Ž . Catena 38 1999 89–107 www.elsevier.comrlocatercatena Age and source of colluvial sediments at Vaihingen–Enz, Germany Andreas Lang a, ) , Sibylle Honscheidt b ¨ a Forschungsstelle Archaometrie, Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften am MPI fur Kernphysik, ¨ ¨ D-69029 Heidelberg, Germany b Institut fur Geographie der UniÕersitat, D-70174 Stuttgart, Germany ¨ ¨ Received 10 January 1998; received in revised form 31 March 1999; received in revised form 2 June 1999; accepted 9 June 1999 Abstract Colluvial sediments accumulated on the lower slopes of a ridge as a result of past and present soil erosion were dated by optical, 14 C and archaeological methods. This allowed us to reconstruct the depositional history of the colluvium and also to identify temporary sedimentary sinks in its transportational pathway. A cascade-model of colluvium formation is developed. Colluvial sediments resulting from early soil erosion in the Neolithic to Iron age periods were mainly deposited on the upper slopes. Significant deposition on the lower slope occurred for the first time during the Iron age and Roman period. Since then deposition rates have increased because of more intensive land use. q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Colluvium; Soil erosion; Slope development; Optical dating; 14 C dating 1. Introduction Colluvium derived from eroded soil has long been the subject of pedological and geomorphological studies in Central Europe. More recently, interest in these studies has increased as archaeologists have recognised the value of artefact-bearing colluvium for studying the longer term interactions between man and the landscape. Dating is usually based on artefacts and 14 C dating of organic remains. For example, Bork and Bork ) Corresponding author. Geographisches Institut, Universitat Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 166, D-53115 ¨ Bonn, Germany. Fax: q49-228-739-099; E-mail: alang@giub.uni-bonn.de 0341-8162r99r$20.00 q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Ž . PII: S0341-8162 99 00068-5