  Strangeness production in heavy-ion collisions, when compared to proton
proton collisions, is potentially a sensitive probe for collective energy
deposition and therefore for reaction mechanisms in general. It may therefore
provide insight into possible QGP formation in dense nuclear matter. To
establish an understanding of the observed yields, a systematic study of high
density baryon matter at different beam energies is essential. This might also
reveal possible discontinuities in the energy dependence of the reaction
mechanism. We present preliminary results for kaon production in Au+Au
collisions at beam kinetic energies of 6, 8, and 10.7 GeV/u obtained by the
E917 experiment at the AGS (BNL). These measurements complement those carried
out by the E866 collaboration at 2, 4, and 10.7 GeV/u with a significantly
enlarged data sample. In both experiments a large range of rapidities was
covered by taking data at different angular settings of the magnetic
spectrometer.
