Sediment budgeting of short‐term backfilling processes: The erosional collapse of a Carolingian canal construction

Sediment budgeting concepts serve as quantification tools to decipher the erosion and accumulation processes within a catchment and help to understand these relocation processes through time. While sediment budgets are widely used in geomorphological catchment-based studies, such quantification approaches are rarely applied in geoarchaeological studies. The case of Charlemagne's summit canal (also known as Fossa Carolina) and its erosional collapse provides an example for which we can use this geomorphological concept and understand the abandonment of the Carolingian construction site. The Fossa Carolina is one of the largest hydro-engineering projects in Medieval Europe. It is situated in Southern Franconia (48.9876°N, 10.9267°E; Bavaria, southern Germany) between the Altmühl and Swabian Rezat rivers. It should have bridged the Central European watershed and connected the Rhine–Main and Danube river systems. According to our dendrochronological analyses and historical sources, the excavation and construction of the Carolingian canal took place in AD 792 and 793. Contemporary written sources describe an intense backfill of excavated sediment in autumn AD 793. This short-term erosion event has been proposed as the principal reason for the collapse and abandonment of the hydro-engineering project. We use subsurface data (drillings, archaeological excavations, and direct-push sensing) and geospatial data (a LiDAR digital terrain model (DTM), a pre-modern DTM, and a 3D model of the Fossa Carolina] for the identification and sediment budgeting of the backfills. Dendrochronological findings and radiocarbon ages of macro remains within the backfills give clear evidence for the erosional collapse of the canal project during or directly after the construction period. Moreover, our quantification approach allows the detection of the major sedimentary collapse zone. The exceedance of the manpower tipping point may have caused the abandonment of the entire construction site. The spatial distribution of the dendrochronological results indicates a north–south direction of the early medieval construction progress

High-Resolution Direct Push Sensing in Wetland Geoarchaeology—First Traces of Off-Site Construction Activities at the Fossa Carolina

Wetland environments, with their excellent conservation conditions, provide geoarchaeological archives of past human activities. However, the subsurface soil is difficult to access due to high groundwater tables, unstable sediments, and the high cost of excavation. In this study, we present a ground-based non- and minimal-invasive prospection concept adapted to the conditions of wetlands. We investigated the Fossa Carolina in South Germany, a canal that was intended in 792/793 AD by Charlemagne to bridge the Central European Watershed. Although the resulting Carolingian banks and the fairway with wooden revetments are very imposing, archaeological traces of off-site construction activities have not been identified hitherto. Based on a geophysically surveyed intensive linear magnetic anomaly parallel to the Carolingian canal, we aimed to prove potential off-site traces of Carolingian construction activities. In this context, we built up a high-resolution cross-section using highly depth-accurate direct push sensing and ground-truthing. Our results showed the exact geometry of the canal and the former banks. Thus, the magnetic mass anomaly could be clearly located between the buried organic-rich topsoil and the Carolingian banks. The thermoluminescence dating showed that the position of the magnetic mass anomaly reflected Carolingian activities during the construction phases, specifically due to heat exposure. Moreover, we found hints of the groundwater supply to the 5-metre wide navigable fairway

Sediment budgeting of short‐term backfilling processes: The erosional collapse of a Carolingian canal construction

Sediment budgeting concepts serve as quantification tools to decipher the erosion and accumulation processes within a catchment and help to understand these relocation processes through time. While sediment budgets are widely used in geomorphological catchment‐based studies, such quantification approaches are rarely applied in geoarchaeological studies. The case of Charlemagne's summit canal (also known as Fossa Carolina) and its erosional collapse provides an example for which we can use this geomorphological concept and understand the abandonment of the Carolingian construction site. The Fossa Carolina is one of the largest hydro‐engineering projects in Medieval Europe. It is situated in Southern Franconia (48.9876°N, 10.9267°E; Bavaria, southern Germany) between the Altmühl and Swabian Rezat rivers. It should have bridged the Central European watershed and connected the Rhine–Main and Danube river systems. According to our dendrochronological analyses and historical sources, the excavation and construction of the Carolingian canal took place in AD 792 and 793. Contemporary written sources describe an intense backfill of excavated sediment in autumn AD 793. This short‐term erosion event has been proposed as the principal reason for the collapse and abandonment of the hydro‐engineering project. We use subsurface data (drillings, archaeological excavations, and direct‐push sensing) and geospatial data (a LiDAR digital terrain model (DTM), a pre‐modern DTM, and a 3D model of the Fossa Carolina] for the identification and sediment budgeting of the backfills. Dendrochronological findings and radiocarbon ages of macro remains within the backfills give clear evidence for the erosional collapse of the canal project during or directly after the construction period. Moreover, our quantification approach allows the detection of the major sedimentary collapse zone. The exceedance of the manpower tipping point may have caused the abandonment of the entire construction site. The spatial distribution of the dendrochronological results indicates a north–south direction of the early medieval construction progress. © 2020 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons LtdThe sediment budgeting concept as erosion and accumulation quantification tool helps in understanding the abrupt backfilling of excavated material in the construction pit, which may have forced the abandonment of the Carolingian canal in southern Germany at the end of the year AD 793. The backfill sediments could be dated precisely through radiocarbon dating of macro remains and dendrochronology of excavated timbers. These timbers recovered in three different archaeological excavation trenches reveal a Carolingian construction progress from North to South.Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/50110000165

