The Application of Soil Micromorphology to Fossil Soils and Other Deposits From Archaeological Sites

Abstract

Summary In archaeological sites of Pleistocene and Postglacial age fossil soil horizons may be buried or form part of a composite soil profile when they may be either degraded or relic in nature. Since the A horizons of soils may be identified by their humus forms and the B horizon by their fabrics, both immature and mature fossil soil horizons may be identified and distinguished from man‐made deposits such as occupation layers and ditch fillings. Thus, micromorphology can be used as a geochronological technique for supplementing the existing knowledge of the mild and cold phases of the Pleistocene and to a lesser extent of the Postglacial. In mature fossil soils, since the fabrics of many B horizons are characteristic of certain soil types and are not altered by colluvial activity, it is possible to deduce something of the physiographic environment under which such fossil soil horizons were formed and, in particular, of the climate at the time of their formation. Thus, from composite soil profiles in archeological sections, relic fabrics have been observed and the primary origin of such colluvially derived soil material deduced. From buried profiles in loess sections of Europe the occurrence of braunerde fabrics with sol‐lessivé features confirms the other lines of evidence which suggest that the mild phases of the Pleistocene had similar climatic conditions and that these differ from those of today in the same area only in that the summers are today somewhat cooler and weetter.

The Use of Micropedology in the Study of Some Ontario Podzolic Profiles

“…More recently, the micro edological techniques of Kubiena (1938) and there have been notable specialized applications of this last approach (Dalrymple, 1958; Kurotori and Matsumoto, 1958;Dimbleby, 1961 ; Mu hy, 1962; Acton and St. Arnaud, 1963).…”

“…EARLY observers (see Muller, 1889; Wollny, 1902; Wolff, 1871) have described the constituent zones of soil profiles and for nearly a centu such descriptions have been accompanied by detailed chemical, physicx or biological analyses (Emeis, 1875 ;Dokuchaev, 1879;Muller, 1879;1884). More recently, the micro edological techniques of Kubiena (1938) and there have been notable specialized applications of this last approach (Dalrymple, 1958; Kurotori and Matsumoto, 1958; Dimbleby, 1961 ; Mu hy, 1962; Acton and St. Arnaud, 1963).…”

Micromorphology of archaeological deposits

“…que permite o estudo de amostras intactas de solos e sedimentos com a ajuda de técnicas de microscopia (Delvigne 1998). Foi originalmente formulada por Kubiena na década de 1930, e sua primeira aplicação em arqueologia remonta à década de 1950 com os trabalhos de Cronwall (1958) e Darlymple (1958) que demonstraram a utilidade desta técnica em estudos paleoambientais e geocronológicos. Não obstante, foi na década de 1980 que floresceram suas aplicações em arqueologia com a publicação dos primeiros trabalhos de autores como Goldberg (1979;, MacPhail (1983) e Courty (1983).…”

Soil micromorphology in archaeology: history, objectives, possibilities and prospects

“…The soil micromorphology was first applied to archaeological objects about two decades following its establishment as a separate scientific discipline by Kubiena in 1938 (Cornwall, 1958;Dalrymple, 1958). For about three next decades, micromorphological studies in archaeological context remained very rare.…”