Format: Paper presentations with discussion
Convenors:
Axel Cerón González,
FWO Doctoral individual fellow, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and KU Leuven, Belgium, axel.ceron.gonzalez@vub.be
Lilit Pogosyan,
Functional Ecology Research Group, Institute of Ecology, Mexico, lilit.pogosyan@inecol.mx
Elisa Scorsini,
School of Culture, History and Language, Australian National University, Australia; GML Heritage, elisa.scorsini@anu.edu.au
Yannick Devos,
Archaeology, Environmental Changes & Geochemistry Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, yannick.george.devos@vub.be
Human activities might modify space through time, leaving records in the physical phase of soils. Thus, archaeologists increasingly recognise soils as a research body in archaeological sciences to decipher ancient environmental changes and social interactions occurring in the landscape. This is mainly due to the ability of soils to record past events (often called soil memory). Since the last decades, applied pedological concepts have provided significant insights into human-environment relationships over long-term frameworks, hard to achieve using other environmental bodies as proxies. This session invites contributions showcasing field and laboratory experiences that employ soil storytelling to address complex archaeological and historical questions. Emphasis will be placed on interdisciplinary methods integrating traditional techniques (e.g., pollen analysis, phytoliths, and micromorphology) with cutting-edge approaches (e.g., phytoliths in thin sections, sedimentary DNA, and lipid biomarker analyses).
The following aspects are of special interest:
- Soils as research bodies in environmental, agricultural, horticultural, and urban history.
- Harmonisation of soil fieldwork and laboratory techniques for archaeologists.
- Soils as records of ancient human-landscape interactions (soil storytelling).
- Exploring the concept of soil memory and its potential to redefine soil heritage in historical and archaeological contexts.
Papers:
Historic Terraces in a Karstic Environment: Soil Storytelling of Human Agency in Medieval Lazio, Central Italy
Axel Cerón González, Archaeology, Environmental Changes & Geochemistry Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium; Dept of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
Matteo Rossi, Dept of History, Cultural Heritage, and Society, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Italy; Dept of Humanities, Roma Tre University, Italy
Ella Egberts, Archaeology, Environmental Changes & Geochemistry Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
Mónica Alonso Eguiluz, Archaeology, Environmental Changes & Geochemistry Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
Emeri Farinetti, Dept of Humanities, Roma Tre University, Italy
Soetkin Vervust, Ralf Vandam and Yannick Devos, Archaeology, Environmental Changes & Geochemistry Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
The Castle of Monte Falco in central Italy is located within a karst environment, shaped by agricultural terraces that may date back to the Late Medieval period. The effort to build these landscape infrastructures requires transgenerational collaboration, serving as symbols of human agency in mountainous areas where flat land for agricultural practices is limited. Field observations indicate that karst dissolution holes play a crucial role in the land management processes of terrace construction. Ancient surfaces with vertic properties (soil memory before terrace construction) have formed within these holes, and terrace walls were primarily built following this karstic pattern. In cases where vertic soil memory has been lost, likely due to early land management practices that eroded the soil, karstic holes appear to have been filled with chert deposits. Micromorphology displays active bioturbation, which may still contribute to soil mixing. Nevertheless, sequences of finer stratification are still present, and OSL profiling reveals a signal-depth progression. Additionally, vitric properties in the field and fresh pyroxenes in thin sections indicate recent volcanic activity during the Modern period.
