Karsten Lambers | Universiteit Leiden (original) (raw)

Books by Karsten Lambers

Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia 51, 2023

Full text available at https://www.sidestone.com/books/digital-archaeology - Archaeology has ... more Full text available at https://www.sidestone.com/books/digital-archaeology -

Archaeology has gone digital for some time now! Topics such as GIS databases, 3D models, drone photography, meta- and para-data, semantic mapping, text mining, simulation, and social network analysis have become commonplace in archaeological discourse and practice. Digital and technological advancements seemingly offer limitless promises for data recording, analysis and dissemination. Yet, after several decades of innovation, we must ask ourselves which of these promises are actually fulfilled, and which persistent impasses are present. Today, some reflexive questions are more important than ever. In particular, when, how and why do our innovative archaeology tools fail? Do we approach our archaeological projects with a digital wand and (implicitly or explicitly) expect a magical solution? And when there is indeed a digital solution, at what expense does it come?

In this volume, scholars and practitioners in the field discuss the state of the art, as well as the promises and impasses that digital approaches to archaeology entail. The authors discuss the current state of teaching digital archaeology, the societal impact of digital innovations, current issues in archaeological data management, promises and limitations of isotopic research and remote sensing techniques, and why subfields such as agent-based modelling and serious gaming struggle to keep momentum.

Kolloquien zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte 10, 2008

Full text available at https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/portal/caa2007/

Forschungen zur Archäologie Außereuropäischer Kulturen 2, 2006

Full text available at https://doi.org/10.34780/faak.v2i0.1000 - The Geoglyphs of Palpa, Peru i... more Full text available at https://doi.org/10.34780/faak.v2i0.1000 -
The Geoglyphs of Palpa, Peru is a revision of the author´s Ph.D. thesis. In this study, the famed geoglyphs of the Paracas and Nasca cultures on the south coast of Peru are investigated in order to better understand their function and meaning. Combining aerial photogrammetry, archaeological fieldwork, and GIS-based analysis, more than 600 geoglyphs in the vicinity of the modern town of Palpa were recorded and analyzed. This interdisciplinary approach enabled the establishment of the first digital archive of these prehispanic monuments. It also led to important new insights into the origin, development, and spatial context of the geoglyphs. The Palpa dataset was furthermore used to test a recent model that explains the function and meaning of the Nasca geoglyphs in terms of Andean social, cultural, and religious traditions. The results of this study indicate that the ancient activities which took place on the geoglyphs revolved around concepts of water and fertility, and were a means of expressing social status and cultural concepts. The geoglyphs integrated the desert into the cultural landscape of the valley-based Paracas and Nasca societies, and were thus a valuable cultural resource that can still be appreciated today.

Master's thesis, University of Bonn, 1998

This study investigates the Terminal Classic to Postclassic transition at the Maya site of Xkipch... more This study investigates the Terminal Classic to Postclassic transition at the Maya site of Xkipché, Yucatán, Mexico. At Xkipché, this transition is marked by a series of unfinished stone buildings in the Terminal Classic Puuc style followed by smaller buildings that combine traits of foundation braces with reused stones from earlier buildings. Many of these latest buildings are located among the stone buildings of the site center. The archaeological record at Xkipché is discussed in the wider context of the Terminal Classic to Postclassic transition in northern Yucatán, in which Uxmal and Chichén Itzá were key players.

Papers by Karsten Lambers

Inaugural lecture, Leiden University, 9 September 2024

Antiquity, 2024

Volunteers are a key part of the archaeological labour force and, with the growth of digital data... more Volunteers are a key part of the archaeological labour force and, with the growth of digital datasets, these citizen scientists represent a vast pool of interpretive potential; yet, concerns remain about the quality and reliability of crowd-sourced data. This article evaluates the classification of prehistoric barrows on lidar images of the central Netherlands by thousands of volunteers on the Heritage Quest project. In analysing inter-user agreement and assessing results against fieldwork at 380 locations, the authors show that the probability of an accurate barrow identification is related to volunteer consensus in image classifications. Even messy data can lead to the discovery of many previously undetected prehistoric burial mounds.

