Oliver Nelle

Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart · Dendrochronologisches Labor, Landesamt für Denkmalpflege

This paper shows the results of the analysis of 1,174 charred archaeological remains related to 43 stratigraphic units of the medieval site of Aistra. Through the dendro-anthracological study it was possible to assess the informative potential of the secondary discard deposits charcoals. Moreover, it was possible to infer the existence of specific...

In the Neolithic pile-dwelling settlements of southwestern Germany, bark played a prominent role in the production of technical textiles. So far, the inner bark (phloem) of the lime tree (genus Tilia) could be detected most frequently. Microscopic examination of anatomical features can determine the taxon, requiring manipulation of samples and arch...

In this study, the influence of different conservation methods for waterlogged archaeological wood (WAW) on non-destructive dendrochronological dating by micro-computed tomography (µCT) was evaluated. For this purpose, samples of different wood species were conserved using the following methods: alcohol-ether-resin, Kauramin 800®, lactitol/trehalos...

In this paper X-ray computed tomography imaging data is used to perform nondestructive tree-ring width measurements in three archaeological wooden samples. Measurements of the curvilinear-tree-ring widths are performed using two approaches: firstly, measuring manually the distance between two points on two consecutive tree-rings along two orthogona...

During the Early Holocene, climate was the major factor causing fires, but whether during the Mesolithic (~11.5–7.4 cal ka BP) people co‐shaped their environment by means of fire remains of debate. Few studies have tackled this question by linking high‐resolution multi‐proxy palaeoecological studies from near Mesolithic occupation sites. An Early H...

Pile-dwellings, Eschenz, underwater archaeology, dendrochronology, Neolithic, Bronze Age

This study presents the results of a palynological investigation on a sediment core from the seasonal and saline Lake Maharlou in the Zagros Mountains in southwest Iran. We emphasised studying the role of man in modifying the vegetation of the area and the dominant agricultural practices during the Imperial Persia period (2,500–1,299 cal bp; 550 bc...

A research project about environmental history between 1200 and 1800 AD combining laminated lake sediments, wood from houses and written documents as sources.

The Upper Neckar and Ammer River valleys in southwestern Germany correspond to the southwestern limit of the overall distribution of the oldest Linear Bandkeramik (LBK) culture. More than 200 Neolithic sites are known from this region, with one of the oldest sites located in the vicinity of the village Ammerbuch-Pfäffingen, 10 km west of Tübingen,...

Based on infrared spectral characteristics, six archeological sample sets of charcoals from German (5) and Brazilian (1) sites, covering the time span from the nineteenth century CE to 3950 BCE, were compared to a chronological (present to the fifteenth century BCE) series of Austrian charcoals. A typical chronological trend of several bands (stret...

The Upper Neckar and Ammer river valleys in southwestern Germany correspond to the southwestern limit of the overall distribution of the oldest Linear Bandkeramik (LBK) culture. More than 200 Neolithic sites are known from this region, with one of the oldest sites located in the vicinity of the village Ammerbuch-Pfäffingen, 10 km west of Tübingen,...

Knowledge of the distribution, types and properties of buried soils, i.e. palaeosols, is essential in understanding how lowlands in northern central Europe have changed over past millennia. This is an indispensable requirement for evaluating long-term human impact including soil erosion and land-cover dynamics. In the Serrahn area (62 km2), a young...

The city of Herculaneum (Naples, southern Italy), buried by the volcanic eruption of Mount Somma-Vesuvius in 79 ad, is a key site for understanding the timber economy during the Roman period. In this paper, the results of charcoal analysis of different building element types are presented. Beams, joists, poles, planks and door and window frames wer...

The nutrient-poor grasslands of Western Europe are of major conservation concern because land use changes threaten their high biodiversity. Studies assessing their characteristics show that their past and on-going dynamics are strongly related to human activities. Yet, the initial development patterns of this specific ecosystem remain unclear. Here...

Reconstructing the colonization and demographic dynamics that gave rise to extant forests is essential to forecasts of forest responses to environmental changes. Classical approaches to map how population of trees changed through space and time largely rely on pollen distribution patterns, with only a limited number of studies exploiting DNA molecu...

The larger area of and around the Early Iron Age fortress Heuneburg is focus of decades of archaeological excavations and observations. Additionally, to deciduous oak (Quercus sp.) known as the main timber during this period (Middle to Late Hallstatt c. 750–450 BCE), silver fir (Abies alba) was found recently on the Heuneburg plateau itself and its...

