Existing and proposed urban geosites values resulting from geodiversity of Poznań City

Poznań, a city in central-western Poland, is located in the lowland region but has no less attractive geomorphological and human history. It was here that Poland was born at the end of the tenth century. The city’s location is connected with the meridian course of the Warta River valley. In contrast, in the northern part of the city, there is a vast area of the frontal moraines of the Poznań Phase of the Weichselian Glaciation. Against the backdrop of the geomorphological development of the city, the article presents the existing geosites, classified as urban geosites. The present geosites include three lapidaries with Scandinavian postglacial erratics, one of them also with stoneware, a fragment of a frontal push moraine and impact craters. Besides, three locations of proposed geosites with rich geomorphological and/or human history were identified. These are as follows: the peat bog located in the northern part of the city, defence ramparts as exhumed anthropogenic forms, and the Warta River valley. The existing and proposed geosites in Poznań were evaluated in three ways. In general, it should be assumed that the proposed new geosites are higher ranked than the current ones

Environmental changes during Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Kuyavia Lakeland, Central Poland

Funding Information: The field research was carried out as part of the project “Settlement of the Funnel Beaker Culture in the Wietrzychowice Cultural Park”, thanks to the funds of the Professor Konrad Jażdżewski Foundation for Archaeological Research and the County Labor Office - “Exploreres” program. Thanks are also due to Mrs. B. Lewandowska and Mr. A. Myrta for their invaluable help during the field works of Śmieły site, and to Kacper Świerk for his help in Chironomidae subfossils analysis. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier Ltd and INQUAThe Wietrzychowice Cultural Park protects one of the last preserved megalithic barrows constructed by the Funnel Beaker Culture societies at the Kuyavia Lakeland (Central Poland). The nearby archaeological site at Śmieły located on the shore of Karaśnia Lake provided numerous Mesolithic and Neolithic remains such as flint artefacts, potsherds, arrowheads, and mammal bones with traces of human processing. The lake and peat sediments at the Śmieły site provided a unique opportunity to investigate man-environment relationships during the transition period from Mesolithic to Neolithic. The age-depth model for the deposits was based on five radiocarbon dates as well as archaeological artefacts. The multi-proxy study, including geochemistry, pollen, plant macrofossils, Mollusca, Cladocera and Chironomidae analyses, were conducted to recognize palaeoenvironmental changes between 7500 and 3500 BCE. Combining environmental and archaeological data, we attempt to distinguish between natural phenomena triggered by climate factors with those induced by human activity. The data indicated hydrological changes associated with natural factors: (1) the phase of aquatic ecosystem since 7500 to 5800 BCE, (2) the phase of water shallowing between 5800 and 4600 BCE, and (3) the development of alder fen in the lake shore zone since ca. 4600 BCE. Vegetation changes suggest early landscape transformations in Central Poland already due to the activity of Mesolithic societies. Fossil pollen and plant macroremains data combined with detailed map of modern soil distribution in the area allowed to identify pattern of vegetation distribution around the Mesolithic campsite. Neolithic discontinuity of habitation process between ca. 4600 and 4000 BCE (in the times of Brześć Kujawski Group of Lendyel Culture) can be associated with climate change resulting in Karaśnia Lake level lowering.Peer reviewe

The ecological impact of conquest and colonization on a medieval frontier landscape: combined palynological and geochemical analysis of lake sediments from Radzyń Chełminski, northern Poland

Slavic and German colonization of the southern Baltic between the 8th and 15th centuries A.D. is well-documented archaeologically and historically. Despite the large number of pollen profiles from Poland, few palaeoecological studies have examined the ecological impact of a process that was central to the expansion of European, Christian, societies. This study aims to redress this balance through multiproxy analysis of lake sediments from Radzyń Chełminski, Northern Poland, using pollen, element geochemistry (Inductively Coupled-Optical Emission Spectroscopy [ICP-OES]), organic content, and magnetic susceptibility. The close association between lake and medieval settlements presents the ideal opportunity to reconstruct past vegetation and land-use dynamics within a well-documented archaeological, historical, and cultural context. Three broad phases of increasing landscape impact are visible in the pollen and geochemical data dating from the 8th/9th, 10th/11th, and 13th centuries, reflecting successive phases of Slavic and German colonization. This involved the progressive clearance of oak-hornbeam dominated woodland and the development of an increasingly open agricultural landscape. Although the castles and towns of the Teutonic Order remain the most visible signs of medieval colonization, the palynological and geochemical data demonstrate that the major phase of woodland impact occurred during the preceding phase of Slavic expansion; Germans colonists were entering a landscape already significantly altered

Natural Scientific Aspects of Prehistoric and Early Historic Transit Routes In the Baltic-Pontic Cultural Area

