Environmental Archaeology

Point Pattern Analysis (PPA) has gained momentum in archaeological research, particularly in site distribution pattern recognition compared to supra-regional environmental variables. While PPA is now a statistically well-established method, most of the data necessary for the analyses are not freely accessible, complicating reproducibility and transparency. In this article, we present a fully reproducible methodical framework to PPA using an open access database of archaeological sites located in southwest Germany and open source explanatory covariates to understand site location processes and patterning. The workflow and research question are tailored to a regional case study, but the code underlying the analysis is provided as an R Markdown file and can be adjusted and manipulated to fit any archaeological database across the globe. The Early Iron Age north of the Alps and particularly in southwest Germany is marked by numerous social and cultural changes that reflect the use and inhabitation of the landscape. In this work we show that the use of quantitative methods in the study of site distribution processes is essential for a more complete understanding of archaeological and environmental dynamics. Furthermore, the use of a completely transparent and easily adaptable approach can fuel the understanding of largescale site location preferences and catchment compositions in archaeological, geographical and ecological research.

This paper presents a brief review of archaeological evidence for the impact of the pre-Hispanic population on the environment of the Canary Islands. Prior to human colonisation, the archipelago was an untouched environment with high botanical and faunal biodiversity. The first human settlement can be traced to the early 1st millennium BC; this period of settlement finished at the end of the 15th century AD when the Spanish Crown conquered the archipelago. It has often been assumed that the pre-Hispanic population had little significant impact on the islands' ecosystems. However, abundant evidence for faunal extinctions, deforestation and soil erosion has been recovered from archaeological sites across the islands. This indicates that pre-Hispanic colonisers introduced cultivated plants, opened up the forests to create fields and cut woody vegetation for fuel. They also introduced domestic animals and alien predators resulting in a major depletion of native fauna.

On the California Channel Islands, scholars have suggested that mega droughts and climatic perturbations are causally linked to the emergence of hereditary leadership as groups of people consolidated their communities around the most productive habitats. Santa Catalina Island, one of eight islands in the Channel Islands archipelago, has been excavated for over a century, yet the majority of cultural materials from these expeditions have never been analyzed. Here we report the first comprehensive radiocarbon (14 C) database from Santa Catalina Island, and critically evaluate the dates so that meaningful interpretations of Indigenous history can be formulated. The results span approximately 6000 cal BP years of Island Tongva history and highlight the novel ways that Indigenous communities adapted to persistent droughts. People established more settlements throughout the Late Holocene and appear to have increased the number of habitation sites throughout mega droughts of the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (MCA; 1150-600 cal BP) and subsequent centuries. Our study underscores the tremendous value in utilizing legacy collections as a community-based participatory research method in order to address topics important to Indigenous stakeholders and the public, such as constructing regional chronologies and investigating human adaptation to climatic perturbations in circumscribed island landscapes.

In this chapter, we reassess Jellhaug's research history by re-evaluating information from earlier studies of its construction, date, and function. We compare these findings with results from a recent pilot investigation of the mound, which involved targeted soil coring and sample extraction. Our objective is to demonstrate that the traditional interpretation of Jellhaug is based on insufficient data and must therefore be reconsidered. This has broader implications, as large mounds like Jellhaug are often assigned a 'function' based on their size and location, as well as contemporary value judgments, before being placed into overly narrow, top-down societal frameworks of power. We argue that the notion of large mounds as indicators of centralization of power and/or status is flawed, as it invariably presumes that large mounds signify high-status burials. While this aligns with the established narrative, it does not correspond with the archaeological record, necessitating a consideration of alternative interpretations.

