| Title | Chapter 13. Through a Mirror, Darkly |
|---|---|
| Subtitle | Bringing Deep Environmental History into the Museum |
| Contributor | Felix Riede(author) |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.63308/63881023874820.ch13 |
| Landing page | https://www.whpress.co.uk/publications/2025/05/02/nordicclimatehistories/ |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.en |
| Copyright | Felix Riede |
| Publisher | The White Horse Press |
| Published on | 2025-08-15 |
| Long abstract | Around 13,000 years ago – at the tail end of a prolonged cold spell and to- wards the end of the Ice Age – the Laacher See volcano located in present-day western Germany erupted cataclysmically. Abrasive and poisonous ash from this eruption was transported in a vast swath across Europe with a primary fallout cloud stretching towards the north-east. Environments, climate, and contemporaneous human populations were affected in a variety of ways; the Nordic area specifically was affected – indirectly – by serving as a refugium for small bands of prehistoric disaster refugees. Despite the enormity of this event, and the threat that this merely dormant volcano still poses today, it remains poorly known to the public, not least in the Nordic region. I here explore how the narrative qualities of such an archaeological scenario can be transformed into a museum exhibition whose aim it is to (i) put societal vulnerability into a deep historical perspective and to (ii) highlight how contemporary societies, too, are vulnerable to processes of climatic change and extreme environmental events plentifully documented in the past. |
| Page range | pp. 294–316 |
| Print length | 23 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |
| Media | 7 illustrations |
Felix Riede is German-born and British educated with a Ph.D. in archaeology from Cambridge University. Inspired by evolutionary and ecological theory and methods, he seeks to understand human-environment relations past, present and future. His work focuses on major tipping point episodes such as the end of the Pleistocene, extreme environmental events such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis, novel ecosystems, and on the archaeology of the Anthropocene. After leaving Cambridge for UCL and then Aarhus University, Felix is now Professor, affiliated both with the Departments of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, and of Biology. At Aarhus, he founded the Centre for Environmental Humanities; he was also Visiting Professor at the Oslo Centre for Environmental Humanities and Visiting Scholar at the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research. Felix brings a distinct perspective on deep time and material relations to environmental history.