Environmental Changes in Historical Times Near Apostag on the Danube-Tisza Interfluve, Hungary: A Complex Research Based on Archaeological Excavation and Geomorphological Investigations

Abstract

The sensitive, partly fixed dune areas are good indicators of alteration, since they react rapidly to changing environmental conditions. Due to the climate changes, especially the increased aridity during the Holocene, many blown sand areas became active. Later, humanity had increasing impact of on its environment, thus sand movements occurred due to anthropogenic activities. Aeolian activities were identified not only in the historical times but also a few decades ago, when the moving sand caused significant problems on surfaces becoming bare. The present work will provide good evidence on sand movement in historical times caused by human impact on the environment with the help of OSL dating and archaeological research in the vicinity of the town of Apostag, which is located on the largest blown-sand area of Hungary on the Danube-Tisza Interfluve. The aims of the research were to identify the ethnical groups and their possible activities; to map the geomorphology of the study area; to determine the periods of aeolian activity; to assign the possible types of human activities in connection with climatic changes enabling aeolian activity