The use of geological and geophysical methods to constrain the genesis of earth mounds at archaeological sites in the Jaslo Foothills (south-eastern Poland)

We show how geological and geophysical studies conducted in the Jaslo Foothills, near Dukla, help constrain the genesis of two mounds, under stood as heaped piles of earth, circular in plan view, located in Leki Dukielskie (site 27 "Pod Kopcem") and Dukla (site 7). Eleven hand auger holes yielded sediment samples for grain size analysis by laser (with a Fritsch apparatus). Hand auger holes were also made at sites in Wietrzno-Sooenina (site 29), and in Leki Dukielskie (site 5). Three of the mounds (Leki Dukielskie sites 5 and 27 "Pod Kopcem", Wietrzno-Sooenina site 29) are revealed to be of natural origin, i.e. they are rock "lumps" covered with a thin layer of weathered silty-clay deposits. The fourth of the mounds (Dukla site 7) was found to have an anthropogenic origin; given its dimensions, it can be considered a late Neolithic Corded Ware kurgan. The geological analyses were complemented by GPR measurements, which supported the observations based on augering results.