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Copyright of Stratum Plus Journal is the property of P.P. Stratum plus and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The collection of papers in this special issue arose from the 2018 and 2019 workshops in Integrated Microscopy Approaches in Archaeobotany (henceforth IMAA), hosted by the University of Reading, UK. The IMAA has an interdisciplinary ethos and not only brings together students and specialists to facilitate cross-sector exchanges of a broad variety of skills, but also the discussions that take place there are driven by a practical microscopy element. The IMAA crosses boundaries between archaeobotany, palaeoecology and wider geoscientific and archaeological specialisms, as well as between professional sectors, which is reflected in the contributions to this special issue. The papers continue to develop our interpretations and understanding of taphonomic processes in archaeobotanical assemblages, with several highlighting the important role ethnoarchaeological and experimental approaches have to play in untangling these complex processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landslides are one of the few types of natural hazards that have affected Sweden regularly in the recent past. We can expect that this geological phenomenon will only increase in frequency in the near future given the ongoing processes of anthropogenic climate change, and this likelihood motivates some historical retrospection. This paper explores how landslides have impacted archaeological sites in Västra Götaland, the country’s most landslide-prone region, from the mid-twentieth century onwards, and how, in turn, archaeologists have had to respond to these disasters. The 1957 Göta, 1973 Fröland, 1977 Tuve and 2006 Småröd landslides are highlighted in particular, as is the landslide-impacted site Hjälpesten. Connections are made to other different but related archaeologies of hazard and disaster, providing insights into the impact that climate change has had and will have on the discipline. While the paper showcases a set of local case studies, it is further argued that its findings have relevance for other areas as well, calling for the attention of the cultural heritage sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal areas are extremely sensitive to variations in environmental conditions. The interaction of marine and continental processes causes a high degree of dynamism, generating depositional formations of great value for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. This paper focuses on two pedostratigraphic deposits located under the current beach, in close proximity to archaeological tumuli located on Areoso Island (Ría de Arousa, NW Iberian Peninsula). Employing a geoarchaeological approach, sea-level rise, environmental conditions and human occupation over a 6000-year period are interpreted. The results of granulometric and mineralogical data, elemental composition and stratigraphic features, help to identify three successive environments: continental (rock weathering, soil formation and erosion); a transition to a coastal environment; and the establishment of full coastal conditions. The geomorphological evolution of the last 6.0 kyr BP has been controlled by climate, sea-level rise and human activity. The continental facies shows evidence of low sea-level up to 4.8 kyr BP and the first evidence of coastal processes after 3.2 kyr BP. These pedostratigraphic deposits located in an open coastal system improve the Holocene sea-level rise curve in the NW Iberian Peninsula and help to understand the context in which the most important archaeological structures on the island (the tumuli) began to be eroded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the role of hydrological changes and the societal decline of southern Africa's earliest state society, the Mapungubwe state (AD 1200-1300) in the Shashe-Limpopo basin. The rise and demise of Mapungubwe has long been linked to significant climate changes such as increased rainfall that would have supported intensive agro-pastoral activities and demographic growth, later declining due to the onset of drier conditions. Accordingly, during the Little Ice Age (1300-1850 AD), drier and cooler climate resulted in environmental deterioration, ultimately leading to the abandonment of Mapungubwe. This model is based on archaeological survey records and oral histories, with very limited regional climatic/environmental data. This paper presents three types of datasets: historical records; modern rainfall patterns, including field observations made from geoarchaeological records of soil sequences; and chemical analyses (Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy) to examine climate variability and social complexity in Iron Age southern Africa using historical ecology frameworks. The integrated analysis of these datasets indicates that hydrological changes in the Shashe-Limpopo basin are highly influenced by seasonal variability and distribution of rainfall. The proposed alternating periods of high and low rainfall in the present study suggests the potential for flooding episodes of differing severity, while geoarchaeological data indicate an active landscape with alternating sequences