Prof Dr Berit Valentin Eriksen

Senior Researcher

 

 

 

Curriculum vitae:
Born 1960 in Horsens, Denmark
   

Academic qualifications:

2021 Honorary Professor, Kiel University, Institute of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology
2011 Transfer of habilitation to Kiel University. Venia legendi in Prehistory (Ur- und Frühgeschichte)
2010 Habilitation (Dr. rer.nat. habil.), University of Tübingen. Venia legendi in Prehistory (Ur- und Frühgeschichte). Cumulative habilitation thesis: "Transitions and Transformations. From Late Pleistocene Reindeer Hunters to Bronze Age Flint Knappers"
1989 Doctoral degree (PhD) in Prehistoric Archaeology from Aarhus University. Monographic inaugural thesis: "Change and Continuity in a Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherer Society"
1984 - 1989 Doctoral studies at Aarhus University (financed by Aarhus University Research Foundation) and at the University of Tübingen (financed by the German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD)
1984 Candidate degree in Prehistoric Archaeology, Aarhus University

Academic career:

2021 -           Honorary Professor, Kiel University, Institute of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology
2024 -           Senior Researcher, Museum for Archaeology in the "Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf".
2009 - 2023 Scientific Director, "Zentrum für Baltische und Skandinavische Archäologie" (ZBSA) in the "Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf".
2014 - 2017 Professor II, University of Bergen, Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion (part time professorship)
2007 - 2008 Fixed-term lecturer in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology, Aarhus University, Department of Prehistoric Archaeology
2004 - 2007 Senior research fellow at Moesgaard Museum (Danish Research Council for the Humanities)
2002 - 2004 Project officer at Moesgaard Museum (Motorvejsprojektet)
1999 - 2002 Fixed term lecturer in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology, Aarhus University, Department of Prehistoric Archaeology. Research fellow at Ferskvandsmuseet (University of Aarhus Research Foundation; Danish Lake District Eco-museum), and at Museet for Thy og Vester Han herred (Dronning Margrethe II's arkæologiske fond; Beckett-Fonden; Elisabeth Munksgaards Fond)
1997 - 1999 Associate professor in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology, Aarhus University, Department of Prehistoric Archaeology
1997 Managing editor of "Nordic Archaeological Abstracts"
1996 Research fellow at Museet for Thy og Vester Han herred
Research travels
in Germany (Christian og Ottilia Brorsons Rejselegat for yngre videnskabsmænd og -kvinder; Ingeniør Svend G. Fiedler og hustrus legat til fremme af botanisk og arkæologisk forskning; Julie von Müllens Fond)
1992 - 1995 Assistant professor, Aarhus University, Department of Prehistoric Archaeology (Danish Research Council for the Humanities)
1990 - 1992 Alexander von Humboldt research fellow, University of Tübingen, Institut für Urgeschichte (Alexander von Humboldt Research Foundation)
Honorary offices:
2019 - Executive board member in the Cluster of Excellence "ROOTS – Social, Environmental, and Cultural Connectivity in Past Societies" (Kiel University)
2016 - Executive board member in the CRC/SFB1266 "Scales of Transformations / TransformationsDimensionen" (Kiel University)
2015 - 2022 Executive board member (deputy) in the "Johanna Mestorf Academy" (Kiel University)
2012 - 2019 Executive board member (deputy) in the Graduate School "Human Development in Landscapes" (Kiel University)
2009 - 2018 Steering group member in the "Nordic Blade Technology Network"
2009 - 2018 Member of the UISPP Executive Council
2009 - 2018 

President of the UISPP Commission for "The Final Palaeolithic of Northern Eurasia / Le Paléolithique Final de l'Eurasie du Nord"

1998 - 2009 Founding member and secretary of the UISPP Commission XXXII: "Final Palaeolithic of the Great European Plain / Paléolithique final de la Grande Plaine européenne"
1999 - 2003 Founding member and secretary of the Danish Alexander von Humboldt Club
1999 - 2003 Secretary of the INQUA Commission on "Human Evolution and Paleoecology"
1992 - 2003 Founding member and secretary of the INQUA working group on "The Archaeology of the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition"
   
Scientific Advisory Boards:
2023 - Advisory board member for the “PALaEoScot project: People, Animals, Landscapes and Environments of Late Glacial Scotland” (UKRI Frontiers Research Grant (replacing an ERC Consolidator Grant), University of Aberdeen)
2023 - Advisory board member for the Museum Odense’s Research Centre CENTRUM
2014 - 2017 Advisory board member for the “INQUA Project 1404: Cultural and palaeoenvironmental changes in the Late Glacial to Middle Holocene Europe: gradual or sudden?” (International Union for Quaternary Research, research group)
2012 - 2016 Advisory board member for the “POSTGLACIAL: After the Ice, hunter-gatherer postglacial lifeways” (European Research Council, University of York)
2011 - 2015 Advisory board member for the “Meeting Make History. Hunters’ Rock Art and Lands of Identity in Mesolithic Northern Europe” (Norwegian Research Council, University of Oslo)
   
