Papers by Jürgen Wunderlich
J. Wunderlich (1988): Investigations on the Development of the Western Nile Delta in Holocene Tim... more J. Wunderlich (1988): Investigations on the Development of the Western Nile Delta in Holocene Times.
In: E. C. van den Brink (Hrsg.), The Archaeology of the Nile Delta, Egypt: Problems and Priorities (Amsterdam 1988): 251–257.
This paper presents some preliminary results of our investigations on the development of the western Nile Delta in Holocene times. The impulse for the project, which started in 1984, was given by the continuous inquiry at the site of Tell el-Fara'in (Buto) by Dr. Th. von der Way of the German Institute of Archaeology. Similar to many other archaeological investigations in the Nile Delta, his research was and is handicapped by the high groundwater table, the thick layer of Nile mud, the spread of modern cities and villages and the rapid reclamation of land for cultivation. Consequently all archaeological research, not only at Tell el-Fara'in, has to be speeded up. For this reason the overall purpose of our project was to locate appropriate places for possible pre- and early dynastic settlements.
These locations were determined according to their position above the annual flood level of the Nile and their location relative to ancient branches of the Nile or the coast. Consequently the emphasis of the present study is the investigation of paleohydrological and sedimentological evolution of the western Delta. Such findings should allow for faster and more concentrated archaeological research and should add to the actual knowledge of the paleogeographical development of the Delta.
The most important research methods used to achieve our aims were the interpretation of available written, cartographic and remote sensing sources, intensive fieldwork, lab analysis of soil samples and radiocarbon dating of relevant material…
W. Andres/J. Wunderlich (1992): Environmental Conditions for
Early Settlement at Minshat Abu Omar... more W. Andres/J. Wunderlich (1992): Environmental Conditions for
Early Settlement at Minshat Abu Omar, Eastern Nile Delta, Egypt.
In: E. C. van den Brink (Hrsg.), The Nile delta in transition; 4th.-3rd.
millennium B.C. Proceedings of the Seminar held in Cairo, 21.-24.
October 1990, at the Netherlands Institute of Archaeology and
Arabic Studies (Tel Aviv/Jerusalem): 157–166.
Investigations concerning the palaeogeographical evolution of the northeastern Nile delta have been carried out by the authors since 1988. They are connected with the excavations of the Miinich East Delta Expedition at Minshat Abu Omar and are sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
It was the aim of the research to get information on the environmental conditions prevailing in the area around Minshat Abu Omar since the prehistoric period. At that time the site was already occupied by man. Furthermore, it was aspired to locate ancient Nile branches as well as the habitations belonging to the predynastic cemetery which was excavated by archaeologists.
As most archaeological and palaeogeographical evidence is buried below a thick cover of Nile mud, numerous drillings were sank to depths of 16 m. maximum. They were complemented by geoelectric soundings. The findings gave a general idea of the subsurface structure within the study area. Different facial units could be distinguished. Organic layers yielded material for radiocarbon dating. The ages are indicating that vast swamp or marsh environments existed close to Minshat Abu Omar during the 4th. and 3rd. millenium B.C. Furthermore, the radiocarbon ages allowed to estimate the rise of the floodplain. To the east of the sandgezira of Minshat Abu Omar which is overtopping the modern floodplain, sand sheets, consisting of material which was eroded from the gezira, are interlocked with typical floodplain deposits, organic layers or layers interspersed with cultural debris. Those successions are indicating varying morphological activity. The sand accumulations seem to be the place of early habitations.
Integrative geoarchaeological research on settlement patterns in the dynamic landscape of the northwestern Nile delta
Quaternary International , 2019
Settlement activity in the Nile delta is characterized by its profound connection to the branches... more Settlement activity in the Nile delta is characterized by its profound connection to the branches of the river Nile.
