About me

Dr. Jacob Hardt

I am a Physical Geographer with a special fascination for the landscapes of the north-central European young morainic areas and the processes that shaped them. I have been dealing with this topic since my studies and have deepened it in my dissertation project, in which I dealt with geomorphological (Hardt et al., 2015) and geochronological aspects of the last glacial cycle in northern Germany (Hardt & Böse, 2016; Hardt et al., 2016; Hardt 2017)

In particular, I work with the qualitative evaluation of digital terrain models. I also map in the field and analyze sediments, supported by geophysical and geochronological investigations.

In the last few years, I have increasingly begun to focus on the interrelationships between inland ice sheets and underground geological structures from a geomorphological perspective. Northern Germany offers an ideal study area for this (Hardt et al., 2021; Hardt et al., 2024).

Apart from this subject area, I have also been working for many years with archaeologists from various institutions on geoarchaeological issues. This included the high-resolution investigation of a Roman-Germanic battlefield (so-called „Harzhorn incident“ dating to 235 CE in Lower Saxony, Germany) in order to better understand and predict the degree of corrosion of archaeological iron objects (Hardt et al., 2025).

I was lucky enough to take part in a high mountain expedition in Taiwan, where we mapped glacial landforms in the Nenggao Range of the Central Mountain Range and dated glacigenic boulders with cosmogenic nuclides (Hebenstreit et al., 2025).

Further work took us to the highlands of Ethiopia for geoarchaeological studies (in context of the DFG SPP2143 Entangled Africa). There, we investigated potential past mobility axes using historical maps and reports (Hardt et al., 2023), characterized archaeological find areas (Hardt et al., 2023; Pfeiffer et al., 2023), and studied the geomorphological impact of human trampling (Busch et al., 2021; Nir et al., 2021; Nir et al., 2022).

Northern Ethiopian Highlands: Pathways and gullies, with the Adwa Mountains in the background.

The most recent project took us to fascinating and beautiful landscapes of Tadjoura in Djibouti, where we are still trying to understand settlement structures and cult sites in relation to the landscape and paleoclimatic changes.

When you work in Djibouti… impressions from Tadjoura (2024).

All of my research papers

  • Hardt, J., 2025: The Geomorphology of the City of Berlin. In: Lehmkuhl, F., Böse, M., Krautblatter, M. (eds) Landscapes and Landforms of Germany. World Geomorphological Landscapes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-77876-6_8
  • Böse, M., Hardt, J., 2025: Morphological Transformation of the Landscape in Lower Lusatia by Opencast Mining. In: Lehmkuhl, F., Böse, M., Krautblatter, M. (eds) Landscapes and Landforms of Germany. World Geomorphological Landscapes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-77876-6_10
  • Hardt, J., Nykamp, M., Schatte, T., Schimmel, L., Meyer, M., Geschwinde, M., Lönne, P. and Hoelzmann, P., 2025: Integrating Geomorphology, Geology, and Geochemical Parameters to Understand the Preservation Status and Spatial Distribution of Archaeological Iron Objects Related to the 235 CE Roman–Germanic Harzhorn Conflict (Lower Saxony, Germany). Geoarchaeology, 40: e70012. https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.70012
  • Hebenstreit, R., Hardt, J. and Böse, M. 2025: The lowermost last-glacial equilibrium line altitude in the Taiwanese Central Mountain Range and its implications for the palaeoclimate and the tropospheric moisture transport in East Asia. J. Quaternary Sci. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3714
  • Kirsten, F., Starke, J., Bauriegel, A., Müller, R., Jouaux, J., Lüthgens, C., Sinapius, R., and Hardt, J., 2024: Age, composition and spatial distribution of sandy loess in north‐eastern Germany (Fläming, Brandenburg), Earth Surf Processes Landf, https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5885.
  • Hardt, J., Dooley, T. P., and Hudec, M. R., 2024: Physical modeling of ice-sheet-induced salt movements using the example of northern Germany, Earth Surface Dynamics, 12, 559–579. https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-559-2024
  • Pfeiffer, K., Hardt, J., Breninek, C., Nir, N., Gerlach, I., Raue, D.und Schütt, B., 2023: Routes of interaction across northern central Tigray (Ethiopia) between 2nd and 1st millennium BCE: Interdisciplinary research in the Rama area. Journal of Global Archaeology, 2023(04), S.162–203. https://doi.org/10.34780/dt6n-6d15
  • Hardt, J., Nir, N., Schütt, B., 2023. Combining Historical Maps, Travel Itineraries and Least-Cost Path Modelling to Reconstruct Pre-Modern Travel Routes and Locations in Northern Tigray (Ethiopia). The Cartographic Journal, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/00087041.2022.2150363
  • Hardt, J., Nir, N., Lüthgens, C., Menn, T.M., Schütt, B., 2023. Palaeoenvironmental research at Hawelti–Melazo (Tigray, northern Ethiopia) – insights from sedimentological and geomorphological analyses. E&G Quaternary Sci. J. 72, 37-55. https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-72-37-2023
  • Lüthgens, C., Hardt, J., 2022. Ice dynamics in the SW sector of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS) – a fresh perspective from the classical area of the Weichselian glaciation in northern Brandenburg. DEUQUA Spec. Pub. 4, 29-39. https://doi.org/10.5194/deuquasp-4-29-2022
  • Liu, S.-H., Lüthgens, C., Hardt, J., Hebenstreit, R., Böse, M., Frechen, M., 2022. Late Quaternary formation of the Miaoli Tableland in northwest Taiwan, an interplay of tectonic uplift and fluvial processes dated by OSL. Quaternary Research, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2022.52
  • Nir, N., Stahlschmidt, M., Busch, R., Lüthgens, C., Schütt, B., Hardt, J. (2022). Footpaths: Pedogenic and geomorphological long-term effects of human trampling. Catena Volume 215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2022.106312
  • Nykamp, M., Hauschulz, S., Hardt, J., Knitter, D., May, J., Hoelzmann, P., (2022): The landscape of the Late Bronze Age royal tomb of Seddin (NE Germany): linking geomorphology, archaeology, and historic evidence. Journal of Maps, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2021.2020178
  • Hardt, J., Norden, B., Bauer, K., Toelle, O. & Krambach, J. (2021): Surface cracks – geomorphological indicators for late Quaternary halotectonic movements in Northern Germany. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 1– 21. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5226
  • Busch, R., Hardt, J., Nir, N., & Schütt, B. (2021): Modeling Gully Erosion Susceptibility to Evaluate Human Impact on a Local Landscape System in Tigray, Ethiopia. Remote Sensing, 13(10), 2009. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13102009
  • Nir, N., Knitter, D., Hardt, J., and Schütt, B. (2021): Human movement and gully erosion: Investigating feedback mechanisms using Frequency Ratio and Least Cost Path analysis in Tigray, Ethiopia: PLOS ONE, v. 16, no. 2: e0245248. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245248
  • Nykamp, M., Hardt, J., Hoelzmann, P., May, J., and Reimann, T. (2021): Towards timing and stratigraphy of the Bronze Age burial mound royal tomb (Königsgrab) of Seddin (Brandenburg, northeastern Germany): E&G Quaternary Sci. J., v. 70, no. 1, p. 1-17. https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-69-201-2020
  • Lüthgens, C., Hardt, J., and Böse, M. (2020): Proposing a new conceptual model for the reconstruction of ice dynamics in the SW sector of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS) based on the reinterpretation of published data and new evidence from optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating: E&G Quaternary Sci. J., v. 69, no. 2, p. 201-223. https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-69-201-2020
  • Hardt, J. (2017): Weichselian phases and ice dynamics of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet in northeast Germany: a reassessment based on geochronological and geomorphological investigations in Brandenburg. E&G Quaternary Sciience Journal 66, 101-102. [Thesis Abstract] http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-66-101-2017
  • Hardt, J., Lüthgens, C., Hebenstreit, R., Böse, M., (2016): Geochronological (OSL) and geomorphological investigations at the presumed Frankfurt ice marginal position in northeast Germany. Quaternary Science Reviews 154, 85-99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.10.015
  • Hardt, J., Böse, M., (2016): The timing of the Weichselian Pomeranian ice marginal position south of the Baltic Sea: A critical review of morphological and geochronological results. Quaternary International (in press). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.07.044
  • Hardt, J., Hebenstreit, R., Lüthgens, C., Böse, M., 2015: High-resolution mapping of ice-marginal landforms in the Barnim region, northeast Germany. Geomorphology 250, 41-52. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.07.045
  • Böse, M., Hebenstreit, R., Hardt, J., 2013: A deformation till at Hohuan Shan, Taiwan. Quaternary International. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.11.019

