Abstract
During the last 30 years the value of sandy, silty or dusty textural pedofeatures for identifying past agricultural practices
has been the subject of debate, particularly with regard to the applicability of modern analogue observations to ancient
soils.
Macro- and micromorphological analyses were carried out on all the contexts in a series of five trenches containing
pre-Roman plough grooves in moderately sandy buried soil profiles at sites near Hadrian’s Wall, Cumbria.
Micromorphological observations of 31 thin sections showed that the pedofeatures in question were not preferentially
distributed in thin sections of sediments from within or below the plough layers, but were more concentrated in contexts
which, as shown by field and archaeological evidence, were unlikely to have been affected by cultivation. Conversely,
the pedofeatures were absent in other thin sections of sediments from and below the contexts where past agriculture was
documented by field and archaeological features. The analysis also showed that the pedofeatures in question tended to
be distributed in parts of the sequence with suitable porosity, soil structure and texture rather than in relation to the
position of the cultivated layers. All the results in this case study showed that silty, sandy and dusty pedofeatures were
not diagnostic for past agricultural practices, and highlighted the need for more research on the micromorphological
evidence of ancient soils with a known record of past agriculture. _ 2001 Academic Press
Keywords: TEXTURAL PEDOFEATURES, MICROMORPHOLOGY, HADRIAN’S WALL, ANCIENT
AGRICULTURE.
has been the subject of debate, particularly with regard to the applicability of modern analogue observations to ancient
soils.
Macro- and micromorphological analyses were carried out on all the contexts in a series of five trenches containing
pre-Roman plough grooves in moderately sandy buried soil profiles at sites near Hadrian’s Wall, Cumbria.
Micromorphological observations of 31 thin sections showed that the pedofeatures in question were not preferentially
distributed in thin sections of sediments from within or below the plough layers, but were more concentrated in contexts
which, as shown by field and archaeological evidence, were unlikely to have been affected by cultivation. Conversely,
the pedofeatures were absent in other thin sections of sediments from and below the contexts where past agriculture was
documented by field and archaeological features. The analysis also showed that the pedofeatures in question tended to
be distributed in parts of the sequence with suitable porosity, soil structure and texture rather than in relation to the
position of the cultivated layers. All the results in this case study showed that silty, sandy and dusty pedofeatures were
not diagnostic for past agricultural practices, and highlighted the need for more research on the micromorphological
evidence of ancient soils with a known record of past agriculture. _ 2001 Academic Press
Keywords: TEXTURAL PEDOFEATURES, MICROMORPHOLOGY, HADRIAN’S WALL, ANCIENT
AGRICULTURE.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 514-553 |
| Journal | Journal of archaeological science |
| Volume | 28 |
| Publication status | Published - 2001 |