Waste Management and Waste Disposal Detected by Combination of Analytical Methods: Late Bronze Age Březnice Settlement Site (South Bohemia)

Abstract

Waste disposal processes and landfill management are crucial subjects in the field of settlement archaeology. Our study is focused on understanding the processes that are connected to the formation of the infills of settlement features and the recycling of the building materials (daub and wood) and waste management. These research questions are addressed through the analysis of plant macroremains, charcoals, phytoliths, starch, micromorphology, phosphates and magnetic susceptibility. The results show the waste character of feature infills, which reflect the economy of the individual households. The composition of the archaeobotanical assemblages is not influenced by the type of feature, and similarities in the plant spectra often emerge in the features located close to each other. The charcoal and dendrochronological analyses suggest that part of the building's oak timber was recycled and later used as fuelwood. The presence of uncharred remains of vegetative and generative parts in wastes was detected by phytolith and starch analyses and the presence of meat and dung of livestock by animal protein analyses. Anomalies in soil phosphate indicate differing amounts of organic matter in individual features. Magnetic susceptibility measurements showed that each feature infill was formed in a one-time event. The sedimentological analysis demonstrated that the infills of different types of features were similar, but only the infill of Late and Final Bronze Age cultures' specific trench-like features was compacted. All proxies combined suggest that prior deposition of waste in sunken features first accumulated elsewhere and became mixed/homogenized.