Environmental Archaeology

Short description.

The lecture combines archaeology and natural sciences. Basic elements of natural environments – abiotic (earth, water, air) and biotic (flora and fauna) will be presented, then possibilities of their reconstruction in the prehistory in particular time and place, as well as their interaction with human activity - economy and settlement system.

Full description.

The lecture combines archaeology and natural sciences. Following topics will be discussed:

-Basic elements of natural environment – abiotic and biotic. Abiotic – earth, water, air, and biotic – flora and fauna.

-Regionalisation – physiographical criteria of region (land) distinguishing, its proper names and borders. Decimal (hierarchical) system of regionalisation. Micro-region, range, site.

- Types and kinds of landscape – coastland, lake-lands, lowland plains, upland, mountainous.

- Basic elements of earth topography, sculpture of landscape (terrain relief).

- Glacial and fluvioglacial processes, sediments and landforms (end moraine, ground moraine, esker, kame, sandr, ice-marginal valley, kettle-holes).

- Periglacial and aeolian processes and sediments (loess, dunes).

- Sediments - its structure and morphology (greatness and morphology of grains, lightness and colour, compression), thickness and borders of layers, and than environment of sedimentation.

- Soil – definitions, formation processes and morphology. Layers (horizons) of soil. Characterisation of main kinds-types of soils. Soil degradation processes, fossil soils.

- River – source, upper course, middle course, lower course and mouth. Watershed and drainage basin. Characterisation of each course (part) of river – erosion and accumulation, terraces, cross section of valley and river, meandering processes, oxbow lake formation, natural levee and mid-channel bars formation, delta or estuary formation.

- Lakes – kinds of lakes and its genesis. Water stratification (thermal zones), biotic lake zones, littoral vegetation zones and its succession. Process of eutrophication – ecological succession of lakes. Ageing – developing and disappearing lakes, overgrowing and terrestrialization of lakes. Peat-bog formation. Kinds of peat-bogs (moors) and their genesis.

-Archeobotany and its specialisations, dendrology, macro-remains and palynology.

- Palynology – premises and restrictions, far transport and representativeness, regional and local profiles, sampling, construction and reading palynological diagrams, AP (trees and shrubs) and NAP (herbs), main and indicative plants. Cultivated plants, pastoral, ruderal and forest-burning indicators.

- Late Pleistocene and Holocene periods and succession of vegetation. Vertical (altitudinal) zonation of vegetation.

- Zooarchaeology – reconstruction of natural fauna and determined species, NISP and MNI calculation, type of excavation – sieving and reconstruction of economy. Kind of game – branch of hunting. Concordance of animal species with type of landscape, climate and vegetation, stenobiontic and eurobiontic species, animal species as indicators for particular landscape.

Bibliography will be given successively and properly to go through the subject.

Learning outcomes:

The knowledge about abiotic and biotic elements of environment and their influence on human economy and settlement during the Prehistory. Using proper names and description of natural environment at and around the archaeological site and region. Knowledge of methods for reconstruction of environment, and different economical and occupation strategies.

Final test.