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Archaeopedological reconstruction of Middle Bronze Age subsistence farming in SW-Germany from sedimentary archives in the Western Allgäu
... They represent the late stages of material redistribution, particularly in areas of long-term agricultural use, resulting in gradual surface levelling (Juřicová et al., 2022;Rodzik et al., 2014). Although colluvial profiles of considerable depth have been described (Dreibrodt et al., 2020(Dreibrodt et al., , 2013Kołodyńska-Gawrysiak et al., 2018;Kühn et al., 2017;Scherer et al., 2023), the P1 profile is exceptional in the thickness of the sedimentary layers and even almost twice the depth of the studied and dated profile (Zádorová et al., 2023b), located at a distance of about 50 m on the toe slope. This indicates particularly intense sedimentation in this slope section, which probably represents the final part of the colluvial sediment transport pathway on the plot. ...
The acceleration of soil erosion in undulating landscapes due to human activities has led to a larger area of land being affected by intensive soil redistribution. Colluvisols, sedimentary soils formed on concave slope positions, are considered to be important indicators of soil-landscape processes and soil organic carbon pools. In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of hyperspectral imaging in visible and near-infrared range to assess the detailed variability (both vertical and within each colluvial layer and in-situ soil horizon) of soil organic carbon (SOC) and CaCO 3 concentrations in three deep Colluvisols developed on loess and located at different slope positions in southeast Czechia, and evaluate whether this in-detail mapped microvariability can be used as a proxy to assess the dynamics and history of colluvial sedimentation. A variety of nonlinear machine learning techniques such as cubist regression tree (Cubist), random forest (RF), support vector machine regression (SVMR) and one linear technique partial least square regression (PLSR) were compared to determine the most suitable model for the prediction of SOC and CaCO 3 content in each profile. The results showed that RF provided the best performance for both SOC (R 2 = 0.75) and CaCO 3 (R 2 = 0.76) contents. The maps depict significant differences in the vertical variability of the predicted properties in the profiles depending on the different intensity, form and period of sedimentation resulting from the slope position. The within-horizon/layer variability of SOC proves to be a suitable indicator of the character of deposition. High variability has been shown mainly in the medieval layers, where it reflects high-energy material redeposition, while low variability in the oldest and youngest parts of the profiles is probably associated with the type of deposited material and frequent pedoturbation, respectively. The within-horizon/layer variability of CaCO 3 , on the other hand, is independent of the dynamics of deposition. The study showed that imaging spectroscopy is a suitable tool to capture the detailed pattern of the colluvial matrix and, with appropriate sampling and processing, is applicable even in very deep soil profiles.
We present results from a systematic interdisciplinary study on (pre‐)historic rural settlement and landscape development in an upland region of northern Bavaria, Germany. The archaeological and geoarchaeological investigations—supported by radiocarbon dating, optically stimulated luminescence dating, and palaeoecological analysis—were performed to (i) identify so far unknown prehistoric rural settlement sites, (ii) determine site‐specific soil erosion from colluvial deposits, and (iii) assess the composition of woodland from on‐ and offsite charcoal finds. The earliest indicators of human activities from the Younger Neolithic (late 5th to early 4th millennium B.C.E.) come from colluvial deposits. Our investigations, for the first time, show Middle to Late Bronze Age (ca. 1400–800 B.C.E.), permanent rural settlement in a German central upland region, with a peak in the Late Bronze Age. Due to the varying thicknesses of Bronze Age colluvial deposits, we assume land use practices to have triggered soil erosion. From the spectrum of wood species, Maloideae, ash, and birch are regarded as successional indicators after fire clearance in that period. Settlement continued until the 5th century B.C.E. After a hiatus of 500 years, it re‐flourished in the Late Roman and Migration periods (mid‐3rd–5th century C.E.) and went on in the Medieval period.
This study investigates the surroundings of Munigua (municipium
Flavium Muniguense), a small Roman town in the ancient province of Hispania
Baetica (SW Spain). The city's economy was based primarily on copper and
iron mining, which brought financial prosperity to its citizens. Local
production of agricultural goods is thought to have been of little
importance, as the regional soil conditions do not seem to be suitable for
extensive agriculture.
