A multidisciplinary approach in wetland geoarchaeology: Survey of the missing southern canal connection of the Fossa Carolina (SW Germany)

Kirchner, André; Zielhofer, Christoph; Werther, Lukas; Schneider, Michael; Linzen, S.; Wilken, Dennis; Wunderlich, Tina; Rabbel, Wolfgang; Meyer, Cornelius; Schmidt, Johannes; Schneider, Birgit; Berg-Hobohm, Stefanie; Ettel, Peter

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2017.12.021

Cited by 20 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The Fossa Carolina has a length of approx. 2.9 km [32] and proof of the Early Medieval summit canal was found by vibra-coring [3,32,39,40], direct push sensing [27,38] and archaeological excavations [33,36]. The canal course starts on the southern slope of the valley watershed and runs with a noticeable s-shape in the northern direction ( Figure 2).…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 95%

“…(a) The Altmühl floodplain consists of late Pleistocene fluvial deposits, mainly gravels and sands. Holocene alluvial sediments accumulated subsequently with an intercalated mid-Holocene soil indicating neglectable meander migration during the late Holocene [40]. Further, Kirchner et al [40] deduced that the Fossa Carolina was never built in this section and, therefore, the canal has never been finished.…”

Section: Resolution Of Stratigraphymentioning

confidence: 96%

“…It is obvious that more than half of the excavated volume is not stored in the remaining dams. Vibra-coring [40], direct push sensing [38] and archaeological excavation data [33] show that significant amounts of excavated material was already washed back into the open trench shortly after the construction site was abandoned. Upper trench fills reflect relocated material originating from the adjacent dams [32].…”

Section: Where Has All the Materials Gone?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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3D-Modelling of Charlemagne’s Summit Canal (Southern Germany)—Merging Remote Sensing and Geoarchaeological Subsurface Data

et al. 2019

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The Early Medieval Fossa Carolina is the first hydro-engineering construction that bridges the Central European Watershed. The canal was built in 792/793 AD on order of Charlemagne and should connect the drainage systems of the Rhine-Main catchment and the Danube catchment. In this study, we show for the first time, the integration of Airborne LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and geoarchaeological subsurface datasets with the aim to create a 3D-model of Charlemagne’s summit canal. We used a purged Digital Terrain Model that reflects the pre-modern topography. The geometries of buried canal cross-sections are derived from three archaeological excavations and four high-resolution direct push sensing transects. By means of extensive core data, we interpolate the trench bottom and adjacent edges along the entire canal course. As a result, we are able to create a 3D-model that reflects the maximum construction depth of the Carolingian canal and calculate an excavation volume of approx. 297,000 m3. Additionally, we compute the volume of the present dam remnants by Airborne LiDAR data. Surprisingly, the volume of the dam remnants reveals only 120,000 m3 and is much smaller than the computed Carolingian excavation volume. The difference reflects the erosion and anthropogenic overprint since the 8th century AD.

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Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Resolution Of Stratigraphymentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Where Has All the Materials Gone?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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3D-Modelling of Charlemagne’s Summit Canal (Southern Germany)—Merging Remote Sensing and Geoarchaeological Subsurface Data

et al. 2019

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“…Bridging of the Central European watershed was of high geostrategic relevance, due to the expanding fluvial communication and transportation network of the Franconian Empire at that time (McCormick, ; Werther et al, ). Nevertheless, the canal was never finished (Kirchner et al, ) and only remains of it are visible today (Schmidt et al, ; Schmidt, Werther, & Zielhofer, ). The post‐Carolingian canal filling was reconstructed using excavation, drillings, and sediment analysis (Völlmer et al, ; Zielhofer et al, ).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The valley fills consist of Pleistocene sandy to loamy fluvial sediments. The canal has a length of 2.9 km, as proven by drillings (Kirchner et al, ; Zielhofer et al, ), archaeological excavation (Werther et al, ), and direct‐push sensing (Hausmann et al, ; Völlmer et al, ). Furthermore, extensive multi‐disciplinary research has been carried out at the Early Medieval canal over the last decade (Ettel, Daim, Berg‐Hobohm, Werther, & Zielhofer, ; Hausmann et al, ; Kirchner et al, ; Linzen et al, ; Schmidt et al, ; Schmidt et al, ; Stele, ; Zielhofer et al, ).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Genesis of magnetic anomalies and magnetic properties of archaeological sediments in floodplain wetlands of the Fossa Carolina