Antiquity, 2024

Land, 2023

Current climate and environmental changes have brought unprecedented rates of change to mountain ... more Current climate and environmental changes have brought unprecedented rates of change to mountain ecosystems. These changes are impacting the provisioning of ecosystem services. Despite the increase in academic publications on ecosystem services, research on cultural ecosystem services (CES) and their availability in mountain regions has largely been neglected. Here we analyse how important different CES are for inhabitants and visitors in the Lower Engadine region (Switzerland). We use questionnaires and maps to identify the most important CES for individual and collective wellbeing as well as their geographical location in the region. We had 48 participants in this study of which 28 grew up in the Lower Engadine. Our results show that the most important (i.e., ‘Highly important’) CES are: ‘The view of mountains, rivers or glaciers’; the presence of plants typical for the region, for example Fire Lily and Edelweiss (i.e., Lilium bulbiliferum subsp. croceum, Edelweiss-Leontopodium alpinum); ‘Hiking’; ‘Local customs’; ‘Watching large mammals’; and the importance of ‘Terraces for traditional Agriculture activities’. Results from the spatial analysis show that identical geographical locations in the Lower Engadine provide multiple CES and bring health benefits to the users.

Digital Archaeology: Promises and Impasses, 2023

This paper introduces the volume 'Digital Archaeology: Promises and Impasses' (Leiden 2023), expl... more This paper introduces the volume 'Digital Archaeology: Promises and Impasses' (Leiden 2023), explaining its objectives and briefly reviewing its contents. Furthermore, the paper summarizes the perspectives of Leiden graduate students on Digital Archaeology based on their written assignments and other feedback.

Advances in On- and Offshore Archaeological Prospection: Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Archaeological Prospection, 2023

The large-scale magnetometer prospection conducted in 2021 south of the al-Najaf International Ai... more The large-scale magnetometer prospection conducted in 2021 south of the al-Najaf International Airport, Iraq, reveals the complex settlement structure of the late Antique and early Islamic site of al-Ḥīra. The manual archaeo-geophysical interpretation resulted in 16 classes and the three most relevant archaeological classes will serve as a baseline for a (semi-) automated classification workflow.

Geoarchaeology, 2023

We present results from a systematic interdisciplinary study on (pre-)historic rural settlement a... more We present results from a systematic interdisciplinary study on (pre-)historic rural settlement and landscape development in an upland region of northern Bavaria, Germany. The archaeological and geoarchaeological investigationssupported by radiocarbon dating, optically stimulated luminescence dating, and palaeoecological analysis-were performed to (i) identify so far unknown prehistoric rural settlement sites, (ii) determine site-specific soil erosion from colluvial deposits, and (iii) assess the composition of woodland from on-and offsite charcoal finds. The earliest indicators of human activities from the Younger Neolithic (late 5th to early 4th millennium B.C.E.) come from colluvial deposits. Our investigations, for the first time, show Middle to Late Bronze Age (ca. 1400-800 B.C.E.), permanent rural settlement in a German central upland region, with a peak in the Late Bronze Age. Due to the varying thicknesses of Bronze Age colluvial deposits, we assume land use practices to have triggered soil erosion. From the spectrum of wood species, Maloideae, ash, and birch are regarded as successional indicators after fire clearance in that period. Settlement continued until the 5th century B.C.E. After a hiatus of 500 years, it re-flourished in the Late Roman and Migration periods (mid-3rd-5th century C.E.

ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage, 2022

The amount of archaeological literature is growing rapidly. Until recently, these data were only ... more The amount of archaeological literature is growing rapidly. Until recently, these data were only accessible through metadata search. We implemented a text retrieval engine for a large archaeological text collection (∼658 million words). In archaeological IR, domain-specific entities such as locations, time periods and artefacts play a central role. This motivated the development of a named entity recognition (NER) model to annotate the full collection with archaeological named entities. In this article, we present ArcheoBERTje, a BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) model pre-trained on Dutch archaeological texts. We compare the model's quality and output on an NER task to a generic multilingual model and a generic Dutch model. We also investigate ensemble methods for combining multiple BERT models, and combining the best BERT model with a domain thesaurus using conditional random fields. We find that ArcheoBERTje outperforms both the multilingual and Dutch model significantly with a smaller standard deviation between runs, reaching an average F1 score of 0.735. The model also outperforms ensemble methods combining the three models. Combining ArcheoBERTje predictions and explicit domain knowledge from the thesaurus did not increase the F1 score. We quantitatively and qualitatively analyse the differences between the vocabulary and output of the BERT models on the full collection and provide some valuable insights in the effect of fine-tuning for specific domains. Our results indicate that for a highly specific text domain such as archaeology, further pre-training on domain-specific data increases the model's quality on NER by a much larger margin than shown for other domains in the literature, and that domain-specific pre-training makes the addition of domain knowledge from a thesaurus unnecessary.

