Piotr Kittel
University of Lodz, Department of Geology and Geomorphology, Department Member
The article presents the results of research carried out at Sacharewo in the Białowieża Forest, involving excavations of a barrow cemetery associated with the Roman Period and the nearby settlement, which delivered finds from the Early... more
The article presents the results of research carried out at Sacharewo in the Białowieża Forest, involving excavations of a barrow cemetery associated with the Roman Period and the nearby settlement, which delivered finds from the Early Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the Roman Period and the Modern Period. Noteworthy was a significant amount of material from the Iron Age and the Roman Period, linked with the Hatched Pottery and Wielbark cultures, possibly indicating a certain revival of settlement in that area between the turn of the eras and the 5th/6th century AD. Thanks to the analysis of airborne laser scanning data, it was also possible to identify a complex of ancient arable fields in the surroundings of the barrow cemetery. The excavations were conducted along with sampling for geoarchaeological and archaeobotanical analyses. A significant pool of 14C dates was also collected. The studies idientified the remains of a stable and continuous (though not very developed and intensive) s...
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The Gordineşti II-Stînca goală is an archaeological site located in the northern part of the Moldavian Plateau in Edineț Region. Chronologically this settlement is linked to the later phase of the Tripolye Culture. Currently, in... more
The Gordineşti II-Stînca goală is an archaeological site located in the northern part of the Moldavian Plateau in Edineț Region. Chronologically this settlement is linked to the later phase of the Tripolye Culture. Currently, in archaeological literature, the problems of human occupation, land management, and spatial arrangement of settlements in Moldova during the Eneolithic are highly understudied. In this paper, we present the results of recent archaeological works focusing on the spatial patterning of housing structures, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey, and desk-based Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) analysis, that has been undertaken to further the understanding of the spatial organisation of the Gordineşti II-Stînca goală settlement. The results indicate the high archaeological potential of this site, with the likely presence of multiple housing structures arranged in a planned and functional manner.
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Human Settlement and Pile
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We present a training set, the database involving physical-chemical water parameters together with the subfossil Cladocera and diatoms community composition in the surface sediments of 64 postglacial lakes in NE Poland sampled along a... more
We present a training set, the database involving physical-chemical water parameters together with the subfossil Cladocera and diatoms community composition in the surface sediments of 64 postglacial lakes in NE Poland sampled along a wide trophic gradient (from oligo- to highly eutrophic). The most important water parameters measured in water were chlorophyll-a, electrical conductivity (EC) and oxygen concentration. In addition, total phosphorus (TP) and Secchi depth (SD) were determined for the surface water layer. The data collected will be used to calculate a transfer-function for quantitative reconstruction of trophic state in freshwater temperate lakes.
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The proposed method has been applied to a multi-phased settlement complex and pottery manufacturing centre in Ostrowite in northern Poland. In this study the radioactive isotope ratios method has been applied to a set of ceramic pottery... more
The proposed method has been applied to a multi-phased settlement complex and pottery manufacturing centre in Ostrowite in northern Poland. In this study the radioactive isotope ratios method has been applied to a set of ceramic pottery specimens from the same multi-layered archaeological site and probably produced from local raw material. The pilot radiometric research was based on: 24 Neolithic (5200–5000 BCE), 21 Early Iron Age (800–600 BCE), 4 Roman Period (100–400 CE), and 13 Middle Ages (1030–1320 CE) pottery fragments, and also 8 samples of local clay (glacial till) and 3 burned clay samples. The method shows the similarities within the ceramic material used to manufacture the pottery. The variations in the quantitative and qualitative compositions of the basic products (clay, silt, loam, sand, ash and organic admixtures) used in the preparation of the ceramic paste change the isotopic composition and activity ratios. Pottery from each ceramic manufacturing centre, based on t...
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Moats and other historical water features had great importance for past societies. The functioning of these ecosystems can now only be retrieved through palaeoecological studies, which often focus on a single sampling sediment core... more
Moats and other historical water features had great importance for past societies. The functioning of these ecosystems can now only be retrieved through palaeoecological studies, which often focus on a single sampling sediment core location. While a variety of human-environment interactions have already been examined, the spatio-temporal habitat changes within a medieval moat are presented here for the first time. Using data from four cores of organic deposits taken from different areas within the moat system, we describe ecological states of the moat based on subfossil Chironomidae assemblages and accompanying sedimentological and geochemical data, using Kohonen’s artificial neural network, the canonical correspondence analysis, and generalised linear modelling. We found that chironomid assemblages differed in the spatio-temporal distribution of their habitats, depending mostly on depth differences and fresh water supply from an artificial channel. Paludification and terrestrializa...
