Abstract
Soils and sediments composing Tell Körtik Tepe (Epipaleolithic, Turkey) and Tell Yunatsite (Chalcolithic (Eneolithic), Bulgaria) have been studied with the aim to gain a better insight into their microfabrics, determine the composition of anthropogenic artifacts, and, on this basis, to analyze similarities and distinctions between these objects and the modern soils of urban areas. The methods of micromorphology, scanning electron microscopy with an energy dispersive X-ray microanalyzer, X-ray fluorometry, and other techniques to determine the chemical and physical properties of the soils and sediments have been applied. Two paleosols have been identified in Tell Yunatsite with a total thickness of 9 m: the paleosol buried under the tell and the paleosol in its middle part. Sediments of Tell Körtik Tepe have a total thickness of up to 5 m; their accumulation began at the end of Pleistocene over the surface of buried paleosol. The cultural layer of the tells consists of construction debris mainly represented by a mixture of clay and sand and of domestic wastes with the high content of phosphorus. The major source of phosphorus is calcium phosphate (apatite) of bone tissues. The abundance of various anthropogenic materials in the sediments is clearly seen in thin sections. Even in the paleosols developed within the cultural layer (the mid-profile paleosol in Tell Yunatsite), the amount of microinclusions of bone fragments, charcoal, and burnt clay (ceramics) is very high. Micromorphological data indicate that up to 50% of the layered material filling an Epipaleolithic construction in Tell Körtik Tepe consists of the anthropogenic inclusions: bone fragments, charcoal, etc. The features of pedogenic transformation are present in the sediments. Such sediments can be classified as synlithogenic soils similar to the modern Urbic Technosols. It is shown that the formation of paleosols and sediments of Tell Körtik Tepe took place under extreme environmental conditions—arid climate of the latest Pleistocene climate cooling phase (the Younger Dryas, Tell Körtik Tepe)—and intensive anthropogenic loads (tells Körtik Tepe and Yunatsite).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
A. L. Alexandrovskiy, “Natural scientific studies of tell deposits and soils,” Proc. Int. Conf. “Archeology of Kazakhstan during Independence Period: Results and Prospects” (Alma-Ata, 2011), Vol. 3, pp. 245–253 [in Russian].
A. L. Aleksandrovskii, E. I. Aleksandrovskaya, A. V. Dolgikh, I. V. Zamotaev, and A. N. Kurbatova, “Soils and cultural layers of ancient cities in the south of European Russia,” Eurasian Soil Sci. 48, 1171–1181 (2015). doi 10.1134/S1064229315110022
A. L. Alexandrovskiy, V. I. Balabina, T. N. Mishina, and S. N. Sedov, “Yunacite tell and adjacent settlement: comparative pedological analysis in the context of archeological stratigraphy,” Kratkie Soobshch. Inst. Arkheol., No. 225, 189–206 (2011) [in Russian].
V. I. Balabina, V. Matsanova, N. Ya. Merpert, T. N. Mishina, and E. A. Spiridonova, “Stratigraphy and palynology of Tell Ploskaya Mogila in Thrace,” in Natural Research Methods in Field Archeology (Institute of Archeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 1999), No. 3, pp. 17–24 [in Russian].
Geography of Bulgaria: Physical Geography (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, 1982) [in Bulgarian].
M. A. Glazovskaya, Soils of the World (Moscow State Univ., Moscow, 1972), Vol. 1.
N. K. Kiseleva, V. I. Balabina, T. N. Mishina, and A. M. Pereladov, “Specific development of phytolithic and diatomic spectra of the cultural layer of Tell Ploskaya Mogila,” in Opus: Interdisciplinary Archeological Studies (Institute of Archeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 2005), Vol. 4, pp. 114–145 [in Russian].
T. V. Prokof’eva, S. N. Sedov, M. N. Stroganova, and A. A. Kazdym, “An experience of the micromorphological diagnostics of urban soils,” Eurasian Soil Sci. 34, 783–792 (2001).
T. V. Prokof’eva and M. N. Stroganova, Soils of Moscow City. Soils in Urban Environment: Specific Features and Ecological Role (GEOS, Moscow, 2004) [in Russian].
S. A. Sycheva, “Soil-geomorphological aspects of the development of cultural layer of ancient settlements,” Pochvovedenie, No. 3, 28–33 (1994).
Tell Yunacite. The Bronze Age (Vostochnaya Literatura, Moscow, 2007), Vol. 2, Part 1. [in Russian].
O. Ackermanns, N. Greenbaum, M. Osband, A. Almogi-Labin, A. Ayalon, A. Bar-Matthews, E. Boaretto, H. J. Bruins, D. Cabanes, L. K. Horwitz, F. H. Neumann, N. Porat, B. Schilman, E. Weiss, and A. M. Maeir, Soils and Sediments as Archives of Environmental Change. Geoarchaeology and Landscape Change in the Subtropics and Tropics, Chap. 19: Soil and Sediments as an Archive of Landscape History: The Case Study of Tell es-Safi/Gath, in the Eastern Mediterranean, Ed. by B. Lucke, R. Bäumler, and M. Schmidt (Palm und Enke Verlag, Erlangen, 2015), Vol. 42, pp. 281–294.
