Pedosedimentary and geoarcheological archives from clay-dominated sinkhole infillings in Middle Franconia, Germany

Meyer-Heintze, Simon; Sprafke, Tobias; Krech, Martin; Beigel, Rita; Nadler, Martin; Kriens, Bernd; Wagner, Félix; Solleiro‐Rebolledo, Elizabeth; Damm, Bodo; Falkenstein, Frank; Terhorst, Birgit

doi:10.1016/j.catena.2020.104893

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…The charcoal-rich archives of forest paleofires are more readily formed in the meso-and microtopography depressions, that often demonstrate buried soil profiles associated with the repeated post-fire episodes of erosion and deposition. In this sense, it is the karst landscape that could offer a unique regular network of pedosedimentary sequences, which reveal phases of soil formation, e.g., [31,32], with a high spatial resolution. The grid of closed geomorphological traps granted by a karst landscape can capture the bulk of the macrocharcoal material produced locally and offer a record of spatially close pyrogenic and depositional events.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soils in Karst Sinkholes Record the Holocene History of Local Forest Fires at the North of European Russia

Мергелов

Petrov

Zazovskaya

et al. 2020

Forests

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Despite the abundance of charcoal material entrapped in soils, they remain relatively less studied pyrogenic archives in comparison to the sedimentary paleofire records (e.g., lacustrine and peat deposits), and that is especially the case in most of Russia’s territory. We report here on the deep soil archives of the Holocene forest fires from the Pinega District of the Arkhangelsk region (64.747° N, 43.387° E). Series of buried soil profiles separated by charcoal layers and clusters were revealed in specific geomorphological traps represented by the active and paleokarst subsidence sinkholes on sulfate rocks overlaid by glacial and fluvial deposits. We combine the study of soil morphology and stratigraphy with a set of radiocarbon data on charcoal and soil organic matter, as well as the anthracomass analysis, to extract a set of paleoenvironmental data. A total of 45 radiocarbon dates were obtained for the macrocharcoal material and the soil organic matter. The maximum temporal “depth” of archives estimated from the radiocarbon dating of macrocharcoal reached 10,260 ± 35 cal yr BP. Soil formation with Podzols established at the inter-pyrogenic stages repeatedly reproduced within the period of ten thousand years, while the dominant tree species was Pinus sp. According to the macrocharcoal data, the intervals between fires have shortened in the last thousand years. Dendrochronological estimates suggest the occurrence of fires in almost every decade of the 20th and early 21st centuries. This is the first study of the millennia-scale soil record of forest fires in this particular region of Russia.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soils in Karst Sinkholes Record the Holocene History of Local Forest Fires at the North of European Russia

Мергелов

Petrov

Zazovskaya

et al. 2020

Forests

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“…Sample preparation for grain size analysis included the removal of organic matter with H 2 O 2 and dispersion with sodium pyrophosphate (Na 4 P 2 O 7 ). Spectrophotometric color measurements were undertaken using a ColorLite SPH−870 with a MA38 measuring adapter (Meyer-Heintze et al, 2020). The pH values were measured in a 1:2.5 suspension in 0.01 M CaCl 2 solution.…”

Section: Photogrammetric Documentation and Dem Generationmentioning

confidence: 99%

An integrative approach to ancient agricultural terraces and forms of dependency: the case of Cutamalla in the prehispanic Andes

Mader,

Godde,

Behl

et al. 2024

Front. Environ. Archaeol.

