Ceza News

Left lower jaw fragment of a female hippo

Ice Age in the Upper Rhine Graben: Hippopotamuses Lived Longer in Europe Than Previously Thought

Hippopotamuses survived in Central Europe significantly longer than previously believed—even during the last Ice Age in the Upper Rhine Graben.

Dr. Susanne Lindauer
Dr. Ronny Friedrich
Prof. Dr. Wilfried Rosendahl
Bronze warrior figurine from the sanctuary of Abini-Teti in central Sardinia

Archaeometric Breakthrough: Local Copper, Imported Tin

Isotope Research with Osmium Sheds Light on Sardinia’s Bronze Age.

Dr. Daniel Berger
Dr. Michael Brauns
Dome du Goûter am Ausläufer des Mont Blanc

Oldest Ice Core from the Alps Provides Insights into 12,000 Years of Climate and Human History

CEZA is capable of performing the complex measurements required by combining various dating methods.

Dr. Ronny Friedrich
Map of Europe

Did British tin make the European Bronze Age?

Analysis of tin artefacts from three c. 1300BC shipwrecks off the coast of Israel finds the tin originated from south-west Britain. This indicates British tin was traded as far as the Eastern Mediterranean, 4000km away.

Dr. Daniel Berger
Timeline Avar Periods

HistoGenes – Research results published in Nature

The latest insights on biological and social relations of the Avars in the Great Hungarian Plain were recently published in the renowned scientific journal Nature.

Dr. Corina Knipper
Dr. Ronny Friedrich
Laboratory room

HISCAR – A second revolution!

The CEZA project HISCAR closes important gaps to create the longest uninterrupted period of annually resolved ¹⁴C data.

Dr. Ronny Friedrich
Diagram Calibration of the Ion Chromatography Columns

Localisation of lithium deposits using multi-parameter approaches

Lithium (Li) has been classified by the European Union as a strategically critical raw material since 2023 under the Critical Raw Materials Act, which means that by 2030 at least 10% of these raw materials should be mined in the EU and no more than 65% should be dependent on a third country.

Prof. Dr. Ernst Pernicka
Dr. Michael Brauns
Distribution map of the investigated Central Asian bronzes and copper and tin deposits

On the trail of the tin mystery of the Bronze Age

Mannheim scientists succeed in making a spectacular breakthrough with multi-parameter approach.

Dr. Daniel Berger
Prof. Dr. Ernst Pernicka
Map Tin deposits in Europe, North Africa and West Asia

Who will solve the puzzle of Bronze Age tin?

The origin of tin ingots from ancient Mediterranean shipwreck disputed - The metal may have come from Cornwall.

Dr. Daniel Berger
Prof. Dr. Ernst Pernicka
Laboratory equipment

¹⁴C is the solution

Radiocarbon (14C) dating is a universally applicable dating method in archaeology as well as in geosciences, biosciences or environmental sciences, as well as in climate and solar research. Especially for organic materials, 14C dating is a universal and precise method for age determination.

Dr. Ronny Friedrich
Laboratory equipment

Leading international research at CEZA

The Curt-Engelhorn Center for Archaeometry (CEZA) at the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums has repeatedly caused a stir in recent years with spectacular investigations of mummies, Viking finds and on climate change.

Sven Wiegand
Dr. Ronny Friedrich
Preview Material Analysis

Gold from Troy, Poliochni and Ur had same origin

A new laser method allows the examination of famous pieces of jewelry, with which trade relations in the early Bronze Age to the Indus Valley could be proven.

Prof. Dr. Ernst Pernicka