GEOLOGY

Stratigraphic research will focus on comprehensive analyses of available loess sections in the research area including already published data. Special focus will be laid on new data from sections and cores of the investigated sites, which will be based on analyses in the same lab (RWTH Aachen) with the same protocols and machines. High-resolution analyses of sediment parameters derived from grain size, carbonate and colour measurements, together with age determination of the sediment deposition by luminescence methods, will complement and expand the in-field stratigraphic observations. These will provide not only the basis for constructing robust chronostratigraphic models of the individual sites, the region, and the diachronic development of human-mammoth interactions, but also be able to explain the local site formation factors in conjunction with the archaeological observations and data. Geochemical investigations of the sediment sequences will include high-resolution elemental analyses by XRF-scanning of the sediment column and provide complementary data about dust provenance and soil formation. Measurements of organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) contents and their stable isotope composition give information about vegetation type and humidity variations. Oxygen (δ18O) and carbon (δ13C) isotope analyses of calcareous microfossils (mollusks, earthworm granules, ostracods) will provide data on palaeotemperature and precipitation. Together with taxonomic pollen and malacofaunal data, this will provide a solid base for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. To improve the chronostratigraphic placement of LPS and increase the precision and accuracy of age estimation of sediments surrounding archaeological occupation layers physical age dating methods . e.g. optically stimulated luminencence (OSL) dating will be used.

TEAM: Frank Lehmkuhl, Christoph Mayr, Dominik Brill, Philipp Schulte, Bernd Zolitschka, Marc Händel.