Data from: Middle Bronze Age land use practices in the north-western Alpine foreland – A multi-proxy study of colluvial deposits, archaeological features and peat bogs

This paper aims to reconstruct Middle Bronze Age (MBA) land use practices
in the north-western Alpine foreland (SW Germany, Hegau). We used a
multi-proxy approach including the biogeochemical proxies from colluvial
deposits in the surrounding of the well-documented settlement site of
Anselfingen and offsite pollen data from two peat bogs. This approach
allowed in-depth insights into the MBA subsistence economy and shows that
the MBA in the north-western Alpine foreland was a period of establishing
settlements with sophisticated land management and land use practices. The
reconstruction of phases of colluvial deposition was based on ages from
optically luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon (AMS 14C) dating from
multi-layered colluvial deposits and supports the local archaeological
record with the first phase of major colluvial deposition occurring during
the MBA followed by phases of colluvial deposition during the Iron Age,
the Medieval period, and modern times. The onsite deposition of charred
archaeobotanical remains and animal bones from archaeological features, as
well as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), charcoal spectra,
phytoliths, soil microstructure, urease enzymatic activity, microbial
biomass carbon (Cmic) and heavy metal contents, were used as proxies for
onsite and near-site land use practices. The charcoal spectra indicate MBA
forest management which favoured the dominance of Quercus in the woodland
vegetation in the surrounding area north of the settlement site. Increased
levels of 5ß stanols (up to 40 %) and the occurrence of pig bones (up to
14 %) support the presence of a forest pasture mainly used for pig
farming. In the surrounding area south of the settlement, an agricultural
field with a buried MBA plough horizon (2Apb) could be verified by soil
micromorphological investigations and high concentrations of grass
phytoliths from leaves and stems. Agricultural practices (e.g. ploughing,
manuring) focussed on five stable cereal crops (Hordeum distichon/vulgare,
Triticum dicoccum, Triticum monococcum, Triticum spelta, Triticum
aestivum/turgidum), while the presence of stilted pantries as storage
facilities and of heat stones indicate post-harvest processing of cereal
crops and other agrarian products within the settlement. In the area
surrounding the settlement, increased levels of urease activity, compared
to microbial biomass carbon (up to 2.1 µg N µg Cmic-1), and input of
herbivorous and omnivorous animal faeces indicate the application of
manure and/or livestock husbandry on fallow land. The PAH suites and their
spatial distribution support the use of fire for various purposes, e.g.
for opening and maintaining the landscape, for domestic burning and for
technical applications. The offsite palynological data support the
observed change in onsite and near-site vegetation as well as the
occurrence of related land use practices. During the Early and Middle
Bronze Age fire played a major role in shaping the landscape and
anthropogenic activities promoted oak dominated forest ecosystems at the
expense of natural beech forests. This indicates a broader regional human
influence in the north-western Alpine foreland at low and mid altitude
inland sites during the Middle Bronze Age.