Review of Illuvial Bands Origin; What Might the Presence of Dark Brown Bands in Sandy Infillings of Archaeological Objects or Cultural Layers Mean (original) (raw)
The presence of lamellae (or bands) often promises an interesting sedimentary archive related to the occupation or abandonment history of a site. How exactly might such types of bands be interpreted, and how do their presence change the original primary features preserved within the archaeological structure? For this review, two archaeological sites are introduced, both distinct in many aspects, located in different climatic regions, but with the presence of bands preserved inside of the in ll, as well as in the locality’s background. One site is related to the Magdalenian/Epigravettian occupation in south-western Poland, and the second related to the Neolithic occupation in central Bohemia. What connect these two localities are their permeable sandy background, presence of human occupation, and the development of the above-described textural features. Sedimentological observations supported by micromorphology and geochemistry, as well as by magnetic susceptibility, revealed that, in both localities, the presence of dark brown bands was the result of repeated illuviation due to a kind of podsolization process not necessarily related to human presence. The illuvial lamellae/bands at the Kly site probably originated during the Subboreal due to the increased humidity connected with the presence of the disturbed background of the in ll in the ditch. The Sowin site displays, at the very least, two phases of origin. One of the phases is pre-dated by glacial conditions, and the second is of late glacial or Holocene origin. The origin of these features in both study sites is due to precipitated water and the movement of clay down the section, but under their different conditions.
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Paleopedological studies of the age and properties of illuvial bands at an archaeological site
Quaternary International, 1998
The age and properties of illuvial bands in sandy soils were determined using archaeological and radiocarbon methods at a neolithic archaeological site at Opatowice (Kujawy, central Poland). The results indicate that the formation of illuvial bands started not earlier than the beginning of the Subboreal period (4800-4700 BP). These bands cannot be treated as relics from the end of the Vistulian (Wisconsinan) glaciation as is suggested by some authors. The paleopedological analyses show that the illuvial bands were formed by pedogenic processes (a peculiar kind of lessivage).
The subject of the study was a gentle and smooth loess slope, featuring a Magdalenian culture site, located near the northern edge of the loess belt in eastern Poland. Based on the probing of 130 soil profiles across a 10 × 10 m mesh within an area of 1.2 ha, the land surface after the deposition of Weichselian loess was reconstructed. Soil mapping indicated the patchwork character of the present soil cover, which consists of Luvisols of varying degrees of transformation resulting from agricultural use. Partly eroded and buried soils co-occur in the upper part of the ridge flat, non-eroded soils in the middle part, and eroded soils in the lower part, in the archaeological site area, with buried soils at the foot of the slope. The thickness of the primary soil cover was reconstructed by means of geostatistical analyses. This was used to reconstruct the primary, undulating land relief characterised by numerous small convex forms (small hillocks and hummocks) and concave forms (closed depressions and slope troughs). These forms were levelled out by soil erosion in the course of agricultural use. The planation of relief caused a decrease of the mean inclination by 25% and elevation difference by 13%. The greatest changes occurred on the ridge flat where the denudation of small hillocks and the filling of closed depressions took place. Local inclinations decreased by up to fourfold and in some places the inversion of slope exposure occurred. During the 210 years of agricultural use, the eroded surfaces subsided by an average of 0.32 m and, at most, by 0.92 m, which corresponds to an average of 1.5 mm and 4.3 mm per annum respectively. Less than 50% of the eroded soil material was deposited within the investigated slope; most of the material was carried off beyond it. The accumulated surface, however, is 2.5 times smaller than the eroded surface. Hence the accumulation indicators are slightly higher than the erosion indicators.
The ways of infilling archaeological objects are among the most common questions given to geo-archaeologists. Convenient subjects for the study of formation processes of archaeological terrain features (contexts) are V-shaped ditches. Their infilling is usually lithologicaly and texturally considerably variable with regular morphology and special archaeological context. The V-shaped ditches are known only from two chronologically, culturally distinctive periods. In first case there are ditches of " rondels " from the Late Neolithic Period, in the second case we are dealing with the fortification ditches of the Roman temporary camps. On the basis of sedimentological and consequently micromophological study, processes were differentiated in the formation of studied infillings. In Neolithic rondels, two parts of infillings were noted. The lower one typically has straight thin bedded layers, originating due to processes connected with vegetation ingrowth and erosion of the rampart. The upper part of the infilling is usually homogenous, and originated during the human caused grading of the surrounding area. During this phase, remains of rampart constructions were most probably destroyed. The basic type of deposition e especially visible in case of rondels e is lateral planar wash with phases of bioturbation, running pedogenesis on the edges of ditches, or stagnating water. The second main featuring process is mass movement slumping, particularly of upper faces of sloped sides. This process often happens naturally, mainly due to erosion, presence of water, and vegetation. The most distinctive postsedimentary processes determined within the rondel infilling were bioturbation, accumulation of carbonates and movement of clay minerals caused by soil leaching. In the V-shaped ditches of the Roman temporary camps, it was possible to microscopically trace similar records documenting coarse particle sedimentation at the base of ditches, although this layer is not continuous thought the whole width. It indicates the direction from which it was transported. They are remains of intentionally redeposited ramparts. The upper parts are marked by increasing humifi-cation and bioturbation as a result of ditch infilling emergence. However, it is possible to trace similar formation processes in both groups of studied V-shaped ditches and to define a basic classification. Prevailing textural and structural features are distinctively different between the groups, due to geological subsoil conditions, hydrological regime and depth of the ditches.
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