal as a result the dynamics of human-environmental interaction. The focus will be on the components, triggers, and the development of transformations, as well as related reactions and coping mechanisms.

In the CRC, the combination of intensive comparative work on case studies (Clusters B–E), diachronic work on parameters (Cluster F) with broad theoretical discussions and targeted model development (Cluster A) and with cutting-edge method development in dating and sub-surface prospection (Cluster G) will enable true interdisciplinarity.

Cluster A: Theory and Modelling
       Projects: A1   A2

Cluster B: Complex Foragers
       Projects: B1   B2

Cluster C: Horticulturalists
       Projects: C1   C2

Cluster D: Agriculturalists and First Metallurgists
       Projects: D1   D2   D3

Cluster E: Pre-State and State Societies
       Projects: E1   E3   E4

Cluster F: Socio-Environmental Components of Change
       Projects: F1   F2   F3   F4   F5   F6

Cluster G: Setting the Frame
       Projects: G1   G2

Cluster Z: Centralised tasks