Contemporaneousness of Trackway Construction and Environmental Change

A Dendrochronological Study in Northwest-German Mires

Bibliographic Data

ID12940523
AuthorsInke Achterberg (0000-0001-6083-4427, Systems Dynamics (United States), corresponding author), Andreas Bauerochse (Lower Saxony State Museum), Thomas Giesecke (0000-0002-5132-1061, Lower Saxony State Museum), Alf Metzler (Lower Saxony State Museum), Hanns Hubert Leuschner (Systems Dynamics (United States))
Year2015
Volume6
Issue1/2015
Pages19-29
Publication date2015-06-30
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInterdisciplinaria Archaeologica - Natural Sciences in Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1804-848X • E-ISSN: 2336-1220
PublisherArcheologické centrum Olomouc (PUBLISHER • CZ)
DOI10.24916/iansa.2015.1.2
OpenAlexW2606737217
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited9

Tree rings provide not only a precise dating tool, but also contain information on environmental change. The well replicated tree ring record of northwest Germany therefore provides environmental implications with immanent, absolute and precise dating from 6703 BC to 931 AD. This offers the opportunity to investigate the environmental context of archaeological finds, if they, too, are dated by dendrochronology. We investigated 13 peat-preserved trackways from the Northwest-German lowland between 4629 BC (Neolithic) and 502 AD (Migration Period) for contemporaneousness with water table rise in the landscape. Such environmental change is well reflected in the clearly notable die-off phases of trees preserved in the mires. As an environmental proxy, the parameter "tree die-off rate a-30" is introduced: The annual number of tree die-off events is divided by the number of live trees 30 years previously. Overall, the majority of trackway constructions were found to be contemporaneous to mire water table rise and mire expansion. Possibly, a period of water table rise was a motivation for trackway construction

Archaeology · Climate change · Context (archaeology · Dendrochronology · Environmental change · Geography · Groundwater · Mire · Peat · Period (music · Physical geography · Table (database · Water table · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Lichen and fungal ecology · Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology · Geology · Oceanography · Paleontology

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