Faktoren der Formationsprozesse - Fallbeispiel bandkeramische Siedlung und Erdwerk Hanau-Mittelbuchen (Main-Kinzig-Kreis)

Abstract

The formation of archaeological Sites of Mid-European Early Neolithic Bandkeramik is mainly determined by the Neolithic settlers' activities, by later disturbances and by slope processes. T h e settlement of Hanau-Mittelbuchen is used as an example to quantify the prevailing variables of the formation processes. Every potsherd is registered in a database according to the pits they belong to and to their geometrical properties (fig. 1). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) made it possible to characterise the pits through the combinations of the geometrical properties of the ceramic. The component loadings show these properties belonging to different spheres of usage (f.x. fig. 4). Mapping the component scores of the pits makes visible correlations between principal components and erosive slope processes (fig. 2 and fig. 3). Plotting component scores in chronological order (fig. 5) serves here to suggest a chronology of the site according to the prevailing variables of the formation processes. Thus the principal components can be identified with different formation processes. They can be quantified and their influences become visible through time.