scholarly journals Holocene Environmental Changes in Western Hungary

Radiocarbon ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 691-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zsuzsanna Szántó ◽  
Zsófia Medzihradszky
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Accumulation Rate ◽  
Sediment Accumulation ◽  
Anthropogenic Activity ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Forest Clearing ◽  
Plant Cultivation ◽  
Radiocarbon Data ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

We review the reasons for change in paleoecological conditions and their effects on different cultures at the beginning and during the Holocene period in western Hungary using radiocarbon data combined with paleoecological and paleolimnological results. Two sites were investigated in the southern and northern part of the ancient bay of Balaton Lake: Keszthely-Úsztatómajor and Főnyed I. 14C dating of 2 core samples represented a chronology from 11,000 cal BC to 2000 cal BC (10,700 BP to 3700 BP) and from 6200 cal BC to 1200 cal BC (7300 BP to 3000 BP), respectively. A relatively constant inverse sediment accumulation rate was observed in both cases (23 yr/cm and 33 yr/cm, respectively). In the case of Főnyed I, a sharp break was observed in the sedimentation curve around 6000–4800 cal BC (6000 BP). Changes in the vegetation due to human activity were observed in a larger extent only at the end of Late Neolithic, with the most significant changes detected in the landscape coinciding with the presence of Lengyel III culture in the region. The appearance of higher amounts of pollen of cereals at the sites proved the presence of crop cultivation. However, the role of plant cultivation may have been limited for the ancient inhabitants of the Kis-Balaton region due to a limited amount of soil suitable for agriculture and due to the extensive water table. Further changes in vegetation were observed during the Late Copper Age (Baden culture) and the period of Early and Middle Bronze Age, respectively. Signs of forest clearing during the period have not been detected and the increased peak of Fagus indicates climatic change. The low intensity of anthropogenic activity should not be attributed to geographic isolation.

scholarly journals Early human impact on soils and hydro-sedimentary systems: Multi-proxy geoarchaeological analyses from La Narse de la Sauvetat (France)

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 1780-1800
Author(s):  
Alfredo Mayoral ◽  
Salomé Granai ◽  
Anne-Lise Develle ◽  
Jean-Luc Peiry ◽  
Yannick Miras ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Societal Factors ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

We analysed the late-Holocene pedo-sedimentary archives of La Narse de la Sauvetat, a hydromorphic depression in the southern Limagne plain (central France), where chronologically accurate studies are scarce. The multi-proxy geoarchaeological and palaeoenvironmental analysis of two cores from different areas of the basin was carried out through sedimentological, geochemical, micromorphological and malacological investigations. Integration of these datasets supported by a robust radiocarbon-based chronology allowed discussion of socio-environmental interactions and anthropogenic impacts from Late Neolithic to Early Middle Ages. Until the Middle Bronze Age, there was no clear evidence of anthropogenic impact on soils and hydro-sedimentary dynamics of the catchment, but two peaks of high alluvial activity probably related to the 4.2 and 3.5 kyr. BP climate events were first recorded in Limagne. Significant anthropogenic impacts started in the Late Bronze Age with increased erosion of the surrounding volcanic slopes. However, a major threshold was reached c. 2600 cal BP with a sharp increase in the catchment erosion interpreted as resulting from strong anthropogenic environmental changes related to agricultural activities and drainage. This implies an anthropogenic forcing on soils and hydro-sedimentary systems much earlier than was usually considered in Limagne. These impacts then gradually increased during Late Iron Age and Roman periods, but environmental effects were certainly contained by progress in agricultural management. Late Antiquity environmental changes are consistent with regional trend to drainage deterioration in lowlands, but marked asynchrony in this landscape change suggests that societal factors implying differential land management were certainly predominant here.

scholarly journals Chronostratigraphic Sequence of Santuario Della Madonna Cave (Calabria, Southern Italy): AMS Radiocarbon Data from a New Excavation Area

Radiocarbon ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 408-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
L Calcagnile ◽  
V Tinè ◽  
G Quarta ◽  
M D'Elia ◽  
G Fiorentino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Statistical Tools ◽  
Ams Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
Radiocarbon Data ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Excavation Area

The Santuario della Madonna Cave, located near Praia a Mare (Cosenza), along the northwestern coast of Calabria (southern Italy), has an impressive stratigraphy, with occupation phases spanning from the late Paleolithic to the advanced phases of the Middle Bronze Age. Recently, a new excavation area has been opened in the cave from which shortlived vegetal remains were sampled and submitted for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating. The aim of this study was to define an accurate chronology of the different cultural aspects and to explore the potentialities resulting from application of advanced statistical tools for 14C data analysis in such a context.

