Geoarchaeological Investigations at Tiryns and Stymphalia (Peloponnese, Greece)

Geoarchaeological investigations at Tiryns and Stymphalia (Peloponnese, Greece) Dissertation Zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Naturwissenschaften (Dr. rer. nat.) der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel vorgelegt von Thomas Birndorfer, M. Sc. Kiel, 2021 Dekan: Prof. Dr. Frank Kempken Erster Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Ingmar Unkel Zweiter Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Hans-Rudolf Bork Tag der Mündlichen Prüfung: 20.05.2021 Acknowledgements First of all I would like to thank my first supervisor Ingmar Unkel, without whom this great project would not have been possible. I would like to thank you for your support and assistance to develop this research project. Thank you for giving me enough space to develop my ideas and guiding me in the right direction. I couldn’t have wished for a better supervisor. Our numerus joint research trips to Greece in the last years were a great experience for me, thank you very much for that. I would also like to thank Hans-Rudolf Bork as my second supervisor for his excellent support during the field campaigns. Through your enormous wealth of knowledge, I now see the landscape and excavation sites with different eyes. I will miss our joint research trips and our dinners together at the tavern. Thank you both to meet always at eyelevel you were great colleagues. A special thanks also goes to Sophia Dazert, who supported me during the lab work and who was always helpful with questions. I would also like to thank Kay Adam for the great collaboration and idea development when working and experimenting with the lab equipment. I would also like to thank Svetlana Khamnueva-Wendt for the great professional talks, the support and good cooperation during the field campaigns. Further thanks goes to Doris Kramer for the excellent pictorial illustrations that enriched my work. I would also like to thank our colleagues at Patras University Pavlos Avramidis, Alexandros Emmanouilidis and Eleni Zagana for the good cooperation. Furthermore, I would also thank Prof. Maran, who made it possible for us to work at Tiryns and was very kind in welcoming us to his excavation. Thank you for the great cooperation. My last and special thanks goes to my family, without whom this work could never have been done. First and foremost my life partner Johanna Wischka, thank you for giving me so much strength and encouragement and Anton Wischka, only with your love and happiness I was able to accomplish this huge project. I would also like to thank my parents Brigitte and Josef Birndorfer who always support me on my way and made this great experience in my life possible. I Abstract The imposing heritage of the Mycenaean culture and subsequent cultural periods is being studied in great detail through archaeological excavations in Greece. Statements about human-environment interactions are often made through written sources (Linear-B) from the respective periods. The analysis of geoarchives directly at or in the immediate vicinity of archaeological excavation sites represent the exception until today. Through geoarchaeological investigations in early settled landscapes it is possible to reconstruct the interventions of humans in the natural environment and to depict the natural development that has occurred as a result of these interventions. Accordingly, the investigations offer an enormous extension of the interpretation possibilities of a settlement context in former societies. One of the most important Mycenaean fortresses is the palace of Tiryns, which can be considered as a central site in southern Europe already in the 3rd millennium BC. Archaeological excavations at the palace allowed to reconstruct economic and trade relations as well as the settlement system of the Mycenaean culture. Ongoing archaeological excavations on the related lower city of Tiryns also show settlement activity in the area while all other palaces in the eastern Mediterranean disappeared in the Late Bronze Age (Late Helladic Period). Another peculiarity was revealed during the excavations under the city area, river gravels were found in the inner courtyard of the houses. One of the aims of this dissertation is to reconstruct the environmental conditions and human-environment interactions in the Argolid region during the Late Bronze. The reconstruction of sedimentary conditions was carried out through sediment analysis and the attribution of fluvial architectural elements. The stratigraphy under the walls of the city showed cultural horizons and single flood periods, which were interrupted by phases of human activity. In addition to the reconstruction of a 150 years long period of river dynamics during the Late Helladic III period, the geoarchaeological investigations