To evaluate the recent soil agro-potential and to find evidence for
prehistoric and historic land use in the surroundings of Munigua, we applied a pedo-geomorphological approach based on the physico-chemical analysis of 14 representative soil and sediment exposures. Selected samples were analyzed for bulk chemistry, texture and phytoliths. The chronostratigraphy of the sequences was based on radiocarbon dating of charcoal samples. The site evaluation of the present-day soil agro-potential was carried out according to standard procedures and included evaluation of potential rootability, available water-storage capacity and nutrient budget within the uppermost 1 m.
The results show that moderate to very good soil agro-potential prevails in
the granitic and floodplain areas surrounding Munigua. Clearly, recent soil
agro-potential in these areas allows the production of basic agricultural
goods, and similar limited agricultural use should also have been possible in ancient times. In contrast, weak to very weak present-day soil
agro-potential prevails in the metamorphic landscape due to the occurrence
of shallow and sandy to stony soils.
In addition, the study provides pedo-geomorphological evidence for
prehistoric and historic land use in pre-Roman, Roman and post-Roman times.
Catenary soil mapping in the vicinity of a Roman house complex reveals
multi-layered colluvial deposits. They document phases of hillslope erosion
mainly triggered by human land use between 4063 ± 82 and 3796 ± 76 cal BP, around 2601 ± 115 cal BP, and between 1424 ± 96 and
421 ± 88 cal BP. Moreover, geochemical and phytolith analyses of a
Roman hortic Anthrosol indicate the local cultivation of agricultural
products that contributed to the food supply of Munigua.
Overall, the evidence of Roman agricultural use in the Munigua area
indicates that the city's economy was by no means focused solely on mining.
The production of basic agricultural products was also part of Munigua's
economic portfolio. Our geoarcheological study thus supports the
archeological concept of economically diversified Roman cities in the
province of Baetica and in Hispania.
Colluvial sediments originating from soil erosion on slopes have proven to constitute significant evidence for tracing past human impact on mountain landscapes. In the Central European Erzgebirge (Ore) Mountains, colluvial sediments are associated with specific landforms (footslopes, slope flattenings, dells) and cover a share of 11% (11,905 ha) of the regional soil landscape. Thirteen pedosedimentary sections with colluvial layers were investigated at five forested sites (520–730 m a.s.l.) within a context of mining archaeology, integrating data from pedology, archaeology, palaeobotany, and geochronology. The thickness of the gravel-bearing loamy, silty, and sandy colluvial layers is up to 70 cm, which are mostly located on top of the sections. The geochronological ages and archaeological data reveal a high to late medieval to post-medieval age of the colluvial sediments. Pollen data show a drastic decline of the mountain forests in the late twelfth to fifteenth centuries AD accompanied by an increase of pioneer trees and spruce at the expense of fir and beech. The primary cause of soil erosion and subsequent colluvial deposition at the sites investigated is medieval to post-medieval mining and other early industrial activities. A compilation of 395 radiocarbon and OSL ages, obtained from colluvial sediments at 197 upland sites in Central Europe, shows that anthropogenically initiated colluvial dynamics go as far back as the late Bronze Age to the early Iron Age. Most ages derive from the medieval to post-medieval period, corresponding to the general intensification of settlement and land-use activities including deforestation and widespread ore mining.