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Abstract The vicinity of the Rozprza archaeological site (central Poland) has been the area of a series of palaeoecological studies tracking the environmental history of the Luciąza River valley up to ca. 13,200 cal. BP. Numerous... more
Abstract The vicinity of the Rozprza archaeological site (central Poland) has been the area of a series of palaeoecological studies tracking the environmental history of the Luciąza River valley up to ca. 13,200 cal. BP. Numerous subfossil palaeomeanders of different sizes have been discovered in the valley floor. Here, we present the first results of multiproxy research on the paleo-oxbow lake fill, one of the oldest in the region. The wide range of palaeoecological analyses resulted in reconstructions of vegetation history, climatic, hydrological and habitat changes. The studied oxbow was an aquatic ecosystem with diverse invertebrate fauna until the end of Younger Dryas when it transformed into a limno-telmatic habitat. The sediment composition indicates active denudation processes and several episodes of turbulent hydrological conditions. Such an increased river activity could have caused flooding, resulting in an allochthonous matter supply to the oxbow lake in Late Vistulian. Environmental changes were strictly related to the regional features of the catchment, the transformation of soils, and the hydrogeological conditions. The chironomid- and pollen-inferred climatic reconstructions indicate periods of high and low continentality. The chironomid record indicates relatively cool summer conditions in the Allerod, especially ca. 13,000 cal. BP, possibly related to the Gerzensee Oscillation. On the other hand, a distinct increase of summer temperatures in Younger Dryas (up to 16 °C) was recorded. Such a situation was also confirmed in some other studies from the region, suggesting that it might be the effect of some specific, local palaeoclimatic conditions.
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Ракушечный Яр - уникальный стратифицированный памятник VII/VI тыс. до н. э. - раннего Средневековья - характеризуется сложной стратиграфией и палеорельефом, наличием погребенных почв и культурных слоев. Планомерные раскопки памятника... more
Ракушечный Яр - уникальный стратифицированный памятник VII/VI тыс. до н. э. - раннего Средневековья - характеризуется сложной стратиграфией и палеорельефом, наличием погребенных почв и культурных слоев. Планомерные раскопки памятника проводились в 1960-1970 гг. и возобновлены в 2008 г. В результате комплексных археологических и геологических исследований выявлены особенности культурных слоев, позволившие выстроить микрохронологию этого памятника, где отдельные слои формировались за очень короткое время. Ракушечный Яр представляет свидетельства разновременного и последовательного заселения человеком прибрежной зоны. Раскопанные части стоянок, возможно, были специализированными местами использования водных ресурсов. Ранненеолитическое поселение в непосредственной близости от озера, возникшего примерно в сер. VIII тыс. до н. э., появилось около 5600 л. до н. э. В рамках отдельных горизонтов отмечены платформы и/или кучи раковин Unio и Viviparus, перекрытые тонкими (1-3 см) прослойками ...
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Subfossil trunks of pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) from the Late Weichselian were discovered in the site Koźmin in the Koło Basin, central Poland (Dzieduszyńska et al., 2014a). Another part of organic sediments with trunks was excavated in... more
Subfossil trunks of pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) from the Late Weichselian were discovered in the site Koźmin in the Koło Basin, central Poland (Dzieduszyńska et al., 2014a). Another part of organic sediments with trunks was excavated in the frame of the research project. Altogether 224 samples from Koźmin were analysed dendrochronologically; they represented generally young trees, 40 to 70 years old. Based on the most convergent sequences, the chronology 2KOL_A1 was produced, 210 years in length. With the wiggle-matching method, it was dated to ca. 13065–12855 cal BP. Dendrochronological dating of trunks buried in organic sediments, most of which occurred in situ, revealed that tree deaths occurred successively, over more than 100 years. That could have been due to unfavourable climatic conditions, as well as extreme events, e.g. strong winds.
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The first results of paleogeographic study at estuary of the Katynka river allow to reconstruct the dynamics of vegetation in this part of the Dnieper floodplain for about 5 millennia and identify some traces of Neolithic, Early Iron Age... more
The first results of paleogeographic study at estuary of the Katynka river allow to reconstruct the dynamics of vegetation in this part of the Dnieper floodplain for about 5 millennia and identify some traces of Neolithic, Early Iron Age and Medieval human activity. The most prominent anthropogenic transformation of landscapes (signs of slash-and-burn agriculture) was associated with the late Holocene «Gnezdovo» buried soil dated 2-5 centuries AD.
