Garbage In – Wisdom Out! Geoarchaeological Investigation of Sedimentation Processes & Waste Disposal
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2017-10-09

Garbage In – Wisdom Out! Geoarchaeological Investigation of Sedimentation Processes and Waste Disposal Practices at the Latène Settlement Basel-Gasfabrik 

Basel-Gasfabrik is an unfortified Late Iron Age settlement with domestic and economic structures and two associated cemeteries. It is among the large, unfortified, proto-urban settlements playing a major role in the La Tène period and which are usually connected with trade and craft production. Since 1911, numerous excavations revealed more than 600,000 artefacts and 900,000 animal bones, mostly from infilled storage or cellar pits. The majority of these findings are associated with dark sediments which contain much organic and inorganic garbage and form a major component of the materials used to fill in the settlement’s pits. Thus the question is raised as to how and where those dark sediments were formed before they were used as pit backfill. This question will be addressed by means of micromorphological and geochemical analysis of well-preserved settlement features. House floors, trampled outdoor areas, ditches and pits were analysed in order to characterize different activities and their corresponding sediments. Additionally, investigations of posthole backfills reveal information about the abandonment of buildings. Our results show that there are significant differences in sediment compositions, associated anthropogenic components and taphonomic proxies between features. The geoarchaeological data are supplemented by bioarchaeological and archaeological findings to arrive at comprehensive assessment of syn- and post depositional processes at Basel-Gasfabrik. This permits the reconstruction of waste disposal practices, activity areas and resource management, which is essential for interpreting complex assemblages like the inventory of an infilled pit. Furthermore, an insight into the daily life of Late Iron Age inhabitants in the settlement of Basel Gasfabrik was gained.

David Brönnimann 1, Norbert Spichtig 2, Guido Lassau 2, Philippe Rentzel1

1 Integrative Prehistory and Archaeological Science, University of Basel, Switzerland

2 Archaeological service of canton Basel-Stadt, Basel, Switzerland