Land-use and environmental history at the Middle Neolithic settlement site Oldenburg-Dannau LA 77

   The ‘Oldenburger Graben’ is an extended wetland area in Northern Germany with a rich archaeological heritage. Several settlements from Late Mesolithic to Late Neolithic were found along the former shore in elevations under the recent sea-level. Environmental reconstructions around the Middle Neolithic settlement site Oldenburg-Dannau LA77 enabled for a detailed reconstruction of the sea level development and the according environmental transformations. The general increase from values of -4 m at around 5500 cal BC to -2.5 m at around 3000 cal BC is described as a process of stagnation and transgression with strong influence on living conditions in the lowland area. A lake- and peat-landscape was drowned by the rising sea level and underwent a transformation into a marine environment. By the time the coastal erosion resulted in a damming of the former bay and a brackish lagoon lake developed that succeeded towards a freshwater system. The Middle Neolithic settlement of Dannau LA 77could be linked to a brackish-marine transgression phase. From c. 3500 until 2900 cal BC the results indicate local settlement activities including cereal cultivation with a short phase of reduced activities at around c. 3200 cal BC. During this time of occupation, the sandy elevation was still connected to the mainland. After c. 2900 cal BC the site became an island, the time when the local inhabitation ceased. The comparison with other investigated sites in the Oldenburger Graben region shows a stepwise Neolithisation process with indications for single domestic animals occurring already in the Late Mesolithic and a transition to animal husbandry around 4100 cal BC, the beginning of the Early Neolithic (EN) Ia. Single Cereal-Type pollen grains also occur already during the Ertebølle-time but arable farming did not contribute substantially to the nutrition before c. 3800 cal BC, i.e. the EN Ib. Thus, the transformation of the subsistence economy was a stepwise process what supports the idea of an autochthonous Neolithisation process

Prehistoric and Recent Land Use Effects on Poike Peninsula, Easter Island (Rapa Nui)

Since the first Polynesian settlers set foot on Rapa Nui, probably between AD 300 and AD 600, cultivation of plants and the development and adaptation of agriculture in the new environment became the key factor for a growing community and a flourishing culture. The biotic resources the people found on Rapa Nui were relatively poor due to the lack of diversity of edible and usable plants and animals, a consequence of its isolation in the Pacific Ocean. The people depended on the supplies they carried with them in their canoes as they did for hundreds of years while exploring the solitary Polynesian islands. And they depended of course on the abiotic resources as these set the limits for cultivation of plants and fruits. Key factors in this point of view were the availability of water and the fertility of the soils for growing plants, suitable climatic factor for the species cultivated, geomorphologic conditions that would allow farming and the availability of area for land use in relation to the population size.</p

Palynologische Untersuchungen zum Bestattungsplatz Wangels LA 69

Bei dem vorliegenden Beitrag handelt es sich um einen Bericht zu palynologischen Untersuchungen im Rahmen archäologischer Ausgrabungen des Instituts für Ur- und Frühgeschichte der Universität Kiel am Fundplatztes Wangels LA 69, Kreis Ostholstein. Die Auswertung der archäologischen Ergebnisse zur Chronologie und Genese dieses mehrphasigen neolithischen Bestattungsplatz erfolgte durch Brozio (2016). Demnach wurde im frühen Mittelneolithikum, c. 3360 cal BC, ein megalithische Gangrab vom Typ „Holsteiner Kammer“ mit Rundhügel errichtet. Diese wurde im Laufe des Mittelneolithikums zu einem Langbett erweitert. Der Nachweis von subfossilen Bodenhorizonten, inklusive Hakenpflugspuren, unter der ersten Grabanlage sowie in Sodenpackungen des Langbettes gab Anlass für die begleitenden pollenanalytische Untersuchungen. Diese erlaubten einen Einblick in die lokale Landnutzung und Vegetationsverhältnisse während unterschiedlicher Nutzungsphasen. Konnte aufgrund der bisherigen archäologischen Ergebnisse nicht eindeutig geklärt werden, ob es sich bei den Pflugspuren um rituelle oder profane Handlungen handelte, so unterstützen die vorliegenden Ergebnisse die letztere Deutung. Der Nachweis von Offenland- und Ackerbauanzeigern erlaubte hierbei die Ansprache eines frühneolitischen Ackerhorizontes unter der Grabanlage. Der Vergleich mit ähnlichen Untersuchungen von Paläoböden unter Grabhügeln in den Niederlanden, Dänemark und Schleswig-Holstein legt nahe, dass die Errichtung auf ehemaligen Nutzflächen, und damit die Transformation von profanem zu sakralen Orten, ein typisches Phänomen trichterbecherzeitlicher Grabanlagen ist.This paper reports on palynological investigations within the framework of archaeological excavations of the Institute for Pre- and Early History of the University of Kiel at the site Wangels LA 69, district Ostholstein. Brozio (2016) analysed the archaeological results on the chronology and genesis of this multi-phase Neolithic burial site. According to this, in the early Middle Neolithic, c. 3360 cal BC, a megalithic passage grave of the type "Holsteiner Kammer" with a round hill was erected. In the course of the Middle Neolithic this was extended to a long barrow. The evidence of subfossil soil horizons, including ard marks, under the first tomb as well as in sod bricks of the long barrow was the reason for the accompanying pollen analytical investigations. These allowed an insight into the local land use and vegetation conditions during different phases of use. While the archaeological results obtained so far did not make it possible to clarify clearly whether the ard marks were of ritual or profane character, the present results support the latter interpretation. The evidence of open land and arable farming indicators allowed the identification of an early Neolithic arable horizon under the tomb. The comparison with similar investigations of paleo soils under burial mounds in the Netherlands, Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein suggests that the erection on former cultivated land, and thus the transformation from profane to sacred sites, is a typical phenomenon of funnel-beaker graves