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This paper presents an integrative and interdisciplinary approach to the study of ancient agricultural terraces and food production systems. Our approach consists of (1) a resource dependency theoretical framework and (2) the application of a variety of archaeological and geoscientific methods, including archaeological and geomorphological surveys, archaeological excavations, drone surveys, mapping based on satellite imagery and high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs), geographic information system (GIS) applications, soil testing, phytolith analysis, radiocarbon dating, and calculations of food supply capacity and labor requirements. We apply these to the prehispanic site of Cutamalla (3,300 m asl) in the southern Peruvian Andes, which serves as an ideal and pioneering case study. Previous research has focused primarily on the settlement of Cutamalla, particularly through large-scale archaeological excavations, but less attention has been paid to the extensive farming terraces surrounding the settlement and the close relationship between agricultural and settlement activities. By analyzing both the terrace and settlement levels, we take a new perspective and introduce the term agricultural terrace-settlement system for such complexes. Our results show that the residential occupation of Cutamalla and the use of the surrounding farming terraces coincided: the agricultural terrace-settlement system was intensively used for a relatively short period of about 200 years (~250–40 BCE) during the Formative Late Paracas and transitional Initial Nasca periods, long before the famous Inka terrace agricultural systems. There is no evidence of reoccupation of the site and subsequent reuse of the agricultural system. Our data also document the large extent of agricultural terraces around Cutamalla (221 ha) and that maize was likely a major crop grown there. Finally, we place these findings in their broader socio-economic and ecological context. Cutamalla was an important regional center and economic hub during a very dynamic period characterized by significant population growth and increased violence. Not only a more humid climate, but probably also forced collective labor were cornerstones of substantial agricultural production in Cutamalla and the region.

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“…Sed i men tary de pos its in val leys bot toms, gul lies, al lu vial fans, river ter races, closed de pres sions and sink holes con tain a re cord of tem po ral and spa tial trans for ma tions in the land scape due to both land use by hu mans and to lo cal cli mate changes. Anal y sis of these geoarchives pro vides valu able in sight into past en vi ron men tal con di tions (Zygmunt, 2009;Dreibrodt et al, 2010;Fuchs et al, 2011;Zg³obicki and Zg³obicka, 2011;Dotterweich et al, 2012;Wistuba et al, 2018;Meyer-Heintze et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colluvial deposits in loess gullies of south-western Poland as an indicator of palaeoenvironmental changes and human impact

RYZNER,

OWCZAREK,

PORĘBA

et al. 2024

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Col lu vial de pos its in loess gul lies of south west ern Po land as an in di ca tor of palaeoenvironmental changes and hu man im pact. Geo log i cal Quar terly, 67: 54; https://doi.org/10.7306/gq.1730As sess ing the in ter ac tions be tween nat u ral en vi ron men tal change and land deg ra da tion due to hu man im pact is cru cial for palaeoenvironmental anal y sis in loess ar eas. How ever, the re con struc tion of re lief evo lu tion in loess re gions of SW Po land in re la tion to hu man im pact of the first agrar ian cul tures, is not well un der stood by com par i son with other loess ar eas in Po land. There fore, our study aims to re con struct land-use changes based on a palaeosol-bear ing sed i men tary se quence in a loess gully in this re gion. The re search was con ducted in the hilly re gion of SW Po land, where loess patches oc cur. To in ves ti gate pre his toric hu man im pact in this area, we ana lysed dry val ley sys tems near the vil lage of Nowolesie, em ploy ing a com bi nation of lithostratigraphic anal y sis and dat ing (ra dio car bon and OSL) tech niques. Within a 4.0 m-thick sed i men tary suc ces sion fill ing the bot tom of the gully, we iden ti fied loess-palaeosol se quences that rep re sent a re cord of en vi ron men tal changes during the Ho lo cene. Our find ings sug gests that de for es ta tion and dry val ley trans for ma tion oc curred dur ing the Neo lithic/early Bronze Age tran si tion. Sub se quently, ero sional pro cesses in ten si fied dur ing the Mid dle Ages. Dur ing this pe riod, sed i ment dat ing to the Neo lithic/Bronze Age was de pos ited in the up per parts of the gully and was later trans ported to the lower part of the main gully and re de pos ited in sev eral ep i sodes.

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Pedosedimentary and geoarcheological archives from clay-dominated sinkhole infillings in Middle Franconia, Germany

Cited by 8 publications

References 63 publications

Soils in Karst Sinkholes Record the Holocene History of Local Forest Fires at the North of European Russia

Soils in Karst Sinkholes Record the Holocene History of Local Forest Fires at the North of European Russia

An integrative approach to ancient agricultural terraces and forms of dependency: the case of Cutamalla in the prehispanic Andes

Colluvial deposits in loess gullies of south-western Poland as an indicator of palaeoenvironmental changes and human impact

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