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Staff profile

Overview

Ms Deborah Priß

Early Stage Researcher (Marie Skłodowska-Curie ITN)

BA MSc

Affiliations
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Early Stage Researcher (Marie Skłodowska-Curie ITN) in the Department of Geography  

Biography

I am a geoarchaeologist from Germany with a special interest in human-environment-interactions. I began my undergraduate studies at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, where I focused on Prehistory and Ancient History as well as Archaeometry, with emphasis on Geoarchaeology, Geography, Earth Science and Archaeometallurgy. This led to an undergraduate thesis with a geoarchaeological topic, the development of the Great Maeander, Turkey, and what impact its progradation had on the ancient cities on its shores, with a focus on Miletus.

I did my Master's degree in Geoarchaeology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. There, I was able to expand my knowledge and skills, especially in Geography and Earth Science. In my Master's thesis, I investigated a dyke previously interpreted as being medieval for the project "Land unter?". The aim was to determine its structure and date using historical sources and scientific methods.

Current Research

I am particularly interested in the connection between Archaeology and Earth Sciences, especially concerning the interactions between past societies and their environments. I think an interdisciplinary approach is essential not only for archaeological or environmental research, but for all fields of scientific research.

At the moment, I am doing my PhD as Early Stage Researcher in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network (ITN) "i-CONN" together with 14 other Early Stage researchers all over Europe. The network aims to develop new approaches in the field of Connectivity Science through an international and interdisciplinary research team.

My project is concerned with the significance of networks for past socities. The aim is to investigate route systems in Mesopotamia and Turkey with computational methods including social network analysis and agent-based modelling. With this approach I want to evaluate how the connectivity manifested in route networks influenced the resilience of societies to external or internal disturbances.

Research interests

  • Social Network Analysis
  • Computational Archaeology
  • Networks of Movement
  • Geoarchaeology
  • Landscape archaeology
  • Human-environment interactions
  • Agent-based modelling

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