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In this article, the authors present the salient archaeological results of a diachronic, interdisciplinary research project on rural settlement and land use in a region of low mountains in southern Germany. Despite clear locational disadvantages, in particular great distances to drinking water sources, archaeological excavations and an extensive dating programme document an unexpectedly long continuity of prehistoric settlement in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present results from a systematic interdisciplinary study on (pre‐)historic rural settlement and landscape development in an upland region of northern Bavaria, Germany. The archaeological and geoarchaeological investigations—supported by radiocarbon dating, optically stimulated luminescence dating, and palaeoecological analysis—were performed to (i) identify so far unknown prehistoric rural settlement sites, (ii) determine site‐specific soil erosion from colluvial deposits, and (iii) assess the composition of woodland from on‐ and offsite charcoal finds. The earliest indicators of human activities from the Younger Neolithic (late 5th to early 4th millennium B.C.E.) come from colluvial deposits. Our investigations, for the first time, show Middle to Late Bronze Age (ca. 1400–800 B.C.E.), permanent rural settlement in a German central upland region, with a peak in the Late Bronze Age. Due to the varying thicknesses of Bronze Age colluvial deposits, we assume land use practices to have triggered soil erosion. From the spectrum of wood species, Maloideae, ash, and birch are regarded as successional indicators after fire clearance in that period. Settlement continued until the 5th century B.C.E. After a hiatus of 500 years, it re‐flourished in the Late Roman and Migration periods (mid‐3rd–5th century C.E.) and went on in the Medieval period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zusammenfassung: Schachthöhlen im Bereich der Fränkischen Alb erfuhren während prähistorischer Zeit sehr oft eine Nutzung als Deponierungsorte menschlicher und tierischer Körper sowie anderer Sachfunde. Die Deutung der Einbringungsmotive ist kontrovers, wobei die schlechte Forschungslage bislang keine eindeutigen Belege zuließ. Mit Hilfe dreidimensionaler Dokumentationsverfahren sowie akribischer Fundbergung und -analyse bietet die erst jüngst entdeckte Kirschbaumhöhle in Oberfranken erstmals die Chance, die genauere Ablagerungsgeschichte der Fundhorizonte und die rituellen Handlungsabläufe in Verbindung mit naturwissenschaftlichen Untersuchungen zu rekonstruieren. Résumé: Les grottes verticales ou gouffres du Jura franconien ont fréquemment été utilisées au cours de la préhistoire pout y déposer des corps humains et animaux ainsi que d'autres matériaux. Les raisons derrière ces dépôts sont mal comprises, et les données sûres manquent, étant donné l'état déplorable des recherches entreprises jusqu'à présent. Mais ceci est en train de changer, grâce à l'enregistrement en trois dimensions et à un relevé méticuleux des données et du mobilier. La grotte de Kirschbaumhöhle en Franconie supérieure, découverte seulement récemment, nous donne pour la première fois l'occasion de reconstruire, en intégrant les résultats obtenus par les sciences naturelles, la séquence détaillée des dépôts, des ensembles et des rituels accomplis dans ces gouffres. Abstract: Shaft caves (or vertical caves) in the Franconian Alb were frequently used in prehistory for the disposal of human and animal bodies as well as other assemblages. Interpreting the reasons behind such depositions is controversial; unequivocal evidence is hard to come by given the poor state of research conducted to date. But this situation is changing thanks to three-dimensional recording and a meticulous approach to finds recovery. The Kirschbaumhöhle in Upper Franconia, discovered only recently, provides for the first time an opportunity to reconstruct the detailed sequence of deposition of the assemblages and the rituals conducted there by relating them to the results of analyses stemming from the natural sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on archaeological research in a pit cave in the county of Forchheim, Germany, conducted by the author's team. Information is provided about the use of three-dimensional scanning to measure the cave, the skeletal remains dating to the late Hallstatt and early Latène eras found in the cave, and efforts to create a database of the finds uncovered.