Bioturbation in Old Arable Soils: Quantitative Evidence from Soil Micromorphology

Current soils can have attributes inherited from land management systems in the past or previous environmental conditions. An important archaeological question is the extent to which the record of old agricultural practices can be retained in soils. This paper reports the results from examining soil thin sections collected from a range of old cultivated sites in the upper Bowmont valley, south east Scotland. The cultivated horizon was sampled from rigs and cultivation terraces dating from prehistoric to late medieval times. The main finding from microscopic analysis was the considerable impact of bioturbation as expressed in excremental pedofeatures. Results from point counting of these pedofeatures from 10 slides collected from an experimental site at Sourhope provided quantitative evidence on the extent to which bioturbation had occurred over the last 200 years. The rapidity by which micromorphological indicators of previous cultivation can be lost is thus demonstrated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]