This book is a presentation of the basic concept of social, environmental and cultural connectivity in past societies, as embodied in a diversity of disciplines in the Cluster of Excellence ROOTS. Thus, rather pragmatically driven ideas of socio-environmental connectivities are described, which form the basis of the Cluster of Excellence in its research. A discussion of the fluidness of the term ¿connectivity¿ and the applicability of the concept opens the arena for diverse interpretations. With various case and concept studies, the reader may advance into the perspectives that develop from the new interdisciplinary interaction. These include both rarely considered dependencies between nomadic and urban lifestyles, and aspects of water supply and water features, which represent an area of connectivity between the environment and agglomerated human settlement structures. Moreover, diachronic aspects are presented in various studies on the role of connectivities in the development of social inequality, the use of fortification or also waste behaviour, and the creation of linguistic features in written media. In sum, facets of connectivity research are revealed that are also being investigated in numerous other disciplines with further results in the Kiel Excellence Cluster ROOTS. Contents Preface of the series editors Lutz Käppel, Johannes Müller, Wolfgang Rabbel Preface of the volume editor Johannes Müller Introduction Social, environmental, and cultural connectivity: A concept for an understanding of society and the environment Johannes Müller, Lutz Käppel, Andrea Ricci, Mara Weinelt On the concept of connectivity V.P.J. Arponen Nodes of connectivity: The role of religion in the constitution of urban sites in nomadic Inner Asia Jonathan Ethier, Christian Ressel, Birte Ahrens, Enkhtuul Chadrabaal, Sampildonov Chuluun, Martin Oczipka, Henny Piezonka Water supply, settlement organisation and social connectivity Annette Haug and Ulrich Müller An archaeological perspective on social structure, connectivity and the measurements of social inequality Tim Kerig, Johannes Bröcker (¿), René Ohlrau, Tanja Schreiber, Henry Skorna, Fynn Wilkes Connectivity and fortifications Oliver Nakoinz, Anna K. Loy, Christoph Rinne, Jutta Kneisel, Tanja Schreiber, Maria Wunderlich, Nicole Taylor Connecting linguistics and archaeology in the study of identity: A first exploration John Peterson, Nicole Taylor, Ilja A. Ser¿ant, Henny Piezonka, Ariba Hidayet Khan, Norbert Nübler The dimensions of refuse: Discard studies as a matter of connectivity Jens Schneeweiß Ideology and identity in grammar: A diachronic-quantitative approach to language standardisation processes in Ancient Greek Ilja A. Ser¿ant and Dariya Rafiyenko