Holocene floodplain evolution in a central European loess landscape – geoarchaeological investigations of the lower Pleiße valley in NW Saxony

Abstract

Holocene floodplain evolution in a central European loess landscape -geoarchaeological investigations of the lower Pleiße valley in NW Saxony, E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 68, 95-105, https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-68-95-2019, 2019. Abstract:Undisturbed sediments are an important source for the reconstruction of the Holocene development of valleys. Wide floodplains with relatively small rivers in a region settled since 5500 BCE offer opportunities for investigations regarding climatic and anthropogenic landscape change. In the context of a motorway construction, excavations were carried out by the Saxonian Heritage Office in the year 2015. At one of the sites it was possible to get a view of the sediments of the Pleiße valley less than 100 m distance from large cross sections described by Neumeister (1964) in a former open cast mine. Archaeological finds and features, plant remains and radiocarbon dating as well as micromorphological and geochemical investigations helped to decipher the age and the characteristics of the Holocene sediments: above Weichselian loamy sands a sedge peat developed in small depressions during the Preboreal and Boreal. The sands and the sedge peat are covered by a "black clay", which was still the topsoil during the Atlantic period. The sedimentation of 2.3 m thick overbank fines began after 4000 BCE. A depth of 1 m below the surface a medieval Slavic find layer was excavated. These results show that sedimentation processes in the lower Pleiße valley significantly changed after 4000 BCE. It is obvious that the increase in silty material in the floodplain is caused by the land clearance in the Neolithic period. More than half of the silty overbank fines were deposited before the Middle Ages began. Kurzfassung: Ungestörte Sedimente in fluvialen Systemen sind ein wichtiges Archiv zur Rekonstruktion der holozänen Talentwicklung. Seit 5500 BCE besiedelte Altsiedellandschaften mit breiten, von relativ kleinen Flüssen durchflossenen Tälern bieten besonders gute Voraussetzungen für die Untersuchung klimatis-Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the Deutsche Quartärvereinigung (DEUQUA) e.V. 96 C. Tinapp et al.: Holocene floodplain evolution in a central European loess landscape cher und anthropogener Einflüsse auf Landschaftsveränderungen. Im Rahmen eines Autobahnprojektes südlich von Leipzig wurden vom Landesamt für Archäologie Sachsen Ausgrabungen durchgeführt. An einer der Grabungsflächen konnten die Sedimente des Pleißetales in weniger als 100 m Entfernung zu den von Neumeister (1964) in einem Tagebau beschriebenen Profilen aufgenommen und beprobt werden. Archäologische Befunde und Funde, Pflanzenreste, Radiocarbondatierungen, mikromorphologische und geochemische Untersuchungen führten zur Eingrenzung des Alters der holozänen Sedimente: Über weichselzeitlichem lehmigen Sand lagern in kleinen Vertiefungen Seggentorflagen aus dem Präboreal und Boreal. Sand sowie Torf werden von einem "Schwarzen Ton" überdeckt, der bis weit in das Atlantikum hinein den Oberboden bildete. Nach 4000 BCE beg...

The fluvial architecture of buried floodplain sediments of the Weiße Elster River (Germany) revealed by a novel method combination of drill cores with two‐dimensional and spatially resolved geophysical measurements

“…Weichselian gravels below Early Holocene organic-rich clastic material or peat layers were regularly observed in the lower Weiße Elster and Pleiße floodplains (Litt et al, 1987;Tinapp, 2003;Tinapp et al, 2008Tinapp et al, , 2019. Furthermore, a diminished river activity was reported for the beginning of the Holocene (Mol, 1995).…”

“…During the last decades, fluvial sediments in the floodplains of the Weiße Elster River and its largest tributary Pleiße located in Central Germany (Figures 1a and b) were studied using geomorphic‐stratigraphical (Fuhrmann, 1999; Händel, 1967; Hiller et al, 1991; Litt et al, 1987; Neumeister, 1964; Tinapp, 2003; Tinapp et al, 2008, 2019) and paleoecological (Fuhrmann, 2008; Litt, 1992) methods. Their catchments have been settled since the Early Neolithic (Tinapp & Stäuble, 2000; Tinapp et al, 2019) and are mostly covered by loess and loess derivatives, which makes them very susceptible to external human or climatic disturbances (Haase et al, 2007; Wolf & Faust, 2013; Figure 1b).…”

“…During the last decades, fluvial sediments in the floodplains of the Weiße Elster River and its largest tributary Pleiße located in Central Germany (Figures 1a and b) were studied using geomorphic‐stratigraphical (Fuhrmann, 1999; Händel, 1967; Hiller et al, 1991; Litt et al, 1987; Neumeister, 1964; Tinapp, 2003; Tinapp et al, 2008, 2019) and paleoecological (Fuhrmann, 2008; Litt, 1992) methods. Their catchments have been settled since the Early Neolithic (Tinapp & Stäuble, 2000; Tinapp et al, 2019) and are mostly covered by loess and loess derivatives, which makes them very susceptible to external human or climatic disturbances (Haase et al, 2007; Wolf & Faust, 2013; Figure 1b). In contrast to many other western and Central European floodplain areas in which Holocene silt‐clay overbank deposits (Brown et al, 2018) have only been deposited for about 4–2 ka (Fuchs et al, 2011; Houben et al, 2012; Niller, 1998; Notebaert et al, 2018; Stolz et al, 2013), large amounts of these fine‐grained sediments were already deposited since 7–5 ka in the floodplains of Weiße Elster and Pleiße River (Fuhrmann, 1999; Litt et al, 1987; Tinapp, 2003; Tinapp et al, 2019).…”

“…Their catchments have been settled since the Early Neolithic (Tinapp & Stäuble, 2000; Tinapp et al, 2019) and are mostly covered by loess and loess derivatives, which makes them very susceptible to external human or climatic disturbances (Haase et al, 2007; Wolf & Faust, 2013; Figure 1b). In contrast to many other western and Central European floodplain areas in which Holocene silt‐clay overbank deposits (Brown et al, 2018) have only been deposited for about 4–2 ka (Fuchs et al, 2011; Houben et al, 2012; Niller, 1998; Notebaert et al, 2018; Stolz et al, 2013), large amounts of these fine‐grained sediments were already deposited since 7–5 ka in the floodplains of Weiße Elster and Pleiße River (Fuhrmann, 1999; Litt et al, 1987; Tinapp, 2003; Tinapp et al, 2019). Therefore, these deposits offer extraordinary long‐standing archives of Holocene flooding patterns and landscape changes in sensitive loess‐covered Central European landscapes.…”

“…During the last decades, fluvial sediments in the floodplains of the Weiße Elster River and its largest tributary Pleiße located in Central Germany (Figures 1a and b) were studied using geomorphicstratigraphical (Fuhrmann, 1999;Händel, 1967;Hiller et al, 1991;Litt et al, 1987;Neumeister, 1964;Tinapp, 2003;Tinapp et al, 2008Tinapp et al, , 2019 and paleoecological (Fuhrmann, 2008;Litt, 1992) methods.…”