Abstract:

People and spaces have always been connected by routes: paths, trails, roads – on land, on water and sometimes even through the air, over hill and dale as well as over wooden planks, pavement and asphalt. Humans and animals followed them. The routes directed the circulation of raw materials and goods. They determined the paths on which humans fled from misery and danger, and they constituted the physical and imagined veins of networks between communities. All these cultural and biological connectivities are the building blocks of reshaping past (and present) societies.

In this booklet – the second in the booklet series of the Cluster of Excellence ROOTS at Kiel University – we uncover the roots of these routes: From the earliest stages of the Stone Age to the present day, there have been well-defined routes, which enabled the exchange of things, practices and knowledge between people. Many of these ancient routes are not only still visible today, but even continue to operate: from the Silk Roads spanning the continents to the local routes of the Ox Trail in Schleswig-Holstein, from the waterways of Mesopotamia and the river worlds of the forest zone to the spiritual routes of philosophical contemplation. Moreover, isolation and disruptions of formerly established routes, for example in the Viking diaspora, have also proven to be directional for cultural developments. In a kaleidoscope of perspectives, the roles of landscape and climate are examined. Special attention is given to those routes along which objects, rituals, and therefore also cultural practices were transported. Religious rituals, knowledge, even philosophical insights are shown to have their roots in movement along routes.

These and the many other topics in this booklet illustrate to what extent the development of human societies is determined by the routes through which they are connected – or not connected. Modern narratives of a limitless, openly accessible world, grounded in an urban-industrialised experience (or agenda), can get cracks if we look deep enough into the past. It is the paths, the very concrete connections in a material as well as a spiritual sense that influence human lives, their existence and their development. Communication and dialogue along the routes and networks must be maintained, as they were and are the guarantors for a good coexistence of humans in this world.

Also available in German here.

Contents

Preface: Perspectives on Past Routes, Networks and Society in Challenging Times
Johannes Müller

Chapter 1: The ROOTS of Routes – Framing Connections in (Pre-)History

Introduction: A Deep History of Routes Connecting People, Places, and Ideas
Henny Piezonka, Lutz Käppel, Andrea Ricci

Globalisation? What Globalisation?
Tim Kerig

Chapter 2: How to Choose a Route?

Routes in the Landscape – Ecological and Social Conditions for the Exchange of Goods, Ideas and People in the Past
Walter Dörfler

Entangled Mobilities – The Interconnection of Human Routes and Animal Movement
Henny Piezonka and Karolina Varkuleviciute

Climate Refugees
Mara Weinelt

Chapter 3: How Far Back Do Our Routes Go?

Sunken Pathways in the North Sea – Tracking Late Palaeolithic Reindeer Hunters off the Coast of Heligoland
Berit Valentin Eriksen and Wolfgang Rabbel

Rooting the Silk Road
Johanna Hilpert and Jutta Kneisel

On the Road Again: Travelling through Jutland – The Ox Trail, a Millennia-old Road
Jutta Kneisel, Bente Majchczack, Franziska Engelbogen, Anna K. Loy, Oliver Nakoinz

Walking on Ancient Paths – Are We Still Using Celtic Trails?
Franziska Engelbogen

Connection Breakdown – Three Vikings Abroad
Jens Schneeweiß and Henny Piezonka

Chapter 4: Routes of Things and Technologies

Cattle and Wagons – The First “Wild West” in Europe? The Wheel Innovation in the Baltic-Pontic Region 3500-2500 BCE
Johannes Müller

Trackways across the Bog
Jan-Piet Brozio

The Road to Riches – Amber Routes in Bronze Age Europe
Benjamin Serbe and Khurram Saleem

Analysing Amber
Khurram Saleem and Benjamin Serbe

The Power of Water – Water Connectivities in Mesopotamia
Andrea Ricci

How Did Buddha Come to Sweden?
Jens Schneeweiß

Chapter 5: Routes of Rituals and Knowledge

At the End of the Road – What Graves Tell Us about Networks and Contacts in Prehistory
Fynn Wilkes and Henry Skorna

Mermaids, Faces, Houses and Birds – Symbols of Connectivity
Jutta Kneisel

Theoria – The Pilgrimage to the Sanctuary as a Journey to Knowledge or What the Modern Concept of “Theory” Has to Do with a Religious Practice in Ancient Greece
Lutz Käppel

Pathways between the Worlds – The Sacred Ecology of River Routes
Henny Piezonka

Chapter 6: Conclusion

Along the Way – A Look Back Ahead
Lutz Käppel, Henny Piezonka, Andrea Ricci

Map of the Topics
Contributors
For further reading
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