Quaternary Environments and Geoarchaeology (QEG)
International Geoarchaeology 2006
Jamie Woodward and Karl Butzer
The full programme can be viewed here
Abstracts for the papers presented by Jamie and Mike
Rockshelter sediment records in the Mediterranean: linking the site to the Quaternary landscape
Jamie Woodward & Mike Morley
Geoarchaeological research in rockshelters and caves has often failed to make effective linkages between on-site sediment records and the dynamics of the wider Quaternary landscape. This may partly reflect the tendency to focus on the “site” record (cultural and geological) with only limited study of the off-site Quaternary record. Recent work in Northwest Greece has attempted to address this problem by developing methods to establish the provenance of the fine sediments in rockshelter sediment records (and the long-term dynamics of the fine sediment catchment) and integrating these data with micromorphological analysis of the sediment record. This approach allows a full assessment of the microstratigraphic features (natural and cultural) within a rockshelter or cave sediment record (which are very often missed using traditional sediment sampling methods) and it allows the site record to be viewed as part of the wider long-term record of Quaternary landscape and environmental change. A key problem is decoupling the natural and anthropogenic signals in rockshelter and cave sediment records. We explore these issues using examples and new datasets from various parts of the Mediterranean basin including Greece, Sicily and Montenegro.
Crvena Stijena: Unravelling a deep cave sediment record in the upland karst of Montenegro
Mike Morley, Jamie Woodward & Robert Whallon
Crvena Stijena is a large limestone rockshelter on the border between Montenegro and Bosnia-Hercegovina. The rockshelter contains a very rich archaeological record spanning Middle Palaeolithic to Mesolithic times. Although excavations in the 1960’s and 1970’s removed a good deal of the archaeological and geological record, thick Pleistocene deposits remain and have provided the focus for new investigations at Crvena Stijena that began in 2004. This paper outlines our approach and presents the results of new sedimentological and micromorphological analyses. A key aim of this work is to establish the utility of the rockshelter sediments as an archive of local and regional environmental change in this part of the Mediterranean 1 by decoupling the natural and anthropogenic signals in the sedimentary record. Our work has focussed on the fine sediment fraction 1 and we have used a range of parameters to establish the source of these sediments. Sediment deposited in the site will originate from both host bedrock breakdown and from the available allogenic source materials in the catchment. Geoarchaeological work at the site will provide a direct link between the archaeological material recovered from excavation and any changes in the on-site and off-site environments. This paper presents some of the problems and outcomes that stem from this work.
1 Woodward, J. C. and Goldberg, P (2001) The sedimentary records in Mediterranean rockshelters and caves: archives of environmental change, Geoarchaeology, 16, 327-354