Kiel archaeologist receives prestigious Shanghai Archaeology Award

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Prof. Dr Johannes Müller | Quelle: Sara Jagiolla | Copyright: Uni Kiel | Download

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Reconstruction drawing of the mega site of Maidanetske in what is now central Ukraine in the early 4th millennium BCE. From 4100 BCE, members of the so-called Tripolye communities lived together in large settlements with several thousand inhabitants. | Quelle: Susanne Beyer | Copyright: Uni Kiel | Download

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The Shanghai Archaeology Forum (SAF) has presented Johannes Müller, Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at Kiel University, with one of the prestigious "Shanghai Archaeology Awards" in the "Field Discovery" category for his research into the oldest urban structures in Europe. The excavations and analyses honoured with this award were primarily carried out as part of the Kiel Collaborative Research Centre 1266 "Scales of Transformation" and the Kiel Cluster of Excellence ROOTS, of which Johannes Müller is the speaker. "The Shanghai Archaeology Forum is an internationally renowned platform for innovative research on the human past. Receiving an award here is a great honour for our interdisciplinary team," says Johannes Müller. The official award ceremony will take place today in Shanghai.

Second SAF Award for Johannes Müller

In a multi-stage process, the international members of the Forum selected ten award winners in the "Research" category and ten in the "Field Discovery" category from 131 nominations. 55 Forum members from 32 countries were involved in the last selection cycle.

Johannes Müller had already received an SAF Award in 2019, then in the "Research" category for research into early monumentality in the Neolithic. This makes Johannes Müller the second scientist after the well-known British archaeologist, Colin Renfrew, to receive two SAF Awards.

Settlements with several thousand houses as early as 6000 years ago

The Kiel scientist has been studying large settlements of the so-called Cucuteni-Tripolye culture for more than ten years. From 4100 BCE, the settlements emerged in the area of the central Ukrainian forest steppe. Some had an area of up to 3.2 square kilometers and consisted of up to 2800 houses at the same time. "How did this come about? How did people secure their existence back then? Which political institutions can be reconstructed? Why did the large settlements disappear again around 3500 BCE? These are the questions that concern us in the SFB1266 and the ROOTS Cluster of Excellence," explains Johannes Müller.

Many disciplines are involved in the scientific success

In order to answer these questions, the Kiel researchers, together with the Institute of Archaeology of the Kiev Academy of Sciences, the Borys Grinchenko University of Kiev, the National Museum Chişinău (Republic of Moldova), the Moldovan State University Chişinău, the Legedzine Museum and the Romano-Germanic Commission of the German Archaeological Institute, have geomagnetically prospected 39 sites and carried out excavations at 18 sites.

"The combination of the latest prospection and excavation methods with innovative scientific analysis technologies has led to truly ground-breaking results. They contribute to a deep understanding of these fascinating prehistoric societies and their relationship to the environment," emphasises Johannes Müller. "This is where the innovative power of Kiel's joint environmental and social archaeological research has been and continues to be expressed."

Unfortunately, the Russian government's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine since 2022 has made the work considerably more difficult. "The SAF Award is therefore a further encouragement to maintain and deepen the good relations with our Ukrainian partners even in times of crisis, just as we did in the summer of 2022 with an additional partnership agreement," says Johannes Müller.

Wissenschaftlicher Ansprechpartner:
Prof. Dr Johannes Müller
Institute for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology of Kiel University
Tel.: +49 431 880-3391
johannes.mueller@ufg.uni-kiel.de

Weitere Informationen:
http://www.cluster-roots.org The Cluster of Excellence “ROOTS – Social, Environmental, and Cultural Connectivity in Past Societies”
https://www.sfb1266.uni-kiel.de/de The Collaborative Research Center 1266 “Scales of Transformation - Human-Environmental Interaction in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies”
http://shanghai-archaeology-forum.org/ The international Shanghai Archaeology Forum