Logo Universität Bayreuth

University of Bayreuth, Press release no. 078/2024 from 31.07.2024

Half a million euros for research project at the University of Bayreuth

Researchers at the University of Bayreuth want to bring documents and sediments together: “X-Archives. Methodological bridges between geomorphology and historiography” is the name of the project, which the Volkswagen Foundation is funding with 538,400 euros starting in the fall.

The archive of historical science: Title page of a pre-modern file from the Bamberg State Archives (on mines and hammer estates in Upper Franconia).

What for? 

Geomorphology is the study of the shapes of the earth's surface and the processes that create and change these shapes. It is therefore concerned with how mountains, valleys, rivers and other landscape forms are created and develop over time. Historical science analyzes historical events, developments, people and cultures in order to understand how they influence the present and what significance they may have for the future. Historians use various sources such as documents, artifacts and oral traditions to reconstruct as accurate a picture of the past as possible. Both disciplines differ fundamentally in their working methods, thinking style, academic socialization and publication structure. The aim is to reduce barriers in communication between the disciplines through the joint processing of geomorphological and historical archives and to coordinate methodological approaches at an early stage.

Prof. Dr. Martin Ott, Director of the Institute for Franconian Regional History at the Universities of Bamberg and Bayreuth, Prof. Dr. Oliver Sass, Chair of Geomorphology at the University of Bayreuth, and Prof. Dr. Astrid Swenson, Chair of European Historical Cultures at the University of Bayreuth, will benefit from the “Pioneering Projects” funding line. The three want to create a “translation code” between historical and geoscientific research questions, archives, methods and findings. Data from history and earth sciences are to be brought together and prepared in a database in such a way that they can be understood by both disciplines.

The test area is the upper catchment area of the River Eger in north-eastern Bavaria. This region is well suited because there are two types of “traces” of human activity: historical sources and evidence of geomorphological processes in river valleys. Historical sources are primarily texts in archives that provide information about how many people lived there at what time and under what conditions, but also how they affected the environment. In the floodplains, sediment deposits have also created “archives” that provide evidence of human presence and activities. “Our great challenge is to link the information from both 'archives',” says Ott: ‘If, for example, we were to find out how an increasing population - as documented in historical archives - affects the sediment deposits, the river ’archives' could also be used to determine the population size for periods for which historical sources are missing. Conversely, it would be possible to determine what traces changing environmental conditions such as floods or climate change leave behind in historical sources.” Swenson adds: “By interlinking our research, we want to significantly increase the attitude towards our own material and the knowledge gained for both disciplines and the environmental sciences in a broader sense.” This is not just about making the results of the other discipline usable for one's own research interests. Sass explains: “This is about interweaving the actual work from the start of the project, in other words a ‘ping-pong game’ between the disciplines.”

The Eger spring in the Fichtelgebirge.

The archive of geomorphology: A sediment profile from the Eger river system in Upper Franconia.

About the Volkswagen Foundation's “Pioneering Projects - Explorations of the Unknown Unknown” program: The projects have the chance to achieve major breakthroughs in basic research - or to miss their targets. The option of failure can also be explicitly taken into account, as this is the only way to take the corresponding risks and, in the event of success, there is great potential for knowledge.

Foto von Prof. Dr. Martin Ott

Prof. Dr. Martin OttInstitute for Franconian Regional History

Phone: +49 (0)921 / 55-4235,
              +49 (0)9228 / 99605-16 (Secretariat)
E-mail: martin.ott@uni-bayreuth.de

Campus Office University of Bayreuth:
Room 2.10, Building Geisteswissenschaft II (GW II)
Universitätsstraße 30,95447 Bayreuth

Thurnau Castle (seat of the Institute for Franconian Regional History)

Foto von Prof. Dr. Astrid Swenson

Prof. Dr. Astrid Swenson

Chair of European Historical Cultures

Tel.: +49 (0)9228 / 99 605 – 45
Mail: astrid.swenson@uni-bayreuth.de

Foto von Prof. Dr. Oliver Sass

Prof. Dr. Oliver Sass

Chair of Geomorphology

Phone: +49 (0)921 / 55-2265
Mail: oliver.sass@uni-bayreuth.de

Portraitbild von Anja Maria Meister

Anja-Maria Meister

PR Spokesperson University of Bayreuth

Phone: +49 (0) 921  55 - 5300
E-mail: anja.meister@uni-bayreuth.de