Palaeovegetational reconstruction of the Hajdúnánás–Tedej–Lyukas-halom based on combined micropalaeobotanical analysis (original) (raw)
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Two kurgans located on the Great Hungarian Plain, the Csı´po +and Lyukas-mound, have been examined in precise detail with the involvement of experts of various disciplines. International cooperation enhanced research on the biogenic genesis of soils and landscapes. The aim was to elucidate the construction of both mound bodies, to describe modern soil development, to analyse the buried soils under the kurgans, and to reconstruct the palaeoenvironments of their surroundings, utilizing biomorphic analysis and pedological investigations. The results of the biomorph (phytolith) analysis and the soil macromorphological descriptions indicate that both the modern and palaeo profiles of both kurgans include Chernozem-type soils, formed under predominantly semi-arid steppe vegetation. No evidence of Luvisol development was detectable. The ancient environments of both kurgans were similar in many points with the modern landscape, and development was determined by climate and vegetation typical for steppe environments. r
—Soils and sediments composing Tell Körtik Tepe (Epipaleolithic, Turkey) and Tell Yunatsite (Chalcolithic (Eneolithic), Bulgaria) have been studied with the aim to gain a better insight into their micro-fabrics, determine the composition of anthropogenic artifacts, and, on this basis, to analyze similarities and distinctions between these objects and the modern soils of urban areas. The methods of micromorphology, scanning electron microscopy with an energy dispersive X-ray microanalyzer, X-ray fluorometry, and other techniques to determine the chemical and physical properties of the soils and sediments have been applied. Two paleosols have been identified in Tell Yunatsite with a total thickness of 9 m: the paleosol buried under the tell and the paleosol in its middle part. Sediments of Tell Körtik Tepe have a total thickness of up to 5 m; their accumulation began at the end of Pleistocene over the surface of buried paleosol. The cultural layer of the tells consists of construction debris mainly represented by a mixture of clay and sand and of domestic wastes with the high content of phosphorus. The major source of phosphorus is calcium phosphate (apatite) of bone tissues. The abundance of various anthropogenic materials in the sediments is clearly seen in thin sections. Even in the paleosols developed within the cultural layer (the mid-profile paleosol in Tell Yunatsite), the amount of microinclusions of bone fragments, charcoal, and burnt clay (ceramics) is very high. Micro-morphological data indicate that up to 50% of the layered material filling an Epipaleolithic construction in Tell Körtik Tepe consists of the anthropogenic inclusions: bone fragments, charcoal, etc. The features of pedogenic transformation are present in the sediments. Such sediments can be classified as synlithogenic soils similar to the modern Urbic Technosols. It is shown that the formation of paleosols and sediments of Tell Körtik Tepe took place under extreme environmental conditions—arid climate of the latest Pleistocene climate cooling phase (the Younger Dryas, Tell Körtik Tepe)—and intensive anthropogenic loads (tells Körtik Tepe and Yunatsite).
The plant economy at the Bronze Age site of Kakucs-Turján: first archaeobotanical results
Kakucs-Turján: a Middle Bronze Age multi-layered fortified settlement in Central Hungary
Here we present an initial overview of the macrobotanical remains identified in the excavations of trench 1 at Kakucs-Turján. Macrobotanical remains from the soil samples from trench 2 are currently being analysed as part of a doctoral research within the CRC1266 project F3:’ Dynamics of Plant Economy in Ancient Societies’ at the Institute of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology at Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel. The results discussed here are, therefore, preliminary and will, in the future, be supplemented by the macrobotanical assemblage from the house structure in trench 2. The main issues addressed in this chapter are: (i) composition of the macrobotanical assemblage from the house-related structures in trench 1 (ii) identification of potential activity areas (i.e. crop processing, food processing and storage) according to the spatial distribution of the macrobotanical remains, and (iii) a brief contextualisation of crop diversity at Kakucs-Turján within the Bronze Age Vatya plant economy in the Carpathian basin.
Analysis of Archaeobotanical Material from the Tupras Field project of the Kinet Höyük Excavations.
Journal of Islamic Archaeology, 2015
The Tüpraş Field project is located near the high mound of Kinet Höyük in the Hatay Province of Turkey. The site was founded in the 8th century and continually occupied until the 12th century CE. Contemporary Arabic writers described the region as rich in agriculture and known for its cultivation of date palms and for its valuable timber resources. This paper presents the analysis of archaeobotanical macro remains, which are rare from this period, to allow for a greater understanding of the floral diversity, in terms of cereals, weeds, trees and wild species that would have been present in the region during the Islamic through medieval periods. The data supports cereal agriculture but also documents the emergence of a cotton boom, which is attested to in ethnohistorical sources but has rarely been confirmed through archaeobotanical remains. Substantial quantities of C. album in single contexts, likely representing storage, were recovered and raise questions about its role as either an agricultural weed species or a more significant contributor to the diet and health of the ancient population. The agricultural economy is clearly more complex than previously believed and this study adds to discussions on the intersections of environmental and Islamic studies with crucial archaeological evidence, which can, for example, counter-balance and nuance certain well-worn debated ideas, such as the nature of the Islamic Green ‘Revolution’.
Archeometriai Műhely, 2022
During the archaeological excavation of the memorial place (türbe) of the Ottoman sultan Suleiman I, a moat was revealed north of the memorial place in 2015. The moat system was identified by boreholes and excavated in 2015, when 30-30 liter samples were taken from the 250 cm deep moat at 15 cm intervals for archaeobotanical and anthracological analyses. Samples were taken at 10 cm intervals for pollen studies from the archaeological profile of the moat filling. In our publication, based on the previously presented geochronological results, our aim was to reconstruct the vegetation around the memorial tomb of Suleiman, on the basis of archaeobotanical, anthracological and pollen analytical data. We were able to reconstruct ploughed lands (cereal cultivation), vegetable, fruit and vineyards, pasture lands, forest patches and trampled areas related to human activity (settlement). The military census of 1689 indicated similar tract of land structure of the crop production areas. The tomb and the Islamic pilgrimage monastery and pilgrim town (Ottoman name was Türbe kasabası) were demolished from 1692/1693 and divided into agricultural zones, where orchards, arable lands, gardens and vineyards were established.
Paleosols of Kurgans of the Early Iron Age in the Transural Steppe Zone
2008
Paleosol studies of archaeological monuments of different ages have been conducted on the Transural Plateau. The morphological and physicochemical properties of paleosols under burial mounds (kurgans) of the Early Iron Age (the fifth and fourth centuries BC) were compared with the properties of background surface soils. A paleosol of the Savromat epoch (2500 BP) is characterized by high contents of gypsum and soluble salts. The presence of humus tongues in its profile attests to the aridity and continentality of the climatic conditions during that epoch. Paleosols buried under kurgans of the Late Sarmatian epoch and the Hun epoch (about 1600 BP) are characterized by a higher content of humus and greater depth of the carbonate horizon, which attests to the humidization of climatic conditions. The evolution of soils as related to climate dynamics in the first millennium BC and the first millennium AD is characterized.
2020
The Kakucs-Turján archaeological site was investigated by a Polish-Hungarian-German research team of archaeologists and various specialists. This volume explores the plant economy of Early and Middle Bronze Age Kakucs-Turján based on systematically sampled macrobotanical remains. The study provides a comprehensive consideration of the plant-related activities and (post-)depositional processes that have contributed to the formation of the charred deposits, and it considers the character of the plant-food economy (cultivation, processing, storage, etc.) that was practiced by the inhabitants. The results emphasise the importance of a detailed consideration of site-formation processes in macrobotanical studies of stratified settlements, and further illustrate the unique character of the crop spectrum of this particular Vatya community.
Paleosols buried under kurgans of the Pit-grave culture in the steppe zone of the Cis-Ural region
Eurasian Soil Science, 2008
The analysis of soil chronosequences developed from loamy and loamy sandy substrates and buried under kurgans dating back to the Pit-grave archaeological culture in the steppe zone of the Cis-Ural region demonstrated that it is possible to trace the dynamics of the soil properties and to perform paleoclimatic reconstructions for different intervals within the studied period. The properties of sandy soils changed more rapidly than the properties of loamy soils. For sandy soils, notable changes in their properties were revealed in the soil chronosequences dating back to the particular stages of the Pit-grave culture; for loamy soils, such changes could only be traced for the soils buried under the kurgans dating back to different stages of the Pit-grave culture.
Plant remains from the Late Neolithic settlement of Polgár-Bosnyákdomb
2016
Charred plant remains were recovered at the Polgar-Bosnyakdomb site dated to the Middle Neolithic period (the Tisza–Herpaly–Csőszhalom culture), corresponding to the first half of the Vth millenium BC. Among cultivated plants found as dispersed within the archaeological features and in daub pieces, remains of emmer wheat Triticum dicoccon were the most frequent. Also, leguminous plants were used as demonstrated by seeds of lentil Lens culinaris. Among wild herbaceous plants, taxa of field and ruderal habitats prevailed (Chenopodium type album, Galium spurium, Polygnum mite and Bromus sp.) as well as those coming from dry grasslands (Stipa sp.). The analysis of charcoal remains showed that mostly wood belonging to Quercus sp., Ulmus sp. and Cornus sp. were collected as firewood from the proximity of the settlement, mainly from oak-dominated wooded steppes developed on the elevated surfaces and floodplain forests from the seasonally flooded alluvium. The most frequently found plant re...