About

At best, we let our coordinators explain what Groundcheck is…

Ferran, what is Groundcheck and why is it important?

Groundcheck is one of nine research clusters of the German Archaeological Institute. Research clusters were implemented in order to foster scientific exchange between the many projects that our institute runs all around the globe. The resulting synergies generate knowledge beyond the locality of the case studies. This is, after all, one of the big goals of Archaeology. Groundcheck, as a cluster, incentivises our researchers to focus on climate change and its effects both on past societies and also currently on our cultural heritage. All of the projects supported by Groundcheck have an interdisciplinary nature and thus strengthen the collaboration with dozens of institutions worldwide. Only through this cooperation can complex human-environmental relationships be described in a historically long-term perspective and the data made usable for global future prognoses: Our ultimate goal is to protect cultural heritage and to provide useful knowledge from the past to understand current climate change and its manifold consequences.

Ingo, you have been doing research on palaeoclimate in several institutions around the world. Is there still a lot to investigate regarding climate change in the past? And how is Groundcheck going to make a difference?

Yes, it is true that in the past decades palaeoclimatology has already answered many big questions, especially on a global scale. However, in many parts of the world it is not really known how global change has and will affect regional climate conditions. Furthermore, there are still important climate dynamics we still discover with the aid of palaeoclimatology which help us to better understand the complex processes of human-induced climate change. We already know for sure that climate change has severe and to some extent irreversible consequences on our world heritage, and the German Archaeological Institute wants to minimize the impending heritage loss by investigating how to predict and prevent the effects of climate change on world heritage, regardless of how incommensurable it may sound.

Within Groundcheck, palaeoclimate research is making good use of already existing data and samples, of which the DAI holds large quantities in archives. Some of the samples are quite unique and going back to the early 19th century, as a result of DAI´s very long research tradition. Our Groundcheck teams are now revisiting some of the collections and apply new analysis techniques, in order to find additional hints about the past, almost like in a cold case department of the police. The new local and regional data can be combined with social and cultural dynamics of earlier societies to create models describing the impact of global climate change on past societies.

And, to both of you, how does Groundcheck contribute to these important questions? Are money and efforts well invested and reviewed?

The research program Groundcheck has been designed to tackle this twofold challenge of investigating past climate and societal dynamics as a tool for future opportunities, as well as supporting research on heritage protection while facing current climate change at the same time. We recommend to you: have a look at the many projects that are being conducted with Groundcheck funding. Groundcheck focuses on the effects of global climate change on cultural heritage, for example through its research on changes in coastlines, thawing permafrost soils and the increasing aridification of landscapes. In cooperation with the Archaeological Heritage Network, concrete measures for the protection and preservation of monuments are being developed.

Groundcheck is made possible thanks to the specific funding of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the German Government. Projects are funded on a yearly basis and their outputs reviewed at conferences and through publications on a scientific level and exhibitions for the public are being planned. Stay tuned!