The paper discusses the potentials and challenges of geoarchaeological research into long-term prehistoric settlement dynamics. As an example, the study employs a dataset of 367 Bronze Age sites from the Weiße Elster river catchment in Central Germany, spanning the area between the Northern German Plain and the Central Uplands. The recorded sites are systematically processed to create a cohesive dataset with a standardized chronology, consistent classification of site types, and clear spatial delineation. A key focus is on analyzing how archaeological, geographical, and culturally intrinsic filters influence the visibility and preservation of Bronze Age sites across time and space. To investigate settlement dynamics, the study uses chronological frequency distributions, site density metrics, spatial relationships between periods, and Site Exploitation Territories (SETs). The results reveal that the basic trends in Bronze Age settlement dynamics can be identified through the dataset. However, there are limitations. Due to culturally intrinsic filters, each period is represented by a distinct combination of settlements, burials, and stray finds. The reason for this is that some periods can only be identified by artifacts made of a certain material, such as pottery or metal. This is also observed in neighboring regions, suggesting broader regional patterns. Site density analyses show that local communities in the Northern German Plain primarily settled along the Weiße Elster River during the Early Bronze Age (2150–1600 BCE) and Middle Bronze Age (1600–1300 BCE). In contrast, sites from the Transitional Period (1300–1150 BCE) show no clear settlement pattern. The Urnfield Period (1150–800 BCE), is marked by a high concentration of sites in the Northern German Plain and increased land use in the Central Uplands. SET analysis aligns with these findings, further highlighting a dominance of loess soils near Early Bronze Age settlements. Site frequencies remain relatively stable between the Early Bronze Age and Transitional Period but surge sharply during the Urnfield Period – a pattern primarily observed in adjacent study areas in the Central Uplands. Notably, both the start of the Middle Bronze Age and the Urnfield Period are characterized by a widespread abandonment of settlements and burial sites from earlier periods.

Up to several meters thick fine-grained Holocene overbank deposits are ubiquitously found in most Western and Central European lowland floodplains. However, the interplay of different possible causes for their formation are not well understood yet. Most authors suggest human-induced deforestation as the main precondition for sediment mobilisation and transport from the slopes to the floodplain, generally regarding overbank sediments as human-derived ‘legacy sediments’. In contrast, others suggest a stronger influence of climatic factors. This current research gap is caused by often missing well-resolved fluvial chronostratigraphies and spatio-temporal information about former human activity within the studied catchments. To fill this gap we exemplarily studied Holocene overbank sedimentation and possible human or natural drivers in the meso-scale Weiße Elster catchment in Central Germany by using a comprehensive geoarchaeological approach: On the one hand, we applied numerical dating as well as sedimentological and micromorphological analyses to Holocene overbank sediments along three floodplain transects. On the other hand, we built up an unprecedented systematic spatio-temporal database of former human activity within the catchment from the Neolithic until the Early Modern Ages. Together with published paleoclimatic data, this database allowed an unprecedented, systematic comparison of Holocene overbank sedimentation phases with possible human and natural external controls. Our data show that some overbank sedimentation phases were directly linked with human activities in the affected site sub-catchments, whereas others were not. Instead, all phases were clearly linked with natural factors, i.e. hydroclimatic fluctuations. This difference with most former studies could possibly be explained by previously often limited numerical dating of the fluvial sediments and by largely missing spatio-temporally well-resolved regional settlement records, hindering a precise temporal link of fluvial sedimentation with former human settlement. Furthermore, this difference could possibly also be explained by a relatively high natural sensitivity of the landscape dynamics in the Central German lowlands, showing a subcontinental climate, towards external controls.