Holocene evolution of closed depressions and its relation to landscape dynamics in the loess areas of Poland

Past Pleistocene topography of the loess uplands is rich in local sinks (closed depressions (CDs)) influencing sediment fluxes. Soil-sediment sequences from CDs constituting geoarchives where landscape changes under natural and anthropogenic conditions have been recorded. Pedo-sedimentary archives from 10 CDs in the Polish loess belt and human settlements were analysed. Phases of the Holocene evolution of the CDs were correlated with landscape dynamics in loess areas in Poland and Central Europe. Phases of infilling of CDs occurring (2) from the late Boreal/early Atlantic Period until the (middle) late Bronze Age/early Iron Age and (4) since the early Middle Ages until today were documented. These were phases of long-term soil erosion and colluviation corresponding to the increasing agricultural land use of Polish loess uplands. Phases of soil formation related to geomorphic stabilization of CDs occurred (1) from the late Vistulian until the late Boreal/early Atlantic Period and (3) from the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age until the early/high Middle Ages. These were phases of decreased soil erosion and landform conservation in a considerable part of Poland’s loess areas. Pedo-sedimentary archives from the CDs have recorded soil erosion strongly related with human-induced land-use changes. The mean soil erosion rate in the catchment of CDs was 0.33 t·ha−1·yr−1 during prehistory and 4.0 t·ha−1·yr−1 during the last approximately 1000 years. Phases of CD evolution are representative for the main phases of sediment and landscape dynamics in Poland’s loess areas recorded in various archives, and are not synchronous with some of these phases in Central Europe.

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CERAMICS OF THE PESTRYAKOVO LAKE SETTLEMENT (SOUTH OF WESTERN SIBERIA)

Preservation and study of the cultural heritage of the Altai Territory ◽

10.14258/2411-1503.2021.27.32 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 27 ◽

pp. 205-212

Author(s):

KIRYUSHIN K. ◽

◽

KIRYUSHIN Yu. ◽

Keyword(s):

Organic Matter ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Middle Ages ◽

Iron Age ◽

Western Siberia ◽

Early Iron Age ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

The South ◽

Animal Hair ◽

The Middle Ages

The article is devoted to the publication of finds of fragments of ceramic dishes discovered at the settlement of Pestryakovo Lake (Zavyalovsky district of Altai Territory). A group of ceramics which belongs to the early Iron Age and the Middle Ages, is pointed out. Single fragments find analogies in the materials of the sites of the Early and Late Bronze Age. The ceramic collection of the Pestryakovo Lake settlement includes groups of ceramics that belong to the Neolithic or Eneolithic. These are fragments of vessels ornamented with prints of a “string”, pricks, imprints of a short comb stamp, a dingle-dingle stamping. Linear-pricked and receding-pricked ceramics are quite informative. On the outer and inner surfaces, as well as in the fractures, traces of burnt-out organic matter (animal hair) are recorded. Such ceramics are widely represented in the south of Western Siberia and are associated with various settlement and burial complexes from the Ob to the Irtysh and various cultural formations of the Neolithic and Eneolithic. Keywords: settlement, ceramics, ornamentation technique, comparative typological analysis, neolithic, eneolithic

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Rediscovering the Body: Cremation and Inhumation in Early Iron Age Central Europe

Cremation and the Archaeology of Death ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198798118.003.0010 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Katharina Rebay-Salisbury

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Central Europe ◽

Iron Age ◽

Large Scale ◽

Northern Italy ◽

The Body ◽

Early Iron Age ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

A Chain ◽

Cultural Entity

The Late Bronze Age Urnfield Period in Central Europe (BA D, Ha A/B, c.1300 to 800 BC) is characterized by the dominance of cremation as a burial rite. The simple appearance of urn burials give an impression of simplicity, but they are the endpoint of a chain of actions and practices that constitute the funerary ritual, many of which may not be simple at all, but include a large number of people and resources. The washing, dressing, and furnishing of the body as it is laid out prior to cremation leave no traces. The funerary pyre, as spectacular as it may have looked, smelled, and felt during the cremation, preserves only under exceptional circumstances. The rituals and feasts associated with selecting the cremated remains from the funerary pyre and placing them in a suitable organic container or a ceramic urn prior to their deposition do not leave much evidence. The large-scale spread of cremation during the Late Bronze Age has traditionally been explained by the movements of peoples (e.g. Kraft 1926; Childe 1950), or a change in religious beliefs (e.g. Alexander 1979). More recently, a change in how the human body is ontologically understood and how it has to be transformed after death is seen as the more likely underlying cause (Harris et al. 2013; Robb and Harris 2013; Sørensen and Rebay-Salisbury in prep.), although a simple and single reason is rarely the driver of such pan-European developments. This chapter will be concerned with another transition, the change from cremation back to inhumation, several hundred years later during the Early Iron Age, and investigates its background and causes. In Central Europe, cremation is given up as the solitary funerary rite, and a range of different options, including inhumations in burial mounds, bi-ritual cemeteries, and new forms of cremation graves emerge. This change happens at a different pace in the various areas of the Hallstatt Culture and adjacent areas, which will be surveyed here. Despite doubts about the validity of the term ‘Hallstatt Culture’ as a cultural entity (e.g. Müller-Scheeßel 2000), it remains a convenient shorthand to the Early Iron Age in Central Europe, c.800–450 BC, in eastern France, southern Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, and parts of northern Italy.

