The Laboratory for Environmental Micro-History

The Laboratory for Environmental Micro-History (EMH), headed by Prof. David E. Friesem, aims to study human-environment relations at a multi-scalar level. Using archaeology, geoarchaeology, history and social anthropology, our research investigates the interactions between humans and their physical, social and perceptual environment. The lab’s cross-disciplinary team integrate field excavations (inland and underwater) with microscopic analysis of the archaeological record and the paleo-environment as well as carrying out ethnographic work and historical analysis. Applying a high-resolution methodology we examine the smallest scale possible of human experience in order to better understand the role of human agency and environmental change in the mechanism of long term cultural processes. Current research at the lab includes the study of early Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals, the transition to farming and the Neolithic revolution, landscape change during the Bronze and Iron Age and cultural encounters across the Mediterranean in the Hellenistic-Roman period. The lab is based at the Department of Maritime Civilizations, Charney School of Marine Sciences and affiliated with the Haifa Center for Mediterranean History (HCMH).