Kirchnerová: A Phoenician Head-shaped Glass Pendant from Prague-Radotín -First Observations 159-174 Malvinka Urák: Zigzagging through space and time? Revisiting the distribution and classification of Haevernick group 8e bracelets 175-196 Przemysław Dulęba -Jacek Soida: The remarkable finger ring from Samborowice in Upper Silesia 197-212 Tomáš Mangel -Jan Kysela -Jiří Militký -Matouš Holas: The horse from Čistěves and its find context. A contribution to figural zoomorphic graffiti on pottery of the La Tène period 213-236 Marko Dizdar: Late La Tène buttons of Scordiscan horse gear. Connectivity of the warrior elite 237-251 David Vích -Jan Jílek -Jiří Militký: New finds of Kronenhalsringe on the border of eastern Bohemia and northwestern Moravia. A contribution on long-distance contacts in protohistory 253-280 Petra Goláňová: Spinners without whorls? On spindle whorls found in La Tène graves in Moravia and changes in textile production during the Late Iron Age Jan Kysela: Getting to grips with Celto-Italic swords. La Tène hilts in Mediterranean iconography from the 5 th to the 1 st century BC CHAPTER III. From people to regions 305-315

The medieval silver rush profoundly impacted the landscape and vegetation of Europe's mining regions, a phenomenon strikingly illustrated by the exceptionally well-preserved silver mines discovered in Dippoldiswalde (Eastern Erzgebirge/Saxony) in 2009. This study analyses over 2000 wooden finds collected in those mines, including 1183 specimens that help date the mining activities from the second half of the 12th century to the late 13th century, utilising dendrochronological techniques. Our extensive dendro-dataset provides a valuable resource for exploring various aspects, such as landscape and climatic change, the effects of mining on primary forests, and the selective use of wood in mining processes. The timber reveals new insights not only into previously unknown mining technologies but also into the primeval forest and early forest use. Initially, miners exploited the forest non-selectively. As a result, early timber use provides important insights into the composition of primeval Fagus-Abies forests that once covered the region. By the 12th century, extensive timber use began to emerge, eventually leading to the complete deforestation of large areas in the mining regions of the Erzgebirge in the Middle Ages. This study underscores the valuable potential of dendrochronologically dating all available archaeological wood, rather than just selected samples, for advancing research in the fields of environmental history and medieval mining.

Southern Mesopotamia boasts an extensive corpus of written records dating back to the fourth millennium BCE, illustrating the region's early use of writing for resource management. After a presentation of the investigation tools of Assyriologists, the present contribution offers three case studies on the management of animal exploitation, plant cultivation, and hydraulic infrastructures, respectively, integrating zooarchaeological, archaeobotanical, and environmental models to enhance our understanding of Babylonian management of resources.

The Kakoryca-4 terrace remnant is a unique archaeological site exceptionally rich in artefacts and ecofacts, spanning from the Final Palaeolithic to the Modern and Contemporary eras, with the largest number of finds from the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. Our aim was to reconstruct the palaeoecological conditions under which human communities occupied the Kakoryca-4 site during different periods, with a particular focus on the Stone Age and the Bronze Age. We applied a wide range of palaeogeographical methods (pollen, plant macrofossil, sedimentological analyses, radiocarbon dating, etc.) together with archaeological data. Our results show that the deposits traditionally described in Belarusian literature as "lacustrine-alluvial" in fact represent sediments of a sand-bed braided river. Lake Sporovskoye was formed during the Bølling-Allerød warming and for most of its history was considerably larger than it is today. Transgressions and regressions of the lake influenced the functioning of prehistoric communities. A clear record of lake transgression is identified for the Early and Middle Atlantic. The regression of Lake Sporovskoye that began in the Late Atlantic was most likely the main factor driving the intense occupation of the Kakoryca-4 terrace remnant by Neolithic and Early Bronze Age communities. These communities were adapted to phases of increased Yaselda River activity, when strong floods led to the accumulation of black overbank organic mud north of the Kakoryca-4 terrace remnant. We present a critical review of palynological studies concerning the onset of agriculture in the Belarusian Polesie. Our findings provide direct evidence of agricultural activity at the Kakoryca-4 site during the Late Middle Ages.

