Prehistoric Man-Environment Relationships in the Gypsum Karst of the Windsheimer Bucht, Northern Bavaria. Dolines as Archives for Settlement and Landscape History

就在几十年前，法兰科尼亚西部石膏喀斯特地区的天坑作为一个独立的考古古迹类别，才成为德国南部史前研究的重点。温斯海默比克特的所谓“Dolinenbefunde”(从漏斗中发现的考古发现)得到了很好的记录，为了解该地区的定居点历史提供了特殊的见解。处于不同形成和充填阶段的岩溶洼地在史前时代曾多次出现，但它们在空间利用方面的作用迄今尚不能详细调查。这一研究项目的总体目标是以跨学科的方法重建旧石器时代晚期至金属时代后期温德谢默比克特聚居区的人与环境的关系。根据目前的意见，迄今为止被认为不利于定居的吉普斯库珀地貌，位于弗朗科尼亚黄土区古代聚居区的边缘，只是暂时定居。该项目旨在调查人为影响和土地利用及其与自然环境变化的关系，这可以从漏斗的地层中推断出来。这样，就可以得到不同史前时期的景观发展和聚落历史的模式概念。另一个重要目标是在土地利用和环境发展的框架内调查漏斗的自然和人为沉积过程。调查区的空间概念包括三个相互关联的景观隔间：马克特贝格尔附近石膏岩溶的天坑；附近提供广泛考古发现的斜坡和山顶；以及溪谷和盆地。计划中的项目包括考古、土壤地理和考古-土壤联合地理单元。考古部分的目的是在工作区遗址的基础上，通过解释漏斗的各自功能，重建温德谢默比克特石膏喀斯特景观的历时聚落和土地利用。此外，重点放在重建人类影响发生之前的自然条件，以及评估人类引起的土壤和景观变化。作为我们跨学科方法的主要成果，重建了可验证的古地形图片，并将其与史前土地利用相关联。在北巴伐利亚州，我们第一次打算将5000多年来占领和定居中断的顺序与环境变化的历史联系起来。

The sinkholes of the gypsum karst areas of western Franconia came into the focus of prehistoric research in Southern Germany as an independent category of archaeological monuments only a few decades ago. The well documented so-called „Dolinenbefunde“ (archaeological finds from dolines) of the Windsheimer Bucht provide exceptional insights into the settlement history of the region. Karst depressions in various stages of formation and infilling were repeatedly frequented by man in prehistoric times, however their function in the context of space utilisation could so far not be investigated in detail. The overall objective of this research project is to reconstruct the man-environment relationships in the settlement area of the Windsheimer Bucht from the Late Palaeolithic to the later Metal Ages in an interdisciplinary approach. According to the current opinion the Gipskeuper landscape, which has hitherto been regarded as unfavourable for settlement and which is located on the margin of the ancient settlement area of the Franconian loess areas, was settled only temporarily. The project intends to investigate anthropogenic impact and land-use and its relation to natural environmental changes, as can be inferred from the stratigraphies of dolines. In this way, model concepts of landscape development and settlement history shall be obtained for different prehistoric periods. Another essential objective is the investigation of the natural and human-induced sedimentation processes of the dolines in the frame of land-use and environmental developments. The spatial concept of the investigation area encompasses three interconnected landscape compartments: the sinkholes of the gypsum karst near Marktbergel; nearby slopes and hilltops that provide extensive archaeological findings as well as stream valleys and basins. The intended project comprises an archaeological, a soil geographical, and a joint archaeological – soil geographical unit. The aim of the archaeological part is to reconstruct the diachronic settlement and land-use of the gypsum karst landscape of the Windsheimer Bucht on the basis of the sites in the working area as well as by interpreting the respective function of the dolines. Furthermore, the focus is placed on the reconstruction of the natural conditions before human impact took place, as well as on the assessment of human induced soil and landscape changes. As a major outcome of our interdisciplinary approach, verifiable pictures of the palaeotopography are reconstructed and related to the prehistoric land-use. For the first time in Northern Bavaria, we intend to relate a more than 5000-year sequence of occupation and settlement discontinuity to the history of environmental change.