Bronze Age economies and landscape resources in the Kargaly steppe (Orenburg, Russia). Remote sensing and palynological data for ancient landscape resources modeling

Abstract

We present the methodological and technical issues of a research on ancient vegetation modeling in the Russian steppes combining remote sensing and palynological data. This research is framed in an international project developed by Russian and Spanish archaeologists from the Russian Academy of Sciences and Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and centered on the study of the Bronze Age mining complex of Kargaly (Orenburg, Russia). One of the research guidelines focused on potential landscape resources for copper metallurgy and subsistence activities, such as the availability of wood fuel or pasture and arable land. A pal-aeobotanical research has been carried out in order to explore such questions, including the use of remote sensing data for providing environmental calibrative criteria that help interpreting palynological data. Combining current pollen rain data and remote sensing products (obtained by digital processing of Landsat and ASTER imagery), we have developed a model to improve our understanding of the paleopalynological record.