Geoarchaeological evidence of landscape transformations at the Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement of Nea Raedestos in the Anthemous River valley, central Macedonia, Greece

Abstract

A paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the landscape of Nea Raedestos Toumba in the Anthemous River valley in central Macedonia, Greece is undertaken using multidisciplinary geoarchaeological methods. The archaeological site is a settlement mound (tell or toumba) that dates to the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age. The tell’s location on the alluvial plain prompted a multidisciplinary investigation to reconstruct the influence of landscape changes on prehistoric settlements in the valley with an emphasis on alluvial sequences. An electrical resistivity tomography survey and three cores were drilled to study the sedimentary environments in and around the archaeological site. Sedimentologic and palynological analysis combined with accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating show that the oldest habitation layers at the site, from the Middle and Late Neolithic, were located next to a small, periodically drying water body surrounded by ruderal vegetation. Diatom analysis suggests that this water body was supplied by saline/brackish groundwater. The water body was open until the Early Bronze Age, when it was filled and buried by floodplain sediments. This flooding phase at Nea Raedestos likely occurred at the same time as an increase in fluvial aggradation in the neighboring Thessaloniki Plain, which is dated to the beginning of the third millennium BC.

A celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Fluvial Archives Group (FLAG)

“…Geoarchaeological connections are seen clearly in two papers by Kalicki et al (2018, this thematic set) and Niebieszczański et al (2018, this thematic set). Kalicki et al (2018, this thematic set) summarise the body of continuing research at the University of Kielce, upon which the field component of the FLAG 2016 meeting was based.…”

“…The work points to increasing anthropogenic influence on landscape development since the Middle Ages, as revealed by research in the valleys of the Kamionka, Kamienna, Czarna Konecka, and Nida rivers, particularly in relation to the construction of numerous artificial ponds, channels, and water-power installations, resulting in significant changes in river patterns and regimes and problems for present and future management. Niebieszczański et al (2018, this thematic set) show how multiple phases of Neolithic and Bronze Age tell occupation in Greece are strongly related to their surrounding floodplain environment. The researchers use geophysical techniques (focus 2.4) along with more established palaeoenvironmental and radiocarbon dating methods to determine the nature of the relationships between archaeological and fluvial sedimentation.…”

“…This selection of papers shows that research into fluvial archives over multiple temporal and spatial scales is now routinely applying techniques such as GIS, geophysics, and OSL dating, once considered to be new. GIS allows researchers to broaden their spatial scale away from the site-based study to multiple reaches (e.g., Mandarino et al, 2018, this thematic set; Woolderink et al, 2018, this thematic set) or whole basins (e.g., Anton and Martin, 2018, this thematic set; Soria-Jáureguia et al, 2018, this thematic set), whilst geophysical techniques can improve stratigraphic certainty at a site scale (e.g., Niebieszczański et al, 2018, this thematic set). OSL dating has been crucial in understanding river activity beyond the radiocarbon limit, particularly allowing phases of deposition to be more decisively linked to the climate record (e.g., Avsin et al, 2019, this thematic set; Wang et al, 2018, this thematic set), providing insight into fluvial processes and sometimes overturning previous assumptions (e.g., Olszak et al, 2018, this thematic set).…”

Palinologia

“…2015), gdzie w zasadzie tylko warstwy przypowierzchniowe nadawały się do analizy palinologicznej. Problem spadku jakości interpretacyjnej materiału pyłkowego wraz z głębokością osadu pojawił się również we wspomnianych wcześniej multidyscyplinarnych badaniach nad tumbą Nea Raedestos (Niebieszczański i in. 2019).…”

In the Valley of Anthemous … (Northern Greece)

“…Similar transformations were also expected in the nearby Anthemous Valley, both in terms of fluvial activity and marine transgression (e.g., Vouvalidis, Syrides & Albanakis, 2005). Therefore, a geoarchaeological study of one of the largest toumbas in the Anthemous Valley -Nea Raedestos -was undertaken (Niebieszczański et al, 2019a;2019b;2020). Today, the site is located in the centre of the valley and is surrounded by the extensive flood plain of the Anthemous River, which runs approximately 1 km south of the toumba (Figure 8).…”