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Chironomid (Diptera: Chironomidae) larvae play an important role in a wide range of aquatic ecosystems. The study focuses on Chironomidae trophic guilds and morphological types as indicator traits in reconstructions of habitat changes in... more
Chironomid (Diptera: Chironomidae) larvae play an important role in a wide range of aquatic ecosystems. The study focuses on Chironomidae trophic guilds and morphological types as indicator traits in reconstructions of habitat changes in shallow water bodies. Mentum and ventromental plates are important mouthparts whose shape depends on food type and feeding behavior. Chironomidae larvae strongly vary in the mode of life and feeding habits, representing almost every feeding group. Here we classified the mentum types into 16 groups and tested if they indicated similar past habitat changes as the Chironomidae functional feeding groups (FFGs), and tribes/subfamilies. Paleoecological data of biotic and abiotic proxies were derived from short sequences from a Late Glacial oxbow and a nearby medieval moat located in Central Poland. The study revealed that the habitat substratum structure, vegetation and physicochemical conditions are associated both with the feeding types and morphologica...
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The article presents the results of research carried out at Sacharewo in the Białowieża Forest, involving excavations of a barrow cemetery associated with the Roman Period and the nearby settlement, which delivered finds from the Early... more
The article presents the results of research carried out at Sacharewo in the Białowieża Forest, involving excavations of a barrow cemetery associated with the Roman Period and the nearby settlement, which delivered finds from the Early Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the Roman Period and the Modern Period. Noteworthy was a significant amount of material from the Iron Age and the Roman
Period, linked with the Hatched Pottery and Wielbark cultures,
possibly indicating a certain revival of settlement in
that area between the turn of the eras and the 5th/6th century
AD. Thanks to the analysis of airborne laser scanning data,
it was also possible to identify a complex of ancient arable
fields in the surroundings of the barrow cemetery. The
excavations were conducted along with sampling for geoarchaeological
and archaeobotanical analyses. A significant
pool of 14C dates was also collected.
The studies idientified the remains of a stable and continuous
(though not very developed and intensive) settlement
on the left side of the Leśna River, a barrow cemetery
and a field system, possibly used at the same time. This microregion
functioned in the first centuries AD, although materials
linked to the early Middle Ages were also found. At
this stage, however, it is not possible to determine their continuity
with finds from the Roman Period. The discoveries
also provide an insight into the external cultural influences
on the area during the Roman Period.
The conducted research complements other recent
findings from the Białowieża Forest, which, given its primeval
nature and the limited role of human activity during
past centuries, is an excellent area for further investigations
of settlement and economy patterns from different
periods.
Period, linked with the Hatched Pottery and Wielbark cultures,
possibly indicating a certain revival of settlement in
that area between the turn of the eras and the 5th/6th century
AD. Thanks to the analysis of airborne laser scanning data,
it was also possible to identify a complex of ancient arable
fields in the surroundings of the barrow cemetery. The
excavations were conducted along with sampling for geoarchaeological
and archaeobotanical analyses. A significant
pool of 14C dates was also collected.
The studies idientified the remains of a stable and continuous
(though not very developed and intensive) settlement
on the left side of the Leśna River, a barrow cemetery
and a field system, possibly used at the same time. This microregion
functioned in the first centuries AD, although materials
linked to the early Middle Ages were also found. At
this stage, however, it is not possible to determine their continuity
with finds from the Roman Period. The discoveries
also provide an insight into the external cultural influences
on the area during the Roman Period.
The conducted research complements other recent
findings from the Białowieża Forest, which, given its primeval
nature and the limited role of human activity during
past centuries, is an excellent area for further investigations
of settlement and economy patterns from different
periods.
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The use of digital documentation, including image-based 3D techniques allows to reduce the role of traditional and time-consuming manual drawings. However it significantly shortens the process of obtaining data in the field, it also need... more
The use of digital documentation, including image-based 3D techniques allows to reduce the role of traditional and time-consuming manual drawings. However it significantly shortens the process of obtaining data in the field, it also need long time for digital processing of images. In fact, this situation is nothing new. Older researchers probably still remember that similar challenges were connected with a traditional archaeological photography of pre-digital era. During the excavation on the medieval ring-fort and motte in Rozprza 2D and 3D photogrammetric documentation and integration of the results in GIS was widely used, eliminating traditional forms of field documentation. It was particularly important in extreme wet conditions of work in the bottom of Luciąza river valley. Popular Agisoft PhotoScan software and QGIS georepherence module as well as a set of open source graphical raster and vector applications were used. The key role was the appropriate organization of the field...
