TY - RPRT A1 - Becker, Jörg A1 - Clare, Lee A1 - Dietrich, Oliver A1 - Köksal-Schmidt, Çiğdem A1 - Merbach, Anja A1 - Notroff, Jens A1 - Pant, Smriti A1 - Peters, Joris A1 - Pöllath, Nadja A1 - Schmidt, Klaus T1 - Göbekli Tepe Newsletter 2014 Y1 - 2015 UR - http://www.dainst.org/documents/10180/123677/Newsletter+G%C3%B6bekli+Tepe+Ausgabe+1-2014 PB - German Archaeological Institute, Press Office CY - Berlin ER - TY - GEN A1 - Holmer, Anna A1 - Bősze, Ildikó A1 - Bonhage, Alexander A1 - Susanne, Lindauer A1 - Günther, Moosbauer A1 - Pöllath, Nadja A1 - Kristina, Reetz A1 - Jörg, Völkel T1 - Prehistoric slot pits on a loess covered Rissian Danube terrace at Straubing (SE Bavaria) – structures for fat tanning? T2 - Journal of geomorphology : journal of basic and applied geomorphology N2 - Slot pits are uniquely shaped pits linked to prehistoric settlements in Central Europe, some dating back to the Mesolithic. They are typically long, deep, and narrow, yet their exact function remains unclear despite extensive research. This study aims to synthesize previous archaeological and pedological findings regarding slot pits and refine hypotheses about their function and age. Samples were collected from slot pits, other pit types, and surrounding loess at an excavation site in Straubing-Lerchenhaid, Bavaria, covering periods from the Linear Pottery Culture to the Iron Age. Pedological analysis indicated that the slot pits were not filled with material from nearby chernozemic horizons, and that no measured element was enriched in slot pits but not other pit types. Radiometric dating of bulk sediment samples, charcoal and animal remains, suggested ages ranging from the End Mesolithic to the End Neolithic. Although biomarker analyses showed traces of human faeces, they were not significant enough to suggest that the pits were primarily used as latrines, which was supported by the lack of elevated phosphorus levels in pit samples. A combination of these findings leads to the hypothesis that slot pits may have been utilized in the fat tanning process. KW - Tanning pits KW - Slot pits KW - Linear pottery culture KW - Linearbandkeramik KW - Prehistoric Pedological KW - Environment KW - Neolithic Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/jgeomorphology/0874 VL - 2 IS - 1 SP - 67 EP - 129 PB - Borntraeger Science Publishers CY - Stuttgart ER -