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Welcome to the dark side - disclosing the invisible stages of medieval urbanisation through the integrated study of European Dark Earths

Research Project
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01.01.2022
 - 31.12.2025

Thick, dark-coloured homogeneous deposits, Dark Earths, are a common phenomenon in European towns. They cover large surfaces and are often rich in archaeological remains. Their seeming absence of stratigraphy has in the past resulted in a lack of research or their discarding. Meanwhile, geoarchaeological research has demonstrated that Dark Earths contain highly valuable information impossible to access with traditional methods. For the Early and High Medieval Period, Dark Earths represent some of the least known aspects of town development. Micromorphological data from numerous case studies, primarily in Belgium and Switzerland, are reevaluated in an integrated study in order to answer fundamental questions about medieval towns, through characterisation of human activities, natural processes, and taphonomical changes that shaped them. All data are entered into a novel two-pillar database system - the first online standardised tool publicly accessible to the scientific community. This enables the systematic collection, organisation, storage, interpretation, and sharing of data, and novel statistical analyses. The large amount of comparable data thus created leads to a geoarchaeological synthesis of medieval urban Dark Earths in Europe. Moreover, thanks to this unique open access system and image reference collection, the project will have a significant and lasting impact on how Dark Earths are studied in the future, preventing further loss of irreplaceable information.

Funding

Welcome to the dark side - disclosing the invisible stages of medieval urbanisation through the integrated study of European Dark Earths

SNF Projekt (GrantsTool), 01.2022-12.2025 (48)
PI : Ismail-Meyer, Kristin.

Publications

Grau-Sologestoa, Idoia et al. (2023) ‘Animals, Crops and Dark Earth: An Interdisciplinary Study of Urban Development from the Late Roman Period to the Early Middle Ages in Cologne (Germany)’, Environmental Archaeology, pp. 1–21. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2023.2182465.

URLs
URLs

Pümpin, Christine et al. (2021) ‘Dark Earth in Köln. Ein Beispiel aus der Antoniterstrasse unter dem Mikroskop’, in Classen, Erich; Trier, Marcus (ed.) Archäologie im Rheinland 2020. Oppenheim: Nünnerich-Asmus Verlag (Archäologie im Rheinland 2020), pp. 151–153.

URLs
URLs

Members (5)

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Kristin Ismail-Meyer

Investigator
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Barbora Wouters

Co-Investigator
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David Brönnimann

Project Member
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Simon Kübler

Project Member
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Christine Pümpin

Project Member