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Micromorphological analysis is used to improve our understanding of wetland site taphonomy and stratigraphy. Twelve profile columns from the Neolithic lakeshore site of Zug‐Riedmatt are macroscopically described here, microscopic analyses are applied to sediment facies, defining 14 sedimentary units (U): The natural basal sediment (U1) is carbonate‐rich, U2 a transition phase to the anthropogenic units U3 to U12. Uppermost are the natural carbonate‐rich U13 and U14. The creation of a micromorphological database and the application of 27 defined indices allow a better understanding of the natural, anthropogenic and taphonomic processes taking place at the site. Natural sediment input originated from Lake Zug, the nearby river Lorze with its delta, and a local marshy waterbody. Organic rich accumulations and calcitic ash played a major role in pH changes, leading to carbonate and silica dissolution, alongside bone alteration. Signs of degradation processes under aerobic and anaerobic conditions within a single layer points to complex, multiphase processes under changing water levels, a milieu belonging to both land and water, an amphibious environment. Finally, good layer preservation seemingly correlates to low aquatic reworking in a stable depositional context linked to the marshy area.

To interpret artifact assemblages, it is necessary to understand the processes that have formed and influenced them: layer formation processes, cultural practices, and the way resources were used. In this study, we present our results of micromorphologically analyzed pits, ditches, house floors, and occupation layers found within the younger Iron Age settlement of Basel‐Gasfabrik. We defined 11 microfacies types and put them into a spatial and stratigraphic context. In addition, we quantify waste categories according to the archaeological features and microfacies types. Our results suggest that some ditches played a role in the spatial organization of the settlement, others were used as water canals. Several pits show a secondary use as roofed construction in the context of handicrafts. In addition, mapping the microfacies types reveals a differentiated use of space. Finally, differences between waste categories are visible. Dung was used as fuel and probably as fertilizer, whereas animal bone fragments and ceramic sherds have been stored on rubbish dumps, where they were available as raw material. These new insights into the use of pits, ditches, and settlement areas as well as the handling of resources provide an important basis for understanding everyday life in the settlement of Basel‐Gasfabrik.

Histotaphonomy has become an important area of research in funerary archaeology. It focuses on diagenetic alterations in bone microstructure and the reconstruction of post-mortem processes. Microbial bioerosion is the most common diagenetic change observed in archaeological bone, and its probable causes have been the subject of ongoing discussions. This paper presents a new integrative approach that combines methods from physical anthropology and geoarchaeology. The aim is to contextualise samples in regard to their sedimentary milieu (sediment type), the sedimentation processes they underwent, and the specific archaeological features they originate from. The analysis is based on 208 human and animal skeletal fragments from the Late La Tene site of Basel-Gasfabrik recovered from various feature types and embedded in different sediments. Both 80 μm and 30 μm thin sections were graded semi-quantitatively on a scale of 0 or 1 to 5 in regard to bacterial attack (BAI), Wedl tunnels (WTI), cyanobacterial attack (CAI), the formation of cracks (CRI), the collagen content (COI), and thermal alterations (HEI). Our results evinced no correlations between the intensity of bacterial attack and sediment types or sedimentation processes respectively. We therefore deduce that bacterial degradation of bone is mainly caused by endogenous gut bacteria. Wedl tunnels, on the other hand, are chiefly found in bones from exposed surfaces. Bone collagen content, as measured by birefringence, is dependent on a variety of factors, with thermal alteration being among the most important. Unlike the 80 μm sections used in anthropological investigations, the 30 μm thin sections typically utilized in geoarchaeological analyses permitted a reliable distinction of microbial bioerosion types. Our context-oriented histotaphonomic approach allows detailed conclusions on the causes of microbial bioerosion in bone. Moreover, it provides an important tool for reconstructing the post-mortem biographies of human and animal remains, especially in regard to (multi-stage) mortuary practices and the analysis of sedimentation processes. Thus, this novel approach generates a wealth of information from individual skeletal elements as well as from bone fragments embedded in soil samples.

Basel-Gasfabrik (Switzerland) comprises an extensive La Tene (chiefly Lt D, 150–80 BCE) settlement and two associated cemeteries at which strontium (87Sr/86Sr) isotope analysis of human and animal teeth investigated regional and supra-regional contacts. The interpretation of the analytic data, however, requires information on the isotopic baseline values around the site. Using 102 modern vegetation and 9 water samples from 51 localities, this study characterizes the isotopic ratios of the biologically available strontium of geological units and watercourses around Basel and compares these to 28 human infant, 6 pig, and 5 dog teeth from the site. Furthermore, pedological criteria evaluate the suitability of landforms for crop and pasturelands. The 87Sr/86Sr ratios of the environmental samples from geological units in up to 50 km distance varied between 0.70776 and 0.71794. Human infant teeth exhibited much more homogeneous 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.70847–0.70950), which coincided largely with those of potential arable soils around Basel and indicate targeted exploitation of landscapes for agriculture. The more variable values of the faunal teeth suggest more widely ranging habitats or imports from the site's hinterlands. Two local isotope ranges were defined based on archaeological enamel samples and modern vegetation data from a confined radius around Basel. The study documents the complexity of distinguishing local and non-local individuals in a geologically heterogeneous region as well as the potential of isotope analyses to explore prehistoric land-use patterns.

