The Árpád Mound – geoarcheological research of a burial mound in the central Carpathian Basin

Kurgans hold exceptional archaeological, natural, and environmental historical significance in the lowland landscape of Eastern Europe, which has been extensively altered by millennia of agricultural activity. By conducting comparative soil and sedimentological analyses of the buried soil levels from kurgan construction, as well as the recent surface soil, we can uncover environmental changes from the latter half of the Holocene. These analyses also reveal how prehistoric human activities influenced local soil and environmental conditions. Our research focused on a geoarchaeological examination of a burial mound in the Hungarian Great Plain. Sedimentological analyses, including grain size distribution and magnetic susceptibility measurements, were performed on samples extracted by drilling from this mound. This comprehensive investigation enabled us to distinguish between different construction layers in the kurgan’s soil material and compare them. Additionally, it was possible to reconstruct steppe-like environmental conditions in the local surroundings of the kurgan before and during its construction.