What’s in a colluvial deposit? Perspectives from archaeopedology

Scherer, Sascha; Deckers, Katleen; Dietel, Jan; Fuchs, Markus; Henkner, Jessica; Höpfer, Benjamin; Junge, Andrea; Kandeler, Ellen; Lehndorff, Eva; Leinweber, Peter; Lomax, Johanna; Miera, Jan Johannes; Poll, Christian; Toffolo, Michael B.; Knopf, Thomas; Scholten, Thomas; Kühn, Peter

doi:10.1016/j.catena.2020.105040

Cited by 14 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…However, in some upland regions of this period, colluvial deposits can be absent as well (Knapp et al, 2013;Scherer et al, 2021). This indicates that land use practice may have played a key role in triggering soil erosion, for example, assuming that seasonal and sporadic land use with pastoral activities was predominant at that time (Rösch, 2012).…”

Section: Early and Middle Bronze Agementioning

confidence: 99%

Mid‐ to Late Holocene landscape dynamics and rural settlement in the uplands of northern Bavaria, Germany

Kothieringer

Seregély

Jansen³

et al. 2022

Geoarchaeology

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We present results from a systematic interdisciplinary study on (pre‐)historic rural settlement and landscape development in an upland region of northern Bavaria, Germany. The archaeological and geoarchaeological investigations—supported by radiocarbon dating, optically stimulated luminescence dating, and palaeoecological analysis—were performed to (i) identify so far unknown prehistoric rural settlement sites, (ii) determine site‐specific soil erosion from colluvial deposits, and (iii) assess the composition of woodland from on‐ and offsite charcoal finds. The earliest indicators of human activities from the Younger Neolithic (late 5th to early 4th millennium B.C.E.) come from colluvial deposits. Our investigations, for the first time, show Middle to Late Bronze Age (ca. 1400–800 B.C.E.), permanent rural settlement in a German central upland region, with a peak in the Late Bronze Age. Due to the varying thicknesses of Bronze Age colluvial deposits, we assume land use practices to have triggered soil erosion. From the spectrum of wood species, Maloideae, ash, and birch are regarded as successional indicators after fire clearance in that period. Settlement continued until the 5th century B.C.E. After a hiatus of 500 years, it re‐flourished in the Late Roman and Migration periods (mid‐3rd–5th century C.E.) and went on in the Medieval period.

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Section: Early and Middle Bronze Agementioning

confidence: 99%

Mid‐ to Late Holocene landscape dynamics and rural settlement in the uplands of northern Bavaria, Germany

Kothieringer

Seregély

Jansen³

et al. 2022

Geoarchaeology

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“…Microbial biomass carbon (C mic ) was determined by the substrate-induced respiration method (SIR) (Anderson and Domsch, 1978). Measurements were taken using an automated respirometer system based on electrolytic O 2 microcompensation (Scheu, 1992). A detailed description of sample preparation and data analysis is given in Scherer et al (2020).…”

Section: Laboratory Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The stratigraphic and chronostratigraphic deciphering of colluvial deposits and buried topsoils based on 14 C and OSL dating is fundamental for the reconstruction of land use phases of nearby settlements (Kittel, 2015;Scherer et al, 2021). In the northwestern Alpine foreland, phases of colluvial deposition during the MBA have been reported much less frequently (Schulte and Stumböck, 2000;Vogt, 2014), while related archaeological remains provide evidence of simultaneous human occupation (Dieckmann, 1998;Ehrle et al, 2018;Wissert, 1985).…”

Section: Phases Of Colluvial Deposition and Land Usementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In central Europe, human impact on the terrestrial ecosystem has distinctly increased since the Late Holocene (Winiwarter and Bork, 2019), and land use practices such as deforestation and soil tillage have left land use traces (e.g., charcoal, archaeobotanical and biogeochemical proxies) that are archived in colluvial deposits by impeding degradation processes through continuous sedimentation (Kühn et al, 2017). Therefore, colluvial deposits can be considered one of the key archives for human-land interactions (Pietsch and Zádorová and Penížek, 2018) as they store not only the history of climate and sedimentation, but also proxies for past land use change and associated practices (Dreibrodt et al, 2010a, b;Scherer et al, 2021). These land use proxies can be spatially and temporally related to nearby settlement sites, which allows for a more detailed understanding of local phases of land use.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Middle Bronze Age land use practices in the northwestern Alpine foreland – a multi-proxy study of colluvial deposits, archaeological features and peat bogs

Scherer¹,

Höpfer

Deckers³

et al. 2021

SOIL

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Abstract. This paper aims to reconstruct Middle Bronze Age (MBA; 1600–1250 BCE) land use practices in the northwestern Alpine foreland (SW Germany, Hegau). We used a multi-proxy approach including the analysis of biogeochemical proxies from colluvial deposits and buried topsoils in the surroundings of the well-documented settlement site of Anselfingen and off-site pollen data from two peat bogs. This approach allowed for in-depth insights into the MBA subsistence economy and shows that the MBA in the northwestern Alpine foreland was a period of establishing settlements with sophisticated land management and land use practices. The reconstruction of phases of colluvial deposition was based on ages from optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon (AMS14C) dating from multi-layered colluvial deposits and supports the local archaeological record with the first phase of major colluvial deposition occurring during the MBA followed by phases of colluvial deposition during the Iron Age, the Medieval period and modern times. The on-site deposition of charred archaeobotanical remains and animal bones from archaeological features, as well as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), charcoal spectra, phytoliths, soil microstructure, urease enzymatic activity, microbial biomass carbon (Cmic) and heavy metal contents from colluvial deposits, were used as proxies for on-site and near-site land use practices. The charcoal spectra indicate MBA forest management which favored the dominance of Quercus in the woodland vegetation in the surrounding area north of the settlement site. Increased levels of 5β stanols (up to 40 %) and the occurrence of pig bones (up to 14 %) support the presence of a forest pasture mainly used for pig farming. In the surrounding area south of the settlement, an arable field with a buried MBA plow horizon (2Apb) could be verified by soil micromorphological investigations and high concentrations of grass phytoliths from leaves and stems. Agricultural practices (e.g., plowing) focussed on five staple crops (Hordeum distichon/vulgare, Triticum dicoccum, Triticum monococcum, Triticum spelta, Triticum aestivum/turgidum), while the presence of stilted pantries as storage facilities and of heat stones indicate post-harvest processing of cereal crops and other agrarian products within the settlement. In the area surrounding the settlement, increased levels of urease activity, compared to microbial biomass carbon (up to 2.1 µg N µg Cmic-1), and input of herbivorous and omnivorous animal faeces indicate livestock husbandry on fallow land. The PAH suites and their spatial distribution support the use of fire for various purposes, e.g., for opening and maintaining the landscape, for domestic burning and for technical applications. The off-site palynological data support the observed change in on-site and near-site vegetation as well as the occurrence of related land use practices. During the Early and Middle Bronze Age, fire played a major role in shaping the landscape (peak of micro-charcoal during the MBA), and anthropogenic activities promoted Quercus-dominated forest ecosystems at the expense of natural beech forests. This indicates a broader regional human influence in the northwestern Alpine foreland at low- and mid-altitude inland sites during the Middle Bronze Age.

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“…2018; Henkner, Ahlrichs, Fischer et al., 2018; Kappler et al., 2018; Poręba et al., 2019). As cultivation of soils usually causes unintended soil erosion (McNeill & Winiwarter, 2004), colluvial deposits—as the correlate sediments of soil erosion—can be particularly suitable for the reconstruction of (pre)historic agricultural activities as they also archive signals of past land use practices (Glaser & Birk, 2012; Prost et al., 2017; Scherer, Deckers et al., 2021; Scherer, Höpfer et al., 2021).…”

Section: Interdisciplinary Collaborations Between Soil Scientists And...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Why do we need interdisciplinary cooperation with anthropologists and archaeologists in soil science?

Teuber

Bartelheim

Hardenberg

et al. 2022

J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci.

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Looking at soils from the perspective of an environmental scientist or agronomist might neglect various dimensions of valuation that can be attributed to soils. Especially social and cultural connoted values including ecosystem services cannot always be measured in terms of scientific values or classified as soil types or soil qualities in a modern, economic way. Even though soils are a fact and have been present on the Earth's surface and used by people, at least for food production, at different times and in different cultures, the ways of dealing with soils and the valuations of soils are extremely diverse. Researchers in anthropology, archaeology, and agriculture, for example, are investigating different perspectives like soils as common good or as private property. This concerns not only different knowledge orders about soils, but also beliefs, techniques, foodways, practices, and power relations concerning soils and cereal cultivation. Based on the example of agriculture with a focus on cereal cultivation, we argue that there is still a great need for interdisciplinarity between the sciences and humanities. However, there is also a need to distinguish and explain between fundamental interdisciplinary research and application of findings in a socio‐economic context. It is necessary to understand different knowledge orders and valuations in time or space and to reevaluate today's perspectives on soils and agriculture for facing modern problems such as soil degradation, erosion, salinization, and an overall loss of soil fertility.

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What’s in a colluvial deposit? Perspectives from archaeopedology

Cited by 14 publications

References 74 publications

Mid‐ to Late Holocene landscape dynamics and rural settlement in the uplands of northern Bavaria, Germany

Mid‐ to Late Holocene landscape dynamics and rural settlement in the uplands of northern Bavaria, Germany

Middle Bronze Age land use practices in the northwestern Alpine foreland – a multi-proxy study of colluvial deposits, archaeological features and peat bogs

Why do we need interdisciplinary cooperation with anthropologists and archaeologists in soil science?

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