Secondary Carbonates and Soil; Understanding the Construction Fills of the Mayan World in the City of Palenque
Daisy Valera-Fernández, Elizabeth Solleiro-Rebolledo, and Rafael López-Martínez, Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
Fernanda León- Almanza, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
Palenque, located in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, was one of the most significant Mayan cities of the Classic Period. Its transformation from simple urban beginnings to a thriving cultural and political center provides a detailed look at the evolution of cities in the Mayan world. The Palenque Mapping Project (PMP) of 2000 documented the existence of 1,481 structures within an area of 2.2 km², giving Palenque’s urban core a total of 673 structures per km². The city core stretches 2 km from east to west and is approximately 800 m wide, making it one of the largest and most densely populated cities in the western Maya Lowlands. While it has been proven that Palenque’s inhabitants modified the landscape during its construction, detailed information on the reconstruction or remodeling processes and the characteristics of the materials used are still lacking. This work focused on identifying and characterising the fill materials used in different areas of a Group IV building (Operation 451) to relate them to its collapse, evidenced by a crack in the central part of the pyramid. Macromorphological and micromorphological descriptions were made in 3 profiles inside the Operation 451 Pyramid: Chamber Profile, Pozo 2 Profile, and Pozo 4 Profile. Differences were identified in the thickness of the fill layers, with the soil material being more abundant in Pozo 2 Profile than in Pozo 4. From observations in thin sections, limestone fragments, travertine, ceramics, and remains of organic material such as charcoal and bone were identified as fill elements but were distributed in variable proportions. The soil and pedosediments fillings were also distinguished in their clay content. Although the region’s climate, characterised by a high volume of rainfall, may have contributed to the collapse of the architectural structure, we believe that the primary factor influencing it was the contrast in the resistance properties of the different construction fillings used within the building.
Hidden in Plain (Microscopic) Sight: The Potential of Dutch Wetlands for Early Crop Cultivation
Elena Familetto, Dept of Physical Geography, Faculty of Geoscience, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Hans Huisman, Groningen Institute of Archaeology (GIA), Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
Kim Cohen, Wim Hoek and Esther Stouthamer, Dept of Physical Geography, Faculty of Geoscience, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Wetland environments have high preservation potential for archaeological materials, including soils. In the Dutch Delta Plain, Neolithic surfaces and soils remain preserved beneath meters of sediment and submerged coastal waters. During the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition, this changing landscape, affected by meandering river channels, seasonal flooding, and rising sea level, was often considered too dynamic for sustained agricultural activity. However, natural levees along fluvial channels provide fertile, elevated, and drier areas due to occasional flooding. Numerous settlement sites from the Swifterbant culture have been found on these levees, along with evidence of cultivated fields.
This research, part of the “Finding Suitable Grounds” project, investigates the spatial and temporal extent of levee cultivation potential at the onset of crop cultivation in the Dutch lowlands (4000-6000 BC). We begin at a landscape level to pinpoint channel-levee features using maps from borehole databases and geophysical surveys. Then, we examine sediment sequences within cores to visually and chemically identify levels of soil formation for micromorphological analysis.
Indications of human activity are visible microscopically, including frequent charred material, ceramic fragments, and a mixed soil structure suggestive of tilling, indicating levee land use was widespread. Without soil-based analyses, these subtle traces of activity could remain overlooked.
Early Pleistocene Volcanic Paleosols of the Armenian Early Palaeolithic Sites: Theoretical Background and First Results from the Buried Catenas
Pavel Kust, Independent scholar
Elena V. Belyaeva, Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Sergey Sedov, Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico
Lilit Pogosyan, Red de Ecología Funcional, Instituto de Ecología, Veracruz, Mexico
In the Transcaucasian Highlands (Armenia), there is a group of Early Palaeolithic sites of Early Pleistocene age, devoid of faunal and pollen remains indicating landscape and climatic conditions. However, they contain paleosols that allow us to judge the paleoenvironmental dynamics. In our study, we reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions based on volcanic paleosols trapped between volcanic deposits with age from 2.08 to 1.49 Ma approximately in Kurtan II and Yaghdan profiles, where Early Acheulean artefacts were found. During the studied period there were stages of active landscape development and stages of stable soil formation under different climatic conditions. For example, in the Kurtan II profiles, the soil features below the artefact-bearing horizons correspond to Luvisol, which develops in warm humid climate. This Luvisol is represented by subsoil horizon; therefore, this soil was eroded and probably this material partly included into colluvial sediments above it. This colluvial sediment contains weathered lithic artefacts. These sediments (similar to Yaghdan) also undergone pedogenesis with weathering and in situ mineral transformation leading to the formation of Cambisol. The upper paleosol of the Kurtan II sequence shows reductimorphic features of Gleysol formed under water saturation conditions, this layer does not preserve any evidence of human occupation.