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• Geodiversity is an essential resource for sustainable tourism in urban areas. • Proposal of classification of the sites for the purposes of geotourism development. • The geotourist potential does not always depend on the degree of protection. Geodiversity is a basis for geotourism development. Geosites and geodiversity sites then represent particular issues of geotourist interest, however, in some cases, their potential and suitability for the geotourism is not recognized. The paper is focused on the geotourism potential assessment that forms a basis for sustainable use of geodiversity in an urban area. By using the set of criteria for assessing geosites and geomorphosites, the mutual relationships between particular values are examined and based on the assessment and statistical methods, the classification of the sites regarding their suitability for geotourism development is elaborated. The results show that the suitability of the sites for geotourism does not always depend on the degree of legal protection, but rather on the educational values or scientific values of geosites and geodiversity sites. Based on the classification, the conceptual development of geotourist activities can be proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting in the Middle Ages, charcoal production was essential for industrial development, in the manufacture of metals, glass and gunpowder. However, the ancient craft of charcoal burning and other commercial forest activities remain little understood. In this study, we used data from aerial laser scanning (ALS) to identify relic charcoal kilns in deciduous and coniferous forests at three different sites in the Drahany Highlands of the Czech Republic. We applied anatomical, archaeological, dendrochronological and radiocarbon methods to describe and analyse six selected kilns (two from each site) in detail. The ALS method revealed 245 potential relic charcoal kilns, of which 116 were confirmed during a field survey. Five of the six selected kilns dated from the 18th and 19th centuries, which corresponds to the period of greatest charcoal consumption by the region's metallurgical industries. While oak and birch charcoal dominated at one of the three sites under study, fir, oak and beech prevailed at another, while only fir and beech were identified at the third. These results from the anatomical identification of charcoal samples reflect historical as well as potential forest species composition but do not match the current composition. The results of our multidisciplinary research coincide with the peak and decline of charcoal production in the region. Thanks to the clear identification and dating of relic charcoal kilns in this study, an appropriate degree of protection from forest management practices that contribute to their gradual disappearance can be proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The so-called “lake or swampy” dark colored deposits along or to the west of both the White and Main Niles, which were not historically inundated by the Nile as a whole, have been recorded recently in association with Mesolithic occupation. What are the possible formation processes of these deposits and what is their potential for understanding the environmental record in relation to Mesolithic occupation? New insight into this issue might be brought to the forefront by the findings in the Rocky Cities area at the south-western edge of Jebel Sabaloka by the Sixth Nile Cataract in central Sudan. The study deposits were evaluated in terms of sedimentology, micromorphology, chemical composition, grain size and magnetic parameters. The properties detected in the study section correspond to no less than three different phases of development. The lowermost part represents a saprolite horizon of granitic rocks exposed to weathering during the wet period, which resulted in alkaline conditions (1st phase of formation process). The occurrence of shells of Bulinus forskalii retrieved from the uppermost layer suggests that there was an anoxic environment in the past, which may be linked to the conditions of the present-day Sahel and subsequent attraction of this area for occupation during the Mesolithic period. Deposition of the acidic colluvia from the surrounding granitic rocks in this environment resulted in post-depositional processes involving Fe and Mn impregnation, leading to the black coloring (2nd phase of the formation process). The third phase of the formation processes is connected with the development of recent aridisols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies on the Gravettian in Central Europe did not pay much attention to the issue of the marginal areas' occupation, because the main research interest was placed on analysis of remains from the area of classic refugia, the middle Danube valley or southern Moravia. Consequently, little is known about the mechanisms associated with occupation of areas located to the north of the Carpathians and the Sudetes, both in terms of chronology as well as system of mobility. The results of excavations at the open-air site in Henryków (SW Poland), presented in this paper, indicate that attempts of exploitation of upland territories located to the north of the mountain