Seit 2013

Promotion am Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte der Universität zu Köln

2010

Masterabschluss am Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte der Universität zu Köln

Indigenous Knowledge and Archaeoinformatics

This project combined Archaeoinformatics and Indigenous Knowledge (IK) for a better understanding of hunter (gatherer) mobility in an uninhabited archaeological landscape in western Central Namibia. It takes advantage of a rare opportunity to trace the movements of indigenous tracking experts while hunting with traditional means (i.e. on foot without firearms, optical aides or hunting dogs) in a landscape rich of archaeological evidence.
The data collected on the field (GPS recorded tracks, velocity and caloric expenditure data, as well as qualitative information on decision-making) will be used to obtain unique insights into the wayfinding process as well as the physical constraints to human mobility during hunting. In turn, these insights will be used to inform computational models of hunter gatherer mobility in open landscapes (cost surface models, Lévy walks) so that they are better tailored to the needs of archaeology, and hunter gatherer research in particular.

https://ikai.uni-koeln.de/en

Modelling prehistoric hunting

The aim of the project “Modeling Prehistoric Hunting Behavior” was to improve and expand the limited empirical basis currently available for theoretical and computer-based models of prehistoric hunting behavior. To this end, the research team is accompanying indigenous experts in Namibia on their traditional hunting expeditions through various desert landscapes. This means they roam the hunting grounds on foot, just as they always have, without firearms, binoculars, or hunting dogs. But unlike in the past, they carry a great deal of equipment to collect data—for example, on GPS movement paths, wind conditions, and calorie expenditure. 
The data collected during fieldwork are integrated into agent-based models (ABM), to simulate dynamic aspects of human behavior in the landscape. Agent-based models are computer simulations that make it possible to test various hypotheses about human foraging behavior in the past by taking into account the effects of various factors (interactions between humans and animals, human cooperation, topography, vegetation, and climatic conditions). 

https://mpj.uni-koeln.de/en/

https://www.geistes-und-sozialwissenschaften-bmftr.de/de/Digital-Humanities-Wie-jagten-unsere-Vorfahren-2341.html

In Press

Vogels, O. in press. Dâureb. Studies on the environmental and social context of Later Stone Age rock an in a mountainous landscape in Namibia. Africa Praehistorica 33. Köln: Heinrich-Barth-Institut. 

Vogels, O., 2026. Dâureb. Studies on the environmental and social context of Later Stone Age rock an in a mountainous landscape in Namibia, Africa Praehistorica. Heinrich-Barth-Institut, Cologne. doi.org/10.18716/hbi/ap33

Vogels, O., Fäder, E., Pastoors, A., Hans-Peter, W., Kuper, R., 2023. In memoriam Tilman-Lenssen-Erz. South African Archaeological Bulletin 78, 122.

Vogels, O., Fader, E., Pastoors, A., Wotzka, H.-P., Kuper, R., 2024. Dr Tilman Lenssen-Erz (1955-2023). Rock Art Research 41, 234.

Paliou, E., Angourakis, A., Vogels, O., 2025. Schlussbericht: BMBF01UG2132 - Modellierung prähistorischen Jagdverhaltens: Erweiterung der Jäger-Sammler Archäologie durch indigene Experten (MPJ). doi.org/10.34657/18526
Kumbani, J., Vogels, O., 2022. Musical bows in the rock art of southern Africa, in: Oxford Research Encyclopedia. Oxford University Press, Oxford. doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190854584.013.561
Vogels, O., Fäder, E., Lenssen-Erz, T., 2021. A matter of diversity? Identifying past hunter-gatherer aggregation camps through data driven analyses of rock art sites. Quaternary International 572, 151–165. doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.05.057

Lenssen-Erz, T., Fäder, E., Vogels, O., Mathiak, B., 2021. Scenic narratives of humans and animals in Namibian rock art – a methodological restart with data mining, in: Davidson, I., Nowell, A. (Eds.), Making Scenes: Global Perspectives on Scenes in Rock Art. Berghahn Books, New York.

Schmidt, I., Hilpert, J., Kretschmer, I., Peters, R., Broich, M., Schiesberg, S., Vogels, O., Wendt, K.P., Zimmermann, A., Maier, A., 2021. Approaching prehistoric demography: proxies, scales and scope of the Cologne Protocol in European contexts. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 376. doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0714

Lenssen-Erz, T., Vogels, O., Fäder, E., 2018. Die “Kölner Schule”: Felsbildforschung am Kölner Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, in: Richter, J. (Ed.), 111 Jahre Prähistorische Archäologie in Köln, Kölner Studien Zur Prähistorischen Archäologie. Verlag Marie Leidorf, Rahden (Westf.), pp. 319–329.

Lenssen-Erz, T., Vogels, O., 2017. Brandberg-Daureb Datenbank, in: IANUS (Ed.), Datensammlung. doi.org/10.13149/r5f.3fyhip-x

Lenssen-Erz, T., Vogels, O., 2017. Eine Musiklektion vom Daureb (Brandberg): Musikbögen in der Felskunst Namibias und des südlichen Afrika, in: Rupp, N., Beck, C., Franke, G., Wendt, K.P. (Eds.), Winds of Change: Archaeological Contributions in Honour of Peter Breunig, Frankfurter Archäologische Schriften. Habelt, Bonn, pp. 61–72.

Vogels, O., Lenssen-Erz, T., 2017. Beyond individual pleasure and rituality: social aspects of the musical bow in southern Africa’s rock art. Rock Art Research 34, 9–24.

Vogels, O., Lenssen-Erz, T., 2016. Musical bows in southern African rock art: music-archaeological and ethnohistorical observations, in: Gutierrez, M., Honoré, E. (Eds.), L’art Rupestre d’Afrique: Actualité de La Recherche. L’Harmattan, Paris, pp. 217–233.

Hauck, T.C., Ruka, R., Gjipali, I., Richter, J., Vogels, O., 2016. Recent discoveries of Aurignacian and Epigravettian sites in Albania. Journal of Field Archaeology 41, 148–161. doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2016.1156463

Hauck, T., Rethemeyer, J., Rentzel, P., Schulte, P., Heinze, S., Ringer, A., Richter, J., Chu, W., Lehmkuhl, F., Vogels, O., 2016. Neanderthals or Early Modern Humans? a revised 14C chronology and geoarchaeological study of the Szeletian sequence in Szeleta Cave (Kom. Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén) in Hungary. Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 46, 271–290. doi.org/10.5451/unibas-ep52894

Vogels, O., 2015. Musikbogenspieler in der prähistorischen Felskunst am Daureb/Brandberg in Namibia. Die Tonkunst 4, 425–429.

Vogels, O., 2012. Rock art as musical artefact: prehistoric representations of musical bows in southern Africa, in: Eichmann, R., Jianjun, F., Koch, L.-C. (Eds.), Sound from the Past. The Interpretation of Musical Artifacts in an Archaeological Context., Studies in Music Archaeology. VML, Rahden (Westf.), pp. 177–194.
 

• Heinrich-Bart-Institut e.V.
• CAA International (Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology)