Astrid Röpke

Des 2000 des recherches transdisciplinaires ont ete effectues a Bartholomaberg dans le Montafon afin de pouvoir reconstruire l'histoire de la colonisation dans ce paysage situe dans une vallee alpine. Des questions concernant le debut et la dynamique de la colonisation ont une signification centrale pour les recherches ainsi que des reflexions sur la motivation de l'homme prehistorique a coloniser ces habitats alpins. Sur fond de riches gisements de minerais de cuivre et de fer a Bartholomaberg, on analyse dans quelle mesure ils sont lies au debut de la colonisation et exploites. Pour l'instant, trois habitats ont ete decouverts, prospectes et fouilles, a Bartholomaberg, dont la situation topographique et les phases d'habitation pendant l'âge du Bronze et l'âge du Fer suggerent une relation chronologique et spatiale tres etroite entre les trois habitats.

Waldgirmes in Hesse (Germany) is one of the oldest Roman towns east of the Rhine River. It was founded in 3 bc and abandoned after ad 9, probably in ad 16, when the departing soldiers set fire to the town. In one of the two excavated wells, partially laminated, organic-rich sediments have been preserved which were deposited during the colonisation of the town. The pollen, plant macro-remains and micromorphological sampling strategy of the well sediment allows us to draw a detailed picture of the vegetation and its development in and around the settlement area. Through thin section analyses, the stratigraphy and composition of sediments could be differentiated in more detail. Deriving from different source areas, the pollen and plant macro-remains assemblages gave insights into the tree species composition of the surroundings as well as the vegetation in the settlement. The town was founded within a cultural landscape that had existed for centuries, and not in the dense dark Germanic forests described by Tacitus around ad 100. The contemporaneous woodlands were dominated by oaks. In the well within the town, not only characteristic components of urban waste (bones, charcoal, ash), but also plant remains from the immediate surroundings (pollen, phytoliths, seeds, fruits, leaves) were preserved. Typical urban vegetation from trodden paths, nutrient-enriched sites, and grazing areas could be reconstructed. Thick leaf layers prove the presence of trees, especially oaks, close to the well. Horticulture is evident through cultural indicators, and there are also signs of cereal processing within the settlement.

In southern Africa, Middle Stone Age sites with long sequences have been the focus of intense international and interdisciplinary research over the past decade (cf. Wadley 2015). Two techno-complexes of the Middle Stone Age—the Still Bay and Howiesons Poort—have been associated with many technological and behavioural innovations of Homo sapiens. The classic model argues that these two techno-complexes are temporally separated ‘horizons’ with homogenous material culture (Jacobs et al.2008), reflecting demographic pulses and supporting large subcontinental networks. This model was developed on the basis of evidence from southern African sites regarded as centres of subcontinental developments.

During a search for evidence of former clearing activities in the valley of St. Antönien (Switzerland), slope deposits of translocated topsoil material were discovered that indicate a period of higher geomorphodynamic activity after a slash and burn period. These slope deposits were dated by dendrochronological studies of spruce trees (Picea abies L.). The dendrochronological and pedological results were compared to a pollen diagram of the peat bog "Capelgin" on the same slope, showing a clear decrease of Picea abies during the late Middle ages which might be correlated with the slash and burn period and the development of the slope deposits.

