Paleoenvironmental reconstruction on the basis of sediments from archaeological sites of the Swabian Alb, Upper Swabia and Neckar Valley

01/10/2022 to 01/01/2024

A comprehensive interpretation of Pleistocene hunter-gatherer settlement remains is only possible with the inclusion of palaeoecological data. These provide information about local and regional climatic and environmental conditions, which in turn form the ecological framework for mobile populations and their adaptation strategies. In the past decades, the reconstruction of the palaeoecological environment of the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene in southwestern Germany was mostly based on the evaluation of the large fauna from Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites and to a much lesser extent on botanical analyses of the same. In addition, off-site archives played a major role, especially for the latter (e.g. Ammerried between Tübingen and Herrenberg). Also for the dating of find layers beyond the range of the radiocarbon method, ecological analyses for the integration of the geological horizons into climatic phases of the last glacial period are of crucial importance. The aims of the project are: (1) palaeoecological, palynological and biogeological investigations of sediments from different on- and off-site sites of the Swabian Alb and adjacent regions, especially Upper Swabia (Olzreuter See) and Upper Neckar Valley (Ammerried) with different chronologies (MIS 4 - MIS 1) and (2) a higher resolution of reconstructed environmental changes related to the occupation history of the Swabian Alb between MIS 4 and MIS 2.