of profile development and soil disturbance. Therefore, environmental deterioration cannot simply be avoided by migration. In fact, where heavy rains in the catchment area cause flooding, they also bring both moisture and deposit rich silt, valuable for the growth of vegetation and crops. Instead, the argument put forward is that many aspects, both cultural and environmental factors, influenced societal decline in the Shashe- Limpopo basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last two decades witnessed increasing scholarly interest in the history of water management in southern Mesopotamia. Thanks to many geoarchaeological research projects conducted throughout the central and southern Iraqi floodplains, a general understanding of the macrophases of anthropogenic manipulation of this vast hydraulic landscape has been achieved. However, current narratives mostly rely on studies at a regional scale and are based on excessively long chronological phases (often spanning a whole millennium). A finer‐tuned analysis at a submillennial scale is needed to better appreciate the dynamics that led to the development of artificial canals and irrigation systems and the creation of harbours in cities and other navigation‐related facilities. The Iraqi‐Italian QADIS project is addressing this issue through a systematic geoarchaeological investigation in the south‐eastern area of the Qadisiyah province. We aim to update the current narrative by analysing case studies involving specific periods of occupation. We performed 17 boreholes to propose a date on the functioning period of the hydraulic works in five selected archaeological sites of this region. This approach allowed us to understand changes in water management strategies in both the short and the medium term (i.e., on a scale of centuries). In this paper, we present the results for the fourth and third millennia B.C.E. This period witnessed a crucial passage from the basic exploitation of natural watercourses for irrigation and occasional navigation to the emergence of the first system of artificial canals and intraurban harbours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Around the world, poorly preserved buildings and occupation deposits often represent the primary evidence for archaeological structures and settlements. Integrated geoarchaeological methods, such as soil chemistry and micromorphology, can be used to maximise the information obtained from such deposits regarding site preservation and the use of space. However, archaeologists are often reluctant to apply these methods if they suspect that preservation is poor or stratigraphy is not visible in the field. To assess the role that geoarchaeology can play in the interpretation of fragmented and poorly preserved structures, this paper presents the results of two case studies in which multiple geoarchaeological methods (microrefuse analysis, pH, electrical conductivity, magnetic susceptibility, loss‐on‐ignition, portable XRF and micromorphology) were applied to poorly preserved occupation deposits and fragmented buildings in early medieval coastal settlements in northeast Scotland. Micromorphology proved to be fundamental for recognising and understanding the composition of occupation deposits that had formerly been floor surfaces. It also aided interpretations for the use of space and maintenance practices and improved an understanding of the post‐depositional processes that had affected stratigraphic visibility at the macroscale. When subjected to principal component analysis, the geochemical, magnetic and microrefuse data were able to provide new details about activity areas, and successfully identified and filtered out the effects of post‐medieval contamination. Most significantly, the integrated approach demonstrates that fragmented buildings and poorly preserved occupation surfaces can retain surviving characteristics of the use of space, even if the floor surfaces were not preserved well enough to be clearly defined in the field or in thin section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For geoarchaeologists the use of multiproxy and multimethod integrative approaches has become common for studying the sedimentary context of archaeological materials. In this paper, we introduce a novel approach that combines rock magnetic analysis with micromorphological analysis. We first conduct a brief examination of the magnetic properties of organic resins used in micromorphology to understand the potential impact of the resin and manufacturing process on the magnetic signature. It is crucial to understand the original production of the samples to ensure that endothermic reactions do not compromise the magnetic data. We illustrate the advantages of this approach through a case study of a pit hearth from the Neanderthal archaeological site of El Salt in Alcoi, Spain. This study utilises archived micromorphological samples of a pit hearth (combustion structure H77) initially described by Leierer et al. (J Archaeol Sci 123:105237, 2020). Rock magnetic analysis of multiple magnetic parameters—including magnetic susceptibility, natural remanent magnetization, and progressive isothermal remanent magnetization—reveals that each microfacies type exhibits a unique magnetic pattern, even if there