Major ancient settlements were founded next to waterways. The constant shifting of these Nile branches – coming either too close or moving too far away – was a fundamental challenge for settlements. This research
focuses on the region around Buto (Tell el-Fara'in) in the northwestern Nile delta. The massive increase in
settlements in the Ptolemaic, Roman and in particular late Roman periods (4th c BC – 7th c AD) needs to be
connected with a fundamental change in the landscape and the way people interacted with the landscape. A
particular challenge to reconstructing the ancient land and waterscape was posed by the regional lack of an
indicative modern surface relief. A linear settlement pattern of ancient sites was interpreted as showing the
distribution along a defunct river branch. A combination of remote sensing data, in particular a new high resolution DEM based on Tandem-X data, and a program of over thirty cores on the ground, have clarified the
landscape, especially its fluvial pattern, and the placements of associated settlements. In the north of the study region, the DEM shows elevated levees of former palaeorivers belonging to a finely ramified subdelta, with all settlements placed on alluvial levees. The corings uncovered different artificial channels and identified ancient natural riverbeds at a deep level but similar depth, suggesting that the streams were active during the occupation of these sites and the ancient settlements were either in direct vicinity of the natural rivers or connected via artificial channels. These artificial channels found in corings next to the settlements show characteristics of slack water regimes. In essence, the massive increase of settlements spread over the northwestern delta in Classical Antiquity was spurred by multiple branches that provided routes of transportation, fresh water for irrigation and good conditions for agriculture on their elevated and fertile levees.
Identification of historic landscape features and settlement mounds in the Western Nile Delta by means of remote sensing time series analysis and the evaluation of vegetation characteristics
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 16, 2017
Ginau, A., Schiestl, R., Kern, F. & Wunderlich, J.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 16... more Ginau, A., Schiestl, R., Kern, F. & Wunderlich, J.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 16, 170-184.
Remote sensing techniques gain increasing importance in landscape archaeological research. Traditional archaeological excavation techniques are slow and time in the Nile Delta is running out. The Nile Delta has been settled and used for agricultural cultivation since the Neolithic period and is shaped by the interplay of urbanization and agriculture. In particular, the study of ancient settlement mounds (tells) and landscape archaeological features such as former river channels requires urgent action. This study seeks to develop supervised classification techniques on the basis of multitemporal Landsat 8 images to easily monitor existing high tells in the Delta that have not been destroyed yet. In the 19th and early 20th centuries many tells were destroyed, because tell sediments (sebakh) were harvested on an industrial scale in order to be used as fertilizer. These activities continued on a smaller scale into the mid to later 20th century. Geochemical analysis of ancient settlement material (sebakh) has confirmed the high content of nutrients. In a second step which is based on these geochemical findings, we seek to identify the category of lost tells which had been transformed into agricultural areas. We suggest that the presence of ancient settlement material enhances the overall vegetation performance and indirectly allows identification of lost tells via describing the vegetation performance. In general, the vegetation performance is a new measure and invented within this study. It is calculated as the product of different measures describing the plant growth, namely the mean NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), growth statistics and crop rotations derived from a large set of multitemporal NDVI images. Our results show that there exists a relationship between vegetation performance and the appearance of archaeological material in the topsoil and such information can be useful for planning of non-invasive archaeological surveys. Remarkably the vegetation performance corresponds with the location of former Nile branches that are currently investigated by the authors on the basis of TandemX elevation data and sedimentological investigations of the area. Several factors such as water availability and salinity also affect plant growth and mask this relationship. Additionally, our methods to describe the number of crop rotations or growth statistics from NDVI time series help to analyse the agricultural areas in the Nile Delta. Therefore, the methods used in this study may offer important insights on aspects of urban sprawl and agricultural areas in the Nile Delta and beyond.
Integrative geoarchaeological research on settlement patterns in the dynamic landscape of the northwestern Nile delta.
Quaternary International , 2019
Ginau, A., Schiestl, R. & Wunderlich, J.
Quaternary International 511, 51–67.
Settlement acti... more Ginau, A., Schiestl, R. & Wunderlich, J.
Quaternary International 511, 51–67.