As regards the identification of the early forms of Europe's long-distance routes, the area lying between the Baltic and Black seas can be said to be one of relative neglect. Specifically, little research has been devoted to the development stages of the area's socio-cultural map, i.e. to neighbourly forays, itineraries, routes (of varied continuity, range and transport technique), stable segments of roads leading to water crossings, networks of fords and the communication channels running along watersheds. The foremost issue, at present one of great difficulty with respect to a study embracing the whole region in question, is the cultural context of these innovations and the related mechanisms that saw their creation in regard to the socio-economic basis and ritual-epistemological nature of ancient peoples in these regions. The study by Marija Gimbutas [Gimbutas 1965] of 'amber routes', joining the west and east of Europe, may be considered the first attempt to tackle the issue of the region's early communication channels and was accordingly referred to in the analyses of the distribution of stone 'fluted maces', regarded as hypothetical markers of Baltic-Pontic routes [Kośko 2001; 2002]. Generally, this conceptual leaven can be said to have provided broader intellectual stimuli for the international academic community of 'Archaeology Bimaris'. The turning point in the nascent study of ancient routes has been thus given a clear framework: an inter-university and interdisciplinary discussion (see the Poznań-Obrzycko symposium Routes Between the Seas: Baltic-Bug-Boh (Southern Bug)-Pont held in October 2008). The papers included in this volume are a partial record of the discussion. The intentional selectiveness here is seen therefore in the conscious limitation of the scope of papers ('piecemeal' treatment of linguistic or ethnological and anthropological analyses). Moreover, there is a special focus on one of the inter-regional routes, namely the Baltic-Bug-Boh (Southern Bug)-Pont, or more specifically, its early evidence (generally speaking, prior to - widely known to the academia - its use in the times of Goth migrations)

Pollenanalytische Analyse des Inhalts der Erde aus der Bronzeschüssel aus dem frühmittelalterlichen Gräberfeld in Dziekanowice, Fst. 22

Die frühmittelalterlichen Objekte aus der archäologischen Fundstelle 22 in Dziekanowice (Wrzesińska, Wrzesiński 1992, 1993, 1995) wurden früher zweimal einer pollenanalytischen Analyse unterzogen (s. Makohonienko, Wrzesiński, Wrzesińska 1998a,b). Dieser Bericht ist eine nächste Erarbeitung, die diesmal die Erfüllung der Bronzeschüssel aus dem Grab Nr. 17/98 betreffen. Zwei Proben — aus dem Inneren der Schüssel und aus der Füllung der Grabgrube — wurden im Juli 1998 entnommen (A. Wrzesińska in diesem Band) und zur Analyse übergeben. Die analysierten Proben aus der Grabfüllung aus dem Inneren der Schüssel weisen gewisse Verschiedenheit in der Zusammensetzung der Mikrofossilien auf. Von den Holzbestandteilen enthält die Probe aus dem Inneren der Schüssel nur die Kiefer- und Birkenstaubkörner sowie eine gute Vertretung der so genannten anthropogenischen Kennzeichen. Neben den Kiefer- und Birkenstaubkörnern enthält die Probe von außerhalb Schüssel, aus der Grabfüllung, auch die Erlen-, Ulmen-, Linden-, Hasel- und Weidenkörner nd, neben den Kennzeichen von Ruderal- und Segetalbiotopen, auch eine breitere Vertretung von Kräutern, die die Anwesenheit in der Umgebung von frischen oder feuchten Wiesen widerspiegeln können (Centaurea jacea, Apiaceae, Filipendula, Aster Typ). Die Wiesenflächen könnten sich in einem Seestreifen oder in überschwemmten Vertiefungen, die mit biogenischen Ablagerungen auf dem Hochland gefüllt wurden, befinden. Infolge einer kleinen Anzahl von Staubkörnern, die in Spektren registriert werden konnten sowie der Verlagerung von Erdschichten während des Bestattungsritus ist es sehr schwierig, die Unterschiede in der Zusammensetzung beider Spektren eindeutig zu interpretieren. Eindeutig ist, daß das Material aus der Schüssel und aus der Grabgrubenfüllung das durch den Menschen stark umgestaltetes Milieu, mit eingeprägter Anwesenheit der Felder — Roggenbau beschreibt. Bemerkenswert ist die Anwesenheit in beiden Proben der Sporen von Anthoderos punctatus. Diese anthoceraphytina wurde schon einigemal in fossilen Materialien festgestellt, die mit dem Frühmittelalter sowohl auf der Fundstelle in Dziekanowice (Makohonienko und an. 1998a,b), auf der Insel Ostrów Lednicki in den Kulturschichten aus dem Platz und Überresten des Burgwalls (Makohonienko 1998a,b) als auch in der Umgebung des mittelalterlichen Siedlungskomplexes von Gnesen (Makohonienko 1998c) verbunden werden. Sehr großer Gehalt von Anthoderos punctatus, die früher in den fossilen Materialien aus dem Gebiet Polens nicht notiert wurden, wurde in den Holz- und Erdschichten der Wallkonstruktion in der Burg in Lednica festgestellt, wo sie bis über 11% der Spektrumszusammensetzung erreichten