is overlapping in signatures across some magnetic parameters. The interpretation of the magnetic data aligns with the results and microfacies descriptions previously provided by Leierer et al. (J Archaeol Sci 123:105237, 2020), further supporting the interpretation of the combustion feature as being in situ with a history of repeated use. The approach presented here offers an enhanced tool for micromorphologists to better understand the magnetic characteristics of microfacies units in higher resolution and establish direct connections to the micromorphological results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modern Tiber delta includes two river mouths flowing into the Tyrrhenian sea, the Fiumara to the South and the Fiumicino to the North. While the Fiumara is a natural channel, the Fiumicino is a canal that was excavated during the Roman period. Two major Roman archaeological sites are associated with these two watercourses: Ostia, founded between the 4th and the 3rd c. BCE, built at the mouth of the Fiumara; and Portus, founded in the 1st c. CE, built with a series of canals including the Fiumicino (Fossa Traiana), three kilometres north of Ostia. In this paper we shall explore strategies used by the Romans on these two sites to manage river mouth environments, which were characterised by high fluvial sedimentation inputs and rapid fluvio-coastal mobility. We will observe possible urban adjustments to natural constraints at Ostia, and demonstrate how Portus was, building on the experience from Ostia, from its inception designed to reduce fluvial sedimentation in the harbour basins and to lower lateral mobility of the canals. Finally, we will propose the existence of an integrated management system for the watercourses at Portus and Ostia in the Imperial period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores a new perspective to study the settlement dynamics of riverine landscapes by addressing human–environment interaction in the Ancient Near East through integration of remote sensing, new geodata, and developing a definition of a new category of a watercourse. The complex and entangled network of watercourses in the archaeologically crucial region of southwestern Iran, the Greater Susiana, hinders a clear view of the spatial relations between ancient settlements and their respective environments. The watercourses are known to be of either natural (rivers) or anthropogenic (canals) origin. However, many current watercourses do not fit into either category, which causes misinterpretations of the archaeological record. This paper introduces a third category, which consists of a hybrid of the two existing categories and suggests using the term "Nahr" to address such watercourses. The author implements this idea to a case study, Nahr-e Atiq, a watercourse in north Susiana, which passes two prominent sites, Abu Fanduweh and Haft Tappeh. Based on the results of a geoarchaeological investigation(including a survey, eight sediment cores, and several soil profiles, as well as 58 known archaeological sites), several hydro-morphologic elements are presented for identifying Nahrs. These include sedimentation, morphology, and physical characteristics. The most crucial aspect is the biography of a Nahr, as these hybrid watercourses might consist of different sections with different genesis. The author argues that Nahr, as defined here, must be considered an artifact, and studied as such in the landscape archaeology of the Ancient Near East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last 3 ka, different human communities occupied the Bay of Cádiz (SW Spain), including Phoenician, Carthaginian, Roman, Medieval and Modern settlements. Traces of such historical occupations have been recognized along the bay from a geoarchaeological point of view. Some of them bear a palaeogeographical interest related to the historical location of the shoreline. At the same time, Holocene sedimentary units and geomorphological elements identified along the bay can be interpreted as evidences of its morphological evolution. The objective of the present paper is to represent all the available data about archaeological sites and geomorphology in the northern Bay of Cádiz, with the aim of combining both sources of data for elaborating a simple proposal of landscape evolution during the last 3 millennia. The base for mapping was multiple, from historical aerial photographs to satellite imagery and a digital terrain model with a maximum resolution of 0.35 m. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Ciência e Natura is the property of Revista Ciencia e Natura and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper considers the application of deposit modeling within archaeological projects, summarizing the results of a Historic England funded project aimed at developing "good practice" for the application of these techniques within terrestrial environments. It provides an overview of what deposit modeling is, the environments where it can be used and the methods most commonly used. The paper identifies a series of issues and challenges in using deposit models within archaeological investigations, such as the archiving of geotechnical data, the testing of deposit models against the distribution of archaeological sites and features, and integrating sediment stratigraphies derived from deposit modeling with post‐excavation records. We argue that deposit modeling is a valuable tool for archeologists to employ and can be used to design appropriate excavation strategies to target sites and features, thereby increasing the information yield of a project. In this sense deposit modeling can be used as a framework for archaeological projects that are investigating sediment sequences in complex geomorphological environments, starting with pre‐evaluation data gathering, through to focusing excavation strategies, and within the post‐excavation analysis. Whilst this paper is focused upon the terrestrial archaeological record, the themes discussed have resonance for archaeological records across the globe, including the offshore zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early 20th century, archaeological research in the terp (artificial dwelling-mound) region of the northern Netherlands focused, besides settlement history, on natural salt-marsh dynamics and sea-level rise. In particular Van Giffen used salt-marsh deposits under dated terp layers to reconstruct the rate of sedimentation of the developing salt marsh and relative sea-level rise. This line of research in archaeology was rekindled during excavations in the terp of Wijnaldum-Tjitsma between 1991 and 1993. Since then, geology has become an integral part of archaeological research in the terp region. This paper focuses on the northwestern part of the province of Friesland (Westergo), where most archaeological terp research during the past three decades has been carried out, owing to several research programmes by the Province of Friesland. The primary aim of the geoarchaeological research is to better understand the interaction between human inhabitants and the salt-marsh landscape. The sedimentary record exposed in the excavation trenches makes it possible to collect data on the development of the coastal environments of the Wadden Sea prior to habitation, including data on sea-level rise. The sea-level data collected in the geoarchaeological studies in Westergo are the topic of this paper. The measured levels of the tidal-flat/salt-marsh boundary underneath the terps make it possible to reconstruct palaeo-Mean High Water (palaeo-MHW) levels. Such sea-level index points (SLIPs), based on marine shell data points from 12 locations, now make it possible to establish a palaeo-MHW diagram for this part of the Wadden Sea, for the period between 1200 BC and AD 100. In this period the palaeo-MHW in the Westergo region rose from c.1.8 m to 0.3 m −NAP: a mean sea-level rise of c.0.12 m per century. We discuss the fact that elevation of the palaeo-MHW SLIP is not only determined by relative sea level (RSL), but also by the magnitude of the tidal amplitude. The tidal range, and therefore the MHW elevations in a tidal basin, can change from place to place and also in time. Also in a single tidal basin the tidal range is variable, due to the distortion of the tidal wave as a result of the morphology of the tidal system. Such local tidal range fluctuations – not related to sea-level rise – influence the palaeo-MHW curve of Westergo and other tidal basins in the Wadden Sea and need to be taken into account when interpreting the curve. In this paper, we will go into the causes of changes in palaeotidal ranges in meso- and macrotidal systems, analyse the tidal range variations in recent and subrecent basins and estuaries and discuss the implications of these changes on the sea-level curve of the Westergo region in NW Friesland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-altitude island environments, with their characteristic strong seasonal contrast and limited resources, are challenging contexts for human subsistence. However, although archaeological contexts in this kind of setting hold great potential to explore the diversity of human biological and cultural adaptations, such sites are rare. In this paper, we present the results of a microcontextual geoarchaeological study carried out at Roques de García Rockshelter, the highest altitude cave archaeological site in the Canary Islands (Spain). The site was inhabited by the aboriginal population of the island and has yielded a rich archaeological context derived from combustion activity. We carried out soil micromorphology to characterize site function and lipid biomarker analysis to investigate the natural and anthropogenic organic record. Our data indicate that the aboriginal groups that occupied the site kept goats with them (in the rockshelter) and probably used Juniperus turbinata (sabina) wood, a current distant fuel source. These results suggest that the aboriginal societies of Tenerife occupied the highlands regularly, taking their herds and firewood with them. Further research is necessary to explore the use and exploitation of fuel sources, the seasonality of these occupations and their differences with lowland sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radiocarbon (14C) dating has, since its inception, become an integral part of disciplines such as geology and archaeology, underpinning many key findings made by researchers in the past seven decades. As 14C dating develops, the need arises to revisit