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THE METHODS OF RESEARCH OF BURIED SOILS UNDER ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
Abstract
One of the ways to study the evolution of natural environment, in particular, the soil cover is a comprehensive study of soils buried under archaeological sites. Comparative analysis of the properties of paleosols buried in different historical epochs allows us to examine in detail the spatial and temporal dynamics of the natural environment and its components in time. The use of such comparative analysis is possible because the burial of soil under embankments of defensive ramparts, burial mounds and cultural layers of ancient settlements isolates the soil from the influence of external environment, providing it with a kind of "conservation." Besides, the soils are capable of preserving a whole range of non-pedogenic traits that can be used for a more detailed reconstruction of the features of the natural environment at the time of the soil burial. So, in the soil profile, spores, and pollen of plants, phytoliths, faunal residues, etc. remain. The use of soil methods in the study of archaeological sites in Russia began more than a century ago, but the development of the scientific foundations of a new direction in soil science, called archaeological soil science, began in the 1970s and 1980s. To study the buried soils under archaeological sites, it is necessary to use a set of methods, since often a method alone has its limitations for obtaining reliable results.
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