The Stratigraphy of the Bronze and Iron Age settlement mound Feudvar near Mosorin, Serbia. GIS supported 3D analysis based on the analogue documentation of excavation

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Frank Falkenstein
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: from 2017 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 392135712

From 1968 to 1993 an interdisciplinary project cooperation led byBernhard Hänsel (Freie Universität Berlin) and Predrag Medović(Muzeum of Vojvodina in Novi Sad) was conducted with the goal toinvestigate the Bronze Age and Iron Age phases of the multilayerfortified settlement at Feudvar near Mošorin in Serbia. The excavationproject that was funded by the German Research Foundation(Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft – DFG) was interrupted by theoutbreak of war in Yugoslavia and could not be continued until today.The venture comprised four excavation seasons of several monthseach as well as four study seasons. The multilayered mound ofFeudvar was investigated by means of four excavation trenches ofcirca 2000 square meters total extent and reaching up to 2.2 m indepth. Although some sections and aspects of the excavations weresubjects of numerous contributions and a few doctoral dissertations,substantial study of all four excavation trenches could so far not beaccomplished. This research deficit is largely due to the lack of abinding site stratigraphy. The current project thus aims at working outan overall stratigraphy of the individual excavation trenches and of theentire settlement mound, with the stratigraphical sequence beingbased on radiocarbon dates. The stratigraphic sequences of layersand features established in the four trenches at Feudvar ensure thestandards of modern excavation documentation allowing for analysisof settlement features, of the archaeological finds and of scientificdata on a digital basis. Within this project a complex computer-basedprocess from geoinformatics is carried out, which ranges from datacapturing, data preparation, data conversion and data analysis overthe 3D modelling and visualization up to a spatial 3D entire model forthe archaeological stratigraphy of Feudvar, including the followingdata output and the providing of spatial 3D data and 3D models inGIS data formats. Defining archaeological 3D feature units and asequence of these are done using the thematic information ofstratigraphy, which are represented, stored and made available in therelational database designed within the project, as well as using aharris matrix and around 100 radiocarbon dates. Within the projectnew methodical approaches are being taken to transfer analogueexcavation documentation of old excavations into correspondingdigital data formats and to make use of them for a modern prehistoricarchaeological research in a 3D GIS. If the spatial and thematic dataof stratigraphy then integrated into a 3D GIS and linked or combined with additionally archaeological or other data in further relatedprojects this allows new query based analyzes and results, that serveto gain knowledge for future research. Thus an user-friendly databasis for future investigations is created.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants