Reconstruction of the prehistoric environment on the basis of analyzing the chernozem used for the construction of the Neolithic long barrow at the Dušníky site (Czech Republic)

Abstract

The Neolithic long barrow of Dušníky in Central Bohemia (Czech Republic) was intensively investigated in 2021. The archaeological observations of the site, together with a set of pedological (chemical composition, paleomagnetic properties, near-infrared spectroscopy, radiocarbon dating, and micromorphology) and archaeobotanical analyses (anthracology, and phytoliths) of the soil and related sediment, were used to obtain reliable information about the construction of the barrow and paleoenvironment of the site.

We assume that the barrow was piled up over the grave of a ten-year-old boy. The construction material of the mound is the humic horizon of the surrounding chernozem; the original soil surface under the mound was not affected. Afterwards, a ditch was dug around the barrow. The subsoil sand dug up during this process was intentionally deposited at the foot of the barrow. This sand embankment together with the surrounding chernozem and mound gradually eroded into the ditch. After the ditch was filled, the mound further eroded into the surrounding area. Currently, the site is nearly invisible because it has been destroyed by millennia-long agriculture. The current surviving height of the barrow is appr. 80–100 cm.

We conclude that the site at the moment of the construction of the barrow (3633–3522 cal. BC) was not occupied by Neolithic people, it has only a funerary character. The vegetation at the site at the time of arrival of builders of the barrow was an open woodland dominated by Pinus, with the rare presence of Quercus and Juniperus and the presence of steppe grasses. This study fills the gap in the knowledge of Neolithic populations in central Bohemia. Even if situated in the region of fertile chernozems in Bohemia, the site carries no traces of occupation before the construction of the barrow.