Twelve new samples of loessic silts from widely spaced locations on the karst uplands of northwest England have yielded Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dates that fall within or overlap with (within uncertainties) the early to mid-Holocene period (11.7-6.0 ka), and support three already-published Holocene ages from similar sediment from this region. Nine of the 15 dates are coincident with the hypothesized climatic deterioration at 8.5-8.0 ka in the North Atlantic region and eight are coincident with the 8.2 ka event. These dates demonstrate that the silts are not primary air-fall loesses of deglacial/Lateglacial age (c. 18.0-11.7 ka) but have been reworked and now consist of loess-derived colluvial deposits; we consider the ages to be reliable as there is no compelling evidence to indicate that the samples are partially bleached. There is no substantive archaeological or palynological evidence for Late Mesolithic hunter-gatherers having had a major impact on the landscape, and it is considered highly unlikely that these people triggered colluviation. We estimate that during the 8.2 ka event there was a reduction in mean annual air temperature at these upland locations of $2.6-4.61C, and proxy evidence from other sites indicates a shift to wetter conditions. It is inferred that there was greater snow accumulation in winter, that the snowpack survived for longer periods, and that there was an increase in the magnitude and frequency of frostrelated processes and meltwater flooding. Together, these changes in climate and their associated (sub)surface processes were responsible for the reworking of the loess. The OSL dates indicate climatically induced landscape dynamism in Great Britain during the latter half of the ninth millennium.

The extent of genetic diversity loss and former connectivity between fragmented populations are often unknown factors when studying endangered species. While genetic techniques are commonly applied in extant populations to assess temporal and spatial demographic changes, it is no substitute for directly measuring past diversity using ancient DNA (aDNA). We analysed both mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and nuclear microsatellite loci from 64 historical fossil and skin samples of the critically endangered Western Australian woylie (Bettongia penicillata ogilbyi), and compared them with 231 (n=152 for mtDNA) modern samples. In modern woylie populations 15 mitochondrial control region (CR) haplotypes were identified. Interestingly, mtDNA CR data from only 29 historical samples demonstrated 15 previously unknown haplotypes and detected an extinct divergent clade. Through modelling, we estimated the loss of CR mtDNA diversity to be between 46% and 91% and estimated this to have occurred in the ...

This paper explores the nature and dynamics of adaptation and resilience in the face of a diverse and varied environmental and ecological context using the case study of South Asia's Indus Civilization (ca. 3000-1300 BC). Most early complex societies developed in regions where the climatic parameters faced by ancient subsistence farmers were varied but rain falls primarily in one season. In contrast, the Indus Civilization developed in a specific environmental context that spanned a very distinct environmental threshold, where winter and summer rainfall systems overlap. There is now evidence to show that this region was directly subject to climate change during the period when the Indus Civilization was at its height (ca. 2500-1900 BC). The Indus Civilization, therefore, provides a unique opportunity to understand how an ancient society coped with diverse and varied ecologies and change in the fundamental environmental parameters. This paper integrates research carried out as part of the Land, Water and Settlement project in northwest India between 2007 and 2014. Although coming from only one of the regions occupied by Indus populations, these data necessitate the reconsideration of several prevailing views about the Indus Civilization as a whole and invigorate discussion about human-environment interactions and their relationship to processes of cultural transformation. Given the considerable importance of climate, climate change, and human/environment relationships in the present, it is per-haps no surprise that there is ongoing interest in the way that humans caused and/or responded to environmental and ecological change in the past . Unquestionably, there is much to learn from the past about the success or failure of adap-

SignificanceOver the last century, Pacific herring, a forage fish of tremendous cultural, economic, and ecological importance, has declined in abundance over much of its range. We synthesize archaeological fisheries data spanning the past 10,000 y from Puget Sound in Washington to southeast Alaska to extend the ecological baseline for herring and contextualize the dynamics of modern industrial fisheries. While modern herring populations can be erratic and exhibit catastrophic declines, the archaeological record indicates a pattern of consistent abundance, providing an example of long-term sustainability and resilience in a fishery known for its modern variability. The most parsimonious explanation for the discrepancy between herring abundance in the ancient and more recent past is industrial harvesting over the last century.

In 1815, the volcano Tambora erupted, which would have catastrophic global consequences. Although Europe was hit particularly hard, there are those who believe that the Tambora eruption did not affect Sweden at all. In this essay, I ask myself why this conclusion is drawn, when all the facts show the opposite.
This is an abbreviated version of a longer essay that is included in the collection “The Art of Falling”.

Illustration on the cover: Sandstone relief. Tell Halaf. Mid-10 th c. BCE. British Museum, London, BM 117110 (image edited by Laura Attisani), © The Trustees of the British Museum. Plants and Humans in the Ancient Near East. Roots of Multispecies Connections Edited by Silvana Di Paolo and Gioele Zisa wEdge 6 © 2026 Zaphon, Münster (www.zaphon.de) Printed in Germany.

