The town of Carife is located in Irpinia, inland Campania, in southern Italy. For at least three millennia, the life of the region has been characterised by transhumance, a form of mobile pastoralism. Shepherds and flocks move along the drover's roads, which connect the mountains, where the animals graze during the hot and dry summer, with the plains, in the snowy winter. The sub-project B04 of the Collaborative Research Centre 1070 at the University of Tübingen is investigating how transhumance shaped the life of Iron Age settlements in ancient Irpinia. The interview with the ancient historian and former mayor of Carife, Dr. Raffaele Loffa, reveals diverse and unexpected effects of contemporary transhumance on the relationship between humans, animals and the environment. His words open up new perspectives for the interpretation of the ancient transhumance culture of this region.

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"The Vikings" - they are omnipresent these days. Through various media, an iconic picture, which is not only based on scientific research but also originates from pop culture, is created and propagated. However, these representations tell us much more about our own images of history than about the historical life in the Viking Age. The majority of Viking Age people probably lived and worked on land in small settlements and only a few will have gone to sea as warriors, adventurers or plunderers.
Researchers of the SFB 1070 ResourceCultures are dedicated to this everyday life in rural settlements. With this film, they not only want to direct the perspective on an often forgotten aspect of Viking Age everyday life, but also to give impressions of everyday archaeological working methods - beyond popular notions or excavations with public appeal.

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Halfway between what is today Tunisia and Italy, in the middle of the Strait of Sicily, the island of Pantelleria is situated. Carthage founded a colony here as early as the 8th century BC. During the 1st and 2nd Punic War between Rome and Carthage, Pantelleria was contested and was finally conquered by Rome. Within the framework of the subproject B 05 of the Tübingen Collaborative Research Centre 1070 ResourceCultures, the well-preserved archaeological findings on Pantelleria serve as a case study. They give an insight into the period of conflicts between Carthage and Rome for supremacy in the central Mediterranean area and into the complex dynamics of integration of Punic areas into the Roman Empire.

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The Swabian Alb is one of the most exciting landscape of castles in Germany: Nearly every mountain and a lot of valleys held a castle. These castles were of fundamental importance in the Middle Ages, especially for the gentry. The surrounding area was managed and shaped from here. Justice was dispensed here and meetings with peers took place. The wooden palisades or stone walls protected the noble families and served as starting point of military actions. In this film, the subproject B03 of the collaborative research centre 1070 of the University of Tübingen, presents its work about this exciting topic.

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Use and significance of Satsang of Shankaracharya in Govardhan Peetam of Puri

Religious speech is locally referred as 'satsang' in Puri and is regarded as a culture-specific effective practice to bring happiness, removing stress, providing mental peace and eradicating the conflict or violence among people. This science clip show cases the satsang programmes undertaken by the Shankaracharya of Govardhan Peetam, one of the oldest monasteries of Puri and its impact on the social life of devotees. The clip also helps to give a glimpse how the satsangs are transferred into different forms of media, such as, CDs, DVDs and books, as well as, how this contributes towards an establishment of teacher-student relationship and institution building.

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Ethnology students teach in the 10^th grade of a high school in Tübingen.
Topics are indigenous heritage, language, music, festivals and the question of how a World Heritage Site is created.

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In a commanding position the prehistoric settlement Mesa Redonda is located above the valley of Guadalquivir in southern Spain. Below stretches one of the most fertile agricultural landscapes of the Iberian Peninsula and in the hinterland, the mining region of the Sierra Morena.
Researchers of the SFB 1070, a collaborative research centre of the University of Tuebingen study the development of this settlement with a special focus on the use of a variety of resources amongst which the favourable strategic situation is not the least.

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Soil scientific studies about how soil developed into a resource of central importance for our understanding of history and present times: in which way does the soil of a landscape develop naturally and how does human interference change these processes?

Geo-scientific analyses allow insights into the former and recent ways of the use of soil.

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Historical knowledge may be used as an important resource for a society. Texts of the Greek authors Plato, Demosthenes and Lycurgus are analysed under this aspect. They offer insights into the use of knowledge about the past in order to develop new concepts of state and democracy.

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Since millennia precious stones from Iran were traded. They are a symbol for wealth and are said to enhance luck and health. In mountainous southern Iran green garnet is supplementing the economic basis for the local pastoralists. The stones are traded from the highlands to the country’s bazars and then are distributed world-wide.

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Date palms were grown for more than 4000 years in Jiroft in southern Iran. Up to the present day these trees are used for a multitude of products: mats and baskets made from the leaves, fences and huts using the trunks, inflorescences used as brooms, and, not least, fruits for consumption. The cultivation of date palms is a notable trait of continuity within the ever-changing cultures of southern Iran.

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In southern Italy, well protected on a hill, the ancient city of Compsa is situated. Since about 2500 years ago this place was favoured for settlement activities, as can be demonstrated by archaeological finds, such as pottery, burial grounds and a forum of Roman times. Only after the city was hit by the disastrous earthquake on November 23^rd 1980 the hill was abandoned and the inhabitants founded the new ‘Conza della Campania’ at its foot.

The ongoing excavations concentrate on the Samnite and Roman periods of the settlement. Step by step, the process of urbanisation in the region from the 6^th century BC until Roman times will be retraced.

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Archaeological research in Romania shed light on the beginning of agriculture with crop cultivation and animal husbandry in Europe, laying down the fundaments of our present way of life. Did social inequality start at this time as well?
 

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