Archaeological significance of the Palaeolithic charcoal assemblage from Krems-Wachtberg

At the Palaeolithic site of Krems-Wachtberg, numerous charcoal remains were excavated since 2005. They were concentrated in the living floor (layer 4.4), especially in fireplaces 1 and 2 and several pits, but also mixed into sediments above the living floor. Since 2008, VIAS dendrolab (Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science, University of Vienna) has been cooperating with the excavators to investigate these charcoal samples for wood species analysis, dendrochronological synchronization, and also to evaluate their palaeoclimatic potential. The dominant wood type is Pine, which includes the species Pinus sylvestris, Pinus mugo, and Pinus cembra/sibirica. Two other gymnospermous wood types were found among the samples. Several charcoal pieces belong to Picea abies/Larix decidua (which cannot be separated by means of wood anatomy) and a single specimen of Abies sp. was found. A single angiosperm wood remain was analysed as Fagus sylvatica. Dendrochronological investigations singled out a number of samples with very similar ring patterns, which obviously had been growing at the same time. As these clusters do not match each other, samples were either not contemporary or grew on climatologically differing places. As a result of these studies, we were able to ascertain the synchronous use of fireplaces 1 and 2 in at least one phase. The advanced methods of charcoal analysis described in this paper can be used for detecting and synchronizing settlement phases on many archaeological sites. In particular, it is possible to significantly enhance the temporal resolution achievable with C-14-ages on wood charcoal. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA.