Prof. Dr. Thomas Meier
Professor of Archeology at the Institute for Prehistoric and Early History and Near Eastern Archaeology at Heidelberg University, HCE member since 2011.
Since its beginnings, humanity has been deeply entangled with its environment – human beings live in a close assemblage of non-human beings, places, practices, and knowledges that co-constitute each other. However, these assemblages have changed over time and in space. The world in which we assume to live is product and transitional stage of these historical processes, which are at the center of a historical perspective on the world. Understanding these processes helps us to also see the world of today as having become and therefore as being changeable in the future.
Why I joined the HCE
I joined HCE in 2011 as one of its founding members. I did so because on the one hand I hoped for a broad network for palaeoenvironmental research. On the other hand I was convinced that interdisciplinary environmental research requires the multiple perspectives of the humanities as well.
My highlights so far
I've served on HCE's board of directors from 2011 onward and acted as Managing Director from 2017 to 2020. During these years it was a wonderful and enriching experience to foster and shape a growing community of academics from all angles of the university. It opened my eyes for the petty differences (and similarities) of disciplinary cultures and the realities of interdisciplinary collaboration in a huge academic institution. Over 10 years I acted as one of the editors of the monumental collected volume “Umwelt interdisziplinär. Grundlagen - Konzepte - Handlungsfelder” (to appear in 2025), which is a kind of quintessence of HCE's interdisciplinary enterprise.
My key partners
I especially benefited from colleagues interested in the palaeoclimate of the holocene. Complementarily, I strive to introduce my historical perspective to their research as well.