Hunte 1 reloaded – combining ground penetrating radar, electrical resistivity tomography, corings and excavations at the Neolithic domestic site Hunte 1, Germany

With the help of geophysics an old excavation plan from the 1930ies and 1940ies could be relocalized. The interface between peat and sand can be traced over the whole area by GPR. Diffraction hyperbola in GPR data as well as excavation revealed piles and timbers. The Neolithic domestic site was much larger in extent and more complex than known before our research

Climate and atmospheric circulation during the Early and Mid-Holocene inferred from lake-carbonate oxygen-isotope records from western Ireland

The Early to Mid-Holocene experienced marked climate change over the northern hemisphere mid-latitudes in response to changing insolation and declining ice volume. Oxygen isotopes from lake sediments provide a valuable climate proxy, encoding information regarding temperature, hydroclimate and moisture source. We present oxygen-isotope records from two lakes in western Ireland that are strongly influenced by the North Atlantic. Excellent replication between the records suggests they reflect regional, not local, influences. Carbonate oxygen-isotope values peaked at the start of the Holocene, between 11.2 and 11.1 cal ka bp, and then decreased markedly until 6 cal ka bp at both sites. Palaeoecological evidence supports only modest change in temperature or hydroclimate during this interval and we therefore explain the decrease primarily by a reduction in the oxygen-isotope composition of precipitation (δ18Oppt). We show a similar decrease in δ18O values in a forward model of carbonate isotopes between 12–11 and 6–5 cal ka bp. However, the inferred reduction in δ18Oppt between the Early and Mid-Holocene in the model is mainly linked to a decrease in the δ18O of the ocean source water from ice sheet melting whereas the lake carbonate isotope records are more consistent with changes in the transport pathway of moisture associated with atmospheric circulation change as the dominant cause

Transforming landscapes: Modeling land-use patterns of environmental borderlands

How did socio-cultural transformation processes change land-use patterns? Throughout the last 50 years, outstanding comprehensive geographic, archaeobiological, and archaeological data have been produced for the area of Oldenburger Graben, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Based on this exceptional data set, we are able to study the land-use patterns for a period ranging from the Final Mesolithic until the Late Neolithic (4600–1700 BCE). By application of fuzzy modeling techniques, these patterns are investigated diachronically in order to assess the scale of transformations between the different archaeological phases. Based on nutrient requirements and proposed dietary composition estimates derived from empirical archaeobotanical, archaeozoological, and stable isotope data, the required extent of the areas for different land-use practices are modeled. This information is made spatially explicit using a fuzzy model that reconstructs areas of potential vegetation and land-use for each transformation phase. Pollen data are used to validate the type and extent of land-use categories. The model results are used to test hypotheses on the dynamics of socio-cultural transformations: can we observe a diversification of land-use patterns over time or does continuity of land-use practices prevail? By integrating the different lines of evidence within a spatially explicit modeling approach, we reach a new quality of data analysis with a high degree of contextualization. This allows testing of hypotheses about Neolithic transformation processes by an explicit adjustment of our model assumptions, variables, and parameters

Adaptations and transformations of hunter-gatherers in forest environments: New archaeological and anthropological insights

