A previously unexplored 20,000 km2 area comprising the Daryalyk Takyr desert and the lacustrine landscapes of Telikol and Aschykol at the confluence of the Chu, Sarysu and Syr Darya rivers is presented here as object of a threefold geological, archaeological and ethnographic analysis assessing its historical importance. According to paleohydrological reconstructions, synchronous fluvial activity of the three rivers occurred during the Late Pleistocene. In the Holocene, the right branches of the Syr Darya delta were separated from the Chu-Sarysu confluence by alluvial sediments, becoming active only intermittently during undated flood events apparently strong enough to establish an ephemeral lake in the region. Geoarchaeological surveys analyzing surface finds indicate the densest occupation during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age. From medieval to modern times, historical sources attest to the seasonal use of the Telikol region as a pastoral transit between the Syr Darya banks and the steppes of Central Kazakhstan. They are confirmed by ethnographic data about Telikol during its last phase of occupation (1870–1910) illustrating that land use in this area (and, probably, in all semi-desert regions in Kazakhstan) was not governed by property rights but by tribal political compromises between residential and transitory herders, occasionally exposing it to overgrazing.

This study presents the results of a comprehensive geoarchaeological study implemented at an archeological site covering ca. 5 ha near the city of Csorna on the NW part of the Danube Plain, NW Hungary. The site itself exposed a complex fluvial system of an ice age creek with near bank and overbank areas (levee, point bar, back swamp). Spatial distribution of archeological features allowed for the interpretation of differential use of the fluvial landscape by different cultures. According to our data, the referred fluvial system must have emerged during the Late Glacial. At this time, creeks originating from hills to the SE followed a uniform NW trajectory. From the Holocene, small creeks were beheaded turning into inactive flood channels. It was the time when the gradual infilling of the floodplain started. Alternating layers of floodwater coarses and floodplain fines mark recurring floods at our site. These could have been correlated with cooler, wetter climatic phases of the North Atlantic, Western Europe and high stands in Central European lakes. Highest floods are recorded during the Late Bronze and Iron Ages besides the Neolithic. Pollen data enabled us to make inferences on the vegetation as well.

Remains of a vast Roman pottery production complex were found on the shore of the Plemići Bay (Općina Ražanac, Zadar county) in 2012, and confirmed by geophysical survey. Ground-penetrating radar measurements revealed outline of a rectangular building that finds analogies with Roman storehouses (horreum). The area occupied by remains of the Roman pottery workshop was covered by immense soil-debris flows. Three geological exposures located to the north of the remains of the Roman building were documented using lithological and malacological analysis, and magnetic susceptibility measurements. The profiles revealed at least three generations of slope sediments, formed in result of intensive soil or debris flows in a dry climate, most probably in 5th c. AD. In the next, wet phase sediments were transported downslope and deposited on the Roman structures after 5th c. AD. Environmental conditions at Pelmići were supply with paleoclimate evidence from the Adriatic region. At ca. 1.5 cal. BP lake levels in the eastern Adriatic area were drastically reduced, probably because of strong decrease in humidity, correlated with the so-called North Atlantic Bond event 3. The drought was followed by a humid episode, also attested at the Plemići archaeological site.