Julian Laabs

• Doctor of Philosophy
• PostDoc Position at Leipzig University

Human population dynamics and their drivers are not well understood, especially over the long term and on large scales. Here, we estimate demographic growth trajectories from 9 to 3 ka BP across the entire globe by employing summed probability distributions of radiocarbon dates. Our reconstruction reveals multicentennial growth cycles on all six in...

The Neolithic lakeshore settlement record of the Three Lakes region in western Switzerland is presented and analysed in regard to spatiotemporal dynamics and possible patterns of emerging from those. It could be shown that the occupation of the lakeshore underlies short-term cyclic patterns of increased settlement density, resulting from settlement...

The present study aims to explore the hypothesis of a link between a population increase derived from intensified food production and the development from the widespread cultural diversity of the Middle Neolithic B (MNB) to the cultural unity towards the end of the Late Neolithic (LN) in Southern Scandinavia. We explore this through quantitative mo...

While our understanding of long-term trends in material wealth inequality in prehistoric societies has expanded in recent decades, we know little about long-term trends in other dimensions of wealth and about social developments within particular societal segments. This paper provides the first evidence of inequality in relational wealth within the...

Political practices are fundamental for co-existence in human groups, yet the systematic investigation of such practices within prehistoric societies is still very much pending. Relevant discussions are often limited to cases of obvious asymmetric power relations and the alleged establishment of elites. In order to fill this complex gap in the curr...

Does history repeat itself? What causes and mechanisms of action are at work in prehistoric societies? These are two questions we want to tackle in a longue durée perspective. In order to do so we bring together two main epochs in human history in the central northern European Plain: the Neolithic and the Bronze Age of northern Germany. In this tim...

Bottom-up approaches have recently been gaining momentum within archaeological research and can be seen as a counter tool against re-emerging top-down narratives. However, they also provide a tool for reflective working procedures and help make research more accessible and reliable. A brief introduction to the current ethnoarchaeological research d...

Tracing the patterns of wealth consumption within and between burial communities can reveal different aspects of the sociopolitical and economic abilities of and relations between individuals, groups, and whole communities. For a cross-cultural comparison, burial communities of the cultural groups of the Hungarian Middle Bronze Age Vatya and Füzesa...

Open science is an umbrella term for various initiatives that aim at promoting a more robust, ethical and transparent scientific environment. One of the most important trends in global science in recent decades, it aims to sustainably strengthen the impact, transparency and reproducibility of scientific research. Central aspects of open science inc...

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Robust estimates of population are essential to the study of human–environment relations and socio-ecological dynamics in the past. Population size and density can directly inform reconstructions of prehistoric group size, social organisation, economic constraints, exchange, and political and social institutions. In this pilot study, we present an...

‘Resilience’, in addition to ‘collapse’, has become increasingly important as a concept for the study of social challenges in archaeology since the turn of the millennium. In this paper, we critically examine both terms and their conceptualisations in archaeology and argue for a data-driven bottom-up approach that harnesses ‘resilience’ beyond syst...

In this study, we present a transparent and reproducible approach to model agricultural production with respect to environmental characteristics and available labour. Our research focuses on the city of Pergamon and its surroundings, with an emphasis on the transition between the Hellenistic and Roman Imperial Period, where widespread demographic c...

In the 12,000 years preceding the Industrial Revolution, human activities led to significant changes in land cover, plant and animal distributions, surface hydrology, and biochemical cycles. Earth system models suggest that this anthropogenic land cover change influenced regional and global climate. However, the representation of past land use in e...

Quantitative methods are transforming how archaeology approaches the investigation of the human past. The emerging possibilities of data integration and computational modeling enable interdisciplinary research on a new level. In large part due to the current challenges imposed by climate change, there is a growing awareness of the importance of pas...

Recent advances in computer and environmental science, climate modelling and other disciplines as well as the availability and processability of (openly shared) big data have triggered fundamental changes in research over the last decades and expanded the toolbox of archaeological methods. While traditional methods (i.e. typochronology, mapping sit...

This article deals with the question of whether there are differences in richness and social organisation between the local and supra-regional groups of the Early Bronze Age Únětice Culture. The basis for this analysis comprises 270 graves and their funerary remains from 24 cemeteries covering the whole distribution area of the Únětice Culture (Fig...