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How did violent confrontations—and equally the measures taken to prevent or defuse them—shape interactions between humans and their environments over long timescales? This question lies at the heart of the international conference “Landscapes of Conflict: Archaeological Perspectives from Prehistory to the Middle Ages”, held from 26 to 28 November 2025 at the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (LEIZA) in Mainz, Germany.
Conflict has been a defining feature of human communities since their beginnings. Societies therefore began early on to develop institutions and normative frameworks intended to avoid disputes, mitigate tensions, or regulate confrontations. Displays of power have likewise long served as deterrence strategies. Yet when such mechanisms break down, the potential for escalation and violence becomes almost limitless.
“We deliberately aim to look beyond the tangible traces of open violence to examine the often more subtle strategies of conflict avoidance,” explains co-organizer Dr Thorsten Lemm of LEIZA in Schleswig, Germany. “While written sources document a wide range of conflicts, archaeological evidence for battlefields or mass graves is comparatively rare. What we do find, however, are numerous traces of boundary zones, fortifications, or ritually marked buffer areas—landscapes purposefully shaped by people as tools of de-escalation.” Measures for preventing or preparing for conflict, Lemm notes, are therefore often more clearly reflected in the material record than the conflicts themselves.
“Conflicts shape landscapes—and landscapes shape conflicts,” emphasizes co-organizer Univ.-Prof. Dr Dominik Maschek, head of the Roman Archaeology division at LEIZA. “To understand why certain regions repeatedly became sites of violent confrontation, we must consider not only discrete events but also the long-term spatial, social, and cultural processes at play. Our conference brings together researchers from diverse fields to explore these complex interrelationships.”
The symposium centers on fundamental questions, including the strategies past societies employed to de-escalate or prevent conflict. It also asks: How did people prepare for confrontations that seemed unavoidable, and what forms did violent encounters then take? How did strategies, organizational structures, and human behavior evolve over time? The 21 presentations span from the Neolithic to the High Middle Ages, with some excursions reaching into more recent periods. Geographically, the case studies range from England, Scandinavia, and the Baltic to the Mediterranean and the eastern Eurasian steppe.
“Our goal is to understand conflict as a key factor shaping human–environment relations,” Lemm concludes. “By examining the many dimensions in which conflict—and its regulation—imprints itself on landscapes, we gain deeper insight into historical dynamics and into mechanisms that continue to influence the world today.”
Univ.-Prof. Dr Dominik Maschek
Head of “Roman Archaeology”
Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (LEIZA)
Mainz, Germany
Phone: +49 (0)6131 8885-131 | Mail: dominik.maschek@leiza.de
Dr Thorsten Lemm
Research Associate
Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (LEIZA)
Schleswig, Germany
Phone: +49 (0)4621 813-385 | Mail: thorsten.lemm@leiza.de
https://www.leiza.de/kalender/details-veranstaltungen/tagung-landscapes-of-confl... (further information and full programme)
Built more than 850 years ago as a defensive barrier, the medieval Waldemar Wall within the main ram ...
Quelle: Tom Körber
Copyright: © Archäologisches Landesamt Schleswig-Holstein
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