ABSTRACT
Due to modern lignite mining in southern Brandenburg and northern Saxony (East Germany), entire landscapes are being destroyed. In the area of the lignite extraction, the BLDAM (Brandenburgisches Landesamt fiir Denkmalpflege und Archaologisches Landesmuseum) concurrently carries out largescale archaeological surveys and excavations to study and document evidence of past land use by prehistoric and historic cultures. On the area of the Jänschwalder Heide (Lower Lusatia, southern Brandenburg) one of the largest archaeologically investigated charcoal production areas in Germany was discovered, demonstrating the great intensity of energy production in historical times. The charcoal was probably used in the nearby ironworks of Peitz, where bog iron ore was smelted since 1567. Meanwhile, remnants of more than 400 charcoal hearths are excavated. To charge those piles, large areas had to be cleared, which certainly had major consequences for the environment and the character of the landscape. At least for a while, the vegetation was completely absent on the deforested areas, which were used as farmland although the soils are very sandy and poor in nutrients. Wind-blown sediments covering the charcoal pile relicts prove that clearing and agricultural use has induced aeolian soil erosion and the remobilisation of Quaternary sands.
One of the main aims of the ongoing investigation is to build up a chronological framework of the former charcoal production. These findings have to be correlated with the major phases of the landscape dynamics, which are documented by the relicts of soil erosive landforms, human-induced aeolian sediments, and buried soils.
