Abstract

Multicomponent environmental models are increasingly used in archaeological research to understand human patterns as a result of past climate and environmental conditions over the long term. However, particular challenges include the number of model variables, the comprehensiveness of the underlying explanatory parameters and the integration of socio-cultural decision-making into the model. With a novel approach to generate annual land cover variability using a wide range of climatic, geological, hydrological topographic and dendrochronological data, we estimate land use and settlement capacity and vulnerability to understand the socio-cultural transformation processes in late antique and early medieval Basel.

Drawing on a high-resolution local case study, our results demonstrate the potential of tree-ring derived proxy data to predict local environmental feedbacks. The model provides a means of tracing both land use and socio-cultural response to climate variability and subsequent adaptation to changes in environmental sensitivity. This approach enables to understand local human-environment interactions and the determination of site-specific isotope baselines from which past subsistence strategies as well as mobility patterns can be derived.