Archaeological Prospection, 2022

Within archaeological prospection, Deep Learning algorithms are developed to detect objects withi... more Within archaeological prospection, Deep Learning algorithms are developed to detect objects within large remotely sensed datasets. These approaches are generally tested in an (ideal) experimental setting but have not been applied in different contexts or ‘in the wild’, that is, incorporated in archaeological prospection. This research explores the applicability, knowledge discovery—on both a quantitative and qualitative level—and efficiency gain resulting from employing an automated detection tool called WODAN within (Dutch) archaeological practice. WODAN has been used to detect barrows and Celtic fields in LiDAR data from the Dutch Midden-Limburg area, which differs in archaeology, geo-(morpho)logy and land-use from the Veluwe in which it was developed. The results show that WODAN was able to detect potential barrows and Celtic fields, including previously unknown examples, and provided information about the structuring of the landscape in the past. Based on the results, combined human-computer strategies are argued, in which automated detection has a complementary, rather than a substitute role, to manual analysis. This can offset the inherent biases in manual analysis and deal with the problem that current automated detection methods only detect objects similar to the pre-defined target class(es). The incorporation of automated detection into archaeological prospection, in which the results of automated detection are used to highlight areas of interest and to enhance and add detail to existing archaeological predictive maps, seems logical and feasible.

Archäologie Graubünden, 2021

Die gut erhaltene Terrassenlandschaft oberhalb von Ramosch hat eine lange Geschichte, deren acker... more Die gut erhaltene Terrassenlandschaft oberhalb von Ramosch hat eine lange Geschichte, deren ackerbauliche Nutzung im Mittelalter durch historische Quellen belegt ist. Doch bereits die prähistorische Siedlung auf der Mottata beweist, dass sie in eine stark vom Menschen überprägte Landschaft eingebettet war. Um der Frage nach der Entwicklung der Terrassen nachzugehen, engagiert sich seit einigen Jahren ein interdisziplinäres Forschungsprojekt mit dem Ursprung dieser Anlagen.

IANUS, Berlin, Germany, 2021

This open research dataset (https://doi.org/10.13149/lamb-geogpalp) was originally published on D... more This open research dataset (https://doi.org/10.13149/lamb-geogpalp) was originally published on DVD as the digital supplement of my 2006 book, titled 'The Geoglyphs of Palpa, Peru: Documentation, Analysis, and Interpretation' (ISBN 978-3-929290-32-5). It comprises a video of a virtual flight through a 3D model of the geoglyphs of Palpa, Ica, Peru, and a database of 639 geoglyphs that were recorded on the slopes and plateaus to the north and west of Palpa. The dataset should be used in conjunction with the book, which is available at https://doi.org/10.34780/faak.v2i0.1000.

Proceedings of the 12th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC 2020), 2020

In this paper, we present the development of a training dataset for Dutch Named Entity Recognitio... more In this paper, we present the development of a training dataset for Dutch Named Entity Recognition (NER) in the archaeology domain. This dataset was created as there is a dire need for semantic search within archaeology, in order to allow archaeologists to find structured information in collections of Dutch excavation reports, currently totalling around 60,000 (658 million words) and growing rapidly. To guide this search task, NER is needed. We created rigorous annotation guidelines in an iterative process, then instructed five archaeology students to annotate a number of documents. The resulting dataset contains~31k annotations between six entity types (artefact, time period, place, context, species & material). The inter-annotator agreement is 0.95, and when we used this data for machine learning, we observed an increase in F1 score from 0.51 to 0.70 in comparison to a machine learning model trained on a dataset created in prior work. This indicates that the data is of high quality, and can confidently be used to train NER classifiers.

