{"id":1664,"date":"2022-10-31T13:43:02","date_gmt":"2022-10-31T12:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/?p=1664"},"modified":"2022-10-31T13:43:05","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T12:43:05","slug":"use-and-misuse-of-the-ancient-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/use-and-misuse-of-the-ancient-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Use and misuse of the ancient environment \u2013 Transdisciplinary approaches on clay resources and alluvial fan formation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moritz Nykamp & Fabian Becker<\/em><\/p>\n

Field work of the Physical Geography team of Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin and Ege \u00dcniversitesi \u0130zmir in October 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

In order to reconstruct and model resource availability and use in the \u201cceramic micro-region\u201d of Pergamon extensive field inspections were undertaken in the catchments of the Kestel \u00c7ay and Bergama \u00c7ay rivers \u2013 well known in antiquity as Ketios and Selinus \u2013 and the pottery production sites of Bozk\u00f6y and Sazl\u0131k were surveyed. Pottery samples from production sites and samples from adjacent clay deposits were taken to compare their compositions. Being transdisciplinary, soil and sediment samples taken by our colleagues from classical archaeology, the physical geography team conducted experimental archaeology by producing ceramics \u2013 even though under laboratory conditions: Standardized clay briquettes were produced from the sampled sediments and dried for subsequent analyses. We recorded the plasticity and shrinking of the clay bricks in order to better understand the suitability of the different clay resources. The colors of the bricks were recorded before we fired them in a muffle furnace applying a temperature ramp between 500 \u00b0C and 1100 \u00b0C. The chemical composition of the pottery pieces and clay bricks were analyzed with a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer prior to firing, after firing at 650 \u00b0C, and after firing at 1100 \u00b0C. The results will help to understand the patterns of clay resource exploitation during ancient times and their importance for the intensive pottery production in the Pergamon Micro-Region.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Fig. 1 (left) Clay briquettes produced and fired in the field laboratory.
Fig. 2 (right) Pot with fresh milk served by a farmer during field work in Kumluca.<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Besides clay resources, sediment profiles were also studied intensively. In addition to the 2020s\u2019 recordings<\/a>, sediment analyses and radiocarbon-dating of Bergama alluvial fan deposits, exposed in vast outcrops in a present-day gravel pit, the international physical geography team from Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin and Ege \u00dcniversitesi \u0130zmir, continued to study the deposits of the Bergama alluvial fan in more detail. The sediments were obtained from the alluvial fan right below the ancient acropolis of Pergamon \u2013 downstream a highly active and dynamic urban center of ancient Asia Minor.<\/p>\n

During the field campaign in October 2022 a total of 53 m of sediments were obtained by vibra coring techniques at six locations along a transect roughly running south-east from the outcrops we studied in 2020 towards the alluvial plain of the Bak\u0131r\u00e7ay river. The lowermost core, beyond the toe of the Bergama alluvial fan, shows a sequence of 8 m of flood loam deposits with typical characteristics of Bak\u0131r\u00e7ay sediments such as secondary precipitated carbonates forming pseudomycelia, abundant manganese concentrations, and fragments of terrestrial gastropod shells. The core at the fan toe shows Bak\u0131r\u00e7ay sediments at the base, alternating layers of flood loam and alluvial fan sediments above, and sediments originating exclusively from the Bergama alluvial fan at the top. The sediments of the other four corings towards the proximal fan area are exclusively alluvial fan sediments that often show a chaotic fabric and generally become coarser towards the fan apex. Here, several event layers might give new insights in the stratigraphy of extreme flood events in the surroundings of Pergamon. Thus, the combined results from the two campaigns in 2020 and 2022 will allow to study the sediment dynamics of the Bergama alluvial fan in more detail and will yield new perspectives in the diachronic human-environment interactions in the direct hinterland of Pergamon.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Fig. 3 (left) View of the city hill of Pergamon from one of the drilling locations on the western part of the Bergama alluvial fan.
Fig. 4 (right) Core description and sampling.<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

With a second transect, roughly running south from Y\u0131\u011fma Tepe tumulus, we recorded the deposits of a secondary alluvial fan originating from the Bergama alluvial fan. This aims to study human impacts on soil erosion and sediment redistribution beyond the built-up area of ancient Pergamon. Sediment cores (27 m in total) were taken at four different locations from the mid-fan area towards the flood plain of the Bak\u0131r\u00e7ay river.<\/p>\n

Just like in the last three years, we are looking back to a very exciting and successful field campaign in a keen and vibrant research team that allows fruitful transdisciplinary work among the international group members from German Archaeological Institute Istanbul, Ege \u00dcniversitesi \u0130zmir, and Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Team members: Fabian Becker, Annika Bigos, Yaren Bozo\u011flu, Robert Busch, Mehmet Do\u011fan, Hakan G\u00fcler, Moritz Nykamp, Helena Weber, Xun Yang<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Field work of the Physical Geography team of Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin and Ege \u00dcniversitesi \u0130zmir in October 2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":1659,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,17,1],"tags":[40,25,39],"class_list":["post-1664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archaologie-eng","category-geographie-eng","category-projekt-eng","tag-dfg","tag-pergamon","tag-transpergmikro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1664"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1667,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664\/revisions\/1667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}