older findings and legacy data which may well contain laboratory errors or post-analysis misinterpretations. In this paper we examine one such finding from Sweden, namely the 1958 14C dating of the great Jordfallet ("the Earthfall") landslide, which was published in the very first volume of Radiocarbon in 1959. We further trace how the results of this 14C dating were misunderstood in a time prior to modern radiocarbon calibration, and the impact which this mistake has had throughout academic publications, state reports and local heritage literature through the course of over sixty years. Because of this flawed interpretation the credible date of 1249 AD given to the landslide by historical sources has been overlooked. Instead, a series of dates from the mid-12th and early 13th centuries have been attributed to the landslide event based on erroneous radiocarbon analysis, a mistake which has substantial implications for the understanding of both regional and international history in medieval Scandinavia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The landscape of the Mesopotamian floodplain is mainly structured by channel processes, including the formation of levees, meanders, scrollbars, oxbow lakes, crevasse splays, distributary channels, inter-distributary bays, and marshes. Moreover, several human-made features also form and shape this landscape, such as canals, roads, trenches, farms, and settlement sites ranging in size from villages to cities. A significant part of the Mesopotamian floodplain is covered by marshes, especially the southern region. These marshlands have thrived for thousands of years and are well known for their sustainable biodiversity and ecosystem. However, after the deliberate draining of the marshes in the 1990s, the areas have become dry and only small areas of shallow water and narrow strips of vegetation remain. Several kinds of archaeological landscape features have appeared on the surface and can be clearly identified in both ground surveys and with the use of remote sensing tools. This paper aims to determine the type and nature of the preserved archaeological features that appear in the landscape of the dried marshes and whether they are different from other features elsewhere in the Mesopotamian floodplain. An intensive ground survey was carried out in a selected area of the dried marshland, resulting in the identification of six types of archaeological features: settlement sites, rivers, canals, farms, grooves, and roads (hollow ways). These features used to be covered by bodies of deep water and dense zones of vegetation (reeds and papyrus). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ostracods as bioindicators are extremely useful for reconstructing palaeoenvironment and palaeoclimate and can also indicate the provenance of sediments and materials, for example, in studies on ancient commercial networks. Ostracods are small crustaceans that live in almost all aquatic habitats, both natural and man‐made. Due to their calcitic carapace, they have high fossilization potential, and their use in geoarchaeology has been steadily increasing during the last decades. Their small size needs mean that only small volumes of sediment samples are needed, and species‐specific ecological tolerances and preferences allow detailed palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. Typical methods of their application are palaeoecological analyses of associations based on ecological information and taphonomy, morphometric variability and stable isotope and chemistry analyses of their shells. The present paper aims to present an overview of applications of non‐marine ostracods in (geo‐)archaeological research, recommending sampling and analytical techniques for addressing archaeological research questions on palaeoclimate, habitat and landscape changes, water availability and quality, land use and other anthropogenic impacts, the provenance of materials and commercial networks to promote the application of Ostracoda in geoarchaeology/environmental archaeology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana is the property of Sociedad Geologica Mexicana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Underwater and inundated prehistoric archaeology is usually celebrated because it highlights unique cultural behaviors (e.g., Windover and Old World bogs), preserves organic materials exceptionally well (e.g., Little Salt Springs and Bouldnor Cliff), or identifies early human presence (e.g., Page Ladson and Hoyo Negro). However, as research has progressed, it is increasingly clear that underwater archaeology is an essential tool for understanding how humans adapt to changing landscapes and the water/land boundaries around them. When appropriate, archaeologists should consider the dynamics of changing water levels, where nearby human occupations may preserve, and whether terrestrial or inundated landforms may help answer research questions. In the Great Basin USA, Nevada's Walker Lake is an ideal location for applying this approach. As a lake that has undergone repeated rise and fall over the last 15,000 years, research on human behavior and regional adaptations must consider landforms that have been subject to inundation and are now above and/or below the current