Der Beitrag erörtert die sogenannte „Ökozid“-Hypothese zu Rapa Nui als Beispiel für die Macht historischer Narrative und die Verantwortung historischer Wissenschaften. Während die Insel lange als Fall eines selbstverschuldeten ökologischen Kollapses galt, zeigen neuere Forschungen, dass erst die europäische Kolonialisierung massive Zerstörungen verursachte. Anhand dieses Beispiels wird verdeutlicht, wie unkritisch übernommene Narrative koloniale Gewalt verschleiern und stereotype Vorstellungen reproduzieren können. Der Beitrag plädiert daher für eine selbstreflexive historische Geographie, die marginalisierte Perspektiven sichtbar macht und kritischen Umgang mit historischem Wissen fördert.

Kanina ngrihet mbi një kodër që sodit detin dhe tokën njëkohësisht, si një sy i lashtë që vëzhgon historinë. Pozita e saj gjeografike nuk është thjesht strategjike; ajo është një zgjedhje e ndërgjegjshme e njeriut për të banuar lartësinë, për ta parë botën nga një pikë ku horizonti hapet dhe frika zvogëlohet. Në këtë lartësi, hapësira bëhet pushtet dhe pamja bëhet kontroll. Që nga shekulli IV para erës sonë, kur u ngritën themelet e para, Kanina ishte më shumë se një fortesë: ishte shprehje e nevojës njerëzore për siguri dhe për organizim. Gurët e saj të hershëm mbartin një ndjesi primitive force, një përpjekje për t'i dhënë formë qëndrueshmërisë në një botë të pasigurt. Çdo bllok guri është një pohim i ekzistencës: "jemi këtu dhe do të qëndrojmë". Në periudhën bizantine, me rindërtimin nga Justiniani, kalaja fitoi një përmasë të re historike. Ajo u bë pjesë e një rrjeti të madh mbrojtës, një nyje në hartën e perandorisë. Këtu historia merr një dimension filozofik: asnjë mur nuk është vetëm lokal; çdo mur është pjesë e një sistemi më të madh pushteti. Kanina nuk ishte vetëm një kala shqiptare, por një gur në arkitekturën e qytetërimit mesdhetar. Në Mesjetë, kur u kthye në qendër të rëndësishme ushtarake, kalaja mishëroi tensionin e kohës. Muret u përforcuan, kullat u shtuan, hapësira u nda në tri pjesë. Kjo ndarje e brendshme pasqyron strukturën e vetë shoqërisë: lartësia për pushtetin, mesorja për organizimin, poshtësia për jetën e përditshme. Arkitektura bëhet kështu pasqyrë e rendit social. Në periudhën osmane, me shtimin e frëngjive për artileri, forma e kullave ndryshoi. Gjeometria u përshtat me teknologjinë. Trekëndëshi i hershëm, i fortë dhe kompakt, i la vendin poligonit që përthithte goditjen e topave. Kjo është estetika e adaptimit: bukuria e mbijetesës përmes transformimit. Kalaja nuk mbeti e ngurtë; ajo evoluoi. Arkitektura e Kaninës është një dialog midis masës dhe dritës. Muri njëkilometërsh që rrethon 3.5 hektarë tokë nuk është vetëm strukturë mbrojtëse; ai është kufi simbolik. Brenda mureve lind identiteti, jashtë tyre shtrihet e panjohura. Porta, e mbuluar me hark sektorial dhe e mbrojtur nga kulla gjashtëkëndëshe, është moment kalimi. Porta është filozofi: hyrje dhe dalje, fillim dhe fund, siguri dhe rrezik. Kullat me forma të ndryshme-trekëndëshe, gjysmërrethore, poligonale-janë si shtresa të kohës që bashkëjetojnë. Ato nuk e mohojnë njëra-tjetrën; përkundrazi, dëshmojnë vazhdimësinë. Përdorimi i gurëve antikë dhe copave të tullave në mure krijon një estetikë të kujtesës. Materiali i ripërdorur bëhet metaforë e historisë që nuk zhduket, por rimodelohet. Brenda mureve kishte shtëpi, garnizon, depo dhe stera uji.

Over the course of four seasons, the Umma Survey Project surveyed numerous sites in the Al-Rifai district, Dhi Qar province. One of these sites, Abu Jarabie, yielded an intriguing pottery assemblage that demonstrates the site's continuous occupation from Ubaid 4 through the Early Dynastic I period, with evidence of a reoccupation during the Seleucid/Parthian period. This site provides a crucial sequence for reconstructing its occupation history and enables us to outline a preliminary framework for the region's pottery assemblage between the fifth and the first half of the third millennium BCE.

The Norman bocage is a constructed landscape that has archaeological and historical value as a manmade artefact, but constant evolution makes it difficult to assess this value. This research aims to quantify the reciprocal relationship of the landscape itself and the events of Operation Cobra (July/August 1944) by examining the effects of the bocage on the military campaign and the
subsequent physical and political changes made during and post the Second World War. La Chapelle-en-Juger was the worst hit village in the bocage area during Operation Cobra and has been selected as a case study for this reason, the changes in hedgerow density and orchard land-use changes are recorded and compared with the neighbouring commune of St Ebremond that was outside the main target area. Results show that the a) policy of ‘remembrement’ had a
greater long-term effect on the bocage landscape than the war and b) that this policy has had a detrimental effect on the ecological, social and historic landscape.

The North Sea marshlands have often been treated within medieval scholarship as peripheral, environmentally unstable, and politically fragmented landscapes situated at the margins of continental Europe. Such interpretations, however, fail to account for the infrastructural sophistication, environmental adaptation, and institutional integration visible across the Frisian and Wadden Sea regions between the ninth and fourteenth centuries. This study argues that the North Sea wetland world functioned not as a marginal frontier but as an interconnected infrastructural corridor shaped through hydraulic engineering, maritime mobility, fiscal administration, and ecclesiastical governance. Drawing upon charter evidence from the Oorkondenboek van het Sticht Utrecht, Carolingian fiscal privileges, monastic records, archaeological investigations, and environmental studies of the Wadden Sea littoral, this paper reconstructs the operational systems that sustained habitation and movement within the marsh environment. Particular attention is given to terp construction, dyke systems, tidal management, toll administration, fisheries, navigation, and monastic reclamation projects. Rather than viewing the wetlands as passive environmental settings, the study demonstrates that the landscape itself became an engineered infrastructural system requiring constant maintenance, legal regulation, and institutional oversight. The article further argues that hydraulic management, commercial administration, and ecclesiastical organization were deeply interconnected. Movement through the corridor depended upon navigational knowledge, maintained waterways, regulated crossings, and coordinated fiscal systems extending from Dorestad and the Rhine basin into the wider North Sea world. Monastic institutions simultaneously functioned as religious centers, agricultural coordinators, and environmental administrators within reclaimed coastal landscapes. By synthesizing archaeological, environmental, and documentary evidence, this study proposes a reinterpretation of the medieval North Sea marshlands as an infrastructure civilization whose continuity depended upon the negotiated relationship between human institutions and unstable tidal geography.

RESUMEN: Durante el siglo xv la bahía gaditana se convirtió en un nodo de comunicación entre dos mares, el Océano Atlántico y el Mediterráneo, y entre dos continente, Europa y África. Fue un período de crecimiento demográfico, de incremento de las artes pesqueras y, sobre todo, de aumento en las actividades comerciales. Todo ello tuvo su reflejo en un impacto antrópico sobre los ecosistemas marismeños y litorales que se concretizó en la creación y organización de los paisajes salineros y de las almadrabas. En este artículo se analiza el aprovechamiento de los recursos naturales de estos ecosistemas bajo el prisma de la sostenibilidad y la complementariedad llevadas a cabo por las comunidades que vivieron y trabajaron en la bahía gaditana durante el siglo xv.

