Research project
Kukra Hill Archaeological Project
What motivated past human societies to repeatedly invest labour, generation after generation, in constructing, maintaining, and enhancing monumental structures in an environment prone to frequent and unpredictable natural disasters? Moreover, how did societal resilience and periods of heightened or reduced hurricane activity influence the emergence and disappearance of monumentality?
- Duration
- 2022 - 2027
- Contact
- Dita Auzina
- Funding
-
NWO
- Partners
Bonn University, Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies.
CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur.
Historical Cultural Museum of the Caribbean Coast BICU – CIDCA.
This project investigates the emergence and disappearance of monumental earthworks along the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua between 400 BC and 900 AD—a period with no clear evidence of social complexity among human societies. It explores how dramatic environmental events, particularly hurricanes shaped human-environment interactions.
The Kukra Hill region, situated along the Caribbean Sea and characterized by extensive river systems, swamps, mangrove forests, lagoons, and dense tropical vegetation, presents both a challenging landscape and an ideal setting for studying resilience in the face of environmental catastrophes.
The project integrates site- and region-specific archaeological fieldwork with paleoenvironmental and climate data, ethnohistorical sources, and geospatial modelling.
The project is a sub-project of "Resilience as Human–Environmental Engagement: Sustainability in Pre-Columbian Central America"