Archaeobotanical and palynological investigations on the subsistence and environmental influence of the Bronze Age settlement Fidvár near Vráble, Slovakia

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Felix Bittmann
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: from 2010 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 181195228

The archaeological settlement Fidvár near Vráble (SW-Slovakia) is characterized by thick cultural layers and a system of three surrounding ditches. It is located in the loess covered Danubian Hills just south of the Slovakian Ore Mountains and was inhabited by the middle European Unjetice-, the east European Hatvan- and the following Mad’arovce Culture. By archaeobotanical analyses focusing on charred cereals and their associated weed floras the economical background and its diachronic development will be investigated. What kind of socio-economical differences in-between the settlement did exist? How was the relation of Fidvár to the smaller settlements in its vicinity? Was the settlement self-sustaining or a consumer-site, concentrated on metallurgy? In addition to the rich archaeobotanical material from archaeological excavations, also the ditch sediments are used as on-site archives for pollen and macro remains. Palynological analyses to reconstruct the natural environment and its human induced turn to a cultural landscape since the early Neolithic Age will be conducted on suitable off-site archives. Combining our results with the archaeological and geographic-sedimentological data from the same archives will lead to a most complete notion of the rise and fall of Fidvár and its dependency and mutual influence on the surrounding landscape.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants