Geoarchaeological evidence of marshland destruction in the area of Rungholt, present-day Wadden Sea around Hallig Sudfall (North Frisia, Germany), by the Grote Mandrenke in 1362 AD

摘要

Geophysical and geoarchaeological investigations were carried out in the Wadden Sea of North Frisia (Schleswig-Holstein, Germany) to elucidate major environmental changes that considerably altered the coastal landscape since medieval times. Between the 12th and 14th cent. AD, the present-day tidal flats around the marsh island Hallig Sudfall belonged to the historical Edomsharde district and its main settlement Rungholt. For North Frisia, it is well known that during medieval and early modern times, extreme storm surges caused major land losses associated with a massive landward shift of the coastline. Today, cultural traces like remains of dikes, drainage ditches, terps or even plough marks are still visible in the Wadden Sea and provide evidence of the once cultivated marshland.