Settlement activity in the Nile delta is characterized by its profound connection to the branches of the river Nile. Major ancient settlements were founded next to waterways. The constant shifting of these Nile branches – coming either too close or moving too far away – was a fundamental challenge for settlements. This research focuses on the region around Buto (Tell el-Fara'in) in the northwestern Nile delta. The massive increase in settlements in the Ptolemaic, Roman and in particular late Roman periods (4th c BC – 7th c AD) needs to be connected with a fundamental change in the landscape and the way people interacted with the landscape. A particular challenge to reconstructing the ancient land and waterscape was posed by the regional lack of an indicative modern surface relief. A linear settlement pattern of ancient sites was interpreted as showing the distribution along a defunct river branch. A combination of remote sensing data, in particular a new high resolution DEM based on Tandem-X data, and a program of over thirty cores on the ground, have clarified the landscape, especially its fluvial pattern, and the placements of associated settlements. In the north of the study region, the DEM shows elevated levees of former palaeorivers belonging to a finely ramified subdelta, with all settlements placed on alluvial levees. The corings uncovered different artificial channels and identified ancient natural riverbeds at a deep level but similar depth, suggesting that the streams were active during the occupation of these sites and the ancient settlements were either in direct vicinity of the natural rivers or connected via artificial channels. These artificial channels found in corings next to the settlements show characteristics of slack water regimes. In essence, the massive increase of settlements spread over the northwestern delta in Classical Antiquity was spurred by multiple branches that provided routes of transportation, fresh water for irrigation and good conditions for agriculture on their elevated and fertile levees.
'Lake Gorgana' - A palaeolake in the Lower Danube valley revealed using multi-proxy and regionalisation approaches.
Quaternary International, 2019
Nowacki, D., Pint, A., Kadereit, A., Langan, C. & Wunderlich, J. (2019): Quaternary Internationa... more Nowacki, D., Pint, A., Kadereit, A., Langan, C. & Wunderlich, J. (2019): Quaternary International 511, 107–123.
Geoarchaeological research at the archaeological site of Mǎgura Gorgana should elucidate the environmental setting Neolithic and Copper Age communities were faced with, when they settled along the Lower Danube Valley, Romania. This should enable a better understanding of human-environment interactions, the natural preconditions of a trading network, as well as the living conditions of the human population during this time. To reach this aim numerous corings were conducted in the study area and the sediments were analysed using a multitude of methods, as total element analyses, determination of carbon and nitrogen isotopes, radiocarbon and OSL-dating and microfaunistical analyses. The present study shows how the interpretation of the results applying a multi-proxy and a ‘regionalisation’ approach reveals the existence and the extent of ‘Lake Gorgana’, a vast paleolake that covered nearly the whole floodplain in the study area during a long phase of the Holocene and, in particular, during the settlement period at Mǎgura Gorgana in the 5th millennium BC. These new findings are of great importance for archaeological concerns but the lake sediments even more represent a valuable geoarchive containing information about e.g. changing lake ecology, paleoclimate, and the human footprint with regard to different spatial and temporal scales.
The c. 9m high tell-settlement of Pietrele-Magura Gorgana, situated close to the Danube river, is... more The c. 9m high tell-settlement of Pietrele-Magura Gorgana, situated close to the Danube river, is one of the westernmost sites of the Kod∫adermen-Gumelnita-Karanovo VI cultural complex that spread over the whole Westpontic region during the 5th millennium BC. Until recently tells were equated with the site when, in fact, they represent only the outstanding part of a far more complex
settlement system as we now know from Pietrele thanks to geomagnetic prospections and subsequent excavations. People living on the tell, together with the inhabitants from the flat area around it, formed a vast community that must have had a strong impact on its habitat and, vice-versa, was strongly affected by the immediate surroundings. During the settlement period a lake covered huge parts of the floodplain. It provided not only a considerable part of the diet, but ensured, through the direct access to the main river, continuous and extensive over-regional exchange.
