The Bronze Age fortification of Bernstorf (Upper Bavaria, Germany) - An integrated geoarchaeological and micromorphological approach to reconstruct the genesis of the archaeological site and its prehistoric soils

伯恩斯托夫青铜时代的防御工事（德国上巴伐利亚）——采用综合地质考古学和微形态学方法来重建考古遗址及其史前土壤的起源

• 批准号: 240515804
• 负责人: Dr. Astrid Röpke
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Abteilung III: Vor- und Frühgeschichte
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2012-12-31 至 2014-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/240515804?language=en
• 关键词: Bronze; Age; fortification; Bernstorf; Upper

The burnt Bronze Age fortification of Bernstorf is known to be one of the largest Bronze Age fortifications north of the Alps. The site has obtained exemplary status due to its entirely burnt fortification of 1.6 km length and the much-discussed gold and amber objects. It belongs to the numerous prehistoric vitrified forts in Europe. Already in the 18th century possible theories for burning of defense constructions circulated. Apart from the fortification burnt remains of Bronze Age houses were discovered. The complex history of the archaeological site with its burnt structures and a settlement sequence stretching from the Bronze to the Iron- and Middle Ages is supplemented by a geoarchaeological approach to detect temporal and spatial anthropogenic changes in the soils. The project aims at 1) investigating the burnt Bronze and Iron Age structures and the experimentally burnt reproduction of the fortification. 2) The genesis of the prehistoric soils and occupation layers should be reconstructed and specific areas of settlement activities differentiated. 1) It is surprising that so far sediments exposed to high temperature were neglected as a by-product of fire use, although they are always present. They offer opportunities to reconstruct past human fire activities and identify pyrotechnological processes. By using a micromorphological and petrographical approach we are theoretically able to distinguish different fire regimes, heat treatment and related application areas which can more specifically be termed as warfare, hearth or production processes. Research on burnt soils and sediments of the fortification has turned out to be an invaluable means for investigating burning temperatures, as it displays a temperature zoning with various heating features. These features are recognizable in thin sections and suitable for the development of micromorphological criteria to identify the burning temperatures. The results will be used for the characterization of the burnt Bronze and Iron Age structures in Bernstorf. In addition to the micromorpholoigical studies x-ray diffraction, magnetic susceptibility analyses etc. will be applied. 2) Long-term human impact distinctly altered the soils in the fortification of Bernstorf. Cambiosols were replaced by colluvisols which include different phases of colluviation. In order to stratify the prehistoric soils, layers and horizons will be described as well as palaeo surfaces, occupation layers and areas of specific settlement activity are likely to be identified. Occupation layers protected by the burnt layers will be treated according to standard laboratory analyses (pH, soil organic matter, texture, total phosphate etc.). These methods will also be used on the sediment remains from the gold and amber artefacts to determine composition, micro structure and pedofeatures. If successful, the results might open up new insights into history, origin and age of the objects.

伯恩斯托夫的燃烧青铜时代防御工事被认为是阿尔卑斯山以北最大的青铜时代防御工事之一。该遗址因其1.6公里长的完全烧毁的防御工事和备受讨论的黄金和琥珀物品而获得模范地位。它属于欧洲众多史前玻璃化堡垒。早在18世纪，关于焚烧国防建筑的可能理论就已经流传开来。除了防御工事外，还发现了青铜时代烧焦的房屋遗迹。考古遗址的复杂历史及其烧毁的结构和从青铜到铁器和中世纪的定居序列，得到了地质考古方法的补充，以检测土壤中的时间和空间人为变化。该项目旨在1)调查烧毁的青铜和铁器时代的结构和防御工事的实验烧毁复制。2)重建史前土壤和占有层的成因，区分特定的聚落活动区域。1)令人惊讶的是，到目前为止，暴露在高温下的沉积物作为火灾使用的副产品被忽视了，尽管它们总是存在。它们提供了重建过去的人类火灾活动和确定烟火工艺过程的机会。通过使用微观形态和岩石学方法，我们在理论上能够区分不同的火灾制度、热处理和相关的应用领域，更具体地说，可以称为战争、炉膛或生产过程。对该防御工事的烧毁土壤和沉积物的研究已被证明是研究燃烧温度的宝贵手段，因为它显示了具有各种加热特征的温度分区。这些特征在薄片中是可识别的，并适合于制定微形态标准来识别燃烧温度。这一结果将用于描述伯恩斯托夫烧毁的青铜和铁器时代的结构。除了微观形态研究外，还将应用X射线衍射、磁化率分析等。2)长期的人为影响明显改变了伯恩斯托夫防御工事的土壤。寒地土壤被胶状土壤所取代，胶状土壤包括不同的胶凝阶段。为了将史前土壤分层，将描述地层和层位，并可能确定古表面、占有层和特定定居活动的区域。受焚烧层保护的占用层将根据标准的实验室分析(pH、土壤有机质、质地、总磷等)进行处理。这些方法还将用于金器和琥珀器物的沉积物遗迹，以确定成分、显微结构和土壤特征。如果成功，这些结果可能会开启对这些物品的历史、起源和年代的新见解。