Late Neolithic and Middle Bronze Age barrows in Bukivna, Western Ukraine as a source to understand soil evolution and its environmental significance

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 101972
Author(s):  
Iwona Hildebrandt-Radke ◽  
Przemysław Makarowicz ◽  
Zhanna N. Matviishyna ◽  
Aleksandr Parkhomenko ◽  
Sergiy D. Lysenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Environmental Significance ◽  
Soil Evolution ◽  
Western Ukraine ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

Barrows in action. Late Neolithic and Middle Bronze Age Barrow Landscapes in the Upper Dniester Basin, Ukraine

2019 ◽  
Vol 94 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-115
Author(s):  
P. Makarowicz ◽  
J. Niebieszczański ◽  
M. Cwaliński ◽  
J. Romaniszyn ◽  
V. Rud ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Steppe Zone ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Linear Pattern ◽  
The Past ◽  
Western Ukraine ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Direction Of Movement ◽  
Cultural Code

Abstract The aim of this article is to view the spatial distribution of Upper Dniester Basin’s (Western Ukraine) barrows and to interpret their location principles. These monuments were often situated on the flattened summits of watershed ridges or hills. It appeared also that some of them were located on upper parts of gentle slopes of not more than 8° of inclination. Mounds appear within linear and group-linear arrangements and were rarely observed as clusters, while more specific adjustments to their location were dependant on local terrain morphology. Barrow alignments run along the elevated ridges, while clustered groups were situated in places where erosive indentations or denudation cavities prevented barrows from stretching in a linear pattern. It can be noted that during the spatial development of barrow alignments, more attention was paid to the intervisibility between the mounds, than to their visibility from other places in the landscape. The potential of observing at least one of the following groups of tumuli from every embankment indicates the direction of movement within the framework of the barrow landscape, perhaps augmented in the past by the presence of paths or “roads”. Examples of analogous or similar, in a certain sense even universal, practices in shaping barrow landscapes were documented also from various parts of Eurasia. Therefore, it is argued these traits were shared by all “barrow societies” and their origins can be traced to the steppe zone. Specific and repeatable patterns of barrow arrangements are a manifestation of certain knowledge and skills, transmitted over generations and immortalized in the landscape that symbolized the incorporation of territory by “barrow societies”. Characteristic mound alignments became a cultural code or institution, as it were – an instrument of familiarising previously unknown landscapes, facilitating movement and simultaneously expressing continuity of kin-lineages.

scholarly journals Novos dados sobre os hipogeus do Bronze Pleno de Torre Velha 3 (Serpa): contextos sepulcrais e estudo do espólio osteológico humano

2016 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Daniel Ferreira Fidalgo ◽  
Eduardo Porfírio ◽  
Ana Maria Silva
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Male Adult ◽  
Genetic Changes ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Masticatory System

O presente trabalho incide sobre a análise antropológica do espólio ósseo humano recuperado de 21 hipogeus do arqueossítio de Torre Velha 3 (TV3; São Salvador, Serpa), datados entre os meados e a segunda metade do II milénio a.C.. Dezasseis hipogeus são individuais, três duplos (uma inumação in situ com uma redução associada) e um triplo (enterramento duplo com uma redução associada) e dois contextos funerários inconclusivos. Todos os restos ósseos humanos foram recuperados da câmara funerária. Para além destes, um hipogeu continha um enterramento com uma redução associada na câmara e uma inumação primária na antecâmara. Destes sepulcros foram exumados 28 indivíduos, 22 adultos (11 do sexo feminino, nove do masculino e dois casos indeterminados), cinco não adultos e um em que não foi possível atribuir uma faixa etária. Nas inumações primárias e individuais, as oferendas cárneas encontram-se associadas a adultos de ambos os sexos. Por sua vez as cerâmicas e punções surgem somente em enterramentos do sexo feminino, com a excepção de um punção associado ao adulto do sexo masculino [2007]. Recorrendo à análise estatística de componentes principais, foi possível observar que as diferenças na morfologia dentária de TV3 em comparação com outras amostras da Pré-História recente Peninsular são mínimas, e podem ser explicadas por mudanças genéticas associadas a possíveis contactos e interações interregionais. Foram ainda identificados padrões de desgaste dentário atípico que sugerem o uso parafuncional do sistema mastigatório de adultos do sexo feminino. Relativamente à patologia oral, a incidência de lesões cariogénicas na amostra é de 5,85% (29/495), e afecta cerca de 57% dos indivíduos analisados (n=21). Estes valores são superiores à maioria das amostras comparadas do Neolítico Final/Calcolítico do actual território Português, mas semelhantes aos registados para outras comunidades da Idade do Bronze. New data on the Middle Bronze Age hypogea of Torre Velha 3 (Serpa): burial contexts and the study of the human osteological remains - The present work focuses on the anthropological analysis of the human remains exhumed from 21 hypogea of the archaeological site of Torre Velha 3 (TV3; São Salvador, Serpa), which is dated between the middle and second half of the II millennium B.C. Sixteen hypogea were individual, three double (one in situ burial with an associated reduction) and one triple (double burial with associated reduction) and two inconclusive funerary contexts. The human remains were collected unearthed from the chambers of the tombs. Besides these, one hypogeum displayed an in situ burial with an associated reduction in the chamber and other in situ burial in theantechamber. From these tombs were exhumed 28 individuals, 22 adults (11 females, nine males and 2 inconclusive), five non adults and one unknown. In primary and individual burials, meat offering were found in association with adults from both sexes. Ceramic vessels and awls are found only in female burials, with the exception of one awl found in association with the male adult [2007]. Using a principal component analyses, it was possible to observe that the differences in dental morphological traits found in TV3, in comparison with other samples from the Iberian Peninsula’s recent pre-history, are minimal and can be explained by genetic changes derived from possible inter-regional contacts and interactions. Some atypical dental wear patterns were also identified, mostly in adult females, and these suggest the parafunctional use of the masticatory system. Finally, the incidence of cariogenic lesions found is 5.85% (29/495), affecting around 57% of the individuals analysed (n=21). These values are higher than Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic samples from nowadays Portugal, but similar to the values found in Bronze Age samples.

