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Micromorphological and Chemical Features of Soils as Evidence of Bronze Age Ancient Anthropogenic Impact (Late Bronze Age Muradymovo Settlement, Ural Region, Russia)
Golyeva, A.; Khokhlova, O.; Lebedeva, M.; Shcherbakov, N.; Shuteleva, I. Micromorphological and Chemical Features of Soils as Evidence of Bronze Age Ancient Anthropogenic Impact (Late Bronze Age Muradymovo Settlement, Ural Region, Russia). Geosciences2018, 8, 313.
Golyeva, A.; Khokhlova, O.; Lebedeva, M.; Shcherbakov, N.; Shuteleva, I. Micromorphological and Chemical Features of Soils as Evidence of Bronze Age Ancient Anthropogenic Impact (Late Bronze Age Muradymovo Settlement, Ural Region, Russia). Geosciences 2018, 8, 313.
Golyeva, A.; Khokhlova, O.; Lebedeva, M.; Shcherbakov, N.; Shuteleva, I. Micromorphological and Chemical Features of Soils as Evidence of Bronze Age Ancient Anthropogenic Impact (Late Bronze Age Muradymovo Settlement, Ural Region, Russia). Geosciences2018, 8, 313.
Golyeva, A.; Khokhlova, O.; Lebedeva, M.; Shcherbakov, N.; Shuteleva, I. Micromorphological and Chemical Features of Soils as Evidence of Bronze Age Ancient Anthropogenic Impact (Late Bronze Age Muradymovo Settlement, Ural Region, Russia). Geosciences 2018, 8, 313.
Abstract
In some cases, the human impact on ancient landscapes has been so profound that local soils still remain significantly affected even after hundreds and thousands of years after ending impact. We studied the Late Bronze Age Muradymovo settlement located in Urals, Russia, aiming to estimate the consequences of the ancient people activity for environment. Despite the present humid climate, the modern soils inside the cultural layer of the study site contain more than 27% of gypsum at a depth of just 10 cm from the surface, and a microrelief of the study site is typical of a gypsum desert. The nearby background Chernozems are gypsum-free to a depth of 2 meters. According to the archaeological data, the ancient people belonged to the ‘Srubno-Alakul’ archaeological culture (1750–1350 yrs BC cal) and had a tradition of building their houses from gypsum rocks. At the present time, this area is still unsuitable for human settlement. The properties of modern soils inside the cultural layer of the study site are directly affected by the Late Bronze Age human activities. It has been identified on soil morphology, micromorphology and chemical properties of soils developed inside the cultural layer of the settlement.
Keywords
Bronze Age settlement; modern soil; micromorphology; chemical properties; gypsum; anthropogenic impact
Subject
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Environmental Science
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