chains, started very early, i.e. in the so-called Early Gravettian period. This is indicated by radiocarbon dating of charcoal samples (28.5–31.5 ka BP) from the site. These dates were confirmed by dating of mineral deposits using the OSL method (ca. 29 ka). Based on geoarchaeological studies, the period of human stay at the Henryków site plausibly associated with development of the soil complex of the Komorniki (L1S1, Stillfried B/Lohner Boden type). Archaeological data indicate that the stay was linked with hunting practices. The features of the Henryków site, typical for marginal occupation, suggest that during the visit tool kits were reconstructed, stocks were replenished and fire was used. The dataset suggests that traces from Henryków should be treated as a result of pioneering expeditions. This mobility probably never had a more stable character, as in the later period of the Gravettian complex development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• In Celtic oppida even the "empty spaces" were subject to high erosion in the past. • Modifications of soil morphology is mainly the result of human action. • Relicts of former landscape were recognized using micromorphology and geochemistry. • Landscape of La Terrasse has been well stabilized since the onset of the Middle Ages. The area of La Terrasse is located at one of the higher parts of the Celtic oppidum Bibracte. No traces of building activities, except for the fortification system which surrounds the plateau from three sides, were archaeologically detected and the area can be therefore labeled as "empty space" with an enigmatic history. Multiproxy investigations of sediments in trenches cutting across various parts of the enclosed area and excavated during the 2019 season revealed a complicated history of the formation, being influenced by erosion and by anthropogenic stabilization. Although the recent relief of the La Terrasse area appears quite stable, there is evidence that the site (and Bibracte oppidum in general) were subject to intense erosion in the past and that the former surface with the archaeological soil dated to the Late Iron Age is preserved only as a relict expressed geochemically by the increase of CEC. The reason for the recent surface stability is the presence of the Iron Age ramparts, which enclose the area and protect it against erosion. An OSL sample collected from the surface of the buried archaeological soil dates the overburden not later than to the early Medieval period (AD 561). The archaeological soil represented by the overburden did not reveal any significant geochemical signal indicative of intensive use despite its location in the most suitable and stable area of the site. It is clear that the detection of former surfaces in eroded and exposed archaeological sites and the properties of the archaeological soils is always a complex matter and can only be addressed through a combination of field observations, geochemical and micromorphological proxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Middle and Upper Palaeolithic sites in Moravia, an eastern region of the Czech Republic, are considered crucial to the understanding of the ecological strategies and seasonal mobility that enabled modern humans to exploit and colonize through the terminal MIS3 period and LGM in the north European plains. This article discusses the series of abiotic factors which could help explain the Gravettian hunter–gatherer ecological strategies in and around Moravia. The model is drawn from observations of the environmental contexts of both stratified sites and surface collections of Gravettian material within the region, and relates the choice of those sites to the hydrogeological, geological and geomorphologic conditions that impacted humans and their prey. Suggestions are made for possible future survey and excavation in the upper course of the Morava and Odra Rivers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The paper introduces results of the survey of the Lake of Abusir, performed by the Czech Institute of Egyptology over the last few years. A detailed sedimentological description of four trenches located within the area of the so-called Lake of Abusir is given, together with the micromorphological results of selected strata, molluscs and archaeobotanical findings. All the presented results document the paleoenvironmental and geoarchaeological history of the study area. Five main developmental phases of the Lake of Abusir are interpreted. The area was used as a principal entryway to the cemeteries of Saqqara and Abusir during the third millennium BC. These cemeteries were built to serve the capital of ancient Egypt, the White Walls, which was established around 3000 BC. The old Nile terrace deposits constituted the background for the tiled pavement built during the Old Kingdom period. Later, this pavement was partly destroyed by heavy outwash, and the anthropogenic features were overlain by a layer of pure sand. Subsequent sedimentological development is characterized by increased desiccation interrupted by several phases of elevated moisture due to the activity of the local hydrological system. Due to the function of Wadi Fetekti, thick colluvial deposits were preserved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]