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Colluvial sediments originating from past land-use activities in the Erzgebirge Mountains, Central Europe: occurrence, properties, and historic environmental implications

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences ◽

10.1007/s12520-021-01469-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (12) ◽

Author(s):

Knut Kaiser ◽

Johann Friedrich Tolksdorf ◽

Anna Maartje de Boer ◽

Christoph Herbig ◽

Falk Hieke ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Soil Erosion ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Central Europe ◽

Iron Age ◽

Medieval Period ◽

Environmental Implications ◽

Archaeological Data ◽

Mountain Landscapes ◽

Past Land Use

AbstractColluvial 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.

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Nordic and Celtic: religion in southern Scandinavia during the late bronze age and early iron age

Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis ◽

10.30674/scripta.67183 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

pp. 329-343

Author(s):

Marianne Görman

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Central Europe ◽

Iron Age ◽

Time Span ◽

Roman Period ◽

Early Iron Age ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Sources Of Knowledge ◽

Southern Scandinavia ◽

The Bronze Age

By means of modern archeological research it is today possible to gain much information even from non-written material, This paper covers the late bronze age and early iron age, ca. 1000 B.C. —O. It is based on material from Denmark, the Southwest of Sweden, and the Southeast of Norway. This region formed a cultural unity since the sea bound the area together. Our main sources of knowledge of Nordic religion during this time span are votive offerings and rock-carvings. During the bronze age and early iron age the Nordic peasant population had intensive contacts with the Southeastern and Centralparts of Europe. A great quantity of imported objects bear evidence of widespread connections. The inhabitants of the Nordic area not only brought home objects, but also ideas and religious conceptions. This is clearly reflected in the iconography. The cultures with which connections were upheld and from which ideas were introduced were those of Hallstatt and La Tène. They were both Celtic iron age cultures prospering in Central Europe at the same time as the late bronze age and early iron age in the Nordic area. This means that the new symbols in the Nordic area come from a Celtic environment. Consequently, Celtic religion such as it may be found in the pre-Roman period, can clarify the meaning of the conceptions, linked with these symbols.

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An Overview of Southern Bohemian Hilltop Settlements from Prehistory to the Late Middle Ages

Archaeologia Lituana ◽

10.15388/archlit.2018.19.3 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 19 ◽

pp. 34-61

Author(s):

Petr Menšík ◽

Milan Menšík

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Middle Ages ◽

Iron Age ◽

Early Iron Age ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Stone Age ◽

Late Middle Ages ◽

Modern Period ◽

Early Stone Age ◽

And Function

[full article, abstract in English; abstract in Lithuanian] The Southern Bohemian Region belongs to regions where many hilltop settlements had been built since the Early Stone Age. However, the first fortified systems were built in the Late Bronze Age, as hilltops, mountain peaks, and promontories were fortified using complex systems of ramparts and ditches. This phenomenon thereafter continued into younger prehistoric periods, especially the Early Iron Age, resulting in the foundation of hilltops in the Early Middle Ages, starting with the 9th century and frequently continuing in the form of castles and manor houses built in the Middle Ages and the Modern Period. This paper is not only an attempt to summarize and survey the use of hilltop sites and the continuity of settlements but also an effort to state their classification, characteristics, and function considering their practical, social and symbolical roles, which can be detected in both prehistoric (sophisticated fortifications with no practical use, relocation) and medieval (show of power, the question of defence) heritage.

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Neolithic Pits, a Bronze Age Cremation and an Early Iron Age Ring-Ditch at Newton Farm, Cambuslang, Lanarkshire

Scottish Archaeological Journal ◽

10.3366/saj.2010.0002 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 31 (1-2) ◽

pp. 1-31

Author(s):

Leonora O'Brien ◽

Victoria Clements ◽

Mike Roy ◽

Neil Macnab

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Housing Development ◽

Early Iron Age ◽

Small Ring ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

River Terraces

Fieldwork at Newton Farm, Cambuslang (NGR NS 672 610) was undertaken in advance of housing development in 2005–6. A cluster of six shallow Neolithic pits were excavated, and a collection of 157 round-based, carinated bowl sherds and a quern fragment were recovered from them. The pits produced a date range of 3700 to 3360 cal BC. Most of the pits yielded burnt material, and one of the pits showed evidence of in situ burning. The pottery may form ‘structured deposits’. A Bronze Age adult cremation placed in a Food Vessel dated to 3610±30 BP (2040–1880 cal BC) was set in a wider landscape of single and multiple cremations and inhumations on the river terraces overlooking the Clyde. A possible unurned cremation was also identified. This was cut by the course of a small ring-ditch dated to the very late Bronze Age or early Iron Age 2520±30 BP (800–530cal BC).

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