The first known Iron Age enclosure in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein was discovered in 2010. Archaeological excavation revealed a trench, a palisade and an occupation layer. The function of the wall and trench system remains unknown but there are several possibilities: It could have been used for protection, as a type of symbolic s...

Soil charcoal analysis was performed on soil profiles excavated in the area of Cecita Lake on the Sila Massif (Calabria, southern Italy). Charcoals identification, combined with a good number of radiocarbon dating and the pedological analysis of the soils, allowed drawing a detailed history of the Holocene vegetation changes in the area. Five perio...

This paper presents highly unexpected paleobotanical data. Eight ¹⁴ C‐accelerator mass spectrometry ( AMS ) dates of soil macrocharcoal pieces, identified taxonomically, indicate the presence of oak and beech in the Younger Dryas, and pine in the Allerød, in the northernmost low mountain range of Central Europe, the Harz Mountains, in Germany. If t...

Mittels des Flurnamens „Kohlstattgraben“ konnten im Waldgebiet Buchrangen bei Klosterlangheim zwei Meilerplätze in der Nördlichen Fränkischen Alb lokalisiert werden. Diese Plätze wurden im Rahmen mehrerer Kampagnen in den Jahren 2006, 2009 und 2012 für eine Analyse der Holzkohlen auf Taxa und Stärke beprobt. Das Nutzungsspektrum der Holzarten ist a...

While archaeological records indicate an intensive Mesolithic occupation of dune areas situated along river valleys, relatively little knowledge exists about environmental interactions in the form of land-use strategies and their possible local impacts. The combination of geoarchaeological, chronological, geochemical and palaeoecological research m...

Biochar composting experiments were performed to determine whether composting is a suitable method to accelerate biochar surface oxidation. To assess the results, surface properties of Terra Preta (Brazil) and ancient charcoal pit (Northern Italy) biochars were additionally investigated. Calculation of O/C ratios by energy-dispersive X-ray spectros...

Anthracological analysis is increasingly used to reconstruct natural and anthropogenic woodland dynamics. Here, we combine macro-charcoal records from charcoal production sites (kiln sites) with such from archaeological sites to elucidate past forest composition and its dependency on past fuel economy and human resource management.The anthracologic...

The southern Marmara region experienced intensive archaeological research in the last decades. In contrast, investigations aiming on the human exploitation of the natural resource in the surroundings of the archaeological sites are relatively scarce. Excavations at the settlement site at Aktopraklık, Province Bursa, Turkey provided the opportunity...

Alluvial and colluvial sequences were studied around the prehistoric tell Arslantepe in 11 exposures and additional auger cores. The chronology is based on 11 optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages, four radiocarbon ages, and the embedded artifacts. Sediments contained wood charcoals, providing information on former vegetation. Fluvial activi...

Fire caused by humans played an important role in prehistoric clearance of woodland, which was a prerequisite for the rise of agriculture since at least the Neolithic revolution. Therefore, reconstructed fire history provides insights into the spread of agriculture. However, for central Europe, the past fire regime is still poorly known. Thus, to h...

Long-term environmental changes in some areas of Central Europe are still poorly documented due to the lack of archives suitable for well-established paleoecological approaches. However, paleorecords of such areas would provide important insights into the Holocene vegetation history of Central Europe. To contribute to fill this gap, we conducted so...

Abstract: Historical charcoal production in the Spessart mountains: tree species spectra and forest use according to an example from the Kirschgraben, Heimbuchenthal (Germany): Charcoal production sites (kiln sites) in a small valley of the Buntsandsteinspessart, in Bavaria/Germany were investigated by charcoal analysis (anthracology) for their tre...

Cefalonia Island, directly exposed to the Hellenic Trench, is one of the tectonically most active regions in the Eastern Ionian Sea showing both aseismic and coseismic movements. Geo-scientific studies were carried out in the Livadi coastal plain and along the western coast of the inner Gulf of Argostoli. Terrestrial vibracorings and geophysical in...

The term landscape is a crucial term for a diversity of scientific disciplines researching the Quaternary, each of which maintains different concepts and definitions. With increasing interdisciplinary research cooperation between disparate disciplines, a basis for communication has to be established. The aim of this paper is a) to survey an assortm...

a b s t r a c t This paper presents the dynamics of sedimentation processes and soil development of a steeply sloping 0-order catchment in the sandy Lower Bunter of the south-western mid-range mountains in the Palatinate Forest (Germany) during the transition period from the Late Glacial to the Early Holocene. Field investigations, chemical, physic...

