Florian Sauer

Background: Archaeological sites are increasingly threatened by climate-related hazards. In response, heritage management authorities initiated projects to document damage and plan risk assessment measures. We present a project initiated after the heavy rainfall and subsequent flood event of July 2021, which involved extensive fieldwork to document the damage to archaeological sites in the Rhineland. We use this database to characterise and assess the damage and investigate site-specific and geospatial factors to identify potential predictive parameters for site damage. Results: During fieldwork, we found that the flood damaged 19% of the 538 archaeological sites surveyed. The majority of damaged sites are relatively recent, dating from the medieval or modern periods, and are associated with the use of water power. Damage was mainly caused by erosion, floating debris and washout, e.g. mortar. In a case study, we tested the option of comparing pre- and post-disaster Airborne Laser Scanning elevation data to identify damages. It showed that not only the damage detected during fieldwork was found but also additional areas of loss. In general, however, and quantified based on the entire dataset, the ordnance survey Airborne Laser Scanning data were of limited use for monitoring flood-related damage and could not replace fieldwork. Our statistical analysis of possible risk factors, including both site characteristics and geospatial parameters, using Naïve Bayes Modelling and chi-squared tests, showed that no set of parameters could consistently predict the preservation or damage of archaeological sites across all catchments. In contrast, some external geospatial factors correlated with the occurrence of damage. Conclusions: The study highlights both the strengths and limitations of the approaches used to assess and predict the damage to the archaeological heritage in the 2021 flood zones of the Rhineland. It also demonstrates the complexity of the data and spatial processes involved, which limits generalisation but can still inform decision-making for archaeological site management and on-site protection measures in flood-prone areas. With the prospect of more frequent heavy rainfall due to climate change, the specific needs of the archaeological heritage should be integrated into broader prevention and disaster management plans.

The European Final Palaeolithic witnessed marked changes in almost all societal domains. Despite a rich body of evidence, our knowledge of palaeodemographic processes and regional population dynamics still needs to be improved. In this study, we present regionally differentiated estimates of absolute numbers and population densities for the Greenland Interstadial 1d-a (GI-1d-a; 14-12.7 ka BP) and the Greenland Stadial 1 (GS-1; 12.7-11.6 ka BP) for Southern, Western, Northern and Central Europe. The data were obtained by applying the Cologne Protocol, a geostatistical approach for estimating prehistoric population size and density, to a newly compiled dataset of Final Palaeolithic sites. On a large spatio-temporal scale, we observe a shift of the main areas of human occupation from the Franco-Cantabrian region, which was intensely occupied during most phases of the preceding Upper Palaeolithic, to regions north of the Alps. At smaller scales, we observe divergent regional trends in the Final Palaeolithic meta-population: during GI 1d-a, a decreasing population in southwestern Europe and an increasing population in north-eastern Central Europe. For the first time since the dispersal of anatomically modern humans into Europe, we see that Central Europe becomes the dominant demographic growth area. Subsequently, the climatic cooling of GS-1 coincides with a pronounced population decline in most parts of the study area. An apparent increase in population density occurs only in north-eastern Central Europe and north-eastern Italy. Our estimates suggest that the total population was reduced by half. Similar results, with a relationship between decreasing temperatures and decreasing populations, have already been observed for the late phase of the Gravettian, when populations were reduced to only one third of those estimated for the early phase. Yet, in contrast to the collapse of local populations during the late Gravettian, the increase in population densities in Central Europe during GS-1 indicates population movements eastwards, possibly in response to deteriorating climatic conditions, particularly in western regions during the Younger Dryas.

In Central Germany, rhino images were engraved on stone objects during the Magdalenian period, before the global extinction of the woolly rhino around 14,000 cal BP. Our recent excavations, at the Magdalenian open-air settlement site of Bad Kösen-Lengefeld, added to this record, yielding a limestone slab with a presumptive rhino portrait from an exactly stratified, thoroughly documented and well-dated cultural context. Here we present the unique limestone slab with an engraved animal image, unusual because of the head omitted, but — by contrast — aspects of the rear expressed in detail. During the excavation, the limestone slab was found related to a dwelling structure marked by postholes grouped around a central fireplace. Reindeer and horse were hunted close to, and killed at the site, and ice foxes were exploited for their furs. ¹⁴C-samples collected from all parts of the settlement attest for a short period of occupation(s) around 15,350 ± 50 cal BP making the rhino portrait one of the latest of its kind, eventually documenting the last sightings of woolly rhino in general, by humans. Moreover, its found context would make this animal portrait a fixture in Magdalenian style chronology.

Digitization of excavation recording can be a means to improve efficiency and accuracy of archaeological documentation on site. In the publications of the last decades, numerous different methodologies and various technical solutions have been presented. In this regard, this paper presents an approach to digital documentation developed for the excavation of the Upper Paleolithic site of Bad Kösen-Lengefeld based on the documentation requirements of the heritage administration of Saxony-Anhalt. The approach uses orthophotos from structure-from-motion processing for find proveniencing in a GIS system. Data is manipulated on tablet PCs and transferred via an on-site Wi-Fi network to a PostGIS database. The individual components of the system are listed, and their interplay in the recording system is described. The experiences in using the system at the site of Bad Kösen-Lengefeld are presented. The system improved accuracy of recording, reduced transcription errors and mistakes by the excavators, and reduced post-processing time. Also, main problems like adverse conditions on site such as heat and dust have been taken to account. Finally, the paper also provides an outlook on potential changes and improvements to the system. These include the use of rugged devices and the implementation of Python scripting for streamlining of data-processing.

