Find out more about our geoarchaeological research in the upland region of Grevena, Western Macedonia (Greece), addressing the interplay between Holocene landscape evolution and settlement dynamics, drawing new evidence from the alluvial history of the Xerolakkos stream. This work, led by our PhD candidate Giannis Apostolou is part of his dissertation that uses integrated remote-sensing and ground-truthing methodologies to explore the long-term human presence and its relationship with the montane landscapes of ancient Upper Macedonia.’
Link to the paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666033424000443
Abstract: This paper addresses the interplay between Holocene landscape evolution and human settlement dynamics, drawing new evidence from the alluvial history of Xerolakkos, a continental stream in Grevena (Western Macedonia, Greece). We developed an integrated geoarchaeological survey combining remotesensing geomorphological mapping, litho-stratigraphic analysis and radiocarbon dating with the site evidence of a new archaeological survey. Results revealed four major alluviation phases, corresponding to 1) the beginning of the Holocene until the Early Neolithic (∼6300/6200 BCE), 2) the end of the Early and the Middle Neolithic (∼6000–5400 BCE), 3) from the Middle Bronze Age to the Late Roman period (∼1800 BCE – 500 CE), and 4) during the Byzantine and Ottoman eras (∼500-1800 CE), all separated by phases of floodplain incision. Furthermore, the effects of several Holocene Rapid Climatic Changes (RCC) are traced and discussed together with potential human responses; we also provide the first alluvial sequence recording the ∼6200 BCE (8.2 kyr BP) event in the Balkans. While the climate and the local geomorphological setting are considered the primary drivers behind instability and erosion during the Early and Middle Holocene, a landscape change starting in the Middle Bronze Age (after ∼1800 BCE) followed by a re-organisation of the rural economy in the Roman period suggests the increasing involvement of anthropogenic forcing which, by the Ottoman period, evolved into a dynamic situation between climatic variability and adaptive land management. Finally, we demonstrate how soil erosion in the upper catchment constitutes a serious taphonomic bias when studying the regional archaeological record.
This work was funded by the Doctoral Researcher Scholarship (FI) of the Catalan Government R&D Agency Competitive Call for the Recruitment of New Research Staff (AGAUR) [FI_B 01013, 2020 & FI_B 00989, 2021]
