SUITMA 2005 Cairo - Historical sites with anthropedogenic soil horizon of high total phosphorus content
SUITMA 2005 Cairo
| This abstract is about one of the papers of the Historical sites theme of the SUITMA 2005 symposium. |
| György Füleky.i |
In traditional farming and living conditions, the total-P content of surface horizon and sometimes of the deeper or buried ones is correlated with the intensity of human activity, the length of time the area was inhabited, the population density, and the diet of inhabitants. High P more than 1000-1500 mg kg-1 could be the result of land use (manuring, fertilizing, etc.) or inhabitation on one place for a longer time in village or town, but in historical time.The sources of phosphorus in historical sites are usually bone, kitchen refuse, night soil, etc.
Total-P determination in the soils of historical sites can contribute to the WRB classification of human influenced soils. It was a close correlation between the total-P content of soil of a historical site and the number of fragments collected from the same area in Hungary. Total-P content shows the former human activity on the site - thousands of years later, too.
Total-P content of soil on the surface and below is in good correlation with the duration of inhabitation. At Endrod on an inhabited small hill people never occupied the area below 84 m and at the same time total-P remained below 1000 mg kg-1. On the inhabited places, the total-P content was always above 2000 mg kg-1.
At a Neolithic tell settlement in Hungarian lowland, not far from the Tisza river, core soil samples were taken inside and outside of the tell. The total-P content in the 4 m deep sampling area was rather high and only below the original A horizon became less than 1000 mg kg-1. At the same time out of the settlement the total-P content was in the whole soil profile far less than 1000 mg kg-1.
During the Bronze Age at the Szazhalombatta tell, the accumulation of cultural layers was 4 m on average. Each and every coring sample of these 4 m was extremely rich in phosphate content. On average, this measure was 4000 mg kg-1 P while on the A horizon of the original soil this was 1000 mg kg-1 P. This indicates a very intensive human occupation. Besides this, the high concentration of phosphate allows us to calculate on the amount of consumed food resources on the settlement.
As a conclusion, the classification of the soils of historical sites is considered as an anthrosol with anthropedogenic horizon, and the proposed diagnostic criteria: total-P content should be more than 1000 mg kg-1.