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 2020

This paper presents WODAN2.0, a workflow using Deep Learning for the automated detection of multi... more This paper presents WODAN2.0, a workflow using Deep Learning for the automated detection of multiple archaeological object classes in LiDAR data from the Netherlands. WODAN2.0 is developed to rapidly and systematically map archaeology in large and complex datasets. To investigate its practical value, a large, random test dataset-next to a small, non-random dataset-was developed, which better represents the real-world situation of scarce archaeological objects in different types of complex terrain. To reduce the number of false positives caused by specific regions in the research area, a novel approach has been developed and implemented called Location-Based Ranking. Experiments show that WODAN2.0 has a performance of circa 70% for barrows and Celtic fields on the small, non-random testing dataset, while the performance on the large, random testing dataset is lower: circa 50% for barrows, circa 46% for Celtic fields, and circa 18% for charcoal kilns. The results show that the introduction of Location-Based Ranking and bagging leads to an improvement in performance varying between 17% and 35%. However, WODAN2.0 does not reach or exceed general human performance, when compared to the results of a citizen science project conducted in the same research area.

A Human Environment. Studies in honour of 20 years Analecta editorship by prof. dr. Corrie Bakels (Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia 50), Mar 20, 2020

The narrow desert wedged between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes in South America is one of the m... more The narrow desert wedged between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes in South America is one of the most arid and inhospitable regions in the world. Yet it is also a striking example of human interaction with extreme environments. Geoglyphs-man-made markings of the ground surface in naturalistic or geometric shapes-cover portions of the desert in Chile and Peru at large scale, showing how the arid environment was used and shaped according to socio-cultural ideas and needs. Dating mostly from prehistoric times, the geoglyphs are preserved due to extreme environmental conditions and can still be appreciated today. This paper reviews archaeological evidence of geoglyphs in arid South America in order to shed light on their function and meaning. The two largest geoglyph concentrations , in the Nasca basin in south-central Peru and in the Atacama desert in northern Chile, serve as examples to discuss shared traits and differences between various geoglyph traditions. In spite of formal, functional, and chronological differences between geoglyphs of the two regions, there is evidence of a common conceptual framework in which ancient Andean societies interacted with the arid environment in diverse and complex ways.

The Holocene, 2020

The question of the origin of Alpine farming and pastoral activities associated with seasonal ver... more The question of the origin of Alpine farming and pastoral activities associated with seasonal vertical transhumance and dairy production in the Silvretta Alps (Eastern Switzerland) has recently benefitted from renewed interest. There, pastoral practises began during the Late Neolithic (2300 BC), but alpine dairy farming was directly evidenced so far only since the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age (1300–500 BC). The vegetation development, timberline shifts at 2280 m a.s.l. and environmental conditions of the subalpine Urschai Valley (Canton of Grisons, Switzerland) were reconstructed for the small (8 m2) Plan da Mattun fen based on palynological and geochemical analyses for the last six millennia. The X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyses are among the first ones performed on a European peatland in such altitudes. A high Rb/Sr ratio in the fen peat sediments revealed an increase in catchment erosion during the time when the forests of the Upper Urschai Valley were steadily diminished probably by fire and livestock impact (2300–1700 BC). These landscape openings were paralleled by increasing micro-charcoal influx values, suggesting that prehistoric people actively set fire on purpose. Simultaneously, palynological evidence for pastoralism was revealed, such as pollen from typical herbs indicating livestock trampling, and abundant spores from coprophilous fungi. Since then, vertical transhumance and pastoral activities remained responsible for the open subalpine landscape above 2000 m a.s.l., most probably also in the context of milk and dairy production since 1300 BC, which is characteristic for the European Alps until today.

Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology, 2019

With the proliferation of online learning, the future of classroom teaching has been called into ... more With the proliferation of online learning, the future of classroom teaching has been called into question. However, the unfaltering popularity of brick-and-mortar courses indicates that direct access to expert knowledge and face-to-face engagements remain key considerations for students. Here we showcase a combination of these two worlds in a Small Private Online Course (SPOC). Compared to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), SPOCs are developed for smaller and more dedicated target groups and depend on close engagement between teachers and students. This format enables educational providers to involve internal and external students and teachers alike and to make ample use of online resources. This paper is based upon our experiences of running a SPOC on ‘Modelling and Simulation in Archaeology’ at Leiden University. We review the process of developing and running the course aimed at teaching archaeology students computer programming skills, while supporting their development as professional archaeologists and responsible academics.

Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia 51, 2023

Full text available at https://www.sidestone.com/books/digital-archaeology - Archaeology has ... more Full text available at https://www.sidestone.com/books/digital-archaeology -

Kolloquien zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte 10, 2008

Full text available at https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/portal/caa2007/

Forschungen zur Archäologie Außereuropäischer Kulturen 2, 2006

Master's thesis, University of Bonn, 1998

Inaugural lecture, Leiden University, 9 September 2024

Antiquity, 2024

Land, 2023

Digital Archaeology: Promises and Impasses, 2023

Advances in On- and Offshore Archaeological Prospection: Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Archaeological Prospection, 2023

Geoarchaeology, 2023

ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage, 2022

Archaeological Prospection, 2022

Archäologie Graubünden, 2021

IANUS, Berlin, Germany, 2021

Proceedings of the 12th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC 2020), 2020

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 2020

A Human Environment. Studies in honour of 20 years Analecta editorship by prof. dr. Corrie Bakels (Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia 50), Mar 20, 2020

The Holocene, 2020

Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology, 2019

Remote Sensing, 2019

Although the history of automated archaeological object detection in remotely sensed data is shor... more Although the history of automated archaeological object detection in remotely sensed data is short, progress and emerging trends are evident. Among them, the shift from rule-based approaches towards machine learning methods is, at the moment, the cause for high expectations, even though basic problems, such as the lack of suitable archaeological training data are only beginning to be addressed. In a case study in the central Netherlands, we are currently developing novel methods for multi-class archaeological object detection in LiDAR data based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs). This research is embedded in a long-term investigation of the prehistoric landscape of our study region. We here present an innovative integrated workflow that combines machine learning approaches to automated object detection in remotely sensed data with a two-tier citizen science project that allows us to generate and validate detections of hitherto unknown archaeological objects, thereby contributing to the creation of reliable, labeled archaeological training datasets. We motivate our methodological choices in the light of current trends in archaeological prospection, remote sensing, machine learning, and citizen science, and present the first results of the implementation of the workflow in our research area.

journal of computer applications in archaeology, 2019

Computer-aided methods for the automatic detection of archaeological objects are needed to cope w... more Computer-aided methods for the automatic detection of archaeological objects are needed to cope with
the ever-growing set of largely digital and easily available remotely sensed data. In this paper, a promising
new technique for the automated detection of multiple classes of archaeological objects in LiDAR data
is presented. This technique is based on R-CNNs (Regions-based Convolutional Neural Networks). Unlike
normal CNNs, which classify the entire input image, R-CNNs address the problem of object detection,
which requires correctly localising and classifying (multiple) objects within a larger image. We have incorporated
this technique into a workflow, which enables the preprocessing of LiDAR data into the required
data format and the conversion of the results of the object detection into geographical data, usable in a
GIS environment. The proposed technique has been trained and tested on LiDAR data gathered from the
central part of the Netherlands. This area contains a multitude of archaeological objects, including prehistoric
barrows and Celtic fields. The initial experiments show that we are able to automatically detect and
categorise these two types of archaeological objects and thus proof the added value of this technique.

Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology, 2019

In this paper, we present the results of user requirement solicitation for a search system of gre... more In this paper, we present the results of user requirement solicitation for a search system of grey literature in archaeology, specifically Dutch excavation reports. This search system uses Named Entity Recognition and Information Retrieval techniques to create an effective and effortless search experience. Specifically, we used Conditional Random Fields to identify entities, with an average accuracy of 56%. This is a baseline result, and we identified many possibilities for improvement. These entities were indexed in ElasticSearch and a user interface was developed on top of the index. This proof of concept was used in user requirement solicitation and evaluation with a group of end users. Feedback from this group indicated that there is a dire need for such a system, and that the first results are promising.

Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt, 2018

Although hillforts, ritual sites and burial mounds have been in existence in various regions, the... more Although hillforts, ritual sites and burial mounds have been in existence in various regions, the German Central Uplands have largely been considered void of rural occupation during the Bronze and Iron Ages (approx. 2100-30 BC). The presence of these sites, combined with mounting evidence from geoarchives of human impact on the landscape since the Neolithic, has led us to investigate the settlement and landscape history of the Northern Franconian Jura in Bavaria as a model region for studying human activity in and impact on the German Central Uplands during the Metal Ages. In this article, we present the first results of an interdisciplinary study of the Weismain river catchment undertaken since 2013. A combination of geoarchaeological and archaeological, on-site and off-site, field and lab investigations at both valley and plateau sites revealed evidence of human land use and settlement from the 16th century BC (Middle Bronze Age) onwards, with further emerging evidence of changing vegetation, land-use strategies and settlement preferences until the end of the Iron Age. While research is still ongoing, it may be concluded that in the study region, and possibly other parts of the German Central Uplands, land use had begun earlier and was more intense and varied than previously thought.

24th EAA Annual Meeting BARCELONA, 5-8 SEPTEMBER, 2018

Poster for the first LCDS Seminar 2018.

Die Terrassen von Ramosch/Unterengadin stehen bereits seit einigen Jahren im Fokus interdisziplin... more Die Terrassen von Ramosch/Unterengadin stehen bereits seit einigen Jahren im Fokus interdisziplinärer Forschungsaktivitäten, die gleichzeitig zur Heranführung Studierender an die Geoarchäologie dienen. Es werden die Siedlungs- und Bewirtschaftungsgeschichte und die damit einhergehenden anthropogenen Eingriffe auf die Landschaft untersucht. Bislang erfolgte Analysen und Untersuchungen legen einen menschlichen Einfluss bereits zur Bronzezeit (2200 – 800 v. Chr.) nahe.

Für die Terrassenlandschaft ist zumindest bekannt, dass auf der Nordseite des Inntals seine Auflichtung der dortigen Waldflächen ab dem 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr. zugunsten einer zunächst überregional transhumanten Weidewirtschaft stattgefunden hat.

Bei den Feldarbeiten, wurden verschiedene Methoden kombiniert, um die menschlichen Hinterlassenschaften in diesem Bereich zu untersuchen. Mittels Geoelektrik und Georadar konnten mögliche Mauerreste prospektiert werden. Verifiziert wurden diese dann in einer anschließenden archäologischen Grabungssondage. Die hierbei erstmals freigelegten Hangmauerstrukturen dienten wohl zur Befestigung der Terrassen. Mithilfe der 14C-Datierung konnten die korrespondierenden Schichten in einen eisenzeitlichen Kontext datiert werden. Ein in derselben Tiefe aufgefundenes Keramikfragment stützt diese Datierung.

Abschließend kann festgehalten werden, dass gerade durch die Kombination von geophysikalischen, geoarchäologischen und archäologischen Methoden ein enormer Mehrwert für die denkmalpflegerischen Untersuchungen in diesem Gebiet erzielt werden konnte. Durch gezielte Prospektion konnten Verdachtsflächen identifiziert werden, welche zielgerichtete archäologische Untersuchungen möglich machten.

