The Exception to the Rule or the Exception That Proves the Rule?

International Workshop

March 19th-22nd, 2015, DAI and FU Berlin, Germany

(Quelle: Dominic Hosner)

An international and interdisciplinary workshop sponsored by the Volkswagen, Mellon, and Wenner Gren Foundations was held on the 19th-22nd of March, 2015 in Berlin. Thirty top scholars and PhD students from Germany, the USA, the UK, China, Russia, France, Greece, and Lithuania came together to present novel research and discuss the origins and spread of agriculture (and possible environmental and social feedbacks) across a vast geographic region spanning Eurasia from Ukraine to China and from southern Russia to northern India and Iran. The funds provided by Wenner Gren allowed for the workshop to have an international voice and representatives from all disparate corners of the great Silk Road were present. On behalf of the organizers, we wish to extend our gratitude to all of the participants for presentations and insightful contributions. We have heard lots of positive feedback and it is clear that the results of this meeting will continue to impact the field for a long time down the road. Many academic contacts were forged and ideas were developed, thanks to all contributions.

Dr. Robert N. Spengler III
Volkswagen Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the DAI and FU Berlin
Anthropology Department CB 1114 Washington University in St. Louis
One Brookings Dr.
St. Louis, M.O. 63130, USA
rnspengl@wustl.edu

Prof. Dr. Mayke Wagner
German Archaeological Institute,
Branch Office of the Eurasia Department in Beijing,
Im Dol 2-6 Haus 2, 14195 Berlin, GERMANY
mayke.wagner@dainst.de

Prof. Dr. Pavel E. Tarasov
Institute of Geological Sciences,
Free University of Berlin,
12249 Berlin, GERMANY
ptarasov@zedat.fu-berlin.de