Preservation and prospection of alluvial archaeological resources in the southern Balkans: a case-study from the Teleorman river valley, southern Romania

This paper documents the alluvial development of the Teleorman river system, a major north bank tributary of the lower Danube in southern Romania. The valley floor has a rich prehistoric archaeological heritage which may provide valuable information concerning the spread of agriculture, technology, and social change across northern Europe. However, the temporal and spatial complexity of this archaeological data can only be fully understood when set within a historical framework of geomorphic processes, particularly alluvial erosion and sedimentation. Within the Teleorman Valley, this framework has provided insights into the spatial complexity of settlement patterns, gaps in the archaeological record, human decision making and the identification of sites for the recovery of proxy records of climate and land-use.