waterline. This paper discusses identification and analyses of sites around Walker Lake, investigations revealing intact buried terrestrial landforms under the lake, and how this research provides an improved picture of human behavior and landscape adaptations in the Western Great Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological deposits are often complex and illustrative of an intricate interplay between geogenic and anthropogenic inputs and formation processes. Even for those archaeologists—particularly prehistorians—who consider the basic principles of natural stratigraphy to excavate their sites, they nonetheless typically underutilize the observations and data available at the microstratigraphic level. The technique of soil micromorphology—or archaeological micromorphology as referred to throughout this paper—has seen an astounding increase in its use to answer archaeological questions and archaeological sediments in the last decades. However, we consider that this tool is still quite underutilized and not as mainstream as other techniques. In this paper, we briefly reflect on what can be some of the causes underlying this situation and how we (that is, both producers and consumers of micromorphology data) can go about to change it. The main idea is that we need to establish a better and more approachable way to present micromorphological results and be better at integrating them with the macroscopic archaeological data and research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geophysical survey methods are broadly used to delimit and characterize archaeological sites, but the archaeological interpretation of geophysical data remains one of the challenges. Indeed, many scenarios can generate a similar geophysical response, and often interpretations can not be validated without access to the subsoil. In large geophysical surveys many anomalies are detected and validation through archaeological trenches can not be afforded. This paper analyses the validity of geoarchaeological core survey to check the archaeological interpretations based on geophysical results. The Roman site located at Auritz/Burguete and Aurizberri/Espinal (Navarre), provides a great case of study as many investigations have been carried out. After the gradiometer survey performed in 2013 a sediment core survey was designed. 132 cores were drilled using a hand-held coring machine and the sediments were analysed in situ. Site delimitation and archaeological interpretations based on magnetic data could be improved or corrected. In this regard, the core survey proved to be an useful methodology as many anomalies could be checked within reasonable time and resources. However, further geophysical investigations trough GPR revealed unexpected remains in areas where no archaeological deposits were identified through coring. Excavations showed poor conservation level in some of those areas, leading to thin archaeological deposits hard to identify at the cores. The sediment core survey, therefore, was proved to be inconclusive to delimit the archaeological site.e [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses data archiving procedures carried out during emergency archaeological excavations. It proposes a model for developing an information system capable of streamlining both the survey practices and the management of the excavation site. The opportunity to digitally acquire what emerged during an archaeological campaign as well as ordering data stemming from the stratigraphic analysis in a single digital database has offered us the possibility to discuss the cataloguing systems used in emergency situations. This drove us to experiment with novel application protocols for digitally recording archaeological evidence. The aim of this research is to reduce the loss of information and create dynamic archives for knowledge. Archaeologists can fill in this digital result with their considerations and hypotheses, as well as creating a study platform directly accessible during the phase of excavation, thus combining 3D digital surveys with archiving systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On October 4, 1957, Homo sapiens crossed a new threshold of technological innovation after constructing an artifact capable of entering Low Earth Orbit and effectively paving the way for a future of space exploration. This artifact was Sputnik 1, launched by the Soviet space program which triggered the "space race" of the mid‐20th century. Over the past 65 years, we have continued to explore and populate our solar system with rockets and spacecraft including satellites, probes, landers, and rovers. This expansion into our solar system has left traces of our presence on several planets including the Earth, Mars, Mercury, and Venus along with Earth's Moon, Titan, and several galaxy travelers in the form of asteroids and comets. Today, we have entered the realm of a new privatized and global space race, effectively a "new space race" or "new Space Age." As we expand our material footprint into new extraterrestrial environments, there is a growing need to understand the types of unique site formation processes capable of altering, destroying, or preserving this rapidly increasing archaeological record known as space heritage. Such understandings