The research group »Environment and Human Impact in Historical Societies« is concerned with the complex relation of humans to their environment in historical societies, which are characterised by anthropologically altered ecosystems. A central focus is, on the one hand, the issue of how human actions deform the environment and have contributed to lasting transformations; while on the other hand the question is addressed of how human societies have adapted their strategies in managing changing environmental conditions. The themes extend from patterns of land usage and agrarian systems, commerce with foodstuffs and diverse strategies of provisioning, up to the impact analysis of migration, martial devastations, yet also massive human interventions into the natural environment, for example via settlement or monumental building projects.