Alina Tšugai-Tsyrulnikova, Maxim Charniauski, Irina Khrustaleva, Jüri Plado, Aivar Kriiska
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Asaviec 2 in the Kryvina wetland is one of the best known and the most thoroughly investigated Stone and Bronze Age lake settlement sites in Northern Belarus. Previously, research on the site used excavations and coring, typological analysis and radiocarbon dating of the find material, as well as stratigraphic, lithological and palynological analyses. However, geophysical methods were not used. This study was carried out to test the use of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) both at this particular site and in peaty sediments generally. The main goal was to determine the lateral spread of the occupation layer and traces of ancient habitation activity. The GPR reflection profiles have been correlated with coring data and previously excavated archaeological profiles. The chaotic pattern in the GPR reflection profiles has been interpreted as disturbed peat, thereby indicating human activity. The areas of disturbed peat and the lower boundary of the peat body were traced and mapped. The occupation layer and signs of human activity are irregularly distributed and largely coincide with the high and intermediate forms of the subsoil relief, but not with the low forms. As a result, we have concluded that GPR is a valuable tool for determining occupational layers in wetlands when verified by excavations and coring.
期刊介绍:
Geoarchaeology is an interdisciplinary journal published six times per year (in January, March, May, July, September and November). It presents the results of original research at the methodological and theoretical interface between archaeology and the geosciences and includes within its scope: interdisciplinary work focusing on understanding archaeological sites, their environmental context, and particularly site formation processes and how the analysis of sedimentary records can enhance our understanding of human activity in Quaternary environments. Manuscripts should examine the interrelationship between archaeology and the various disciplines within Quaternary science and the Earth Sciences more generally, including, for example: geology, geography, geomorphology, pedology, climatology, oceanography, geochemistry, geochronology, and geophysics. We also welcome papers that deal with the biological record of past human activity through the analysis of faunal and botanical remains and palaeoecological reconstructions that shed light on past human-environment interactions. The journal also welcomes manuscripts concerning the examination and geological context of human fossil remains as well as papers that employ analytical techniques to advance understanding of the composition and origin or material culture such as, for example, ceramics, metals, lithics, building stones, plasters, and cements. Such composition and provenance studies should be strongly grounded in their geological context through, for example, the systematic analysis of potential source materials.