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The transition to the Neolithic on the East European Plain was a very different process to the Western model, featuring a long-lasting hunter-gatherer economy and late introduction of agriculture. The authors present results from... more
The transition to the Neolithic on the East European Plain was a very different process to the Western model, featuring a long-lasting hunter-gatherer economy and late introduction of agriculture. The authors present results from multiproxy research on a 13.5m-deep core of organic deposits from the Serteya mire as part of an international research project to understand human-environment relations in the Western Dvina Lakeland.
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Archaeology and Antiquity
The radioactive isotope content of any geological sample (lithic rock, sand, silt or clay) is characteristic for a specific type of geological material. The use of the isotope ratio method allows each sample to be distinguished in terms... more
The radioactive isotope content of any geological sample (lithic rock, sand, silt or clay) is characteristic for a specific type of geological material. The use of the isotope ratio method allows each sample to be distinguished in terms of source. In this study the radioactive isotope ratio method has been applied to a set of ceramic pottery specimens from the same multi-layered archaeological site and probably produced from local raw material. The method shows the similarities within the ceramic material used to manufacture the pottery. The variations in the quantitative and qualitative compositions of the basic products (clay, silt, loam, sand, ash and organic admixtures) used in the preparation of the ceramic paste change the isotopic composition and activity ratios. Pottery from each ceramic manufacturing centre, based on the specific composition of the raw materials, have characteristic isotope ratios. Radioactive isotope ratios as fingerprints of ancient ceramic manufacturing centres have not yet been applied as an archaeometric method. The proposed method has been applied to a Striatemulti-phased settlement complex and pottery manufacturing centre in Ostrowite in northern Poland. The earliest pottery to be manufactured in Ostrowite dates to5200-5000 BC, during the existence of the Early Neolithic settlement. Subsequent settlement phases and pottery production horizons are dated to the early Iron Age (approx.800-600 BC), the Roman period (1st to 4th centuries AD) and the Middle Ages (11th to14th centuriesAD). The site has a long tradition and experience in ceramic production.In this study two isotope ratios were applied: 40K/ 228Ac and 226Ra/ 208Tl. The proposed non-destructive archaeometric method allows the analysis of vessel fragments. This study analysed 11 fragments of Neolithic pottery,3 fragments from the early Iron Age, 5fragments from the Roman period, 5 specimens from the medieval period, 3 burned clay samples and 8 raw material samples, all collected from the Ostrowite complex.This pilot study confirm the grouping of the isotope ratio results for each type of the samples, even in terms of similarities with the base clay material collected in this region.
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Dr. Ganna Zaitseva participated a lot in researches conducted within the North-Western archaeological expedition of the State Hermitage Museum and elaborating the chronological timeframes for Neolithic in this region. Multidisci- plinary... more
Dr. Ganna Zaitseva participated a lot in researches conducted within the North-Western archaeological expedition of the State Hermitage Museum and elaborating the chronological timeframes for Neolithic in this region. Multidisci- plinary investigations of the last five years changed a lot historical schemes and environmental reconstructions made for Serteya II site, located in Smolensk region. The Serteya II site is a multilayer complex used by hunter–fisher–gath- erer communities in the 9th-8th mill. BC, and from the end of the 7th till the end of the 3rd mill. BC. Archaeological structures and horizons were developed in the palaeolake shore zone within changing water regimes and changes in the environmental conditions. Based on the most convergent dendrochronological sequences, two floating chronolo- gies were compiled, for pine wood 53 years old and larch wood 54 years old. Finally five OSL dates have been obtained, but the acquired age of geological ones significantly exceeded e...
