Paleotopography and anthropogenic deposition thickness of the city of Aachen, Germany

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to reconstruct the pre-Roman topography under the city of Aachen, Germany. Aachen has a 2000-year settlement history, and enormous amounts of anthropogenic deposits have accumulated during this time; these deposits are thus also visualized. The key data used are archeological excavation records and geological drilling documents that contain elevation and spatial data, and the Kriging algorithm was used to interpolate these data to produce two high-resolution raster datasets showing both the paleotopography and thickness of anthropogenic deposits. The paleo-DEM was then employed to reconstruct the course of former streams running through the study area. This research provides new insights into the topographic preconditions encountered by the first Roman settlers. As the accumulation of anthropogenic deposits in distinct areas of the city is linked to specific historical periods, the results also reveal the developmental stages of the ancient city.

Keywords

• surface interpolation
• urban archeology
• paleotopography
• gis
• high-resolution dem
• cultural heritage