This paper aims to reconstruct Middle Bronze Age (MBA; 1600–1250 BCE) land use practices in the northwestern Alpine foreland (SW Germany, Hegau). We used a multi-proxy approach including the analysis of biogeochemical proxies from colluvial deposits and buried topsoils in the surroundings of the well-documented settlement site of Anselfingen and off-site pollen data from two peat bogs. This approach allowed for in-depth insights into the MBA subsistence economy and shows that the MBA in the northwestern Alpine foreland was a period of establishing settlements with sophisticated land management and land use practices. The reconstruction of phases of colluvial deposition was based on ages from optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon (AMS14C) dating from multi-layered colluvial deposits and supports the local archaeological record with the first phase of major colluvial deposition occurring during the MBA followed by phases of colluvial deposition during the Iron Age, the Medieval period and modern times. The on-site deposition of charred archaeobotanical remains and animal bones from archaeological features, as well as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), charcoal spectra, phytoliths, soil microstructure, urease enzymatic activity, microbial biomass carbon (Cmic) and heavy metal contents from colluvial deposits, were used as proxies for on-site and near-site land use practices. The charcoal spectra indicate MBA forest management which favored the dominance of Quercus in the woodland vegetation in the surrounding area north of the settlement site. Increased levels of 5β stanols (up to 40 %) and the occurrence of pig bones (up to 14 %) support the presence of a forest pasture mainly used for pig farming. In the surrounding area south of the settlement, an arable field with a buried MBA plow horizon (2Apb) could be verified by soil micromorphological investigations and high concentrations of grass phytoliths from leaves and stems. Agricultural practices (e.g., plowing) focussed on five staple crops (Hordeum distichon/vulgare, Triticum dicoccum, Triticum monococcum, Triticum spelta, Triticum aestivum/turgidum), while the presence of stilted pantries as storage facilities and of heat stones indicate post-harvest processing of cereal crops and other agrarian products within the settlement. In the area surrounding the settlement, increased levels of urease activity, compared to microbial biomass carbon (up to 2.1 µg N µg Cmic-1), and input of herbivorous and omnivorous animal faeces indicate livestock husbandry on fallow land. The PAH suites and their spatial distribution support the use of fire for various purposes, e.g., for opening and maintaining the landscape, for domestic burning and for technical applications. The off-site palynological data support the observed change in on-site and near-site vegetation as well as the occurrence of related land use practices. During the Early and Middle Bronze Age, fire played a major role in shaping the landscape (peak of micro-charcoal during the MBA), and anthropogenic activities promoted Quercus-dominated forest ecosystems at the expense of natural beech forests. This indicates a broader regional human influence in the northwestern Alpine foreland at low- and mid-altitude inland sites during the Middle Bronze Age.
We review and contrast three frameworks for analyzing human-land interactions in the Holocene: the traditional concept of favored and disfavored landscapes, the new concept of ResourceCultures from researchers at University of Tübingen, and complex adaptive systems, which is a well-established contemporary approach in interdisciplinary research. Following a theoretical integration of fundamental concepts, we analyze three paired case studies involving modern agriculture in Germany and Belize, prehistorical changes in land use in southwest Germany, and aquaculture on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America. We conclude that ResourceCultures and complex adaptive systems provide different but complementary strengths, but that both move beyond the favor-disfavor concept for providing a holistic, system-level approach to understanding human-land interactions. The three frameworks for understanding human responses to contemporary cultural and biophysical challenges are relevant to new thinking related to sustainability, resilience, and long-term environmental planning in the Anthropocene.
A system of farming with an alternation of land use between being cultivated or left fallow as grassland (Feldgraswirtschaft) developed in southwestern Germany since the Bronze Age. It involved fallow periods, where the arable land is left without crops in order to let it recover its fertility for several years while becoming grassland. This led to regeneration of the topsoil humus, which could later be mobilized by cultivation. With later farming systems, the supply of nutrients needed for crops could also be provided by manuring, which allowed shorter fallow periods but required the production of manure. Such cultivation systems with short or even without fallow phases and with intensive manuring are known from the medieval period as one, two or three field systems of agriculture and their development was an important step towards the intensification of farming. The current study considers on-site plant macrofossil data from archaeological sites as well as the off-site pollen data from cores in Baden-Württemberg in order to recognize the main changes towards agricultural intensification through time from the Bronze Age up to medieval times. The various landscape types included in the study area also reveal their different agricultural histories of intensification. In lowlands with good soils, the intensification can be recognized earlier and more strongly than in uplands or other marginal areas. The main shift towards intensification took place in the Roman period, which is also confirmed by written sources of the time that mention manuring as well as a kind of two field system and alternation between grassland and arable land.
Looking at soils from the perspective of an environmental scientist or agronomist might neglect various dimensions of valuation that can be attributed to soils. Especially social and cultural connoted values including ecosystem services cannot always be measured in terms of scientific values or classified as soil types or soil qualities in a modern, economic way.
