Climate variability and Germanic settlement dynamics in the Middle Danube region during the Roman Period (1st-4th Century CE).
Climatic variability inevitably impacted past societies and acted as a driver of change. The combined analyses of the archaeological record and written documentary sources, together with high-resolution climate reconstructions, remain rare. In this work, we compare evidence of change at the Germanic...
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2025-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0325139 |
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| author | Marek Vlach Balázs Komoróczy Max Carl Arne Torbenson Jan Esper Rudolf Brázdil Ulf Büntgen Daniela Semerádová Otmar Urban Jan Balek Tomáš Kolář Michal Rybníček Miroslav Trnka |
| author_facet | Marek Vlach Balázs Komoróczy Max Carl Arne Torbenson Jan Esper Rudolf Brázdil Ulf Büntgen Daniela Semerádová Otmar Urban Jan Balek Tomáš Kolář Michal Rybníček Miroslav Trnka |
| author_sort | Marek Vlach |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Climatic variability inevitably impacted past societies and acted as a driver of change. The combined analyses of the archaeological record and written documentary sources, together with high-resolution climate reconstructions, remain rare. In this work, we compare evidence of change at the Germanic settlements (residential areas) of Iron Age Germanic societies in the Middle Danube region (the region of Moravia in the Czech Republic, Lower Austria and the Záhorie region in Slovakia) and reconstruct the effect of agroclimatic conditions during the first four centuries CE. Based on data from 773 residential areas with temporal identification, we demonstrate a coherent relationship between spatiotemporal changes in Germanic settlement structures and agroclimatic conditions. A nearly exponential increase in settlement structure during the 1st and half of the 2nd century CE coincided with improved agroclimatic conditions, whereas the subsequent settlement structure decline during the Late Roman Period temporally overlapped with agroclimatic deteriorations. Documented peak in cessations of residential areas in the late 2nd century CE appears unrelated to regional agroclimatic conditions and was instead caused by the Marcomannic Wars. We argue that separating periods of agroclimatic importance and insignificance is the first step towards identifying possible causal environmental drivers of settlement dynamics and societal change in the Middle Danube region. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-483614fcf7c146d49d93a0e00c5a7cdb |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-483614fcf7c146d49d93a0e00c5a7cdb2025-08-20T03:51:20ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01207e032513910.1371/journal.pone.0325139Climate variability and Germanic settlement dynamics in the Middle Danube region during the Roman Period (1st-4th Century CE).Marek VlachBalázs KomoróczyMax Carl Arne TorbensonJan EsperRudolf BrázdilUlf BüntgenDaniela SemerádováOtmar UrbanJan BalekTomáš KolářMichal RybníčekMiroslav TrnkaClimatic variability inevitably impacted past societies and acted as a driver of change. The combined analyses of the archaeological record and written documentary sources, together with high-resolution climate reconstructions, remain rare. In this work, we compare evidence of change at the Germanic settlements (residential areas) of Iron Age Germanic societies in the Middle Danube region (the region of Moravia in the Czech Republic, Lower Austria and the Záhorie region in Slovakia) and reconstruct the effect of agroclimatic conditions during the first four centuries CE. Based on data from 773 residential areas with temporal identification, we demonstrate a coherent relationship between spatiotemporal changes in Germanic settlement structures and agroclimatic conditions. A nearly exponential increase in settlement structure during the 1st and half of the 2nd century CE coincided with improved agroclimatic conditions, whereas the subsequent settlement structure decline during the Late Roman Period temporally overlapped with agroclimatic deteriorations. Documented peak in cessations of residential areas in the late 2nd century CE appears unrelated to regional agroclimatic conditions and was instead caused by the Marcomannic Wars. We argue that separating periods of agroclimatic importance and insignificance is the first step towards identifying possible causal environmental drivers of settlement dynamics and societal change in the Middle Danube region.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0325139 |
| spellingShingle | Marek Vlach Balázs Komoróczy Max Carl Arne Torbenson Jan Esper Rudolf Brázdil Ulf Büntgen Daniela Semerádová Otmar Urban Jan Balek Tomáš Kolář Michal Rybníček Miroslav Trnka Climate variability and Germanic settlement dynamics in the Middle Danube region during the Roman Period (1st-4th Century CE). PLoS ONE |
| title | Climate variability and Germanic settlement dynamics in the Middle Danube region during the Roman Period (1st-4th Century CE). |
| title_full | Climate variability and Germanic settlement dynamics in the Middle Danube region during the Roman Period (1st-4th Century CE). |
| title_fullStr | Climate variability and Germanic settlement dynamics in the Middle Danube region during the Roman Period (1st-4th Century CE). |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate variability and Germanic settlement dynamics in the Middle Danube region during the Roman Period (1st-4th Century CE). |
| title_short | Climate variability and Germanic settlement dynamics in the Middle Danube region during the Roman Period (1st-4th Century CE). |
| title_sort | climate variability and germanic settlement dynamics in the middle danube region during the roman period 1st 4th century ce |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0325139 |
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