Rivers and their environments are important areas in the history of humankind. As rivers provide vital resources such as water, food or energy and represent important traffic routes, these places have always been privileged areas for their economic use and settlement and have often been a hotspot of cultural development. For this reason, in addition to natural changes, riverine landscapes have always been subject to anthropogenic change, with vegetation or river courses being altered and infrastructure such as mills, bridges or weirs being installed. However, it is not only the changes along the river course that need to be considered, but also the changes and activities within the entire catchment; for example, agriculture, charcoal production or mining had a direct or indirect impact on riverine environments, their societies, and socio-political and economical systems. To better understand these feedback mechanisms between humans and the environment, in this special issue we welcome all geoarchaeological and archaeological contributions dealing with the landscape archaeology of riverine environments and their hinterland, working at different spatial and temporal scales and using different colluvial and alluvial geoarchives, proxies, and landscape reconstruction techniques.

Rivers and their environments are important areas in the history of humankind. As rivers provide vital resources such as water, food or energy and represent important traffic routes, these places have always been privileged areas for their economic use and settlement and have often been a hotspot of cultural development. For this reason, in addition to natural changes, riverine landscapes have always been subject to anthropogenic change, with vegetation or river courses being altered and infrastructure such as mills, bridges or weirs being installed. However, it is not only the changes along the river course that need to be considered, but also the changes and activities within the entire catchment; for example, agriculture, charcoal production or mining had a direct or indirect impact on riverine environments, their societies, and socio-political and economical systems. To better understand these feedback mechanisms between humans and the environment, in this special issue we welcome all geoarchaeological and archaeological contributions dealing with the landscape archaeology of riverine environments and their hinterland, working at different spatial and temporal scales and using different colluvial and alluvial geoarchives, proxies, and landscape reconstruction techniques.