Karimi Moayed, N., D. Vandenberghe, K. Deforce, E. Kaptijn, K. Lambers, W. Verschoof-van der Vaart, W. De Clercq, J. De Grave 2024, Optical dating of charcoal kiln remains from WWII: A test of accuracy, Quaternary Geochronology 83, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2024.101582
Quaternary Geochronology, 2024
The majority of relic charcoal kilns in Europe are more recent than 1650 CE and cannot be precise... more The majority of relic charcoal kilns in Europe are more recent than 1650 CE and cannot be precisely dated using radiocarbon dating (14C). Quartz-based optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of the sediments associated with the kiln remains has been suggested as a viable alternative. Owing to the lack of reliable and sufficiently precise independent age information, however, it remains to be established whether OSL dating can yield accurate ages for post-1650 CE features. This is explicitly investigated in this study by applying a commonly adopted quartz OSL methodology to three relic charcoal kilns which are known to have been constructed and operated between December 1941 and March/April 1942 CE.
We first document the quartz luminescence characteristics and show through procedural tests that the adopted single-aliquot regenerative dose procedure should be appropriate for equivalent dose determination. Four samples collected from the uppermost part of the charcoal-rich layers in the three features yield the youngest optical ages and are considered coeval. Their average age is 1928 ± 13 CE (95% probability), which matches the independent age reasonably well. The precision associated with the individual OSL ages ranges between 7 and 14% (1 sigma total uncertainty) and it might ideally be possible to establish relative chronologies with a higher time resolution. Finally, we briefly discuss our entire set of OSL ages in relation to future strategies for sampling charcoal kilns remains. In general, we conclude that OSL dating can be particularly advantageous to help resolving chronometric issues that pertain to post-1650 CE relic charcoal kilns.
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Seven samples from five relic charcoal kilns and 11 complementary samples from the underlying sandy substrate are used. Through a range of procedural tests, we demonstrate that the single-aliquot, regenerative-dose procedure in combination with OSL signals from quartz allows determining equivalent doses both accurately and precisely. For four of the five investigated kilns, OSL ages are consistent with independent age information from 14C-dating and written sources. Especially for post-1650 CE features, the precision can be significantly better than that of 14C-dating, and we highlight the potential of OSL dating for distinguishing, relatively, between charcoal production phases with an unprecedented time resolution. We conclude that the approach is a promising alternative to 14C.
We first document the quartz luminescence characteristics and show through procedural tests that the adopted single-aliquot regenerative dose procedure should be appropriate for equivalent dose determination. Four samples collected from the uppermost part of the charcoal-rich layers in the three features yield the youngest optical ages and are considered coeval. Their average age is 1928 ± 13 CE (95% probability), which matches the independent age reasonably well. The precision associated with the individual OSL ages ranges between 7 and 14% (1 sigma total uncertainty) and it might ideally be possible to establish relative chronologies with a higher time resolution. Finally, we briefly discuss our entire set of OSL ages in relation to future strategies for sampling charcoal kilns remains. In general, we conclude that OSL dating can be particularly advantageous to help resolving chronometric issues that pertain to post-1650 CE relic charcoal kilns.
For four 32.25 km2 case study areas in different geogenetic regions of the Netherlands, prehistoric land use surface areas are modelled based on conventional methods and the results are compared to the results we obtained by using AI-assisted detection of prehistoric field systems. The nationally available LiDAR data were used for automated detection. Geotiff DTM images were fed into an object detection algorithm (based on the YOLOv4 framework and trained with known Dutch sites), and resultant geospatial vectors were imported into GIS.
Our analysis shows that AI-assisted detection of prehistoric embanked field systems on average leads to a factor 1.84 increase in known surface areas of Celtic fields. Modelling the numbers of occupants from this spatial coverage, yields population sizes of 37–135 persons for the case study regions (i.e. 1.15 to 4.19 p/km2). This range aligns well with previous estimates and offers a more robust and representative proxy for palaeodemographic reconstructions. Variations in land use coverage between the regions could be explained by differences in present-day land use and research intensity. Particularly the regionally different extent of forestlands and heathlands (ideal for the (a) preservation and (b) automated LiDAR detection of embanked field systems) explains minor variations between the four case study regions.
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Modelling provides boundaries for thinking about ancient resilience.
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Rainfed crop yields could be sustained with irrigation, even in the frequent dry years.
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Increasing aridity might have been a trigger for expanding the irrigation system.
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The Zerqa Triangle was affected by the LBA crisis, yet continuity is visible as well.
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Aridity did not necessarily bring crisis, even in arid areas like the Zerqa Triangle.
Abstract
Archaeological studies typically describe arid areas as extremely unpleasant areas for human occupation and use. Without suggesting that arid areas are pleasant places, however, this paper provides a reassessment of the meaning of aridity for an area showing a vast amount of evidence of (past) human activities. Several climatic proxy data suggest that at the transition between the late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age (around c. 1300-1100 BC) the southern Levant witnessed more arid conditions, while after 1100 BC relatively moist conditions would have prevailed. In drylands, small changes in temperature and water availability can have large effects on subsistence options. Building on cooperation between an archaeologist and a water scholar, this paper offers an approach to study how people in the past were able to craft a livelihood in the arid environments in the southern Levant and elsewhere. Focusing on the Zerqa area, the paper explores the potential of this cooperation by studying effects of climatic changes at the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age through a modelling approach. Changes in temperature and moisture availability were simulated, showing that increased aridity could have been met by either naturally available water (especially groundwater) or artificially added water (although the timing appears to be crucial). While the model approach under discussion offers an approximation of the past, it shows the potential impact of climatic changes on the subsistence of past communities. It shows that details can mean the difference between survival or collapse.
province of Burdur, more specifically the area south and southeast of Lake Burdur, in southwestern
Turkey. This review is based on the results from archaeozoological (including bone collagen carbon and
nitrogen stable isotope analyses) and archaeobotanical analyses available from seven sites, dated to
distinct time periods ranging from the Neolithic to the Middle Byzantine period. The data (both published
and unpublished) are compiled with information available on settlement development and dynamics,
in the study area. Results show changing agrarian and animal husbandry practices for a period of
more than 8000 years, ranging between self-sustaining economies to specialised husbandry practices
and an intensive agricultural exploitation of the landscape, in relation to human settlement activities.
last 4000 years. While human niche construction is difficult to prove for the more distant periods, sufficient information is available for the early modern period to suggest that the irrigation system was one of the factors that caused a spatially restricted, hierarchical clanbased social organisation that resulted in endogamy and genetic disease.