scholarly journals Late Neolithic Mondsee Culture in Austria: living on lakes and living with flood risk?

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1601-1612 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Swierczynski ◽  
S. Lauterbach ◽  
P. Dulski ◽  
A. Brauer
Keyword(s):  
Debris Flow ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Flood Frequency ◽  
Sediment Supply ◽  
European Alps ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Settlement Period

Abstract. Neolithic and Bronze Age lake dwellings in the European Alps became recently protected under the UNESCO World Heritage. However, only little is known about the cultural history of the related pre-historic communities, their adaptation strategies to environmental changes and particularly about the almost synchronous decline of many of these settlements around the transition from the Late Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. For example, there is an ongoing debate whether the abandonment of Late Neolithic lake dwellings at Lake Mondsee (Upper Austria) was caused by unfavourable climate conditions or a single catastrophic event. Within the varved sediments of Lake Mondsee, we investigated the occurrence of intercalated detrital layers from major floods and debris flows to unravel extreme surface runoff recurrence during the Neolithic settlement period. A combination of detailed sediment microfacies analysis and μXRF element scanning allows distinguishing debris flow and flood deposits. A total of 60 flood and 12 debris flow event layers was detected between 7000 and 4000 varve years (vyr) BP. Compared to the centennial- to millennial-scale average, a period of increased runoff event frequency can be identified between 5900 and 4450 vyr BP. Enhanced flood frequency is accompanied by predominantly siliciclastic sediment supply between ca. 5500 and 5000 vyr BP and enhanced dolomitic sediment supply between 4900 and 4500 vyr BP. A change in the location and the construction technique of the Neolithic lake dwellings at Lake Mondsee can be observed during the period of higher flood frequency. While lake dwellings of the first settlement period (ca. 5800–5250 cal. yr BP) were constructed directly on the wetlands, later constructions (ca. 5400–4700 cal. yr BP) were built on piles upon the water, possibly indicating an adaptation to either increased flood risk or a general increase of the lake level. However, our results also indicate that other than climatic factors (e.g. socio-economic changes) must have influenced the decline of the Mondsee Culture because flood activity generally decreased since 4450 vyr BP, but no new lake dwellings have been established thereafter.

The Iron Age Enclosures and Prehistoric Landscape of Sutton Common, South Yorkshire

1997 ◽  
Vol 63 ◽  
pp. 221-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Parker Pearson ◽  
R.E. Sydes ◽  
S. Boardman ◽  
B. Brayshay ◽  
P.C. Buckland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

The Early Iron Age enclosures and associated sites on Sutton Common on the western edge of the Humberhead Levels contain an exceptional variety of archaeological data of importance not only to the region but for the study of later prehistory in the British Isles. Few other later prehistoric British sites outside the East Anglian fens and the Somerset Levels have thus far produced the quantity and quality of organically preserved archaeological materials that have been found, despite the small scale of the investigations to date. The excavations have provided an opportunity to integrate a variety of environmental analyses, of wood, pollen, beetles, waterlogged and carbonised plant remains, and of soil micromorphology, to address archaeological questions about the character, use, and environment of this Early Iron Age marsh fort. The site is comprised of a timber palisaded enclosure and a succeeding multivallate enclosure linked to a smaller enclosure by a timber alignment across a palaeochannel, with associated finds ranging in date from the Middle Bronze Age to the Roman and medieval periods. Among the four adjacent archaeological sites is an Early Mesolithic occupation site, also with organic preservation, and there is a Late Neolithic site beneath the large enclosure. Desiccation throughout the common is leading to the damage and loss of wooden and organic remains. It is hoped that the publication of these results, of investigations between 1987 and 1993, will lead to a fuller investigation taking place.

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