3D-Modelling of Charlemagne’s Summit Canal (Southern Germany)—Merging Remote Sensing and Geoarchaeological Subsurface Data

The Early Medieval Fossa Carolina is the first hydro-engineering construction that bridges the Central European Watershed. The canal was built in 792/793 AD on order of Charlemagne and should connect the drainage systems of the Rhine-Main catchment and the Danube catchment. In this study, we show for the first time, the integration of Airborne LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and geoarchaeological subsurface datasets with the aim to create a 3D-model of Charlemagne’s summit canal. We used a purged Digital Terrain Model that reflects the pre-modern topography. The geometries of buried canal cross-sections are derived from three archaeological excavations and four high-resolution direct push sensing transects. By means of extensive core data, we interpolate the trench bottom and adjacent edges along the entire canal course. As a result, we are able to create a 3D-model that reflects the maximum construction depth of the Carolingian canal and calculate an excavation volume of approx. 297,000 m3. Additionally, we compute the volume of the present dam remnants by Airborne LiDAR data. Surprisingly, the volume of the dam remnants reveals only 120,000 m3 and is much smaller than the computed Carolingian excavation volume. The difference reflects the erosion and anthropogenic overprint since the 8th century AD

Non-invasive prospection techniques and direct push sensing as high-resolution validation tools in wetland geoarchaeology – Artificial water supply at a Carolingian canal in South Germany?

The prospection of (geo-)archaeological sites yield important knowledge about the concept and the utilisation of pre-historical and historical infrastructure. The satisfactory conduction of classical prospection methods like archaeological excavations or geoarchaeological vibra-coring might be challenging in the case of large sites or difficult underground conditions. This is particularly problematic in wetlands featuring a high groundwater table and high compaction rates of organic layers. In this study, we provide an alternative and non- to minimal-invasive exploration approach to discover hydro-engineering structures for artificial water supply in the surrounding of a Carolingian summit canal in South Germany. The Early Medieval Fossa Carolina was intended 792/793 CE to bridge the Central European watershed between Rhine-Main and Danube catchments. As the canal was constructed as a summit canal, an artificial water supply at the highest levels seemed very likely or even obligatory. In order to explore these obligatory hydro-engineering features, we use a wide range of on-site and off-site tools in a spatial hierarchical way. Our approach includes the large-scale SQUID magnetic survey and the sighting of historical maps. Furthermore, we integrate high-resolution direct push colour logs, and subsequent vibra-coring for small-scale stratigraphical verification and sedimentological analyses. The SQUID magnetic survey and related depth models discover two pronounced linear anomalies that might represent potential artificial water inlets in the North-Eastern and Northern Sections of the canal. I) In the North-Eastern Section, direct push colour logs, vibra-coring and 14C dating provide no evidence for a Carolingian hydro-engineering feature but reveal a natural lenticular structure of Early Holocene age. II) The linear magnetic anomaly in the Northern Section can be excluded with high probability as a hydro-engineering structure as well. Here, direct push colour logs, vibra-coring, 14C dating and the comparison with a historic map reveal evidence for a historic gravel road. Thus, we have nicely verified the magnetic information but have no prove for an artificial Carolingian water inlet from the Swabian Rezat River that contradicts with assumptions of former studies. © 2020 The Author

Cross section of the West-East Section at core O position.

<p>Cross section of the West-East Section at core O position.</p

Stratigraphical documentation of the KG 256 cross section within the North-Eastern Section.

<p>The cross section shows the in situ layers of the Rezat fen in the East and the trench structure in the West. For the first time there is in situ evidence for a Carolingian trench in the North-Eastern Section. The trench bottom is shown by horizontal bars.</p

Synthetic longitudinal profile of the Fossa Carolina from Graben to Rezat River.

<p>a) The red line shows the Pre-Carolingian surface and watershed, the red dot indicates the summit the natural watershed. b) The short horizontal bars feature the Carolingian levels of excavation deduced from the drilling stratigraphies, and the blue dot indicates the artificial summit of the Carolingian trench bottom. c) The solid black line represents the level of the recent trench surface following the course of the canal.</p