Bernd Müller-Neuhof

Dr. Bernd Müller-Neuhof is a researcher affiliated with the Topoi Collaborative Research Centre, a joint project of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt University of Berlin. He serves within Research Area A (Spatial Environment) as lead of Project A-1-5 "Ancient Colonizations of Marginal Habitats," focusing on prehistoric settlement patterns in Jordan's Badia region. His work centers on Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age adaptations to arid environments through interdisciplinary analysis of archaeological and paleoenvironmental data.

Müller-Neuhof's research explores human resilience in marginal landscapes, with expertise spanning desert agriculture, flint mining, and mobile subsistence strategies. He investigates how ancient societies developed sophisticated resource management systems in Jordan's basalt desert, integrating lithic technology studies with settlement geography. His methodology combines field surveys, stratigraphic analysis, and chronological frameworks to reconstruct socioeconomic activities in challenging environments, revealing how communities engineered rainwater-harvesting systems and exploited peripheral zones for specialized production.

Analysis of his 2012-2017 publications reveals consistent focus on northern Jordan's prehistoric landscapes, particularly the Wadi Ruwayshid and Jawa regions. Key trends include chronological refinement of colonization phases, interdisciplinary synthesis of environmental and archaeological records, and comparative analysis of marginal habitat exploitation across the Old World. His work demonstrates how lithic technology studies illuminate broader socioeconomic patterns, with recurring themes of resource diversification and adaptive innovation in arid settings.

Müller-Neuhof participates in the international "Ancient Colonizations of Marginal Habitats" project through Topoi's Spatial Environment research group. This collaboration involves scholars from multiple institutions conducting fieldwork in northeastern Jordan, with emphasis on mapping settlement expansions, mining complexes, and agricultural systems in the basalt desert. His team employs spatial data analysis and environmental reconstruction to understand long-term human adaptation to arid landscapes.