P. Akkermans and G. Schwartz, The Archaeology of Syria: From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies (c. 16,000–300 BC) (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004).
E. Alexandrovskaya and A. Alexandrovskiy, Anthropochemistry and Civilization processes (Lambert Academic, Saarbrucken, 2014).
A. L. Alexandrovskiy, A. V. Dolgikh, and E. I. Alexandrovskaya, “Pedogenic features of habitation deposits in ancient towns of European Russia and their alteration under different natural conditions,” Bol. Soc. Geol. Mex. 64 (1), 71–77 (2012).
V. I. Balabina, T. N. Mishina, and A. L. Alexandrovskiy, “Interdisciplinary studies of soils and sediments of the tell Yunacite, Bulgaria,” Second International Conference on Soils and Archaeology (Pisa, 2003), pp. 11–13.
M. Benz, A. Coşkun, C. Rößner, K. Deckers, S. Riehl, K. W. Alt, and V. Özkaya, “First evidence of an Epipalaeolithic hunter-fisher-gatherer settlement at Körtik Tepe,” Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı 34 (1), 65–78 (2012).
M. Benz, K. Deckers, C. Rößner, A. Alexandrovskiy, K. Pustovoytov, M. Scheeres, M. Fecher, A. Coşkun, S. Riehl, K. W. Alt, and V. Özkaya, “Prelude to village life. Environmental data and building traditions of the Epipalaeolithic settlement at Körtik Tepe, Southeast Turkey,” Paléorient 41 (2), 9–30 (2015).
P. Bullock, N. Fedoroff, A. Jongerius, G. Stoops, and T. Tursina, Handbook for Soil Thin Section Description (Waine Research, Wolverhampton, 1985).
U. Dogan, “Holocene fluvial development of the Upper Tigris Valley (Southeastern Turkey) as documented by archaeological data,” Quat. Int. 129, 75–86 (2005).
J. Görsdorf and J. Bojadziev, “Zur absoluten Chronologie der bulgarischen Urgeschichte,” Eurasia Antiqua 2, 105–173 (1996).
IUSS Working Group WRB, World Reference Base for Soil Resources 2014, Update 2015, International Soil Classification System for Naming Soils and Creating Legends for Soil Maps, World Soil Resources Reports No. 106 (Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, 2014).
N. Karul, “Gusir Höyük,” in The Neolithic in Turkey, Ed. by M. Özdoğan, N. Başgelen, and P. Kuniholm (Archaeology and Art, Istanbul, 2011), pp. 1–17.
M. Maghsoudi, I. Simpson, N. Kourampas, and H. F. Nashli, “Archaeological sediments from settlement mounds of the Sagzabad Cluster, central Iran: Human-induced deposition on an arid alluvial plain,” Quat. Int. 324, 67–83 (2014).
D. Matthews and J. Eidem, “Tell Brak and Nagar,” Iraq 55, 201–207 (1993).
Y. Miyake, O. Maeda, K. Tanno, H. Hongo, and C. Y. Gündem, “New excavations at Hasankeyf Höyük: a 10th millennium cal. BC site on the Upper Tigris, Southeast Anatolia,” Neo-Lithics, No. 1/12, 3–7 (2012).
M. Rosenberg, “Hallan Çemi,” in The Neolithic in Turkey, Ed. by M. Özdoğan, N. Başgelen, and P. Kuniholm (Archaeology and Art, Istanbul, 2011), pp. 61–78.
M. Rosenberg, “Demirköy,” in The Neolithic in Turkey, Ed. by M. Özdoğan, N. Başgelen, and P. Kuniholm (Archaeology and Art, Istanbul, 2011), pp. 79–87.
C. O. Sauer, Agricultural Origins and Dispersals (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, Cambridge, MA, 1952).
S. N. Sedov, M. A. Zazovskaya, M. A. Bronnikova, A. A. Kazdym, and S. Yu. Rozov, “Late Holocene man-induced environmental changes in Central Russian plain: paleopedological evidences from earlymedieval archaeological site,” Chin. Sci. Bull. 44, 159–165 (1999).
Soil Atlas of Europe (European Soils Bureau Network, 2005).
L.-M. Shillito, I. D. Bull, W. Matthews, M. Almond, J. M. William, and R. P. Evershed, “Biomolecular and micromorphological analysis of suspected faecal deposits at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey,” J. Archaeol. Sci. 38 (8), 1869–1877 (2011).
G. Stoops and R. Nijs, “Micromorphological characteristics of some tell materials from Mesopotamia,” Pedologie 36 (3), 329–336 (1986).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Original Russian Text © S.N. Sedov, A.L. Aleksandrovskii, M. Benz, V.I. Balabina, T.N. Mishina, V.A. Shishkov, F. Şahin, V. Özkaya, 2017, published in Pochvovedenie, 2017, No. 4, pp. 387–400.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sedov, S.N., Aleksandrovskii, A.L., Benz, M. et al. Anthropogenic sediments and soils of tells of the Balkans and Anatolia: Composition, genesis, and relationships with the history of landscape and human occupation. Eurasian Soil Sc. 50, 373–386 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229317040093
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229317040093