{"id":2486,"date":"2025-03-31T11:19:57","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T09:19:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/?p=2486"},"modified":"2025-04-10T16:32:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T14:32:13","slug":"the-archaeology-in-geoarchaeology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/the-archaeology-in-geoarchaeology\/","title":{"rendered":"The archaeology in geoarchaeology: examples from field mapping during the 2024 campaign of the physical geography group"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2014<\/p>\n

by Joris Starke, Robert Busch, and Fabian Becker<\/em><\/p>\n

As part of the 2024 joint fieldwork of the physical geography groups of Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin and Ege \u00dcniversitesi, we went out for (geomorphological) mapping. Together with colleagues from archaeology, we had a successful time in the eastern lower Bak\u0131r\u00e7ay plain, searching for remains of the \u201cold\u201d Bak\u0131r\u00e7ay River.<\/p>\n

The Bak\u0131r\u00e7ay River (ancient Kaikos) did not follow a straight line, as recent maps and Google Earth show (Figure 1), neither during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, nor during the early days of the Pergamon excavations. The early maps and travel reports of the excavators and visitors to Pergamon give a very different picture of the Bak\u0131r\u00e7ay to that of the modern river, adapted to the needs of irrigated agriculture and flood control (Figure 1).<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"
Fig.1: Overlay of the current main river pattern in the eastern lower Bak\u0131r\u00e7ay plain on a map by the geographer Philipson as published in 1911 (color modified). Especially the former course of the Bak\u0131r\u00e7ay (flowing from the upper right of the image to the lower left) only exists in remnants. Also, the ancient Ketios River is completely diverted on its alluvial fan south of Bergama\/Pergamon (lower left part of the image). The Karadere River (center of the image) is also diverted and straightened.<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Therefore, a major focus of our mapping was on any fluvial and hydrological features that would help us better understand the hydrological situation of the eastern lower plain. We were particularly interested in eventual branches of the Bak\u0131r\u00e7ay River as well as superficial springs. In addition, we inspected distinctive elevations in the otherwise flat alluvial plain, as they may contain evidence of ancient river terraces or settlement mounds. Previous findings from sediment analysis and archaeological work in the region were also taken into account, as well as evidence from parcel boundaries.<\/p>\n

We aim to reconstruct the fluvial planform of the major rivers in the Pergamon Micro-Region. Whether a river is straight, braided, anabranching, meandering, or has a gravel or sand bed, is important to understand the stability of the river course and the risk of flooding to nearby settlements. As we know from ancient rivers in the Aegean region, flooding and flood management were not only contemporary issues but also concerned the ancient populations of western Anatolia.<\/p>\n

Our reconstruction of the channel planform converges with other approaches in the TransPergMicro project, such as the reconstruction of the road network and settlement patterns, as well as the agricultural use of the plain. Despite intensive agricultural use and the strong influence of modern land reclamation and consolidation activities, structures such as cut banks and old drainage channels are still recognizable. The latter have often been reused as unpaved roads or paths (Figure 2).<\/p>\n\n\n

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Fig. 2: The former cut bank with the abandoned river channel is now used as a pathway creating a so-called hollow way.<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

During mapping, we frequently met local farmers who could provide us with helpful information about alterations of the landscape, such as changes in river courses (Figure 3), as well as the remains of historical and modern bridge structures that are difficult to trace today (Figure 4). Bridges or their remains are important finds for this work, serving as confirmation and age estimation of the associated channel. For the latter, archaeological expertise and input is very valuable, emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary work. Similarly, new archaeological sites and finds were discovered during the fieldwork.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"
Fig. 3: Location of the former channel of the Bak\u0131r\u00e7ay near Da\u011fistan \u2013 with the presumed course highlighted in blue.<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Fig. 4: Remains of an old bridge in an abandoned channel of the Bak\u0131r\u00e7ay River.<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Our field mapping was complemented by measuring cross-profiles through the former course of the Bak\u0131r\u00e7ay, as seen on old maps and satellite imagery. A modern GNSS device was used to map changes in the relief at the centimeter scale. In addition, drone photogrammetry was used to generate a high-resolution digital surface model of a section of the former course of the Bak\u0131r\u00e7ay (Figure 5).<\/p>\n\n\n

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Fig. 5: Measuring elevation along a cross-profile.<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Finally, we unpacked our vibracorer \u2013 adding some insight into the subsurface to the detailed surface information. In this way, we can understand not only the planform of the river channel over the last few centuries but also the river dynamics in the Holocene, i.e., during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Although the interpretations of the sediment descriptions and the laboratory analyses, as well as the radiocarbon dating of the samples, are still in progress, preliminary results already provide information about the possible lateral stability of the Bak\u0131r\u00e7ay River course over longer periods.<\/p>\n

We are now looking forward to presenting a more detailed image of how the Bak\u0131r\u00e7ay could have looked like in the past in the near future.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the 2024 joint fieldwork of Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin and Ege \u00dcniversitesi, we explored the eastern lower Bak\u0131r\u00e7ay plain, mapping geomorphological features. Collaborating with archaeologists, we investigated the ancient Bak\u0131r\u00e7ay River\u2019s shifting course, focusing on fluvial traces and elevations to better understand its historical hydrology. Stay tuned for our findings!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":2485,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,17,1],"tags":[40,45,25,51,48,44,39],"class_list":["post-2486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archaologie-eng","category-geographie-eng","category-projekt-eng","tag-dfg","tag-micro-region","tag-pergamon","tag-physical-geography","tag-survey","tag-transpergmicro","tag-transpergmikro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486"}],"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=2486"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2492,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486\/revisions\/2492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/transpergmikro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}