Fortification, mining, and charcoal production: landscape history at the abandoned medieval settlement of Hohenwalde at the Faule Pfütze (Saxony, Eastern Ore Mountains)

Abstract

Abstract. Geoarchaeological reconstructions of land-use changes may help to reveal driving cultural factors and incentives behind these processes and relate them to supra-regional economic and political developments. This is particularly true in the context of complete abandonment of a settlement. Here we present a case study from the site of Faule Pfütze, a small catchment in the Eastern Ore Mountains (Saxony). The historical record of this site is confined to the report of a settlement called Hohenwalde in 1404 CE and two later references to the then-abandoned settlement in 1492 and 1524 CE in this area. Combined geoarchaeological studies allowed for the reconstruction of several phases of land use. While a first phase of alluvial sedimentation occurred during the late 12th century, archaeological evidence for a permanent settlement is absent during this period. The onset of settlement activity is identified during the late 14th century and included a hitherto unknown massive stone building. Mining features are present nearby and are dated to the early 15th century. The local palynological record shows evidence for reforestation during the mid 15th century and thereby corroborates the time of abandonment indicated by written sources. These processes are discussed in the context of a local political conflict (Dohna Feud) leading to the redistribution of properties and the development of a mining economy during this time. Later land use from the mid 16th century onwards appears restricted to charcoal production, probably in the context of smelting works operating in nearby Schmiedeberg as indicated by rising lead concentrations in the alluvial record.

Colluvial sediments originating from past land-use activities in the Erzgebirge Mountains, Central Europe: occurrence, properties, and historic environmental implications

“…Alluvial sediments and very local colluvial sediments with Gleysols cover the lower parts. Archaeological studies at this site in 2015 and 2016 investigated an abandoned medieval settlement, "Hohenwalde", dating to the fourteenth/fifteenth centuries AD (Tolksdorf et al 2019). LiDAR data reveal several sunken roads and abandoned mining features, such as collapsed shafts and mining heaps.…”

“…However, this regional periodisation of mining must not always fit to very local developments, where local rulers probably had a decisive role for initiating mining and related infrastructure and supply activities. This is suggested by sites where a change of territorial rule coincides with intensified mining activities during the early fifteenth century AD such as Hohenwalde (Tolksdorf et al 2019) and the tin placer district at Schellerhau (Tolksdorf et al 2020b). Despite several following crises (Thirty Years' War, Seven Years' War, competition by mines outside Europe), mining remained the economic backbone of this region until the twentieth century AD, reflected by the third (eighteenth-nineteenth centuries AD) and fourth mining boom (mid-twentieth century AD; Fig.…”

Preface: Special Issue “Geoarchaeology and past human–environment interactions”

“…The study of Tolksdorf et al (2019) reports about the results of the EU-funded bilateral German-Czech research project "ArchaeoMontan -Mittelalterlicher Bergbau in Sachsen und Böhmen" and was carried out under the leadership of the Archaeological Heritage Office in Saxony. The authors used palaeobotanical and geochemical methods as well as radiocarbon and potsherd dating to reconstruct the Medieval settlement and mining history as well as desertion processes in a small catchment in the Saxon Ore Mountains of eastern Germany.…”

Cut and covered: Subfossil trees in buried soils reflect medieval forest composition and exploitation of the central European uplands

“…Alluvial sediments from the medieval and postmedieval periods occur in nearly all stream and river valleys, being regionally well investigated (Hoffmann, Lang, & Dikau, 2008). Colluvial sediments occurring upon slopes (Dreibrodt, Lubos, Terhorst, Damm, & Bork, 2010) are seemingly distributed sparsely at altitudes higher than 500 m a.s.l., however, this impression can be the effect of an apparent lack of knowledge rather than a real scarcity of colluvial deposits in mountain areas (Tolksdorf et al, 2015;Tolksdorf, Kaiser, & Bertuch, 2018a;Tolksdorf et al, 2019). Pinus; 11th/12th century A.D.…”