Content:
The Carpathian Basin is a hot spot for settlement activities since prehistoric times and offers a wide range of possible method application for archaeological, geophysical and geomorphological survey in different regions. Coring has been used in the contexts presented, in combination with geomagnetic measurements and field walking, to get an impression about settlement layouts, feature preservation, dating and the layering of the features appearing in the geomagnetic survey.
In Slovakia a large rondel from the late neolithic was discovered via a geomagnetic survey near the village of Podhájska in 2022. A combined coring and excavation campaign took place there in summer of 2022. Here, corings were used specifically to investigate several settlement pits, that were scattered across the terrain. The purpose was to gather datable material and to investigate the pit layouts and stratigraphical sequences.
The exploration of the site in Serbia, near the village of Opovo, was different. Geomagnetic investigations and field walkings revealed a late neolithic settlement, that had been partially known already by earlier surveys and even excavations in the 1980s. However, a geomagnetic survey in spring 2022 showed, that the settlement was much larger than anticipated by the former researchers. The settlement appeared to be far-reaching, with a ditch system and several burned houses. Based on this results, the aim of the coring activities at Opovo, was to extend and reevaluate the knowledge of the site by verifying the stratigraphy of multiple features and dating parts of the settlement.
We aim to show that even though a relatively similar combination of survey methods was applied, the research focus strategies differed massively. Whereas coring in Slovakia was used as an explorative method for the gathering of new information, it was used as a precise sondage tool in serbia for very specific contexts, in an already researched environment.
Keywords:
carpathian basin, geomagnetics, dating, settlement research, stratigraphy, coring