Overall project meeting SUBNORDICA at NIhK

At the end of January, the NIhK hosted the second major meeting of all participants in the ERC-SyG project SUBNORDICA. Thirty-five scientists from Great Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, and Germany gathered in Wilhelmshaven for three days. On the first day, the impressive view from the Wadden Sea Visitor Center across the wintry Jade Bay provided the backdrop for the project reports, in which the partners updated each other on their progress. New discoveries of archaeological sites in the British and Belgian parts of the North Sea, diver-operated sampling systems in the Baltic Sea, and models of landscape use by Stone Age hunter-gatherer groups illustrated the broad, interdisciplinary scope of the project.

The second day was dedicated to intensive collaboration in small working groups and workshops at the NIhK. Discussions included joint research cruises, data transfer issues, and planned publications. The meeting concluded on the third day with a joint excursion to the archaeological monuments of the Wildeshausen Geest. This provided ample opportunity for in-depth individual discussions before the researchers departed for home, enriched by numerous new ideas and impressions. There was unanimous agreement that personal meetings like this one – despite all modern communication technologies – make a crucial contribution to the success of a major project like SUBNORDICA.