Abstract
Abstract. This paper aims to reconstruct Middle Bronze Age (MBA; 1600–1250 BCE) land use practices in the northwestern Alpine foreland (SW Germany, Hegau). We used a multi-proxy approach including the analysis of biogeochemical proxies from colluvial deposits and buried topsoils in the surroundings of the well-documented settlement site of Anselfingen and off-site pollen data from two peat bogs. This approach allowed for in-depth insights into the MBA subsistence economy and shows that the MBA in the northwestern Alpine foreland was a period of establishing settlements with sophisticated land management and land use practices. The reconstruction of phases of colluvial deposition was based on ages from optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon (AMS14C) dating from multi-layered colluvial deposits and supports the local archaeological record with the first phase of major colluvial deposition occurring during the MBA followed by phases of colluvial deposition during the Iron Age, the Medieval period and modern times. The on-site deposition of charred archaeobotanical remains and animal bones from archaeological features, as well as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), charcoal spectra, phytoliths, soil microstructure, urease enzymatic activity, microbial biomass carbon (Cmic) and heavy metal contents from colluvial deposits, were used as proxies for on-site and near-site land use practices. The charcoal spectra indicate MBA forest management which favored the dominance of Quercus in the woodland vegetation in the surrounding area north of the settlement site. Increased levels of 5β stanols (up to 40 %) and the occurrence of pig bones (up to 14 %) support the presence of a forest pasture mainly used for pig farming. In the surrounding area south of the settlement, an arable field with a buried MBA plow horizon (2Apb) could be verified by soil micromorphological investigations and high concentrations of grass phytoliths from leaves and stems. Agricultural practices (e.g., plowing) focussed on five staple crops (Hordeum distichon/vulgare, Triticum dicoccum, Triticum monococcum, Triticum spelta, Triticum aestivum/turgidum), while the presence of stilted pantries as storage facilities and of heat stones indicate post-harvest processing of cereal crops and other agrarian products within the settlement. In the area surrounding the settlement, increased levels of urease activity, compared to microbial biomass carbon (up to 2.1 µg N µg Cmic-1), and input of herbivorous and omnivorous animal faeces indicate livestock husbandry on fallow land. The PAH suites and their spatial distribution support the use of fire for various purposes, e.g., for opening and maintaining the landscape, for domestic burning and for technical applications. The off-site palynological data support the observed change in on-site and near-site vegetation as well as the occurrence of related land use practices. During the Early and Middle Bronze Age, fire played a major role in shaping the landscape (peak of micro-charcoal during the MBA), and anthropogenic activities promoted Quercus-dominated forest ecosystems at the expense of natural beech forests. This indicates a broader regional human influence in the northwestern Alpine foreland at low- and mid-altitude inland sites during the Middle Bronze Age.
Highlights
Human use of land has profoundly altered terrestrial ecosystems since the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene (Ellis et al, 2011; Redman, 1999)
The multi-proxy analysis of archaeological features, colluvial deposits, buried topsoils and peat bogs of the Middle Bronze Age in the Hegau (SW Germany) shows how helpful such multi-proxy approaches can be for a refined understanding of past human–land interactions. (i) From the archaeopedological reconstruction of phases of colluvial deposition and on-site and near-site land use practices, we can infer sophisticated land use practices at the Middle Bronze Age settlement site in Anselfingen, which undoubtedly marked the beginning of major colluvial deposition
Livestock husbandry was based on pasture on fallow land and forest pasture for pig farming, while hunting was part of the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) economy. (ii) The spatial patterns of the on-site and near-site land use practices revealed that a type of forest management mostly occurred in the surrounding area north of the ABR settlement site, while arable farming was practiced in the south
Summary
Human use of land has profoundly altered terrestrial ecosystems since the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene (Ellis et al, 2011; Redman, 1999). The emergence of sedentism and agricultural practices has intensified this trend, at least since population sizes and technological capabilities have increased (Ellis et al, 2013). In the northwestern Alpine foreland, most Middle Bronze Age (MBA; 1600– 1250 BCE) settlements are known from sites with aerobic soil conditions further inland, while the lakeshores and bogs were widely depopulated during this period (Menotti, 2001; Köninger, 2015). Rather little on-site and near-site (distance < 5 km to the site) archaeopedological and archaeobotanical evidence has been available so far for MBA settlements in the northwestern Alpine foreland. The information from off-site (distance > 5 km to the site) proxies is more closely related to the vicinity of lakes and bogs than to settlements further inland (Rösch, 2013; Tinner et al, 2003)
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