Quaternary International, 2001
Late Pleistocene climatically induced environmental changes are reconstructed by applying a multi... more Late Pleistocene climatically induced environmental changes are reconstructed by applying a multidisciplinary approach on #oodplain sediments of small-to medium-sized catchments in central Germany. Radiocarbon dating, pollen analysis and the presence of an accurately dated tephra layer allow the establishment of a reliable chronology. The beginning of the Younger Dryas is marked by a change in #uvial activity that lasts for several hundred years. During this period gravels and sands were deposited by a braided river system. Fluvial systems at this time were predominantly controlled by the climatic conditions of the surrounding uplands, where the climatic deterioration led to a lowering of the forest limit and enhanced periglacial slope processes. An open pine forest prevailed in the basin areas and no evidence of slope wash and soli#uction was found. The second part of the Younger Dryas is characterised by a meandering #uvial system and the deposition of overbank "nes. The rapid transition from Younger Dryas to Preboreal coincides with an increase in organic deposition.
The c. 9m high tell-settlement of Pietrele-Mȃgura Gorgana, situated close to the Danube river, is... more The c. 9m high tell-settlement of Pietrele-Mȃgura Gorgana, situated close to the Danube river, is one of the westernmost sites of the Kod∫adermen-Gumelnita-Karanovo VI cultural complex that spread over the whole Westpontic region during the 5 th millennium BC. Until recently tells were equated with the site when, in fact, they represent only the outstanding part of a far more complex settlement system as we now know from Pietrele thanks to geomagnetic prospections and subsequent excavations. People living on the tell, together with the inhabitants from the flat area around it, formed a vast community that must have had a strong impact on its habitat and, vice-versa, was strongly affected by the immediate surroundings. During the settlement period a lake covered huge parts of the floodplain. It provided not only a considerable part of the diet, but ensured, through the direct access to the main river, continuous and extensive over-regional exchange.
Der kupferzeitliche Siedlungshügel Magura Gorgana bei Pietrele in der Walachei. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen im Sommer 2007
Eurasia Antiqua 14, 2008, 17-98
In: A. Stobbe/U. Tegtmeier, Verzweigungen. Eine Würdigung für A.J. Kalis und J. Meurers-Balke. Frankfurter Archäologische Schriften 18., 2012
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Papers by Jürgen Wunderlich
In: E. C. van den Brink (Hrsg.), The Archaeology of the Nile Delta, Egypt: Problems and Priorities (Amsterdam 1988): 251–257.
This paper presents some preliminary results of our investigations on the development of the western Nile Delta in Holocene times. The impulse for the project, which started in 1984, was given by the continuous inquiry at the site of Tell el-Fara'in (Buto) by Dr. Th. von der Way of the German Institute of Archaeology. Similar to many other archaeological investigations in the Nile Delta, his research was and is handicapped by the high groundwater table, the thick layer of Nile mud, the spread of modern cities and villages and the rapid reclamation of land for cultivation. Consequently all archaeological research, not only at Tell el-Fara'in, has to be speeded up. For this reason the overall purpose of our project was to locate appropriate places for possible pre- and early dynastic settlements.
These locations were determined according to their position above the annual flood level of the Nile and their location relative to ancient branches of the Nile or the coast. Consequently the emphasis of the present study is the investigation of paleohydrological and sedimentological evolution of the western Delta. Such findings should allow for faster and more concentrated archaeological research and should add to the actual knowledge of the paleogeographical development of the Delta.
The most important research methods used to achieve our aims were the interpretation of available written, cartographic and remote sensing sources, intensive fieldwork, lab analysis of soil samples and radiocarbon dating of relevant material…
Early Settlement at Minshat Abu Omar, Eastern Nile Delta, Egypt.
In: E. C. van den Brink (Hrsg.), The Nile delta in transition; 4th.-3rd.
millennium B.C. Proceedings of the Seminar held in Cairo, 21.-24.
October 1990, at the Netherlands Institute of Archaeology and
Arabic Studies (Tel Aviv/Jerusalem): 157–166.