Rye's 10,000-year history traces its evolution from a Middle Eastern cereal weed to a dominant northern European crop, reflecting strong tolerance to drought, poor soils, low fertility, and temperature extremes. As climate conditions become warmer and more variable, these traits make rye increasingly relevant to future cereal production. This presentation draws together historical, agronomic and breeding perspectives to assess how rye's biological characteristics align with emerging climate pressures and current crop adaptation needs in Northern Europe. We show that rye's resilience is not only rooted in its evolutionary history, but can also be strengthened through modern breeding. Hybrid systems are improving yield, disease resistance, and stress stability, while landraces and polyploid research offer underutilised genetic resources for adaptation. At the same time, climate change is expected to intensify threats from ergot, BYDV, rusts, and Fusarium, increasing the need for targeted breeding for flowering traits, virus tolerance, and fungal resistance. We argue that rye should be repositioned within climate adaptation strategies for Northern Europe, not as a marginal cereal, but as a strategically important crop for climate-resilient agriculture. Its future expansion is likely to depend on genetics and digital agronomy rather than higher inputs.

While absolute dating has become the archaeological gold standard, typology can provide context beyond time frames. Here, the authors demonstrate this with the chronological assessment of iron helmets from the underwater site of Piedras de la Barbada, near Benicarló (eastern Spain). Marine concretions helped preserve fabric linings in several helmets, permitting direct radiocarbon dating of the assemblage to the late fourteenth or early fifteenth centuries AD. Typological and iconographic comparisons agree, identifying the helmets as regionally produced, light-infantry equipment that pre-dates the fifteenth-century standardisation of European plate armour systems, corresponding with a period of maritime insecurity along the Valencian coast.

Mediterranean wetlands are characterised by two factors: (1) a remarkable seasonal fluctuation in the water table and (2) a long history of anthropisation. Being exceptional archives for palaeoenvironmental and archaeological research, humid areas have been thoroughly studied to assess the interplay between people and the environment during the Holocene. We present here the study of a sedimentary sequence from a Mediterranean wetland: the Les Arenes floodplain (Tortosa, NE Spain). Fully dry to date, Les Arenes is documented as a partially drained floodplain in the 12th century records. With the aim of assessing the climatic and anthropic contribution to its desiccation, we report here the results of bulk sediment analyses, environmental magnetism, soil micromorphology and AMS dating of this sedimentary sequence, plus a review of the available historical records. The outcome is a clearer understanding of the evolution of this Mediterranean floodplain during the 1st millennium AD, which implications may be extrapolated to other floodplain wetlands in the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean. Wet conditions and a low to medium-energy depositional environment are attested in Les Arenes between the 1st and 7th centuries coinciding with the Iberian-Roman Humid Period (IRHP) and the Dark Age Humid Period (DAHP). Drier conditions between the 7th and 10th centuries concur with enhanced fluvial dynamics, the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and the first arrival of Arabic-Berber populations in the Iberian Peninsula (al-Andalus, starting in AD 711). Results suggest that although the shift from wet to dry conditions in Les Arenes complies with major climatic trends, the construction of the first drainage canals by Arab-Berber groups likely contributed to the enhancement of on-going climate-related environmental processes.

This research presents a technical reconstruction of the Tamil Core Civilization, identifying it as a global seafaring and engineering entity. By analyzing the migration from the Indus Valley back to Tamil Nadu, the paper demonstrates how precision urban planning—characterized by "precision machines made of brick"—was a manifestation of a "Sacred Pattern". 
​The study provides evidence of advanced global maritime capabilities via the "Cold Water Route," an invisible underwater highway used to establish a planetary stabilizing grid at Thoppul Theevu (Easter Island). Key interdisciplinary evidence is presented, including: 
​Linguistic Engineering: The design of the Tamil language as a high-compression "Hard Drive" for storing star-maps and mathematical blueprints. 
​Biological Timestamps: The trans-Pacific movement of the Kumara (sweet potato) and the Koli (chicken) as markers of global trade. 
​Structural Resonance: The shared engineering signature of Ahu platforms and the Aal-Thogai script found in both the Indus Valley and the Pacific. 
​The paper concludes that the modern Tamil landscape is the finalized "Root" where the master code was synthesized into the language to preserve the knowledge of the Pleiades.

