0000000000881646
AUTHOR
Renate Gerlach
Landscape instability at the end of MIS 3 in western Central Europe : evidence from a multi proxy study on a Loess-Palaeosol-Sequence from the eastern Lower Rhine Embayment, Germany
Abstract The Lower Rhine Embayment hosts important Loess-Palaeosol-Sequences (LPS) within the western European loess belt yielding valuable information on landscape evolution and palaeoclimatic dynamics. The study focusses on the palaeoenvironmental development based on a LPS from the eastern shoulder of the Lower Rhine Embayment (Dusseldorf-Grafenberg). The palaeoenvironmental development within the study area is presented and discussed based on high-resolution grain size analyses, selected environmental magnetic parameters, and geochemical analyses complemented by luminescence age estimates. Differences in grain size distribution (ΔGSD) as well as the U-ratio clearly reflect main stratigr…
From point to area: Upscaling approaches for Late Quaternary archaeological and environmental data
Abstract The study of past socio-environmental systems integrates a variety of terrestrial archives. To understand regional or continental socio-environmental interactions proxy data from local archives need to be transferred to larger spatial scales. System properties like spatial heterogeneity, historical and spatial contingency, nonlinearity, scale dependency or emergence make generalizations from local observations to larger scales difficult. As these are common properties of natural and social systems, the development of an interdisciplinary upscaling framework for socio-environmental systems remains a challenge. For example, the integration of social and environmental data is often hi…
Steroid Biomarkers Revisited - Improved Source Identification of Faecal Remains in Archaeological Soil Material.
Steroids are used as faecal markers in environmental and in archaeological studies, because they provide insights into ancient agricultural practices and the former presence of animals. Up to now, steroid analyses could only identify and distinguish between herbivore, pig, and human faecal matter and their residues in soils and sediments. We hypothesized that a finer differentiation between faeces of different livestock animals could be achieved when the analyses of several steroids is combined (Δ5-sterols, 5α-stanols, 5β-stanols, epi-5β-stanols, stanones, and bile acids). We therefore reviewed the existing literature on various faecal steroids from livestock and humans and analysed faeces …