Ground‐penetrating Radar and Geological Study of the Kudruküla Stone Age Archaeological Site, Northeast Estonia

Abstract

ABSTRACTA combined ground‐penetrating radar (GPR), drilling and diatom survey was carried out in order to characterize formation of the Kudruküla Stone Age Comb Ware archaeological site, northeast Estonia. A few decades ago a cultural layer was discovered, located within fine‐grained sands of the right bank of the Kudruküla Stream an altitude of 1.25–1.60 m above sea level. The layer is 15–35 cm thick and composed of poorly sorted sand of intensive reddish colour with abundant arte‐ and ecofacts, human bones, burned hearthstones and charcoal pieces. Artefacts, in particular pottery, are well preserved and frequently present as large pieces. The Kudruküla site holds an exceptional position among other Stone Age coastal settlements in that it is not located directly on top of beach ridges, but is buried under ~3 m of sand. When the Kudruküla settlement existed the level of the Litorina Sea was ~6 m above present sea level, which is ~4.5 m above the present location of the cultural layer. The current research is used to describe the geological structure of the area to provide a perspective on the history of the cultural material, and reveals that the cultural material is not restricted to one layer/lens only because it is irregularly and widely distributed within the sands of Kudruküla. The GPR and diatom analyses show that the Kudruküla cultural material is redeposited, because it occurs within an ancient point‐bar succession of a (Narva) river meander. Originally, the dwelling site had been located on top of the Narva‐Jõesuu sandy coastal ridges, which subsequently suffered erosion and the sand resedimented at the Kudruküla location. Good preservation of the cultural items shows that, after redeposition, they were buried fast, probably within a year. The present Kudruküla stream has cut into the floodplain of the ancient (Narva) river to expose the redeposited layer/lens. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.