Tracing Archaeology through Geochemistry

An Example of a Disturbed Prehistoric Hilltop Settlement Site in South-Eastern Lithuania

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12940317
AutoresAndra Simniškytė (0000-0002-5559-979X, Lithuanian Institute of History, autor de correspondencia), Aušra Selskienė (0000-0002-7842-9072, Center for Physical Sciences and Technology), Jūratė Vaičiūnienė (0000-0002-5900-3148, Center for Physical Sciences and Technology), Vidas Pakštas (0000-0002-4282-0213, Center for Physical Sciences and Technology), Ramūnas Šmigelskas (Lithuanian Institute of History)
Año2017
Volumen8
Número1/2017
Páginas17-33
Fecha de publicación2017-06-30
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaInterdisciplinaria Archaeologica - Natural Sciences in Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1804-848X • E-ISSN: 2336-1220
EditorialArcheologické centrum Olomouc (PUBLISHER • CZ)
DOI10.24916/iansa.2017.1.2
OpenAlexW2740923219
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas7
Referencias citadas19

The aim of the research summarized in this paper was to describe soil properties from different contexts at an excavated hilltop settlement (subsurface features with artefacts, subsurface features holding no artefacts, and several sets of samples from substratum), to determine possible anthropogenic indicators at this locality, and to assess what, if any, are the differences of soil properties taken from the features with artefacts and those holding no artefacts. For this aim, 43 bulk soil samples were collected and analyzed for 16 chemical elements, magnetic susceptibility, soil organic matter and inorganic carbon, and pH values. The results revealed several sets of anthropogenic markers, among which the most distinguished were P, Mn, Zn and MS anomalies. A correlation between the presence/absence of artefacts and soil properties has not been detected. Anthropogenic sets were confirmed for almost all features with artefacts and for the major part of features holding no artefacts; thus the altered soil geochemical properties for these features can be assumed as an important additional cultural marker beyond that given by the archaeological remains. A handful of features with artefacts in one of them failed to be recognized as bearing any human-related signal; taking into account the circumstances, with reasonable care, they were categorized as disturbances having no archaeological value. No unambiguous interpretation is suggested for the analyzed subsurface features; rather they were considered in assessing various scenarios of archaeological context formation

Archaeology · Context (archaeology · Earth science · Geography · Natural (archaeology · Prehistory · Settlement (finance · Tracing · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Heavy metals in environment · Geology