In unserem Beitrag geht es um erste Ergebnisse einer geoarchäologischen Feldkampagne in Dzehkabtú... more In unserem Beitrag geht es um erste Ergebnisse einer geoarchäologischen Feldkampagne in Dzehkabtún, einer früh- bis postklassischen (ca. 300-1100 n. Chr.) Maya-Siedlung auf der Halbinsel Yucatán, Mexiko. Dieser Fundort wird bereits seit einigen Jahren archäologisch untersucht. Ziel des geoarchäologischen Forschungsprojekts ist die kleinräumige Untersuchung von Böden vor allem auf Freiflächen zwischen den einzelnen Hofgruppen der Siedlung, um anhand der Verteilung von Bodentypen räumliche und zeitliche Muster sowohl ungestörter Entwicklung als auch anthropogener Überprägung der Böden erkennen zu können.
Generell wird die Struktur von Maya-Siedlungen dominiert von locker gestreuten Hofgruppen, in denen Wohn- und Wirtschaftsgebäude auf einer gemeinsamen Plattform um einen Hof gruppiert sind. Zwischen den Hofgruppen finden sich Freiflächen, für die eine intensive gartenbauliche Nutzung angenommen wird. Eine solche setzt geeignete Böden voraus, doch wurden Böden in Maya-Siedlungen bisher kaum untersucht. Erste bodenkundliche Untersuchungen in Dzehkabtún zeigen, dass die Bodenbildung zwischen den Hofgruppen kleinräumig dispers verläuft: es finden sich durch Bodenerosion überprägte Böden (Kolluvisole) mit Keramik-, Holzkohle- und Grobbodenfragmenten, sowie tiefgründige rote Böden (Luvisole) ohne offenkundigen anthropogenen Einfluss. Hohe Tongehalte (50-70%) in den Bt-Horizonten der Luvisole weisen auf autochthone Entstehung durch Verwitterungsprozesse hin; jedoch sind recht hohe Schluffgehalte ein Indiz für Bodengenese mit äolischem Eintrag. Die Luvisole können daher als polygenetisch eingestuft werden. Im Rahmen künftiger Kampagnen soll dies mittels mikromorphologischer Analysen überprüft werden. Eine zeitliche Einordnung der Bodenentwicklung soll mittels eines umfassenden Datierungsprogramms (14C, OSL) erfolgen. Aus dem Verbund an archäologischen und bodenkundlichen Daten sollen letztlich Zusammenhänge zwischen Siedlungs- und Bodenentwicklung erschlossen werden.

http://www.lda-lsa.de/fileadmin/pdf/Tagungen/2200-BC.pdf In diesem Posterbeitrag werden die Er... more http://www.lda-lsa.de/fileadmin/pdf/Tagungen/2200-BC.pdf

In diesem Posterbeitrag werden die Ergebnisse neuer Untersuchungen zum Einfluss des Klimas auf die alpine Hochlagennutzung am Übergang vom Neolithikum zur frühen Bronzezeit in den zentralen Ostalpen - Graubünden (CH), Tirol, Vorarlberg (beide A) und Vinschgau (I) – anhand archäologischer, paläoökologischer und pedologischer Proxydaten vorgestellt.
Der hochalpine Raum reagiert besonders sensibel auf sich verändernde Umweltbedingungen. Schon geringe klimatische Variationen können das Ökosystem stark beeinflussen. Die Klimabedingungen im Alpenraum ab dem zweiten Jahrtausend v. Chr. sind in etwa mit jenen zwischen Mitte des 19. und Mitte 2o. Jahrhundert n. Chr. vergleichbar (Nicolussi 2oo9, 121). Verschiedene Proxydatensätze deuten für diesen Zeitraum auf eine sich verändernde Niederschlagssaisonalität, hin zu mehr Niederschlag im Sommer (Nicolussi 2oo9, 119).
Aus archäologischer Sicht ist der Übergang vom Neolithikum zur frühen Bronzezeit in den zentralen Ostalpen durch einen massiven Siedlungsausbau gekennzeichnet, der auch peripher gelegene Talschaften miteinbezieht. Diese Landnahme zeichnet sich im archäologischen Fundbild in einer intensivierten Nutzung der alpinen Hochlagen ab, also der Gebiete oberhalb von 2ooo m.ü.M. Bestätigt wird dieses Bild durch neue palynologische und (paläo-)pedologische Untersuchungen aus der Silvretta-Region im Grenzgebiet zwischen Österreich und der Schweiz. Diese legen für diesen Zeitabschnitt verstärkten menschlichen Eingriff im Waldgrenzbereich in Form von Brandrodung nahe, der mit einer Zunahme von Weide- und Kulturzeigerpflanzen einherging.
Die hier präsentierten Forschungen zeigen auf, dass die Intensivierung der Hochlagennutzung in den zentralen Ostalpen zu Beginn der Bronzezeit parallel mit der Aufsiedlung der inneralpinen Talschaften verlief und nach heutigem Erkenntnisstand wohl weitgehend unabhängig von etwaigen klimatischen Stressoren vor sich gegangen sein dürfte.

Literatur
K. Nicolussi, Klimaentwicklung in den Alpen während der letzten 7ooo Jahre. In K. Oeggl/M. Prast (Hrsg.), Die Geschichte des Bergbaus in Tirol und seinen angrenzenden Gebieten. Impulsreferat zum 3. Milestone-Meeting des SFB HiMAT vom 23.-26.1o.2oo8 in Silbertal. Innsbruck University Press, 2oo9, 1o9–24.