also made it possible to detect anthropogenic interventions in which a foundation was laid for the construction of the lower city. Why the great palaces disappeared in the Late Bronze Age is still unclear. However, it is certain that the palace centres were supplied with agricultural II products from the surrounding countryside. Another aim of this thesis is to investigate the effects of land use, which lasted for thousands of years, on the soils of the north-eastern Peloponnese in the wider vicinity of important ancients sites like Mycene, Tiryns, Nemea and Corinth. For this purpose the valley of Stymphalia was intensively investigated as an exemplary study. A geomorphological and pedological survey was carried out in a raster covering the entire valley, in which the topography and the topsoils were analysed and classified. The evaluation of the soil quality was done by creating a classified soil quality index. The soil quality index includes the soil parameters of particle size distribution, organic matter, pH value, stone content, C/N ratio and the concentrations of calcium, potassium and magnesium. In order to record the soil genesis and degradation phenomena, selected soil profiles were analysed in detail. Large differences in soil quality were found, which can be attributed to degradation, triggered by human land use, as well as to geological conditions. High soil quality is especially evident in the centre and terraced sites of the valley. Except for the soils of the agricultural terraces, the investigations show a general decrease in soil quality with increasing depth. An average quality is shown by the soils in the east at Kaliani, while the quality of the topsoil in the west at Kastania is the lowest. The results show that in models for reconstructing the land use of prehistoric societies, soils have to be considered in a much more differentiated way and with a stronger weighting. Not only climatic extremes, social unrest or earthquakes can be responsible for a decline or demise of once advanced civilizations, but also soil degradation and exploitation have to be included in these considerations. III Zusammenfassung Die imposanten Hinterlassenschaften der Mykenischen Kultur und darauffolgender Kulturepochen wurden und werden in Griechenland in großem Umfang durch archäologische Ausgrabungen detailliert untersucht. Aussagen über Mensch-Umwelt Wechselwirkungen werden oft durch schriftliche Überlieferungen (Linear-B) aus den vergangenen Epochen abgeleitet. Die Untersuchung von Geoarchiven im unmittelbaren Kontext zu archäologischen Ausgrabungen an frühen Siedlungsstandorten stellen in Griechenland aber bis heute die Ausnahme dar. Durch geoarchäologische Untersuchungen in frühen Siedlungslandschaften können die Eingriffe des Menschen in den Naturraum rekonstruiert werden und die naturräumliche Entwicklung, die sich seit der anthropogenen Landschaftsveränderung vollzogen hat, besser dargestellt werden. Die Untersuchungen bieten demnach eine enorme Erweiterung der Interpretationsmöglichkeiten des Siedlungskontextes in früheren Gesellschaften. Zu den bedeutendsten Mykenischen Palästen zählt der Palast von Tiryns, der bereits im 3. Jahrtausend v. Chr. als Zentralort in Südosteuropa anzusehen ist. Durch die Ausgrabungen am Palast konnten Wirtschaftsweisen und Handelsbeziehungen sowie das Siedlungswesen der Mykenischen Kultur erfasst werden. Archäologische Ausgrabungen in der dazugehörigen Unterstadt von Tiryns zeigen eine fortwährende Nutzung des Areals, während alle anderen Paläste im östlichen Mittelmeerraum in der Späten Bronzezeit (Späthelladische Zeit) bereits im Niedergang waren. Eine weitere Besonderheit zeigte sich bei den Ausgrabungen in der Unterstadt, wo man im Innenhof einiger Häuser Flussschotter oberflächig anstehend antraf. Ein Ziel dieser Dissertation ist es anhand dieser Flußablagerungen, die in der Unterstadt von Tiryns dokumentiert wurden, die Umweltverhältnisse in der Späten Bronzezeit zu rekonstruieren. Dies erfolgte durch detaillierte Sedimentanalysen sowie der Zuweisung von fluvialen Architekturelementen. Die Stratigraphie unter den Mauern der Stadt zeigt Kulturhorizonte und einzelne Überschwemmungsphasen, die unterbrochen wurden von Nutzungsphasen. Neben der detaillierten Rekonstruktion einer 150 Jahre umfassenden Sedimentationsphase des Flusses in der Unterstadt während der Späthelladischen Periode (LH-III), war es durch die geoarchäologischen IV Untersuchungen zudem möglich, anthropogene Eingriffe zu fassen, bei denen ein Fundament zur Errichtung der Unterstadt angelegt wurde. Warum die großen Paläste in der späten Bronzezeit untergingen ist bis heute unklar. Sicher ist jedoch, dass die Palastzentren aus dem Umland mit landwirtschaftlichen Erzeugnissen versorgt wurden. Welche Auswirkungen die über Jahrtausende andauernde

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