Late Glacial to Late Holocene Environmental Changes Recorded in the Floodplain Geoarchive of the Ostriv Dubovets Archaeological Site (NW Ukraine)

ABSTRACT

Ancient settlement conditions on floodplains within the western part of the East European Plain remain obscure due to the limited archaeological and environmental research. This study presents a multidisciplinary geoarchaeological investigation of the Ostriv Dubovets site in northwestern Ukraine, including geomorphological, stratigraphic, micromorphological, particle size and magnetic susceptibility analyses. The site's pedosedimentary archive reveals a bipartite Late Glacial palaeosol, the upper of which shows signs of clay illuviation and cryogenic alteration. The periglacial phenomena are the youngest in this region, representing cryoturbation, cryogenic‐induced subsidence and frost fissures. Aeolian sand sedimentation during the Younger Dryas stadial led to the formation of an elevation that was inhabited by ancient people in the Mesolithic period. The site underwent strong soil redeposition and deflation until the onset of the Subatlantic period, when modern soil began to form. Both erosional and pedogenic phases were mainly governed by natural factors and land use practices, leading to multiple artefacts' redeposition. The study, for the first time in NW Ukraine, demonstrates the value of integrated geoarchaeological approaches for interpreting floodplain archives.