HOLOCENE ACCUMULATION OF COLLUVIAL AND ALLUVIAL SEDIMENTS IN THE WEIßE ELSTER RIVER VALLEY IN SAXONY,GERMANY*

Geoarchaeological investigations at two archaeological excavation sites lead to new results with respect to the Holocene landscape development of an archaeologically important loess landscape of Central Europe. Colluvial and alluvial sediments were sampled during archaeological excavations on the valley edge of the Weiße Elster and dated by means of ¹⁴C, TL and dendrochronology, and on the basis of archaeological finds. Thus, for the first time, the development of a valley edge of a river in the Leipzig area, which has been continuously settled for 7300 years, can be reconstructed. The first soil erosion on the valley edge is established towards the end of the Atlantic period. During the High Middle Ages, a colluvial sediment developed. Its deposition time can be limited to between ad 1000 and 1100. The flood loam near Großstorkwitz, which can be stratified by means of the soil and colluvial deposits, originated in the late Sub‐Boreal and early Sub‐Atlantic, as well as after ad 1100. During the first millennium ad, a soil developed in the older flood loam, which indicates a phase of reduced flood loam sedimentation.