The potential of micromorphology for interpreting sedimentation processes in wetland sites: a case study of a Late Bronze-early Iron Age lakeshore settlement at Lake Luokesa (Lithuania)

Lake Luokesa lies in the eastern part of Lithuania and is part of a region of lakes formed by the Scandinavian ice-sheet and its melt waters during the last glaciation. During the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age transition, between 625 and 535 cal BC, a lakeside settlement with an onshore palisade was built on the platform of a carbonate bank. A total of five profiles, each comprising an organic occupation layer and lake sediments at its bottom and top, were examined micromorphologically. In this paper, natural and anthropogenic processes that led to the formation of the individual layers are presented; their possible origins are reconstructed and then discussed and compared to lakeside settlements of the circum-alpine region. This includes the emergence of lake marl, accumulation of organic layers in the settlement area as well as their decomposition, erosion and trampling features and inwash of sand through runoff from the hinterland. Due to the accumulation of the up to 60 cm thick culture layers in waterlogged environments, indications of seasonal deposition cycles could be identified.