Geochemical data from loess records at the archaeological site Kammern-Grubgraben, Lower Austria

• Main Authors: Reiss, Lilian, Stüwe, Christian, Einwögerer, Thomas, Händel, Marc, Maier, Andreas, Meng, Stefan, Pasda, Kerstin, Simon, Ulrich, Zolitschka, Bernd, Mayr, Christoph
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2022
• Subjects: 14C dating; Last Glacial Maximum; secondary carbonates; Stable isotopes; Upper Palaeolithic; XRF-core scanning; Greenland; Tundra
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.943245; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.943245

Two loess sections from the Upper Palaeolithic site of Kammern-Grubgraben (Lower Austria) were analysed to test geochemical proxies, as well as radiocarbon data of different components for their reliability and consistency in an archaeological context. Only a reliable basal age (28.9  27.8 ka cal BP) was obtained from charcoal fragments derived from a tundra gley underlying the archaeological horizons and assigned to Greenland Interstadials 3 or 4. Grain size, organic and inorganic geochemistry, and stable isotopes of the fine organic fraction (13Corg) and of rhizoconcretions (13C, 18O) were analysed to provide information on palaeoenvironmental conditions. Low-resolution geochemical and sedimentological analyses document a humidity-related variability, while 13Corg values indicate a predominant C3 vegetation. High-resolution elemental variations derived from X-ray fluorescence scanning exhibit increasing Ca and decreasing Fe and Ti values indicating drier conditions towards the top. Secondary pedogenic carbonate concretions provide post-sedimentary (Holocene) ages and are not suitable for assessing climate and environmental changes for the Palaeolithic.