Stele

Fassbinder²,

Härtling

et al. 2019

Archaeological Prospection

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Floodplain wetlands are complex systems influenced by many natural and anthropogenic operators. Due to the influence of high and varying groundwater table and high organic contents, geophysical prospection in wetland floodplains quickly reaches the limits of its effectiveness. At the Early Medieval canal Fossa Carolina in southwest Germany, a study design employing magnetometry, drillings, sampling, and in situ rock magnetic measurements was used for environmental magnetic interpretation of magnetic anomalies in magnetograms and sediment layers. This approach offers reliable archaeological interpretation of magnetic anomalies and magnetic properties under the site specific sedimentological conditions of a floodplain wetland. It was also found that man‐made magnetic anomalies in the floodplain are due to the genesis of different remanent magnetizations – specifically, greigite (Fe3S4) can cause distinct magnetic anomalies in floodplains that can be recognized readily in surface magnetic data.

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Sediment budgeting of short‐term backfilling processes: The erosional collapse of a Carolingian canal construction

Schmidt

Werther

Rabiger-Völlmer

et al. 2020

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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Sediment budgeting concepts serve as quantification tools to decipher the erosion and accumulation processes within a catchment and help to understand these relocation processes through time. While sediment budgets are widely used in geomorphological catchment-based studies, such quantification approaches are rarely applied in geoarchaeological studies. The case of Charlemagne's summit canal (also known as Fossa Carolina) and its erosional collapse provides an example for which we can use this geomorphological concept and understand the abandonment of the Carolingian construction site. The Fossa Carolina is one of the largest hydro-engineering projects in Medieval Europe. It is situated in Southern Franconia (48.9876°N, 10.9267°E; Bavaria, southern Germany) between the Altmühl and Swabian Rezat rivers. It should have bridged the Central European watershed and connected the Rhine-Main and Danube river systems. According to our dendrochronological analyses and historical sources, the excavation and construction of the Carolingian canal took place in AD 792 and 793. Contemporary written sources describe an intense backfill of excavated sediment in autumn AD 793. This short-term erosion event has been proposed as the principal reason for the collapse and abandonment of the hydro-engineering project. We use subsurface data (drillings, archaeological excavations, and direct-push sensing) and geospatial data (a LiDAR digital terrain model (DTM), a pre-modern DTM, and a 3D model of the Fossa Carolina] for the identification and sediment budgeting of the backfills. Dendrochronological findings and radiocarbon ages of macro remains within the backfills give clear evidence for the erosional collapse of the canal project during or directly after the construction period. Moreover, our quantification approach allows the detection of the major sedimentary collapse zone. The exceedance of the manpower tipping point may have caused the abandonment of the entire construction site. The spatial distribution of the dendrochronological results indicates a north-south direction of the early medieval construction progress.

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A multidisciplinary approach in wetland geoarchaeology: Survey of the missing southern canal connection of the Fossa Carolina (SW Germany)

Cited by 20 publications

References 15 publications

3D-Modelling of Charlemagne’s Summit Canal (Southern Germany)—Merging Remote Sensing and Geoarchaeological Subsurface Data

3D-Modelling of Charlemagne’s Summit Canal (Southern Germany)—Merging Remote Sensing and Geoarchaeological Subsurface Data

Genesis of magnetic anomalies and magnetic properties of archaeological sediments in floodplain wetlands of the Fossa Carolina

Sediment budgeting of short‐term backfilling processes: The erosional collapse of a Carolingian canal construction

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