Book chapters

Hardt, J., Hoelzmann, P., Schatte, T., 2025: Geowissenschaftliche Untersuchungen an Harzhorn und Kahlberg – Detailkartierung von Bodeneigenschaften zur Bestimmung der Funderhaltungswahrscheinlichkeit von Eisenobjekten. In: Geschwinde, M., Meyer, M., Lönne, P., Schatte, T. (Hrsg.): Harzhorn – Die Archäologie eines germanisch-römischen Kampfplatzes des 3. Jahrhunderts n. Chr.. Römisch-Germanische Forschungen, 77, Band 1, pp. 143-193, Reichert Verlag Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.34780/e6uz-ee6n

Meyer, M., Geschwinde, M., Hardt, J., Schatte, T., 2025: Filterebenen und methodische Konsequenzen. In: Geschwinde, M., Meyer, M., Lönne, P., Schatte, T. (Hrsg.): Harzhorn – Die Archäologie eines germanisch-römischen Kampfplatzes des 3. Jahrhunderts n. Chr.. Römisch-Germanische Forschungen, 77, Band 1, pp. 221-235, Reichert Verlag Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.34780/e6uz-ee6n

Dissertation

Hardt, J. (2017): Weichselian phases and ice dynamics of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet in Northeast Germany – A reassessment based on geochronological and geomorphological investigations in Brandenburg.
http://www.diss.fu-berlin.de/diss/receive/FUDISS_thesis_000000104286

Research Data

Hardt, J., Pfeiffer, K., 2025: Route reconstruction of the German Expedition to East Africa in 1862/1862 led by Werner Munzinger, http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/refubium-49939

Hardt, J., Pfeiffer, K., Umlauf, A., 2025: Chronological and sedimentological data from surveyed sites in Tadjoura (Djibouti) of the field seasons 2023 and 2024: Project Routes of Interaction. http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/refubium-46751

Hardt, J., Dooley, T. D, Hudec, M., 2023: Supplemental videos of the paper „Physical modeling of ice-sheet-induced salt movements using the example of northern Germany“. https://doi.org/10.5446/63073

Hardt, J., B. McLeod, L. Schimmel, et al. 2021. “Area-Wide Soil Parameters of the Germanic-Roman Battlefield Site Harzhorn, Northeim (Lower Saxony, Germany).” PANGAEA. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.935545.