Models of wetland settlement and associated land use in South-West Germany during the fourth millennium b : c

Baum, Tilman

In: Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 2014, vol. 23, p. 67-80

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    Summary
    A GIS-based modelling approach is presented that interprets existing data on subsistence strategies of pile-dwelling people of the Lake Constance area in South-Western Germany and North-Eastern Switzerland. This is conducted using the examples of the settlement sites at Hornstaad-Hörnle 1, Sipplingen-Osthafen and Degersee 1. Soil distribution and the geomorphologic features of a landscape are used as the basis for illustrating various scenarios of land use depicting hypotheses of economic strategies and aspects of the human-environment-system. In particular the implications of the crop system and the discussion about Shifting Cultivation or Intensive Garden Cultivation are used as different modelling inputs, alongside the spatial demand for cattle herding and for the extraction of timber. The Carrying Capacity of the landscape around the three settlement sites is calculated with respect to the agricultural system applied.