In the late spring of the year ad 1295 a landslide devastated the village of Onoldswil in the Swiss Jura mountains. During recent construction work, a small area of the original land surface was unearthed. The 5 m of compacted clay deposited by the landslide had caused the complete exclusion of oxygen and underneath it the excavators came upon mosses, blades of grasses and other plants that were still green. Below the vegetation cover the humus horizon with subterranean plant parts appeared. Samples were taken for plant macro- and microfossil and geoarchaeological analyses. This offered the rare opportunity to study the vegetation and the topsoil of a small area of land preserved in situ as an autochthonous palaeobiocoenosis, the preserved original combination of the plant community which grew there. Grassland taxa dominated the pollen and macrofossil spectra. Compacted zones within the humus horizon, the plant taxa composition and the presence of spores of coprophilous fungi showed that this place had once been a nutrient-rich pasture. Grazing animals had favoured the spread of juniper. Manuring seems to have taken place. The slopes of the surrounding mountains had been largely cleared of woodland, which may have been the cause of the landslide. The disaster probably happened in late spring, because entire fruiting capitula of Taraxacum officinale (dandelion) were found. Landslides are catastrophic events, destroying the soils and everything that lives in and on them on their way downhill. In places, however, they can also blanket the original land surface and its vegetation and create an archive of ancient life.

This article brings together in a comprehensive way, and for the first time, on- and off-site palaeoenvironmental data from the area of the Central European lake dwellings (a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site since 2011). The types of data considered are as follows: high-resolution off-site pollen cores, including micro-charcoal counts, and on-site data, including botanical macro- and micro-remains, hand-collected animal bones, remains of microfauna, and data on woodland management (dendrotypology). The period considered is the late Neolithic (c. 4300–2400 cal. BC). For this period, especially for its earlier phases, discussions of land-use patterns are contradictory. Based on off-site data, slash-and-burn – as known from tropical regions – is thought to be the only possible way to cultivate the land. On-site data however show a completely different picture: all indications point to the permanent cultivation of cereals ( Triticum spp., Hordeum vulgare), pea ( Pisum sativum), flax ( Linum usitatissimum) and opium-poppy ( Papaver somniferum). Cycles of landscape use are traceable, including coppicing and moving around the landscape with animal herds. Archaeobiological studies further indicate also that hunting and gathering were an important component and that the landscape was manipulated accordingly. Late Neolithic land-use systems also included the use of fire as a tool for opening up the landscape. Here we argue that bringing together all the types of palaeoenvironmental proxies in an integrative way allows us to draw a more comprehensive and reliable picture of the land-use systems in the late Neolithic than had been reconstructed previously largely on the basis of off-site data.

Circumalpine lakeside settlements have been declared Unesco world heritage in 2011. Their importance is mainly due to waterlogged preservation of organic material and hence the outstanding potential of these sites for performing detailed archaeological studies of prehistoric societies. However, the details of the taphonomic processes (depositional environment, development of anoxia, lateral or vertical displacement of objects, etc.) have rarely been studied. Consequently, interpretations based on find distributions or comparisons of find densities remain difficult. Zurich-Parkhaus Opera is a large-scale excavation of waterlogged Neolithic settlement deposits. Eight settlement phases of the late fourth and early third millennium BC were documented and dated using dendrochronology as well as six settlement layers, two of which showed excellent organic preservation. Based on a large number of sediment samples we conducted a multidisciplinary study in taphonomic processes influencing these layers. Our results indicate that a multi-indicator approach can provide detailed information on formation processes of waterlogged cultural layers. We found that 1) aquatic invertebrate remains and geotechnical calculations gave evidence for continuous shallow water conditions and eutrophic/anoxic deposition environment during occupation of the site. 2) Position and distribution of finds and loam patches indicate that disposal of household waste was focused on middens, which were still intact. 3) High variability in sediment contents (both spatially and in terms of state of preservation) is due to different factors such as oxygen depletion, deposition rate, erosion and enrichment of different materials, while all factors can affect each other resulting in highly complex formation processes.

The micromorphological analysis of faecal remains started with the investigation of hyena excrements in connection with cave-sediment studies. In an archaeological context, coprolites of domestic pigs are reported rarely - mostly with uncertain attribution. This apparent lack of pig excrements in archaeological sediments is probably a consequence of the animals' grubbing activities in themselves, of pig husbandry practices and of the remarkable variability of omnivore excrements. Carnivore excrements are characterized by a highly phosphatic, cemented, optically isotropic, strongly autofluorescent groundmass with an undifferentiated b-fabric. Excrements of Canis familiaris are reported regularly in various archaeological contexts. Because of great diversity of human diets, a general description of human excrements proves difficult, especially because well preserved excrement remains seem rare in archaeological contexts. More experimental and interdisciplinary studies will help to increase knowledge about excrements and postdepositional processes in the archaeological record.

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Shape, preservation, embedded components and groundmass characteristics allow distinction between herbivore excrements and the coprolites of omnivores or carnivores. Herbivore dung remains may occur in a wide range of onsite archaeological features but are also known from offsite situations. Fresh herbivore excrements are usually porous, loosely packed and consist mainly of poorly digested to undigested plant fragments, which are sometimes embedded in a brown to dark brown amorphous organic groundmass. Ruminant and horse excrements mainly consist of poorly digested plant fragments. Rodent excrements can be found in archaeological sediments. Because of the high organic content of herbivore excrements, dried ruminant dung is an excellent fuel, used since prehistoric times and still in use today, mainly in dry regions. Stabling or enclosure sediments have a lower porosity than equivalent unaffected excrements and show an impact of sediment agglomerates, mineral grains and other components due to trampling processes.