The Early Ahmarian represents an Early Upper Palaeolithic cultural unit, which spans throughout the Levant to the Sinai Peninsula. At least 40 sites belong to this unit. Both open-air and cave sites provide different amounts of archaeological material at various spatial resolutions. The team of the Collaborative Research Centre 806 “Our Way to Europe” excavated the site of Al-Ansab 1, Wadi Sabra, since 2009. The site provides one of the largest lithic assemblages of the Early Ahmarian. Analysis of intra-site distributions and patterns has been conducted for a small number of sites, providing scarce information on the spatial makeup of Early Ahmarian occupation layers. The internal structure testifies to repeated settlement without task specialisation. While this has been described for the sites on the Sinai Peninsula, the situation has been unclear for locations placed in the escarpments of the Transjordanian Highlands. At Al-Ansab 1, we can observe the repeated, relatively ephemeral occupation of a specific location in the Wadi Sabra for the execution of various tasks such as processing of faunal elements and raw material exploitation. Our results correlate to a pattern of mobility observable at other Early Ahmarian sites such as Abu Noshra II. These sites are usually attributed to relatively small and highly mobile bands of hunter-gatherers. Analysing these patterns of intra-site and regional spatial behaviour in the context of environmental patterning highlights potential external drivers to the expression of human occupation at sites such as Al-Ansab 1, archaeological horizon 1.

Visual conditions around Palaeolithic sites determine how the landscape was perceived by prehistoric hunter-gatherers. By placing the site in different landscapes, different visual foci were encoded in the locational characteristics of the different places. For the Early Ahmarian sites in the Levant, it can be shown that visual characteristics differ significantly with the combination of large ungulate prey exploited at the respective location. A Higuchi viewshed approach was combined with total viewsheds of the study area to introduce a human scale into the viewshed modelling. While diverse prey locations in the Mediterranean biome provide an overview over the landscape, specialised prey locations in the steppe biomes of the Irano-Turanian and Saharo-Arabian biome have their focus on the immediate vicinity of the sites. This correlates with the placement of sites in the context of highly humid environments which can be best exemplified with the site of Al-Ansab 1 in the escarpments of the Jordanian Rift Valley. Here, the environmental conditions acted as a magnet, focusing gazelles on the migration between different environments.

Our field data from the Upper Palaeolithic site of Al-Ansab 1 (Jordan) and from a pollen sequence in the Dead Sea elucidate the role that changing Steppe landscapes played in facilitating anatomically modern human populations to enter a major expansion and consolidation phase, known as the „Early Ahmarian“, several millennia subsequent to their initial Marine Isotope Stage 4/3 migration from Africa, into the Middle East. The Early Ahmarian techno-cultural unit covers a time range between 45 ka–37 ka BP. With so far more than 50 sites found, the Early Ahmarian is the first fully Upper Palaeolithic techno-cultural unit exclusively and undisputedly related to anatomically modern human populations. In order to better understand the potentially attractive features of the Early Ahmarian environmental context that supported its persistence for over 8,000 years, we carried out a decennial research program in Jordan and in the Dead Sea. This included (1) a geoscientific and archaeological survey program in the Wadi Sabra (Jordan) with a particular focus on excavations at the Early Ahmarian site of Al-Ansab 1 alongside the detailed analysis of Quaternary sediments from the same area and (2) palaeobotanical research based on Quaternary lake deposits from the Dead Sea. Our pollen data from the Dead Sea indicate slow, low frequency vegetational variation with expanding Artemisia steppe, from 60 to 20 ka BP (MIS 3–2). Here, we see a reciprocal assimilation of southern and northern Levantine vegetation zones thereby enhancing a long-lasting south-to-north steppe corridor. The same integration process accelerated about 40 ka ago, when forested areas retreated in the Lebanese Mountains. The process then extended to encompass an area from Southern Lebanon to the Sinai Peninsula. We argue that, at the same time, the carriers of the Early Ahmarian techno-cultural unit extended their habitat from their original Mediterranean biome (in the North) to the Saharo-Arabian biome (to the South). Our excavation of Al-Ansab 1, a campsite at the eastern margins of the Early Ahmarian settlement area, indicates far reaching annual movements of small, highly mobile hunter-gatherer groups. We assume a low degree of settlement complexity, still allowing for habitat extension of the Early Ahmarian into the margins of the Levantine corridor. Due to our radiometric dates, our combined archaeological and environmental record sheds light on an evolved phase of the Early Ahmarian, around 38 ka ago, rather than the starting phase of this techno-cultural unit. Possible application of our model to the starting phase of the Early Ahmarian remains an aspect of future research.

The Late Glacial, that is the period from the first pronounced warming after the Last Glacial Maximum to the beginning of the Holocene (c. 16,000–11,700 calbp), is traditionally viewed as a time when northern Europe was being recolonized and Late Palaeolithic cultures diversified. These cultures are characterized by particular artefact types, or the co-occurrence or specific relative frequencies of these. In north-eastern Europe, numerous cultures have been proposed on the basis of supposedly different tanged points. This practice of naming new cultural units based on these perceived differences has been repeatedly critiqued, but robust alternatives have rarely been offered. Here, we review the taxonomic landscape of Late Palaeolithic large tanged point cultures in eastern Europe as currently envisaged, which leads us to be cautious about the epistemological validity of many of the constituent groups. This, in turn, motivates us to investigate the key artefact class, the large tanged point, using geometric morphometric methods. Using these methods, we show that distinct groups are difficult to recognize, with major implications for our understanding of patterns and processes of culture change in this period in north-eastern Europe and perhaps elsewhere.