Awards (by nomination):
2021 Honorary Professor, Kiel University, Germany
2014 Professor II in Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Bergen, Norway
2014 Recipient of the Erik Westerby prize for excellence in archaeological research, National Museum of Denmark
2001 Recipient of the Erik Westerby travel grant, National Museum of Denmark
   
Major research grants:
2016-2024

The German Research Foundation kindly finances the Collaborative Research Centre, CRC 1266 "Scales of Transformations – Human-Environmental Interaction in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies" (DFG, Grant no. 2901391021 – SFB 1266). This CRC is initiated by the University of Kiel and includes the following subprojects:

B1: "Pioneers of the North: Transitions and transformations in Northern Europe evidenced by high-resolution datasets (c. 15 000–9500 BCE)" (PI's: B.V. Eriksen, M. Weber)

F5: "Social dimensions of technological change" (PI’s: B.V. Eriksen, M. Furholt, W. Kirleis, J. Müller) 

 

2004-2007 The Danish Research Council for the Humanities kindly financed the project: "Produktionsstrategier i bronzealderens flinthåndværk - fra mesterlære til klamp-huggeri i en teknologisk brydningstid" (Production strategies in Bronze Age flint-working - the decline and fall of a master craft). Grant no. 25-03-0520.
1992-1995 The Danish Research Council for the Humanities kindly financed the project: "Kulturgeografiske variationsmønstre blandt senglaciale og tidligt postglaciale jæger-samler samfund i Mellem- og Nordeuropa" (Patterns of ethnogeographic variability in late Pleistocene and early Holocene Central and North Europe). Grant no. 15-8654.
1990-1992 The German Alexander von Humboldt Research Foundation kindly financed the project: "Räumliche Variabilität der urgeschichtlichen Jäger- und Sammlergemeinschaften im spätglazialen und frühpostglazialen Mittel- und Nordeuropa". Grant no. IV 1 701-2.
   
Minor research projects, travel, and publication grants:
My Doctoral studies was partly financed through grants from the German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD, and by the Aarhus University Research Foundation. My Post Doctoral research has been supported by a variety of Danish grants, some of which have been awarded on more than one occasion. The following list is not entirely complete: Beckett-Fonden; Carlsbergfondet; Carlsen-Langes Legatstiftelse; Christian og Ottilia Brorsons Rejselegat; Statens Humanistiske Forskningsråd/Forskningsrådet for Kultur og Kommunikation; Dronning Margrethe II's arkæologiske fond; Elisabeth Munksgaards Fond; Erik Westerbys Legat; Erik Westerby prisen; Fabrikant Laurits Petersen og Hustru Annina Helene Petersens Legat; Farumgaard-fonden; Hielmstierne-Rosencroneske Stiftelse; Ingeniør Svend G. Fiedler og hustrus legat; Julie von Müllens Fond; Landsdommer V. Gieses Legat; Aarhus Universitets Forskningsfond.
   

Other academic activities:

Since 1985 regular participation in, as well as organization, chairing and presentation of papers at various international conferences and meetings. The proceedings of the symposiums organized have for the major part been published as edited volumes (Straus et al. 1996; Eriksen & Straus 1998; Eriksen & Bratlund 2002; Fisher & Eriksen 2002; Terberger & Eriksen 2004; Eriksen 2010; Frieman & Eriksen 2015; Eriksen et al. 2019). Since 1986 various teaching assignments (lectures, seminars, etc.) at the universities of Aarhus, Bergen, Kiel and Tübingen. In addition guest lecturer at the universities of Aarhus, Bergen, Cambridge, Copenhagen, Ferrara, Jena, Kiel, Southampton, Tomar and Tübingen. External examiner at the Universities of Bergen and Oslo. Chair or member of PhD Committees at the universities of Aarhus, Copenhagen, Göttingen, Kiel, Mainz, Oslo and Stockholm. 

Ad hoc peer reviews of research applications for Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH), Austrian Science Fund (FWF), Autonome Provinz Bozen – Südtirol (Bildungsförderung, Universität und Forschung), British Academy, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Estonian Science Foundation, European Research Council (ERC), Fritz Thyssen Stiftung, Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program, National Science Centre Poland, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), and Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes.

Ad hoc peer review of manuscripts for example for The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Acta Archaeologica Carparthica, Current Anthropology, Danish Journal of Archaeology, Danish Journal of Geography, Elsevier Science (BSB), Intellectica, Journal of Archaeological Science, Journal of Neolithic Archaeology, Journal of World Prehistory, KUML, Lund Archaeological Review, Norwegian Archaeological Review, Quartär, Radiocarbon, and Viking. From 2010-2017 member of the editorial board of "Quartär - International Yearbook for Ice Age and Stone Age Research". Since 2019, member of the editorial board of "OFFA" (https://www.offa-journal.org)

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