Scales of Abstraction: The Kiel Conceptual Approach from Heterogeneous Data to Interpretations

Abstract

The identification of individual palaeoecological and societal aspects allows the comparison of transformation processes across completely different ecological and historic situations. This basic concept proves, on the one hand, the comparability of transformation processes and the parameters involved in them, and shows on the other hand how diverse the appearance and expression of transformation can be. The investigation of transformations occurring across 15,000 years of human and environmental history is a complex undertaking and involves the consideration of archives of varying accessibility, handled by different disciplines using different analyses and approaches. This chapter demonstrates one approach used by Kiel Archaeology to integrate this heterogeneity in order to answer common research questions.