LOESSFEST'09 | Aug. 31st – Sept. 3rd, 2009 |Novi Sad-Serbia
The Reconstruction of the Main Characteristics of the Natural Environment of Gravettian Period Recorded in Loess Deposits Within Moravian Valleys
Lisá, L.1, Jones, M.K.2, Komar, M.3, Gregor, M.4
1Geological Institute Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
2Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, CB2 3DZ, Great Britain
3Institute of Geological Sciences, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, O. Gonchar Street 55-b, 01054 Kyiv, Ukraine
4Geological Institute, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Mlynska dolina, 842 15 Bratislava, Slovakia
The aim of this research was to reconstruct the main geoarchaeological characteristics of the natural environment during the Gravettian period, as recorded in loess deposits within Moravian valleys. The topography of European mountains and associated loess accumulations come together to render Moravia among the best locales from which to recover evidence of natural conditions and study the behaviour of early modern humans. The natural corridor across the Moravian lowlands through the Moravian Gate serves as a chicane constraining the movement of humans and other species through the fluctuations of the Quaternary climate and environment. This corridor conserves deep loess deposits containing well studied Palaeolithic sites, as well as buried soils and informative sediments.
Three main Gravettian localities within the Moravian corridor with sedimentological records of the last 30,000 years were studied. The well known and longstudied site of Dolní Věstonice in south Moravia, the site of Předmostí situated close to the Moravia/Silesia border, which has yielded the largest mammoth bones accumulations in Central Europe, and the locality of Hošťálkovice in the southern edge of Silesia in the north east Czech Republic. Each of these sites displays a distinctive sedimentological and climatic record. The data based mainly on the sedimentological, micromorphological and geochemical record show that during Gravetian period Dolní Věstonice had the most stable environment with good conditions for preserve short climate changes. Although the environment was quite stable, there were seasonal washouts and seasonal thawing and freezing cycles. Permafrost developed within the LGM above the cultural layer. The Předmostí site recorded a quite unstable environment including regular washout movements and landslides. Such an environment depended mainly on the increased precipitation within this area. The LGM is also recorded by the signs of permafrost, in this case displayed as frost edges. Hošťálkovice is the least well preserved locality, lacking a well developed cultural layer and sedimentological record. In general, palaeolithic hunters had to adapt, not only to seasonal changes of environmental conditions, but also changes across the landscape during their migrations within Moravian corridor.
Acnowledgement to the support of dr. M. Jones, to Archaeological Department of the University of Cambridge and to the European Commission under the Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship programme. These interpretatons reflect only my views and not the views of the University or the European Commission.