Working
Comittee for historical cultural landscape research in Central Europe (ARKUM)
ARKUM perceives itself as a junction in
a network of historical cultural landscape research in Central Europe.
The intention of the nonprofitmaking
association is to develop scientific research, to gather information as well as
to educate about the history of the cultural landscape, particularly with
regard to Central Europe including cultural landscape conservation.
Five aspects bundle the common interests of the 350 members of ARKUM,
which come from several countries of Central Europe:
-
genesis and change of the cultural
landscape: cultural landscape
is the environment, that humans changed in historical time including all
settlement sites
-
historical profoundness: that includes the period from
prehistory, over the Middle Ages, Early Modern Times up to the present to point
out space-time-analogies
-
interdisciplinary cooperation between archaeologists, historians and
geographers
-
examination of methods and terms of the historical cultural landscape
research, which includes archaeological methods, the interpretation of archival
documents and maps, the integration of natural scientific findings and the
analysis of landscapes as a medium of historicity
-
incorporation of practice: the Working Group for Applied Historical
Geography deals with the realization of fundamental research for planning
processes
The comittee continues the work of the
former “Working Comittee for genetical research of settlements in Central
Europe” (1974-2004) without stepping into its legal succession.
ARKUM implements its activities and requests by:
-
organizing
annual conventions each September as well as
conferences for the Working Group
for Applied Historical Geography
-
editing publications and research reports
especially for the periodical
“Siedlungsforschung – Archäologie – Geschichte – Geographie” and the series
“Kulturlandschaft”
-
cooperating
with organizations and initiatives which also operate in the field dealing with the history of cultural
landscapes and cultural landscape conservation
-
the
animation and realization of research projects
The comitee finances itself by the
contributions of its members, by donations and the realization of projects.
If you are interested in our committee
please contact Prof. Dr. Winfried Schenk (schenk@giub.uni-bonn.de)