Context

PCL at the Archaeologists Congress in Hamburg, Germany

From May 20^th through 24^th, Hamburg hosted the 4^th German Archaeologists Congress. This large convention, which occurs every four years, offered the ideal platform to present our project to a larger professional audience. It was very fitting that our partner projects from Northern Germany and the EU-project Lancewad were presented in the same session. Representing the "Pathways to Cultural Landscapes" Project were Rüdiger Kelm, project coordinator of the partner project in Albersdorf and Gerhard Ermischer, head of the Archaeological Spessart Project and PCL's chairman.

Lancewad dedicated its presentation to the mud flats of the Wadden Sea in Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. The Project is funded within the European Union's Interreg-Program and upholds close ties with the German partner project. While Lancewad focuses on the marshlands in Dithmarschen, the Albersdorf project studies the succeeding "Geest" landscapes further inland, which have until now received very little scientific attention. Since Lancewad already established many GIS applications, the experience concerning methods and systems could be directly applied in the partner project. Some colleagues from Lancewad are even directly involved in the Albersdorf project. Thus a high level of continuity was achieved and numerous synergetic effects could be fully exploited. In this case, the interaction caused from one project "meddling" in another brings both projects considerably ahead. This was well shown in the succeeding presentations of the two project presentations.

Beside the lecture on the PCL project, a poster presentation and passing out leaflets in Hamburg brought extra publicity and awareness for Archaeological Ecological Centre (Archäologisch-Ökologische Zentrum - AÖZA), carrier of the project in Albersdorf, the Archaeological Spessart Project as the second German partner and the entire PCL project as a whole. Because of the important role of the AÖZA as a main contract partner and the proximity of the conference centre to Albersdorf, an excursion was undertaken to the centre. Here, the conference participants were given direct insight into the project work.

With the help of the two German partners, it was possible for the "Pathways to Cultural Landscapes" Project to present itself in its complex diversity to a large professional audience, and to gain much attention in its entirety and in particular for its German partner projects.

Impressions