EnglishThe excavation campaign in 2011 focussed mainly on investigating the flatland settlement at the foot of the tell ��Magura Gorgana��. Three trenches respectively were explored in the area northeast and west of the settlement mound. Trenches H, L and P lie ca. 80 northeast of the centre of the tell, and trenches N1, N2 and N3 are located west of that midpoint. They yielded the hitherto oldest excavated material, which has already been radiocarbon dated. Excavations in the outer settlement of Pietrele have brought forth surprising and new perspectives. The oldest settlement attested until now can be dated to the end of the 6th millennium BC, and thus perhaps even to the Middle Neolithic. While a duration of 300 years (4250 to 4550 cal BC) has been confirmed for habitation of the tell, yet without reaching the native soil, find contexts from the end of the 6th and the first half of the 5th and end of the 5th millennium BC have come to light in the flatland settlement. Neolithic and Copper Age settlement remains are present in the immediate vicinity, which is not surprising for a site that was inhabited for a longer time. Hence, in Pietrele the possibility presents itself to research the horizontal stratigraphy of the flatland settlement, link it with the vertical stratigraphy of the tell settlement, and with that to control and render precise the chronological system for the Neolithic. At this point it can already be stated that the boundaries of the flat extended settlement were not reached by geophysical prospection in 2005, neither to the north nor to the west of the tell. Furthermore, geomorphological investigations have already gone far beyond the immediate area of the tell. More than 130 core drillings allow the conclusion that in the course of millennia flowing and standing bodies of water discharged into the Danube meadows. These meadows were covered by a large lake during the time of the tell�s habitation. Initial results of geochemical analyses confirm the existence of this expansive palaeolake before 4600 BC. The basic characteristics of the lake sediments include several massive phases of dark deposits, each a few decimetres in thickness, which are designated as ��dark layers�� (DL). They mark drastic events in the development of the lake. The lowermost layer, DL I, can be dated by the AMS-14C dating method to the 5th millennium BC, that is, the time of the tell�s habitation. Still to clarify is whether the introduction of organic material through settlement activities and land use had an adverse effect upon the quality of the water. DeutschDas Hauptaugenmerk der Kampagne 2011 lag in der Untersuchung der Flachsiedlung am FuBe des Tells "Magura Gorgana". Sowohl nordostlich als auch westlich vom Siedlungshugel wurden je drei Flachen erforscht: Flachen H, L und P liegen ca. 80 m nordostlich und die drei Flachen N1, N2 und N3 ca. 100-150 m westlich vom Tellmittelpunkt. Sie erbrachten das bislang alteste ergrabene und bereits 14c-datierte Material. Durch die Grabungen in der AuBensiedlung hat sich in Pietrele eine uberraschende, neue Perspektive eroffnet. Die bislang alteste erfasste Besiedlung ist an das Ende des 6. Jahrtausends und somit womoglich noch in das Mittelneolithikum zu datieren. Wahrend auf dem Tell eine Siedlungsdauer von nunmehr 300 Jahren (4250 bis 4550 calBC) erfasst werden konnte, ohne dass noch der gewachsene Boden erreicht wurde, sind aus der Flachsiedlung Befunde vom Ende des 6., der ersten Hanfte des 5. und vom Ende des 5. vorchristlichen Jahrtausends zum Vorschein gekommen. Die neolithischen und kupferzeitlichen Siedlungsreste finden sich in unmittelbarer Nachbarschaft, wie dies fur eine langer bewohnte Siedlung nicht uberraschend ist. In Pietrele besteht nunmehr die Moglichkeit, die Horizontalstratigraphie der Flachsiedlung zu erforschen, sie mit der Vertikalstratigraphie des Tells zu verknupfen und somit die chronologischen Systeme fur das Neolithekum zu uberprufen und zu prazisieren. Schon jetzt lasst sich sagen, dass die Grenzen der Besiedlung weder im Norden noch im Westen des Tells durch die Geophysik von 2005 erreicht wurden. Aber auch die geomorphologischen Untersuchungen beschranken sich langst nicht mehr auf die unmittelbare Tellnahe. Uber 130 bohrungen lassen den Schluss zu, dass sich im Laufe der Jahrtausende FlieBend- und Stillgewasser in der Donauaue ablosten. Wahrend der Besiedlung auf dem Tell war die Flussaue von einem groBen See bedeckt. Erste Ergebnisse der geochemischen Analysen bestatigen die Existenz dieses ausgedehnten Palaosees noch vor 4600 v. Chr. Wesentliche Charakteristika der Sedimente sind mehrere dunkle, einige Dezimeter machtige Abschnitte, die als "Dunkle Lagen" (DL) bezeichnet werden. Sie markieren drastische Ereignisse in der Entwicklung des Sees. Die unterste dieser Lagen, DL I, kann durch AMS-14C-datierungen in das 5. Jt. v. Chr., das heiBt, in den Zeitraum der Tellbesiedlung gestellt werden. Noch muss aber geklart werden, ob es durch…