Kerstin P. Hofmann studied Archaeology at the Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel and at the University of Cologne. After completing her PhD in 2006 on Thanatoarchaeology and Bronze and Early Iron Age cremation burials in the Elbe-Weser-Triangle, Germany, she held a foreign exchange scholarship from the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), Department Rome. Since 2009, she has served as coordinator of the Cross Sectional Group V “Space and Collective Identities” within the framework of the Excellence Cluster Topoi at the German Archaeological Institute, Berlin Head Office.

In this context she is conducting research on the possibilities and boundaries of applying the concept of acculturation (a concept borrowed from Ethnology and Sociology) in Prehistoric Archaeology. The research is carried out by means of case studies (including death rituals in southeast Sicily under the influence of Greek colonies or hogbacks, i.e. stone monuments in Great Britain dating from the Viking age, which are considered as testimonies of acculturated migrants). Her further interests lie in the fields of burial archaeology, innovation and gender research.