MODELING THE PAST - A GIS-BASED STUDY FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF PAST LAND USE AND HUMAN IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT

Within the opencast mining in Lower Lusatia (Brandenburg, Germany) archaeologists of the Brandenburgisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologisches Museum (BLDAM) discovered in the area of the so-called Jänschwalder Heide the probably largest archaeologically investigated charcoal production area at least in Germany. The charcoal was presumably used nearby in the iron works of Peitz where bog iron ore was smelted since 1567. Meanwhile remnants of more than 400 circular upright hearths are prospected and excavated. According to rough calculations about 800 ha of woodland were necessary to charge those piles. Charcoal burning and related activities certainly had tremendous consequences for the environment, both for the short-term and also on the long-run.

Recently, a joint research project was launched for interdisciplinary long-term paleoenvironmental research and to study anthropogenic landscape change in southern Brandenburg. The project partners are geoscientists from the Brandenburg University of Technology (BTU) Cottbus and archaeologists from the BLDAM. This study is part of the project and specifically aims to develop a GIS-based model of the anthropogenic induced environmental change. The focus lies on the impact of the medieval charcoal production and related activities on the environment in the area of the Jänschwalder Heide.

To develop a land use model different data are combined and blended, which are included step wise, using the Geographic Information System ArcGIS (ESRI). The physio-geographic conditions (e.g., topography, soils, geology, hydrology) will be examined with regard to the location of archaeological findings, particularly the location of the charcoal hearths. To perform a landform analysis and for visualization a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) based on airborne laser scanning data will be used. In addition, historic maps are evaluated which are available from the year 1767 onwards. The model will be supplemented with data from ongoing geomorphological and pedological investigations, dendrochronological ages of the remnants of charcoal hearths, buried soils and sediments and information of past vegetation from palynological research.