The poster will present the results of recent investigations into the impact of the climate on the use of high-altitude Alpine areas during the transition between the Neolithic period and the Early Bronze Age in the central Eastern Alps – Grisons (Switzerland), Tyrol and Vorarlberg (Austria), and Vinschgau Valley (Italy) – using archaeological, palaeoenvironmental and pedological proxy data.
High-alpine areas are particularly sensitive to environmental change. Even the slightest climatic variation can have a significant impact on the ecosystem. From the second 2nd millennium BC onwards, the climatic conditions in the Alps would have been comparable to those from the mid-19th to the mid-2oth centuries AD (Nicolussi 2oo9, 121). Various proxy datasets suggest that seasonal precipitation changed during this particular phase towards increased precipitation in summer (Nicolussi 2oo9, 119).
From an archaeological point of view the transition from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age in the central Eastern Alps was characterised by a massive settlement expansion which also included peripheral valleys. In the archaeological record this expansion manifests itself in a more intense use of high-altitude areas, i.e. areas over 2ooo m a.s.l. This is supported by palynological and (palaeo) pedological investigations recently carried out in the Silvretta region in the border area between Austria and Switzerland. They suggest that the period was characterised by increased human impact in the treeline areas as attested to by land-clearances using the slash-and-burn method, along with an increase in pasture and anthropogenic indicator plants.
The research presented here shows that the increased use of high-altitude areas in the central Eastern Alps at the beginning of the Bronze Age occurred at the same time as the settlement expansion in the inner alpine valleys and, according to the current state of research, would largely have taken place independent of any climatic stressors.

References
K. Nicolussi, Klimaentwicklung in den Alpen während der letzten 7ooo Jahre. In K. Oeggl/M. Prast (Hrsg.), Die Geschichte des Bergbaus in Tirol und seinen angrenzenden Gebieten. Impulsreferat zum 3. Milestone-Meeting des SFB HiMAT vom 23.-26.1o.2oo8 in Silbertal. Innsbruck University Press, 2oo9, 1o9–24.

Untersuchungsgebiet: • Hochflächen am Nordrand des Fränkischen Jura (ca. 450 km²) • Bronze-und Ei... more Untersuchungsgebiet: • Hochflächen am Nordrand des Fränkischen Jura (ca. 450 km²) • Bronze-und Eisenzeit (Ende 3. -Ende 1. Jt. v. Chr.) • Höhensiedlungen, Grabstätten, Ritualorte gut erforscht, ländliche Siedlungen dagegen kaum bekannt Fragestellung: • Siedlungsgeschichte: Wo befanden sich die ländlichen Siedlungen der Bronze-und Eisenzeit? Welche regionalen Siedlungsmuster lassen sich rekonstruieren, und wie sind diese zu interpretieren? • Landschaftsgeschichte: Wie hat sich die Landschaft während der Metallzeiten und seither unter dem Einfluss des Menschen verändert? Welche Folgen hat dies für Erhaltungs-und Auffindungsbedingungen? Vorgehensweise: • Identifikation potenzieller Siedlungsplätze anhand günstiger Geofaktoren • Regionale Fundstellenprospektion (Feldbegehung, Magnetometrie, Sondagen) • Bodengeographische Feldbegehung und Sondierungen • Flächengrabung an bekanntem Siedlungsplatz Bisherige Ergebnisse (Vorprojekt): • Mehrphasige bronzezeitliche Siedlung bei Kaspauer am Auslauf eines Nebentals zwischen Hochfläche und Talaue • Siedlungsbefunde im Magnetogramm bei Wunkendorf • Kolluvien mit Holzkohle in Muldenlagen auf Hochflächen als Anzeiger von Brandrodung und Ackerbau zur Bronzezeit Literatur: • Falkenstein, Frank. Hrsg. 2012. Hohler Stein, Rothensteine und Jungfernhöhle: Archäologische Forschungen zur prähistorischen Nutzung naturheiliger Plätze auf der Nördlichen Frankenalb. Würzburg: