Development of Predictive Geoarchaeological Models to Locate and Assess the Preservation Potential of Submerged Prehistoric Sites Using Remote Sensing, Palaeoenvironmental Analysis, and GIS

David John Gregory,Jørn Bo Jensen,Zyad Al-Hamdani,Ole Bennike,Peter Rasmussen

doi:10.3390/heritage4040258

David John Gregory, Jørn Bo Jensen + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage4040258

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Abstract

Using the Mesolithic site of Tudse Hage in the Great Belt of Denmark, this paper proposes a generic stepwise process to create geoarchaeological models that output seamless morphology maps in a GIS. This was achieved using remote sensing databases and the collection of marine geophysical data, above and below the seabed. On the basis of these data, key areas, with sediment sequences representative of the postglacial transgression surfaces, were identified. Core samples were taken for palaeoenvironmental analysis and dating that enabled a reconstruction of the relative sea-level changes. Using this information, palaeogeographic coastline maps of the Kongemose, late Kongemose, Ertebølle, and Neolithic periods in the Tudse Hage area were prepared, and potential hotspots for archaeological sites were proposed. Since their inundation, submerged prehistoric archaeological sites have been, and are, dynamic, with anthropogenic and natural processes affecting their stability and preservation. With the advocation of in situ preservation as a means of managing underwater cultural heritage, predicting where sites have survived these processes, and where they can be found, in advance of subsea development or other anthropogenic exploitation, is essential. Future natural threats to sites preserved in situ were determined through the modelling of seabed currents and sediment erosion.

Highlights

The central part of the Tudse Hage area is characterized by a flat bottom and basin sediments
The presence of lacustrine gyttja in core Rus 3 shows that a lake existed at the core site during the early part of the transgression; it was presumably a local lake that formed in a local depression
After the transgression of the area, brackish-water and marine gyttja accumulated in relatively deep water, and sandy and gravelly deposits accumulated in the coastal zone, at a time when the relative sea level was ~3 m lower than at present

Summary

Introduction

The fishing-site-location model is a method that was pioneered by Anders Fischer in the 1980s and 1990s to locate submerged prehistoric sites [1,2,3]. It stems from his observations that the location of coastal prehistoric sites in Denmark correlated well with the locations of modern day "hobby" fishermen [4] p. The coastal landscape affects where fish and eels swim and where they can be trapped or caught. His hypothesis was that “settlements were placed on the shore immediately beside good sites for trap fishery. Such places were at the mouths of streams, at narrows in the fjord and on small islands and promontories close to sloping bottoms in the fjord” [1] p

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