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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
 - 31.01.2027

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

Pümpin, Christine et al. (2024) ‘Into the Dark: Uncovering the Unexpected. Geoarchaeology of Urban Dark Earth Deposits.’, in 22nd Swiss Geosience Meeting. Basel: Akademie der Naturwissenschaften Schweiz SCNAT (22nd Swiss Geosience Meeting), pp. 346–347. Available at: https://geoscience-meeting.ch/sgm2024/downloads/.

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Lo Russo, Sarah et al. (2024) ‘Recording, Sharing and Linking Micromorphological Data: A Two-Pillar Database System’, Open Archaeology, 10(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2022-0361.

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Pümpin, Christine, Asal, Markus and Rentzel, Philippe (2024) ‘Late Antique Basilia – a fortified settlement on the cathedral hill in Basel (Switzerland). Changes in urban land use based on archaeological and geoarchaeological evidence’, in Quentin Borderie, Ferréol Salomon (ed.) Urban Geoarchaeology. Paris: CNRS Editions (Urban Geoarchaeology), pp. 291–306.

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Alonso-Eguíluz, Mónica et al. (2023) ‘Turn on the lights! Illuminating plant material using different light sources. Examples from the DIVA-site (Antwerp, Belgium).’, Day of the Young Soil Scientist. Edited by Belgian Soil Science Society. Brussel (Day of the Young Soil Scientist), 1 January. Available at: http://www.soilbelgium.be/?p=4061.

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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.

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Members (8)

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Kristin Ismail-Meyer

Investigator
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Yannick Devos

Co-Investigator
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David Brönnimann

Project Member
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Simon Kübler

Project Member
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Sarah Lo Russo

Project Member
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Christine Pümpin

Project Member
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