Innovations (Topoi A-II)

Research group A-II was dedicated to the interplay between technological and social changes and the dynamics of human-environment interaction. The focus of research was on the genesis of spatially oriented and spatially effective innovations (ceramic production, animal domestication, wagons and draft, animals, early herding, mounted nomadism) and the mechanisms of their spread. Spatial and social mobility as a consequence of certain innovations, on the one hand, and as a condition for the dissemination of innovations, on the other hand, has been the central aspect analyzed. Furthermore, the broad impacts of innovations on demographic, social, economical, climatic and spatial parameters has been investigated in different projects and sites in the Eurasian Steppe and in Central Asia.