Notat: Geoarkæologiske undersøgelser af plantenæringsstoffer i de forhistorisk dyrkningssystemer ved Østerild

For Muesum for Thy og Vester Hanherred er der undersøgt hvorvidt der kan observe-res hvor meget, og i så fald med hvad et marksystem ved Østerild dateret til lige om-kring 500 år f.Kr., dvs. på overgang mellem bronze- og jernalder, har været gødsket.For at belyse dette, er jordprøver indsamlet ved mølleplads 7 som var datidens land-brugsland (dvs. indmark), og som reference, Mølleplads 3 som tolkes som datidens græsningsoverdrev (dvs. udmark) ud gødskning. Der er anvendt en ny multigrund-stofs baseret tilgang til at belyse tilførslen af gødning til markerne, og ikke blot den traditionelle metode baseret på fosfat alene. Jordprøverne er indsamlet fra udvalgte horisonter, tørret, nedknust og opløst vha. 4-syrer inden 36 grundstoffer er analyse-ret i syreudtrækket ha. ICP-MS metoden. Derudover er jordens tekstur bestemt samt C og N. Endelig er en samlet multivariat statistisk analyse (PCA) lavet på dataene in-den en geoarkæologiske tolkning af de samlede resultater.Dataene viser, at al flyvesandet kun har fået indblandet meget lidt sand- og gruspartikler fra områder hvor der ikke findes helt den samme flyvesand. Indholdene af kulstof og kvælstof viser ikke noget entydigt billede pga. de varierende bevarings-forhold siden jernalderen, men forskelle i indholdet af trækul bør undersøges nær-mere for evt. indflydelse på datidens dyrkningspotentiale. Der er kun små forskelle i indholdene af plantenæringsstoffer imellem de prø-ver vi har fra ind- og udmarkerne på stedet, og ikke nogle som er signifikant forskel-lige. PCA analysen viste at de tidligere dyrkede jorde var en adskilt gruppe fra de ikke-dyrkede jorde. Indbydes relationer imellem de forskellige grundstoffer i jordprø-verne kunne alene tolkes som geologisk betinget.

Urban Chronology at a Human Scale on the Coast of East Africa in the 1st Millennium a.d.

This paper presents a new high-resolution excavation sequence of a house at the 1st millennium a.d. site of Unguja Ukuu, Zanzibar, with implications for a new and detailed understanding of the period between the 7th and 9th centuries a.d. on the East African coast. This is an important period associated with a broad and distinctive cultural tradition, often seen as a pre- or proto-urban phase. Household excavations at Unguja Ukuu revealed two occupation phases, spanning less than 40 years each. The results here thus present an unprecedented temporal resolution on the site, at the scale of human experience. Excavation and microstratigraphic analyses of multiple floor layers reveal decadal change in occupation at this house. Positioning this house into the broader settlement sequence, we argue for episodic settlement at the site of Unguja Ukuu and draw out detail on how we can explore change at this generational scale

Revealing the invisible dead: integrating bio-geoarchaeological approaches in an apparently "empty" Viking-Age equestrian burial

Conference 26 - 27 May 2022 Microarchaeology: making visible the invisible archaeological record through high-resolution integrated approaches Coordination: Marta Portillo (IMF-CSIC), Aroa García-Suárez (IMF-CSIC), Juan Francisco Gibaja (EEHAR-CSIC) & Antonio Pizzo (EEHAR-CSIC)In 2017, a team of archaeologists and specialists investigated the apparently empty and partly disturbed Viking-Age equestrian burial of Fregerslev II, Denmark. This did not only provide a once in a lifetime opportunity to excavate such an elite grave, now with much more modern techniques than during earlier excavations of similar graves, but also to develop a novel multi-scale and multi-method analysis of burial and post-burial processes. To overcome the limitations of poor preservation and the lack of a clear macrostratigraphic sequence, multi-proxy analyses of organic and inorganic materials were combined to study the burial and its spatial organization as well as post-depositional processes. Techniques applied includedsoil chemistry (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry - ICPMS, portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer - pXRF), soil micromorphology, analysis of faecal lipid biomarkers and analysis of wood, botanical macroremains, phytoliths, pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs. This presentation will present the highlights of the results of the various analyses, showing the potential and relevance of integrating high-resolution approaches for the analysis of poorly preserved burial contexts

The Protected Burial Mound ‘Store Vejlhøj’, Vinderup, Denmark: First Results

An archaeological excavation of the protected burial mound Store Vejlhøj in northwestern Denmark was carried out in October-November 2021. The excavation formed part of the ERC-funded research project called ANTHEA, focusing on the deep history of anthropogenic heathlands. It was conducted by Aarhus University in collaboration with Holstebro Museum and Moesgaard Museum. The aim was to test a new method of sampling pollen data from different construction stages in a burial mound and comparing them with pollen data from nearby lake sediments with a view to improving our understanding of prehistoric anthropogenic heathland dynamics. Prior to the excavation, soil cores were collected from two nearby peat sediments as well as six burial mounds (including Store Vejlhøj) within a 1 km range of Lake Skånsø, where previous pollen analyses had been carried out. Based on these preliminary corings, Store Vejlhøj was selected for further archaeological investigation. A dispensation for excavating the protected mound was granted by the Danish Palaces and Culture Agency. The excavation was based on a 5 m long trench through the barrow, moving from its foot inwards. The surface vegetation and 40 cm topsoil were removed by an excavator, after which the remainder of the trench was manually dug in horizontal layers. Observation conditions were good. The excavation revealed a series of well-defined barrow construction stages, as well as unusually wellpreserved turf structures. Only two archaeological finds could be related to the barrow, both of which were later than its initial construction: a secondary urn in the top layer, and the base of a second urn at the foot of the mound. The burial mound was constructed using a minimum of three shells, which could be observed in the trench profile. Turfs were most probably collected locally in a landscape dominated by grass pastures, where no previous turf cutting had taken place. A total of 34 soil samples were collected for paleoecological analyses (pollen, Non-Pollen Polymorphs (NPPs), macrofossils) and geoarchaeological analyses (micromorphology, bulk samples). Preliminary pollen and macrofossil results from the burial mound revealed poor preservation conditions, which prompted a trench extension of 0.5 m by 0.2 m to find better preservation conditions. This extension resulted in the collection of a single final macrofossil sample, although there was no identifiable change in the in-situ preservation conditions. The dating results of the mound have not yet been completed and will be included as appendix 4-6 in 2023

Det tabte land - den store fortælling om magten over det danske landskab

En ny bog – Det tabte land af Kjeld Hansen – rejser nogle spændende og tankevækkende spørgsmål om, hvorfor det danske landskab i dag næsten udelukkende er landbrugsland – og det er overraskende og langtfra rar læsning