Even though soils are a fact and have been present on the Earth's surface and used by people, at least for food production, at different times and in different cultures, the ways of dealing with soils and the valuations of soils are extremely diverse. Researchers in anthropology, archaeology, and agriculture, for example, are investigating different perspectives like soils as common good or as private property. This concerns not only different knowledge orders about soils, but also beliefs, techniques, foodways, practices, and power relations concerning soils and cereal cultivation.
Based on the example of agriculture with a focus on cereal cultivation, we argue that there is still a great need for interdisciplinarity between the sciences and humanities. However, there is also a need to distinguish and explain between fundamental interdisciplinary research and application of findings in a socio‐economic context. It is necessary to understand different knowledge orders and valuations in time or space and to reevaluate today's perspectives on soils and agriculture for facing modern problems such as soil degradation, erosion, salinization, and an overall loss of soil fertility.
Trade before Civilization explores the role that long-distance exchange played in the establishment and/or maintenance of social complexity, and its role in the transformation of societies from egalitarian to non-egalitarian. Bringing together research by an international and methodologically diverse team of scholars, it analyses the relationship between long-distance trade and the rise of inequality. The volume illustrates how elites used exotic prestige goods to enhance and maintain their elevated social positions in society. Global in scope, it offers case studies of early societies and sites in Europe, Asia, Oceania, North America, and Mesoamerica. Deploying a range of inter-disciplinary and cutting-edge theoretical approaches from a cross-cultural framework, the volume offers new insights and enhances our understanding of socio-political evolution. It will appeal to archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, conflict theorists, and ethnohistorians, as well as economists seeking to understand the nexus between imported luxury items and cultural evolution.
Sodmein Cave in Egypt is an exceptional archive for the study of past human behavior and anthropogenic fire history. Stratified remains of human occupation were excavated, ranging from the Middle Stone Age to the Neolithic. Hearths were repeatedly detected throughout the stratigraphy, with the lowest Pleistocene level having particularly large fire pits. This study is the first to apply a black carbon (BC) method on sediments bearing archaeology from the last 120,000 years. The method oxidizes BC to benzene polycarboxylic acids (BPCA) as a proxy for fire residue input. We detected significant changes in BC amounts throughout the stratigraphy; the highest contents in the form of two distinctive peaks were found in samples corresponding to the beginning of the Late Pleistocene (3.3 and 2.2 g BC kg⁻¹, respectively), indicating frequent burning. In the overlying layers, BC remained low (on average: 0.2 g BC kg⁻¹) until the beginning of the Holocene, when contents increased, and human influence became visible again (1.7 g BC kg⁻¹). Also, BPCA composition as a proxy for changes in fire temperature changed significantly over the stratigraphy. In the Pleistocene, residues of hotter fires were predominantly found, while the Holocene was characterised by a change to low-temperature fires. Variations in BC input and source are in agreement with the archaeological results, demonstrating the varying intensities and recurrence of human visits to the shelter during the last 120,000 years, but also show the potential to resolve different phases of human occupation more finely, when the archaeological findings are accompanied by geochemical BC analyses.
Im Jahr 2016 wurde bei Rettungsgrabungen im Bereich eines mittelbronzezeitlichen Siedlungsareals bei Engen-Anselfingen (Lkr. Konstanz/D) ein knapp 2 kg schweres Gusskuchenfragment geborgen. Nachdem in der Frühbronzezeit in Mitteleuropa noch elaboriertere, ring- und spangenförmige Kupferbarren zirkulierten, wurde ab der Mittelbronzezeit vermehrt mit einfacheren Rohbarren gehandelt. Welche Lagerstätten bzw. Abbaugebiete jedoch bei der Versorgung des nordwestlichen Alpenvorlands zu jener Zeit eine Rolle spielten, war mangels konkreter Rohmaterialfunde und -analysen bislang nicht gut belegt. Mit seiner chemischen Zusammensetzung, die mit größter Wahrscheinlichkeit auf eine Herkunft aus dem Mitterbergrevier im Salzburger Land (Bez. Pongau/A) schließen lässt, bestätigt das Anselfinger Gusskuchenfragment nun, dass in der Mittelbronzezeit tatsächlich ostalpines Kupfer in das heutige Gebiet des südlichen
Baden-Württemberg und der Nordostschweiz importiert wurde.