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Valley infills are essential for understanding changes in hydrology and landscape. Anthropogenic activities are proven by prehistoric settlement remains, which mark distinct sediments and soils as usable land during certain time periods. In 2009 and 2018/19, excavations by the Saxonian Archaeological Heritage Office were conducted in the Elbe valley between Meißen and Dresden, preceding the construction of two natural gas pipelines. As a result, two important multicultural prehistoric sites were discovered on the Lower Weichselian Terrace (LWT) in different sediments and on varying stratigraphic levels. During this study sediments and soils at the excavation sites and throughout the pipe trench have been documented. Micromorphological, sedimentological and geochemical investigations and analyses of archaeobotanical and archaeological finds, complemented by 14C and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, enabled deciphering the structure of sediments and soils. Two major sites were the focus. At the Clieben site, an early Neolithic settlement and former topsoil, developed in a Weichselian valley loam above gravels and sands, are covered by younger overbank fines. At the Brockwitz site, shallow incision channels in the LWT were filled with clayey overbank fines during the Preboreal. An overprinting humic soil horizon was later anthropogenically overprinted during the early and middle Neolithic period. An omnipresent layer of Subboreal or younger overbank fines, covering the majority of the LWT in combination with the spatially confined Preboreal overbank fines, mirrors the ever-growing risk of flooding in a formerly attractive settlement area.

Geosciences 12(8), 310 (2022). doi:10.3390/geosciences12080310 special issue: "Special Issue "Integrating Geophysical and Geomorphological Methods in (Geo)-Archaeological Research" / Special Issue Editors: Dr. Tina Wunderlich, Guest Editor; Dr. Peter Fischer, Guest Editor", Published by MDPI, Basel

Northern Europe experienced cycles of hominin habitation and absence during the Middle Pleistocene. Fluvial gravel terrace sites in the east of Britain and north of France provide a majority of the data contributing to this understanding, mostly through the presence or absence of stone-tool artefacts. To date, however, relatively few sites have been radiometrically dated, and many have not been excavated in modern times, leading to an over-reliance on selectively sampled and poorly dated lithic assemblages. This includes Fordwich (Kent, UK), where over 330 bifaces were discovered through industrial quarrying in the 1920 s. Here, we present the first excavation and dating of artefacts discovered in situ at Fordwich, alongside their technological analysis and relationship to those previously recovered. The site is demonstrated to retain deposits of Lower Palaeolithic artefacts, with 251 flakes, scrapers, and cores identified to date. IR-RF dating of feldspar reveals 112 artefacts to have come from levels dating to at least 570 ± 36 to 513 ± 30 thousand years ago (ka) and are most plausibly assigned to an MIS 14 deposition, with artefacts produced during MIS 15 (approx. 560–620 ka). Indeed, these IR-RF samples provide minimum ages for artefacts. Combined with evidence from exposures linked to the original quarrying activities, a similar MIS 15 age is suggested for the greater than 330 handaxe artefacts discovered in the 1920 s. The remaining excavated artefacts come from levels dated to between 347 ± 22 and 385 ± 21 ka (MIS 10 or 11), with this later age interpreted to reflect post-MIS 14 deposition by substrate gullying and solifluction. These data demonstrate Fordwich to be one of the earliest Palaeolithic sites in north-western Europe, and to retain the only large Acheulean handaxe assemblage directly dated to pre-MIS 13. Thus, Fordwich is determined to be a crucial piece of the pre-Anglian Palaeolithic puzzle in northern Europe.

The Middle Palaeolithic (MP) archaeological assemblage recently recovered from Ararat-1 cave, north-eastern Armenian Highlands is central to improving our understanding of Middle to Upper Palaeolithic cultural shifts and environmental change in SW Asia during Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 3. This is due to the fact an occupation horizon containing a rich stone tool assemblage was found in close association with a diverse faunal assemblage and excellent preservation of palaeobotanical remains. However, as with many cave sequences, Ararat-1 has been subject to syn- and post-depositional modification by both chemical and physical agents. Here, we present the first results of combined sedimentological, micromorphological and chronological (IRSL and 14C) study of the Ararat-1 sequence. Through this work, we have identified the cave deposits to be principally clastic in origin, derived from both exogenic (aeolian) and endogenic (entrance talus and cave wall/roof collapse) sources. We demonstrate that the primary phase of sedimentation in the cave took place between 52–32 ka with the main MP occupation horizon currently constrained to 42–35 ka. During, and following, this interval were several phases of syn- and post-depositional modification of the strata through physical (resuspension of aeolian material and bioturbation), chemical (carbonate precipitation and phosphate mineralisation) and anthropogenic processes. Through discussion of the micromorphological and sedimentological evidence for post-depositional modification of the Ararat-1 strata, we highlight what these processes can tell us about environmental conditions at the Ararat-1 locale during and after primary sedimentation, and evaluate the impacts of these processes on the stratigraphic integrity of the MP occupation horizon. Our work at Ararat-1 demonstrates some of the challenges and opportunities in the reconstruction of Palaeolithic occupation surfaces and site formation processes in cave environments.