Human-camelid interactions and pastoral practices have shaped social, political, and economic lifeways throughout the history of the Central Andes. However, how camelids were managed in the central highlands during the Middle Horizon (600-1000 CE), and how those strategies reflect negotiations between Andean vertical ecologies, local communities, and the expanding Wari sphere, remain unclear. This study employed a life history approach using sequential camelid enamel samples to analyze stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios. The camelids were recovered from Auquimarca, a highland mortuary site in the Mantaro River Valley, Junín, Peru. Isotopic results are contextualized with archaeological evidence to examine the role camelids had in local subsistence strategies amid regional Wari imperial influence. δ 13 C and δ 18 O analysis of 32 camelid individuals (n=235 enamel carbonate samples) indicate flexible pastoral strategies. Approximately 40% likely grazed on naturally-available C 3 plants common in the highland puna (3,850-4,700 masl), while another ~40% likely received maize fodder closer to human settlements in the region's fertile kichwa (3,100-3,850 masl). Others (~20%) show evidence of mixed C 3 and C 4 diets, suggesting seasonal movement between these environmental zones. δ 13 C and δ 18 O variation within the lives of roughly half of the camelids suggest involvement in long-distance movement, such as camelid caravans to support broader trade networks in the region that could have connected this local community to the larger sphere of Wari influence. These results on human mediated camelid subsistence practices are central to understanding how Wari influence may have impacted communities in distant regions of this Andean empire.

Im 75. Jahr des Bestehens der ÖGUF und im 35. Jahr der AÖ bieten wir einen Rückblick auf die Jubiläumstagung sowie weitere Aktivitäten der ÖGUF und widmen uns natürlich auch der Geschichte dieser Zeitschrift. Passend zum Winter und den Weihnachtsfeiertagen beschäftigt sich der im Leitartikel mit der (Ur)Geschichte der vielleicht österreichischsten Sportart, dem Skifahren. In der Rubrik "News" erfahren Sie Aktuelles über die aufsehenerregenden Forschungen in der Tischoferhöhle sowie vom Johannesberg in Traunkirchen. Im "Forum" können wir Ihnen wieder eine Vielzahl spannender Beiträge anbieten, die eine Rundschau der archäologischen Szene Österreichs und ihrer neuesten Forschungen bieten: von der Linearbandkeramik am Hallstätter See zur Kupferzeit am Mondsee, von frühbronzezeitlichen Grabwiederöffnungen über bronzezeitliche Textilien zu römischen Mosaiken, von Citizen Science zu Digital Humanities. Wir hoffen, dass der interessante Einblick in das Museum Burg Golling -unweit der Fundstelle des Helms vom Pass Lueg -unsere Leser:innen zu einem Ausflug in den schönen Tennengau bewegt. Die vorliegende Ausgabe wird mit einem Bericht über die FWF-geförderten geoarchäologischen Forschungen zum Neolithikum auf dem Balkan abgeschlossen. Nun liegt sie endlich vor, die aktuelle Ausgabe der AÖ 36 für das Jahr 2025. Damit ist der "Rückstand" der letzten Jahre aufgeholt und das Team der AÖ kann ohne Altlasten in die Zukunft blicken. Aufmerksamen Leser:innen ist vermutlich nicht entgangen, dass wir mit der AÖ 35 die Druckerei gewechselt haben. Nachdem die AÖ seit Beginn bei der Druckerei Malek (später Druckwerk Krems) gedruckt wurde, freuen wir uns, in Zukunft mit Kny & Partner zusammenzuarbeiten. Der Wechsel bringt nicht nur eine finanzielle Ersparnis mit sich, der Druck erfolgt nun auch klimazertifiziert (siehe letzte Seite). Außerdem wird die AÖ nun direkt für den Versand eingeschweißt und adressiert, was den Aufwand immens verringert. Wir wünschen Ihnen schöne, erholsame und -falls Sie diese, angeregt durch den Leitartikel, auf der Piste verbringen -unfallfreie Feiertage!

Il contributo "Reinterpretazione cartografica, progetto e palinsesto del paesaggio in Val Basento" utilizza la cartografia come strumento critico e progettuale, analizzando la Val Basento come palinsesto stratificato. L’approccio interdisciplinare tra storia, geografia e progetto integra rappresentazione e lettura critica dei territori complessi.