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The article focuses on the analysis of climatic and anthropogenic factors affecting the development of the accumulative fan in the lower sector of the Serteyka River valley in Western Russia. Within the fan deposits, several layers of... more
The article focuses on the analysis of climatic and anthropogenic factors affecting the development of the accumulative fan in the lower sector of the Serteyka River valley in Western Russia. Within the fan deposits, several layers of sediments were identified, i.e. three units of deluvium (lower, central and upper), proluvium and also colluvium and tillage diamicton, which differ in textural and structural features. The grain size analysis was made and the textural features of the studied slope sediments were compared: mean grain diameter, skewness, standard deviation, kurtosis. Then, the relations of selected grain size parameters were interpreted. The obtained results indicate a rather small transformation of the accumulative fan in relations to the textural features of the source material. Lower deluvium is characterized by very weak lamination and light brown yellow color, the central deluvium has a brown color and the textual indicators are similar. Subhorizontal stratificatio...
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The paper presents the results of a palaeoecological study of Neolithic archaeological layers from a wetland, multilayer site, Serteya II (Western Russia). It contains , domestic structures, rich organic artefacts, skeletons, and ecofacts... more
The paper presents the results of a palaeoecological study of Neolithic archaeological layers from a wetland, multilayer site, Serteya II (Western Russia). It contains , domestic structures, rich organic artefacts, skeletons, and ecofacts preserved within lacustrine deposits that are extremely important on a European scale. We employed a set of specialised palaeoecological analyses and accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating to identify the principal environmental conditions which attracted Neolithic hunter-fisher-gatherer communities from 4300 to 1600 cal. BC. The distinct impact of communities using a nonproductive economy on the ecology of the palaeolake shore zone was recorded. Also, palaeolake water level changes influenced the palaeoeconomic activity of local Neolithic societies, such as gathering of plants (for the medicinal use or serving as dietary components), fishing activities, and possible funeral practices. In addition, the identified phases of high-water level changes, which were responses to climatic oscillations, were correlated Geoarchaeology. 2020;1-30. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/gea
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Geography, Earth Sciences, Geoarchaeology, Neolithic Archaeology, Palaeoecology, and 10 moreNeolithic Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Holocene, History and archaeology, Geoarchaeology and Paleoenvironmental Reconstructions, Multiproxy analyses, Lacustrine sedimentology and lake sediment stratigraphy, Hunter gatherer Ecology, Hunter Gatherer Archaeology, and Enivironmental Archaeology
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Abstract We reconstructed 3300 years (3500 BCE and 200 BCE) of the development history of the Rąbien peatland located in central Poland, using pollen, macrofossil, testate amoebae, Cladocera, Chironomidae and geochemistry. Central Europe,... more
Abstract We reconstructed 3300 years (3500 BCE and 200 BCE) of the development history of the Rąbien peatland located in central Poland, using pollen, macrofossil, testate amoebae, Cladocera, Chironomidae and geochemistry. Central Europe, particularly Poland, is characterised by a transitional climate that is influenced by continental and Atlantic air masses, which makes this region very sensitive to climate change. Our results demonstrate the high potential of the Rąbien peat record to reconstruct palaeohydrological dynamics. The studied time interval is characterised by two pronounced dry periods: from ~ 2500 to ~ 1700 BCE and from ~ 700 to ~ 500 BCE, and two significant increases in the water table: from ~ 1000 to ~ 800 BCE and from ~ 500 to ~ 250 BCE. The timing of the wet shift at 600 BCE corresponds to wet periods at different sites in Central and Eastern Europe. Our investigation reveals a more complicated and complex than previously assumed set of climatic relationships in Europe between 3500 BCE and 200 BCE, which might be linked through complex teleconnections of atmospheric circulation patterns. Only reconstructions that are based on an understanding of current observations from peatlands and lake ecosystems may lead to a better interpretation of past climate changes.
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Peatlands are important records of past environmental changes. Based on a multiproxy analysis, the main factors influencing the evolution of a peatland can be divided into autogenic and allogenic. Among the important allogenic factors,... more
Peatlands are important records of past environmental changes. Based on a multiproxy analysis, the main factors influencing the evolution of a peatland can be divided into autogenic and allogenic. Among the important allogenic factors, apart from climate change, are deforestation and drainage, which are directly associated with human impact. Numerous consequences arise from these processes, the most important of which are physical and chemical denudation in the catchment and the related hydrological disturbances in the catchment and peatland. The present study determined how human activities and the past climatic variability mutually influenced the development of a small peatland ecosystem. The main goals of the study were: (1) to trace the local changes of the peatland history over the past 600 years, (2) to investigate their relationship with changes in regional hydroclimate patterns, and (3) to estimate the sensitivity of a small peatland to natural and human impact. Our reconstr...