Like any other living being, humans constantly influence their environment, be it intentionally or unintentionally. By extracting natural resources, they shape their environment and also that of plants and other animals. A great difference setting people apart from all other living beings is the ability to construct and develop their own niche intentionally, and the unique tool for this is cultural behaviour. Here, we discuss anthropogenic environmental changes of hunter-gatherers and present new palaeoecological and palynological data. The studies are framed with ethnoarchaeological data from Western Siberia to gain a better understanding of how different triggers lead to coping mechanisms. For archaeological implication, we use two Mesolithic case studies from Germany: One of them focuses on hazelnut economy around ancient Lake Duvensee, and the other broaches the issue of selective roe deer hunt and its consequences at the site of Friesack. We address the archaeological evidence from the perspective of active alteration and its consequences, starting our argumentation from a perspective of niche construction theory. This approach has rarely been applied to early Holocene hunter-gatherers in Northern Europe even though the available data render possible to discuss human–environment interaction from such a perspective. It is demonstrated that archaeological research has tools at hand that enables to detect anthropogenic niche construction. However, the ethnoarchaeological example shows limitations and archaeologically invisible triggers and consequent results of human adaptations. The critical revision of such perspectives based on empirical data provides a better understanding of social and environmental transformations in the early- and mid-Holocene

Modelling landscape transformation at the Chalcolithic Tripolye mega-site of Maidanetske (Ukraine): Wood demand and availability

Wood was a crucial resource for prehistoric societies, for instance, as timber for house construction and as fuel. In the case of the exceptionally large Chalcolithic Tripolye ‘mega-sites’ in central Ukraine, thousands of burnt buildings, indicating huge population agglomerations, hint at such a massive use of wood that it raises questions about the carrying capacity of the sensitive forest-steppe environment. In this contribution, we investigate the wood demand for the mega-site of Maidanetske (3990–3640 BCE), as reconstructed based on wood charcoal data, wood imprints on daub and the archaeomagnetometry-based settlement plan. We developed a regional-scale model with a fuzzy approach and applied it in order to simulate the potential distribution and extent of woodlands before and after Chalcolithic occupation. The model is based upon the reconstructed ancient land surface, soil information derived from cores and the potential natural woodland cover reconstructed based on the requirements of the prevailing ancient tree species. Landscape scenarios derived from the model are contrasted and cross-checked with the archaeological empirical data. We aim to understand whether the demand for wood triggered the site development. Did deforestation and consequent soil degradation and lack of resources initiate the site’s abandonment? Or, alternatively, did the inhabitants develop sustainable woodland management strategies? Starting from the case study of Maidanetske, this study provides estimates of the extent of human impact on both carrying capacity and landscape transformations in the sensitive transitional foreststeppe environment. Overall, the results indicate that the inhabitants of the Chalcolithic site did not suffer from a significant shortage in the wood resource at any time of inhabitation in the contexts of the different scenarios provided by the model. An exception is given by the phase of maximum house construction and population within a scenario of dry climatic conditions

Lake isotope records of the 8200-year cooling event in western Ireland: Comparison with model simulations

The early Holocene cooling, which occurred around 8200 calendar years before present, was a prominent abrupt event around the north Atlantic region. Here, we investigate the timing, duration, magnitude and regional coherence of the event as expressed in carbonate oxygen-isotope records from three lakes on northwest Europe's Atlantic margin in western Ireland, namely Loch Avolla, Loch Gealáin and Lough Corrib. An abrupt negative oxygen-isotope excursion lasted about 200 years. Comparison of records from three sites suggests that the excursion was primarily the result of a reduction of the oxygen-isotope values of precipitation, which was likely caused by lowered air temperatures, possibly coupled with a change in atmospheric circulation. Comparison of records from two of the lakes (Loch Avolla and Loch Gealáin), which have differing bathymetries, further suggests a reduction in evaporative loss of lake water during the cooling episode. Comparison of climate model experiments with lake-sediment isotope data indicates that effective moisture may have increased along this part of the northeast Atlantic seaboard during the 8200-year climatic event, as lower evaporation compensated for reduced precipitation

A high-quality annually laminated sequence from Lake Belau, Northern Germany: Revised chronology and its implications for palynological and tephrochronological studies

The annually laminated record of Lake Belau offers an exceptional opportunity to investigate with high temporal resolution Holocene environmental change, aspects of climate history and human impact on the landscape. A new chronology based on varve counts, 14C-datings and heavy metal history has been established, covering the last 9400 years. Based on multiple varve counting on two core sequences, the easily countable laminated section spans about 7850 varve years (modelled age range c. 9430 to 1630 cal. BP). Not all of the record is of the same quality but approximately 69% of the varves sequence is classified to be of high quality and only c. 5% of low quality. The new chronology suggests dates generally c. 260 years older than previously assumed for the laminated section of the record. The implications for the vegetation and land-use history of the region as well as revised datings for pollen stratigraphical events are discussed. Tephra analysis allowed the identification of several cryptotephra layers. New dates for volcanic eruptions are presented for the Lairg B event (c. 6848 cal. BP, 2s range 6930–6713 cal. BP), the Hekla 4 event (c. 4396 cal. BP, 2s range 4417–4266 cal. BP), and Hekla 3 eruption (c. 3095 cal. BP, 2s range 3120–3068 cal. BP)