Investigations concerning the palaeogeographical evolution of the northeastern Nile delta have been carried out by the authors since 1988. They are connected with the excavations of the Miinich East Delta Expedition at Minshat Abu Omar and are sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
It was the aim of the research to get information on the environmental conditions prevailing in the area around Minshat Abu Omar since the prehistoric period. At that time the site was already occupied by man. Furthermore, it was aspired to locate ancient Nile branches as well as the habitations belonging to the predynastic cemetery which was excavated by archaeologists.
As most archaeological and palaeogeographical evidence is buried below a thick cover of Nile mud, numerous drillings were sank to depths of 16 m. maximum. They were complemented by geoelectric soundings. The findings gave a general idea of the subsurface structure within the study area. Different facial units could be distinguished. Organic layers yielded material for radiocarbon dating. The ages are indicating that vast swamp or marsh environments existed close to Minshat Abu Omar during the 4th. and 3rd. millenium B.C. Furthermore, the radiocarbon ages allowed to estimate the rise of the floodplain. To the east of the sandgezira of Minshat Abu Omar which is overtopping the modern floodplain, sand sheets, consisting of material which was eroded from the gezira, are interlocked with typical floodplain deposits, organic layers or layers interspersed with cultural debris. Those successions are indicating varying morphological activity. The sand accumulations seem to be the place of early habitations.
Major ancient settlements were founded next to waterways. The constant shifting of these Nile branches – coming either too close or moving too far away – was a fundamental challenge for settlements. This research
focuses on the region around Buto (Tell el-Fara'in) in the northwestern Nile delta. The massive increase in
settlements in the Ptolemaic, Roman and in particular late Roman periods (4th c BC – 7th c AD) needs to be
connected with a fundamental change in the landscape and the way people interacted with the landscape. A
particular challenge to reconstructing the ancient land and waterscape was posed by the regional lack of an
indicative modern surface relief. A linear settlement pattern of ancient sites was interpreted as showing the
distribution along a defunct river branch. A combination of remote sensing data, in particular a new high resolution DEM based on Tandem-X data, and a program of over thirty cores on the ground, have clarified the
landscape, especially its fluvial pattern, and the placements of associated settlements. In the north of the study region, the DEM shows elevated levees of former palaeorivers belonging to a finely ramified subdelta, with all settlements placed on alluvial levees. The corings uncovered different artificial channels and identified ancient natural riverbeds at a deep level but similar depth, suggesting that the streams were active during the occupation of these sites and the ancient settlements were either in direct vicinity of the natural rivers or connected via artificial channels. These artificial channels found in corings next to the settlements show characteristics of slack water regimes. In essence, the massive increase of settlements spread over the northwestern delta in Classical Antiquity was spurred by multiple branches that provided routes of transportation, fresh water for irrigation and good conditions for agriculture on their elevated and fertile levees.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 16, 170-184.
Remote sensing techniques gain increasing importance in landscape archaeological research. Traditional archaeological excavation techniques are slow and time in the Nile Delta is running out. The Nile Delta has been settled and used for agricultural cultivation since the Neolithic period and is shaped by the interplay of urbanization and agriculture. In particular, the study of ancient settlement mounds (tells) and landscape archaeological features such as former river channels requires urgent action. This study seeks to develop supervised classification techniques on the basis of multitemporal Landsat 8 images to easily monitor existing high tells in the Delta that have not been destroyed yet. In the 19th and early 20th centuries many tells were destroyed, because tell sediments (sebakh) were harvested on an industrial scale in order to be used as fertilizer. These activities continued on a smaller scale into the mid to later 20th century. Geochemical analysis of ancient settlement material (sebakh) has confirmed the high content of nutrients. In a second step which is based on these geochemical findings, we seek to identify the category of lost tells which had been transformed into agricultural areas. We suggest that the presence of ancient settlement material enhances the overall vegetation performance and indirectly allows identification of lost tells via describing the vegetation performance. In general, the vegetation performance is a new measure and invented within this study. It is calculated as the product of different measures describing the plant growth, namely the mean NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), growth statistics and crop rotations derived from a large set of multitemporal NDVI images. Our results show that there exists a relationship between vegetation performance and the appearance of archaeological material in the topsoil and such information can be useful for planning of non-invasive archaeological surveys. Remarkably the vegetation performance corresponds with the location of former Nile branches that are currently investigated by the authors on the basis of TandemX elevation data and sedimentological investigations of the area. Several factors such as water availability and salinity also affect plant growth and mask this relationship. Additionally, our methods to describe the number of crop rotations or growth statistics from NDVI time series help to analyse the agricultural areas in the Nile Delta. Therefore, the methods used in this study may offer important insights on aspects of urban sprawl and agricultural areas in the Nile Delta and beyond.
