Geoarchaeology

In the geo-archeology is investigated archaeological questions with geoscientific methods. The focus is on the reconstruction of historic and prehistoric landscapes with Sedimentutersuchungen, soil geographical studies and raw material analyzes. Disciplinary points of contact are made especially for geography (especially geomorphology, soil geography and settlement geography ) and geology.

History of development

According to previous approaches in the U.S., Geoarchaeology currently established as a separate, methodologically oriented field within the geography and archeology. There are already several geoarchaeological Masters courses in geography departments in Germany. In the background are increasing research in the field of settlement archeology and landscape archeology since the late 1980s, have a need for methodologically specialized professionals can be recognized.

Work focuses on

The areas of application of geo-archeology are numerous. Main focus is to work with Holocene sediments, including Colluvium, Auelehmen, lake sediments and partly marine sediments that were deposited under the influence of man. This frequently used methods are the pollen analysis and geophysical surveys, such as geoelectric and GPR. Also widespread is determining the origin of rocks, such as obsidian. In addition to classic methods such as thin sections and complex geochemical analyzes may be required in order to investigate the origin of a rock safely. Geomorphological or soil- geographic processes can be used for the interpretation of archaeological objects play an essential role, as they affect sustainable conservation and finding opportunities for this. Soil investigations but also provide an important starting point for the reconstruction of past landscapes through an analysis of potential uses of the past analyzes and on the other topographic changes, such as Zuschwemmung of valleys or the siltation of lakes can be captured in detail. Increasingly, in addition also spoken by a Archäogeographie, which bridge the gap between Paleogeography and Historical Geography, and to investigate prehistoric landscapes as an expression of the prehistoric man-environment relationship since the appearance of man.

Research organization

Since 2005, the German Working Group on Geoarchaeology, in the exchange alike and work together to geographers and archaeologists exists.