Alluvial and colluvial deposits were investigated at prehistoric tells close to the Bosna River. The chronology is based on ten radiocarbon ages, five optically stimulated luminescence ages, and on the archaeological record. Fluvial activity of the Bosna River is indicated by overbank fines [ca. 5000 (±1000) BC, 500 BC until today] and a phase of l...

In this paper charcoal data from different archaeological sites in the Visoko-basin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, are presented. The comparison of sites dating to the late Neolithic period with a site from the Bronze Age points to changes in vegetation. Quercus is prevailing both in late Neolithic contexts and the Bronze Age record, but several shifts i...

The sedimentary sequence of Lake Stymphalia (NE-Peloponnese) for the first time sheds light on the palaeoclimate development of Southern Greece from 15 to 5 ka BP. New geochemical data based on high-resolution X-ray fluorescence scanning provide in-situ, and continuous analysis of predefined element suites on split-core surfaces. Variations of elem...

The investigated area near Flintbek (Schleswig–Holstein, Northern Germany) was used as a burial ground from the Neolithic until the Iron Age. Due to modern agriculture, the above-ground funerary monuments have been destroyed. Rescue excavations from 1976 to 1996 recovered the archaeological remains. In addition to the archaeological reassessment of...

Anthracology permits the reconstruction of both history and dynamics of past ecosystems based on various types of carbonized indicators. Various anthracological approaches allow the quantitative and/or qualitative analysis of the recording of those indicators, in various preservation contexts. Therefore, the relevance and significance of a chosen a...

Anthracology permits the reconstruction of both history and dynamics of past ecosystems based on various types of carbonized indicators. Various anthracological approaches allow the quantitative and/or qualitative analysis of the recording of those indicators, in various preservation contexts. Therefore, the relevance and significance of a chosen a...

The charcoal content of an inland dune complex close to Joldelund in Northern Germany was analysed as part of a project which aims to reconstruct Holocene aeolian activity in high spatial and temporal resolution. The eleven investigated profiles contained numerous charcoal-enriched layers, providing evidence for the potential of inland dunes as pala...

A combined analysis of macro-charcoal records from peat and soil samples was used to investigate Holocene fire history and correlated forest dynamics. Both soil and peat contexts are favorable to record past fire signals by archiving charcoal assemblages. It is postulated that this combination of charcoal data can provide relevant complements for f...

The notion of naturalness is an important concept of forest sustainable management, biological conservation, or as a base for restoration projects. The naturalness degree of a forest system is commonly evaluated based on forest ecology indicators, primarily with a relative short time resolution (e.g. dendroecological indication). However, the curre...

Charcoal is abundant in various soils and soil sediments and is basically the result of either natural wildfires or of anthropogenic ignition. Compositions of charcoal assemblages are the result of several taphonomical processes. Beside this, little is known about the influence of charcoal from anthropogenic origin, like charcoal production sites (...

The relationship between climatic variations, vegetation dynamics and early human activity between c. 4150–2860 BC was reconstructed from a high-resolution pollen and geochemical record obtained from a small lake located in County Sligo, Ireland. The proxy record suggests the existence of a woodland with a largely closed canopy at the start of the...

In connection to an archaeological project in Bosnia and Herzegovina, charcoal fragments from several geomorphological profiles were analysed, due to the lack of other archives for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. The major aim of the presented study was to systematically test the suitability of the documented colluvial and alluvial layers for c...

Analysis of charcoals from the medieval ironworks “Genoeserbusch” near Peppange in the south of Luxembourg gives insight into fuel supply and management of woodland. Mainly charcoal of beech and hornbeam was used. In addition, charcoal of oak, hazel, willow, poplar, maple and of the Maloideae type was found in the several sampled features. In addit...

The Vesuvius area near Naples, southern Italy, is one of the richest places for archaeological finds from Roman times. The a.d. 79 volcanic eruption also caused the preservation of a huge quantity of archaeobotanical material. In this paper the available wood and charcoal remains from the timber structures as well as from the garden soils of the Vi...

This volume contains thirty-five papers from a 2010 conference on landscape archaeology focusing on the definition of landscape as used by processual archaeologists, earth scientists, and most historical geographers, in contrast to the definition favored by postprocessual archaeologists, cultural geographers, and anthropologists. This tension provi...

High-resolution pollen and geochemical analyses conducted on a sediment profile from a small lake in County Sligo, Ireland, revealed that human development during the Neolithic was influenced by pronounced climatic oscillations. The primeval woodland around the lake experienced a considerable transformation coinciding with the elm decline at 3810 B...