Projects / Programmes
Ljubljansko barje - archaeological landscape in flux
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.02.00 |
Humanities |
Archaeology |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H340 |
Humanities |
Archaeology |
| H341 |
Humanities |
Prehistory |
| T510 |
Technological sciences |
Chronology, dating techniques |
| B004 |
Biomedical sciences |
Botany |
| B300 |
Biomedical sciences |
Palaeobotany, phylogeny, palynology |
| B430 |
Biomedical sciences |
Sylviculture, forestry, forestry technology |
archaeology, archaeobotany, dendrochronology, environmental sciences
Researchers (7)
Organisations (3)
Abstract
The pilot project is focused on landscape and settlement dynamics in early and middle Holocene in Ljubljansko barje microregion. It is a collaborative interdisciplinary effort between the Department of Archaeology at University of Ljubljana, Institute of Archaeology at Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Department of Environmental Sciences at Jožef Stefan Institute and Slovenian Forestry Institute.
Various interpretative models have been hypothesised although the geomorphological development of this tectonic basin, covered by dense river network, has not been studied in detail and the reasons for changes of vegetation and hydrology in the basin (e.g. climatic fluctuations versus human impact) are highly debatable. The main point of controversy is whether, when and where the basin was covered by permanent or intermittent lake(s), before it was overgrown by peat mosses. It is also not clear whether these presumable changes of the landscape were triggered mainly by climatic fluctuations or human impact on the environment and how they affected the archaeological settlement pattern.
This pilot project will extend over three years and will involve
(1) systematic aerial archaeology programme enables the study of settlement distributions and subtle landforms like former floodplain surfaces and palaeochanels, which record the movement of the river across the valley floor;
(2) The riverbed surveying, identification and dendrochronological sampling of subfossil tree trunks;
(3) applying Geographical Information Systems (GIS) that can provide not only sophisticated cartographic tool, but a flexible environment within which dynamics of the past landscapes can be modeled and explored; (4) palynological analysis and
(5) sediment's stable isotope analysis of d13C and d15N;
(6) Subfossil wood analysis, dendrochronology and C14 dating.
