This work presents the details of a multidisciplinary palaeoecological and geoarcheological study on the sedimentary sequences, including 2 undisturbed cores of the Little Balaton situated in the western part of Lake Balaton in Central Europe. The application of Quaternary palaeoecological analysis to peat and lacustrine deposits enables to identify long-term environmental changes in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The principal aims were to shed light onto how former human societies and culture shaped and altered their natural environment on the one hand. Furthermore, to reconstruct the once existing environmental conditions within the framework of the natural evolution of the vegetation, soil, fauna and the catchment basin for the times preceding written historical records via the application of sedimentological, geochemical, isotope geochemical, palynological, macrobotanical, malacological and microfaunal analytical methods and approaches.
Abstract:The significance of geoarchaeological investigations is indisputable in reconstructing the former environment and in studying the relationship between humans and their surroundings. Several disciplines have developed during the last few decades to give insight into earlier time periods and their climatic conditions (e.g. palynology, malacology, archaeobotany, phytology and animal osteology). Charcoal and pollen analytical studies from the rescue excavation of the MO motorway provide information about the vegetation changes of the past. These methods are used to reconstruct the environment of the former settlements and to detect the human impact and natural climatic changes.
The study aims to contribute to the medieval environmental history of the eastern periphery of the Transylvanian Plain (Câmpia Transilvaniei/Mezőség). With the help of archaeological and historical data and the multi-aspect analysis of undisturbed core sequences, the economic life of the Pauline Monastery founded in the 14th century near Sâncraiu de Mureş (Marosszentkirály) and the surrounding villages was investigated. The multidisciplinary research focuses on the paleochannels of the Mureş and the artificial watercourses (ditches) that branch off the river, and the mills built on them. The work also provides new data on the general environmental changes in the middle course of the Mureş river during the Middle Ages and the early modern period, which are largely due to the very intense human activity here.
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