are germane to the subdiscipline of geoarchaeology, that part of archaeology dedicated to studying the interaction between humans, cultural heritage, and environmental systems from a geoscience perspective. Closely aligned and partially overlapping with the subdisciplines of space archaeology, archaeological science, and planetary geology, we introduce a new subfield we call planetary geoarchaeology to open discussion about how geoarchaeologists can play a role in addressing current and future issues surrounding the preservation and management of space heritage. To demonstrate the potential of the subdiscipline, we focus on the current archaeological record of the Moon, describe lunar site formation processes, and discuss the implications for the current and future preservation of space heritage in the lunar setting. Planetary geoarchaeology can be applied to practically every type of extraterrestrial environment, provided humans have left behind a measurable record. We hope this paper will spur more research studying human–environment interaction in space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The settlement evolution of the Early Neolithic period is considered a milestone in the human cultural history. While the archaeological implications of this period are discussed extensively, the landscape of Early Neolithic Iran has remained underrepresented, mostly due to lack of geoarchaeological investigations. The early periods Formative and Archaic Susiana, attested in several sites in the Susiana plain in southwestern Iran, are of utmost importance as they bear witness to the first implications of standardization of material culture and intra-regional organization. This paper summarizes our current understanding of these periods as well as their landscape in the seventh and sixth millennia BCE. Then, it proposes a preliminary reconstruction of the landscape in this period based on recent geoarchaeological investigations by the author, applying a combination of different methods such as remote sensing, GIS analysis, and original geoarchaeological data including sediment cores, soil profiles, as well as laboratory analyses including sedimentological and chemical analyses (and lithological description in the field) and OSL dating. The results widen our perspective regarding the region’s hydrology. The Early Neolithic landscape of Susiana seems to have been different from the current one, primarily due to the tangible changes in watercourses and the noticeable differences in the surface soil and vegetation. The results further confirm that heavy sedimentation of later periods covers most of the surface of this buried landscape including now buried watercourses and small wetlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cuadernos de Geografía is the property of Universitat de Valencia, Departament de Geografia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper presents a geoarcheological study on potential canal subsections present in the Roman-age Vecht branch of the Rhine-Meuse delta (the Netherlands).The first Roman canals in this delta were dug around 12 BC by Drusus, but their location has been the subject of debate since the 16th century, with various hypotheses proposed. Based on actual palaeogeographical knowledge of the Rhine-Meuse delta, the Utrechtse Vecht hypothesis is considered the most plausible. Within the study area, in the northern part of the Vecht system, natural sections of this river may alternate with possible artificial reaches, created at the time of Drusus. Such artificial canals, being part of an otherwise natural channel belt system, can widen and deepen overtime, eroding all or most of the recognizable features associated with their original construction. As study area was chosen a relatively straight section of the Vecht between two former lakes. Two approaches were used. The first approach centred upon mapping channel morphology and recording sediment stratigraphy of the river deposits through detailed auger coring. Results corroborated the hypothesis of an originally straight feature (landform), confirming that it might have started life as a dug course, but not providing preserved archaeological remains of this stage. The second approach was chronological, whereby a programme of 14C dating was undertaken to refine the understanding of the origin and development of this reach of the Vecht, allowing earlier chronological investigations to be further contextualised and reassessed. A significant challenge to understand age control and floodplain evolution is the degradation of the top of the clayey peat that was observed below the levee deposits; this degradation is due to the lowering of groundwater levels and causes the end of peat growth to be dated as older than it actually is. Using new radiocarbon dates we have reconstructed that the Overmeer-Nigtevecht reach of the Vecht between two former lakes started life as a straight channel. We have constrained its age to be closer to the time of Drusus' activities (early Roman age). Although we have not found in situ remains of Drusus canal(s), these two new insights make the Vecht option, effectuated by a series of short canals, more likely to be the Drusus canal(s). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]