Soil degradation is a serious problem and an important environmental issue in many ecosystems. Without integrative, interdisciplinary and historical approaches, understanding the effects of long-term soil degradation is difficult. According to this idea it is hypothesized that in order to study long-term natural and human-induced soil degradation, it is necessary to use interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches with respect to temporal and spatial landscape changes. The results of the investigation of colluvial sediments and soils in research area in Schleswig-Holstein (Germany) with a high resolution in space and time-using the four-dimensional landscape analysis-indicated the temporal and spatial variation of soils and sediments from the Mesolithic until Modern times. Intensive soil degradation occurred as a result of the land clearance and agricultural land use in the investigation areas since the Neolithic time. The general results of this investigation show that the use of an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach with pedological and geomorphological perspectives for different times and places can help to reconstruct the long-term natural and human-induced soil degradation.
Objective classification of settlement deposits is a prerequisite for understanding human‐environment interactions at habitation sites. This paper presents a novel approach combining a relatively fine‐scale sampling strategy, a multimethod geoarchaeological investigation of cores and multivariate statistics to aid in the classification and interpretation of complex and intricately stratified archaeological deposits. Heterogeneous settlement deposits, buried soils, colluvial, fluvial, and fluvioglacial sediments from cores retrieved in the Viking settlement Hedeby were investigated using six cost‐effectively measurable geoecological parameters: loss on ignition at 550°C, magnetic susceptibility, contents of stones, artifacts, bones, and charcoal with wood. Principal component analysis allowed identifying variables that would sufficiently describe data and cluster analysis enabled the classification of the materials. As a result, 13 classes were distinguished with a detailed and reliable differentiation of materials of natural and cultural genesis. Based on spatial distribution patterns of the classes, hypotheses regarding land use in the adjacent areas were made: Waste disposal in the valley of Hedeby‐brook and metallurgic activities north of it. This approach is valuable for coring‐based research at settlements, in particular at tightly managed heritage sites, and for surveys to identify potential excavation sites, whereas the set of variables must be adjusted according to local conditions.
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