DFG Research Unit 2358

Within our Research Unit - The Mountain Exile Hypothesis – we are working on a new perception of the Alpine Anthropocene. With our interdisciplinary approach for the reconstruction of Quaternary abiotic, biotic and cultural changes in the African model highland environments of southern Ethiopia we tackle three overarching questions of environmental research:

1) Since when did humans as the ‘fire species’ shape their environment?
2) Does evidence for human presence directly imply a human footprint?
3) Can ‘push or pull’ explain why early humans migrated and intruded into the detrimental conditions of high altitudes?