Research

The dating work using optically stimulated luminescence is part of an investigation into the supply of wood - particularly cedar wood - from present-day Lebanon to nearly the entire Near East. This dating work makes an important contribution to research on the chronology and reconstruction of environmental conditions (e.g., climate, soil conditions, fauna, flora) that were fundamental to international trade in this region. Furthermore, the age data obtained through luminescence dating methods will make an important contribution to understanding the infrastructure and settlement patterns of the study area in the Chekka region at that time. All work necessary for luminescence dating will be carried out at the Vienna Laboratory for Luminescence Dating (VLL) at the Institute of Applied Geology of BOKU University in Vienna. This work includes mechanical and chemical sample preparation, the determination of the equivalence dose using luminescence analysis, as well as statistical data evaluation and age calculation.

The research project addresses landslides as a key natural hazard phenomenon and comprehensively investigates processes, triggers and impact pathways. Engineering geological surveys provide the fundamental geomorphological and geological data, which is supplemented by innovative monitoring approaches and numerical modelling. The aim is to deepen the fundamental understanding of landslide processes in order to identify phenomena at an early stage and derive reliable predictions of movement behaviour and failure. The essential system changes resulting from climate change are systematically taken into account.

Archeology has traditionally placed emphasis on the study of human processes, assuming the continuity in the settlement as a phenomenon proper to the occupation of space. Discontinuities have received less attention. However, regions with low population pressure, geographically marginal with respect to the most recurrently occupied areas, as is the case of central-western Patagonia (Aisén Region), are characterized by discontinuities in human occupation. Discontinuities are not the same in terms of characteristics and extension, some even lasting millennia. This phenomenon has been identified at the spatial scales of archaeological sites and localities; however, a detailed study of a regional scale is needed to address the mechanisms and characteristics of the discontinuities throughout 12,000 years of history. This project will use the concept of exploration within the framework of an evolutionary archeology as it allows recognizing the role of information networks between individuals in the incorporation of new spaces and proposes that, given the prolonged and repeated discontinuities in the occupation of central-western Patagonia, its exploration was not a single process, but rather corresponded to a multidimensional phenomenon. With this objective in mind, open steppe areas, high-altitude sectors, periglacial environments, and closed forests will be evaluated as they are all margin areas where the archaeological record would be expected to preserve actions associated with exploration contexts. In spatial terms, explicit analytical scales will be used in data retrieval at the site, locality, and regional levels. In temporal terms, given the characteristic discontinuity of human occupation, it will seek to define chronological gaps as a starting point to evaluate the archaeological data sets. Different dating methods will be applied for defining the occupational redundancy at the site and locality level as well as the periods of occupation of the sites. The archaeological record will allow the comprehensive study of the directionality of the flows of goods, the ranges of action, the organization of technology and the strategies of subsistence and mobility through time.