Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Soils, Sediments, and Geomorphology

  • Chapter
The Archaeologist’s Laboratory

Part of the book series: Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology ((IDCA))

  • 1192 Accesses

Conclusions

Understanding sediments and soils is important for archaeologists because they almost always hold the key to archaeological context. We cannot be sure that artifacts and other kinds of material culture we find together are culturally associated, for example, by having been deposited during a particular activity, unless we know something about how the deposit in which they were found was formed and transformed over time. Sediment characteristics, such as particle size, shape, and sorting can help us identify such site-formation processes as natural colluviation, frost-heaving, and tipping of refuse into a midden. In addition, they can help us associate sediments in different parts of a site that are probably portions of a single Stratigraphic layer and to reconstruct ancient environmental changes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References Cited

  • Allen, T., 1968, Particle Size Analysis. Halstead Press, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Banning, E. B., Dods, R. R., Field, J., Kuijt, I., McCorriston, J., Siggers, J., Ta’ani, H., and Triggs, J., 1992, Tabaqatal-Bûma: 1990 excavations at a Kebaran and Late Neolithic site in Wâdî Ziqlâb. Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 36:43–69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butzer, K. W., 1982, Archaeology as Human Ecology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Courty, M. A., Goldberg, P., and Macphail, R., 1989, Soils and Micromorphology in Archaeology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darwin, C., 1882, The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms with Observations on their Habits. John Murray, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davidson, D. A., 1973,. Particle size and phosphate analysis — evidence for the evolution of a tell. Archaeometry 15:143–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Field, J., and Banning, E. B., 1998, Hillslope processes and archaeology in Wadi Ziqlab, Jordan. Geoarchaeology 13:595–616.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Folk, R. L., 1966, A review of grainsize parameters. Sedimentology 6:73–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, G. M., 1961, Distinction between dune, beach and river sands from their textural characteristics. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 27:3–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, P., Nash, D. T., and Petraglia, M. D., eds., 1993, Formation Processes in Archaeological Context. Monographs in World Prehistory 17. Prehistory Press, Madison, WI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffiths, J. C., 1967, Scientific Method in Analysis of Sediments. McGraw-Hill, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hassan, F. A., 1978, Sediments in archaeology: Methods and implications for paleoenvironmental and cultural analysis. Journal of Field Archaeology 5:197–213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holliday, V. T., ed., 1992, Soils in Archaeology. Landscape Evolution and Human Occupation. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inman, D. L., 1962, Measures for describing the size distributions of sediments. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 22:125–145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krumbein, W. C., 1934, Size frequency distribution of sediments. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 4:65–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Limbrey, S., 1975, Soil Science and Archaeology. Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mason, C. and Folk, R. L., 1958, Differentiation of beach, dune and aeolian flat environments by size analysis. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 28:211–226.

    Google Scholar 

  • NACSN, 1983, North American commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature, North American Stratigraphic Code. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 67:841–875.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen, A. E., 1991, Trampling the archaeological record: An experimental study. American Antiquity 56:483–503.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rittenhouse, G., 1943, A visual method of estimating two-dimensional sphericity. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 13:79–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rolfsen, P., 1980, Disturbance of archaeological layers by processes in the soil. Norwegian Archaeological Review 13:110–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosen, A.M., 1986, Cities of Clay: The Geoarchaeology of Tells. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schiffer, M. B., 1987, Formation Processes of the Archaeological Record. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, G. T., 1967, Prospecting without a computer in southern Switzerland. Estratto da Prospezioni Archaeologische 2:73–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shackley, M. L., 1975, Archaeological Sediments. A Survey of Analytical Methods. Butterworths, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shea, J. J., 1999, Artifact abrasion, fluvial processes and “living floors” from the early Paleolithic site of ‘Ubeidiya (Jordan Valley, Israel). Geoarchaeology 14:191–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simms, S. R., 1988, The archaeological structure of a Bedouin camp. Journal of Archaeological Science 15:197–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sneed, E. D. and Folk, R. L, 1958, Pebbles in the lower Colorado River, Texas: A study in particle morphogenesis. Journal of Geology 66:114–150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soil Survey Staff, 1975, Soil Taxonomy: A Basic System of Soil Classification for Making and Interpreting Soil Surveys. Soil Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington,DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stafford, C. R., 1992, Archeological stratigraphy and paleotopography. In Early Woodland Occupations at the Ambrose Flick Site in the Sny Bottom of the Mississippi River Valley, edited by C. R. Stafford, pp. 58–94. Kampsville Archeological Center Research Series 10. Center for American Archeology, Kampsville, IL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stein, J. K.., 1987, Deposits for archaeologists. Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory 2:319–396.

    Google Scholar 

  • -1992, Deciphering a Shell Midden. Academic Press, San Diego.

    Google Scholar 

  • Udden, J. A., 1898, Mechanical Composition of Wind Deposits. Augustana Library Publication No. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wadell, H. A., 1935, Volume, shape and roundness of quartz particles. Journal of Geology 43:250–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waters, M, 1992, Principles of Geoarchaeology: A North American Perspective. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wentworth, C. K., 1922, The shape of pebbles. Bulletin of the US Geological Survey 730-C: 91–114.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, W. R., and Johnson, D. L., 1978, A survey of disturbance processes in archaeological site formation. Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory 1:315–381.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, USA

    Michael A. Jochim

  2. Late of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA

    Roy S. Dickens Jr.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

(2002). Soils, Sediments, and Geomorphology. In: Jochim, M.A., