Anthony J Barham (editor) - Archaeological Sediments and Soils: Analysis, Interpretation and Management (UCL Institute of Archaeology Publications)

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SEDIMENTS AND SOILS

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SEDIMENTS AND SOILS

Analysis, Interpretation and Management

edited by Anthony J. Barham

Richard I. Macphail

University College London Institute of Archaeology Publications, Vol. 4

Originally published by University College London Institute of Archaeology

First published 2009 by Left Coast Press, Inc.

Published 2016 by Routledge

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Copyright 1995 The Institute of Archaeology

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Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data available from the publisher

ISBN 978-0-905853-31-4 paperback

Contents

Richard Macphail and Paul Goldberg

Anne Gebhardt

Wendy Matthews

Timothy A. Quine

David D. Gilbertson

Anthony J. Barham

Matthew Canti

Jon G. Hather and Joanna C. Ellison

Mark G. Macklin

David R. Bridgland

A key aim of the Tenth Anniversary Conference of the Association for Environmental Archaeology was to focus discussion on the linkages and trajectories of Environmental Archaeological research in relation to trends in related and cognate disciplines. The session on Archaeological Sediments and Soils reflected this goal. It explored the aims, objectives and limitations encountered when methodologies and techniques linked to Earth Science are applied across a wide range of scales to the particular problems of stratigraphic and sediment context analysis and interpretation presented by research on archaeological sites and past landscapes.

In part, this third and final volume of Conference Proceedings reflects a long and distinguished tradition of investigation focused on the geology, sedimentology and pedology of archaeological sites. This tradition, exemplified by Professor F.E. Zeuner and Dr Cornwall when working at the Institute of Archaeology during the 1950s, made both the venue for the Conference and the post-conference excursion to the internationally significant Quaternary and Palaeolithic site at Boxgrove, West Sussex apposite choices for reflexive and reflective discussion.

At Boxgrove, the stratigraphic sections introduced by the site Director, Mark Roberts (see Plate 1) and viewed by Conference participants reflected the complex interplay of sedimentary and pedogenic processes which characterise archaeological sites, particularly those of Pleistocene age. Deposits range from beds whose process origin is ultimately coupled to global climatic change, such as periglacial solifluction, marine transgression and regression and sediment diagenesis operating over timescales of 103 to 105 years down to subtle microstratigraphy produced by individual tides, local streamflow and bioturbation responsible for subtle modification of stratigraphy and assemblage taphonomy, produced over timescales of 101 to 102 years. The interplay of these processes and timescales in influencing the stratigraphy, chronology and taphonomy of artefacts and ecofacts amply demonstrated the complex research objectives commonly encountered in geoarchaeology. The analytical approaches focused and deployed at the site, and discussed during the field excursion, ranged from dating techniques such as TL, through biostratigraphy of marine foraminifera to sediment facies analysis and soil micromorphology. All are required in order to unravel the stratigraphic and chronological complexity of the site. Equally they reflected the added research challenges posed in the archaeological application of Earth Science. The temporal and spatial precision and resolution demanded for adequate archaeological interpretation, and the resultant sampling and technical precisions required, are frequently critical issues. In essence, however, all of the key problems, such as identification of depositional process and the separation of primary features from post-depositional transformations, to stratigraphy and the erection of reliable geochronology reflected the traditions inspired by Zeuner (1937, 1940, 1959) and Cornwall (1953, 1958). The key approaches to satisfactorily resolving the archaeological challenges posed by a site such as Boxgrove would also have been familiar to Zeunernamely a three-dimensional and highly detailed approach to stratigraphy coupled to meticulous archaeological recording and the application of dating techniques, precise taxonomic identification and uniformitarian use of sedimentary facies analogues in order to interpret and test multiple competing hypotheses.