Quaternary International 511, 51–67.
Settlement activity in the Nile delta is characterized by its profound connection to the branches of the river Nile. Major ancient settlements were founded next to waterways. The constant shifting of these Nile branches – coming either too close or moving too far away – was a fundamental challenge for settlements. This research focuses on the region around Buto (Tell el-Fara'in) in the northwestern Nile delta. The massive increase in settlements in the Ptolemaic, Roman and in particular late Roman periods (4th c BC – 7th c AD) needs to be connected with a fundamental change in the landscape and the way people interacted with the landscape. A particular challenge to reconstructing the ancient land and waterscape was posed by the regional lack of an indicative modern surface relief. A linear settlement pattern of ancient sites was interpreted as showing the distribution along a defunct river branch. A combination of remote sensing data, in particular a new high resolution DEM based on Tandem-X data, and a program of over thirty cores on the ground, have clarified the landscape, especially its fluvial pattern, and the placements of associated settlements. In the north of the study region, the DEM shows elevated levees of former palaeorivers belonging to a finely ramified subdelta, with all settlements placed on alluvial levees. The corings uncovered different artificial channels and identified ancient natural riverbeds at a deep level but similar depth, suggesting that the streams were active during the occupation of these sites and the ancient settlements were either in direct vicinity of the natural rivers or connected via artificial channels. These artificial channels found in corings next to the settlements show characteristics of slack water regimes. In essence, the massive increase of settlements spread over the northwestern delta in Classical Antiquity was spurred by multiple branches that provided routes of transportation, fresh water for irrigation and good conditions for agriculture on their elevated and fertile levees.
Geoarchaeological research at the archaeological site of Mǎgura Gorgana should elucidate the environmental setting Neolithic and Copper Age communities were faced with, when they settled along the Lower Danube Valley, Romania. This should enable a better understanding of human-environment interactions, the natural preconditions of a trading network, as well as the living conditions of the human population during this time. To reach this aim numerous corings were conducted in the study area and the sediments were analysed using a multitude of methods, as total element analyses, determination of carbon and nitrogen isotopes, radiocarbon and OSL-dating and microfaunistical analyses. The present study shows how the interpretation of the results applying a multi-proxy and a ‘regionalisation’ approach reveals the existence and the extent of ‘Lake Gorgana’, a vast paleolake that covered nearly the whole floodplain in the study area during a long phase of the Holocene and, in particular, during the settlement period at Mǎgura Gorgana in the 5th millennium BC. These new findings are of great importance for archaeological concerns but the lake sediments even more represent a valuable geoarchive containing information about e.g. changing lake ecology, paleoclimate, and the human footprint with regard to different spatial and temporal scales.
settlement system as we now know from Pietrele thanks to geomagnetic prospections and subsequent excavations. People living on the tell, together with the inhabitants from the flat area around it, formed a vast community that must have had a strong impact on its habitat and, vice-versa, was strongly affected by the immediate surroundings. During the settlement period a lake covered huge parts of the floodplain. It provided not only a considerable part of the diet, but ensured, through the direct access to the main river, continuous and extensive over-regional exchange.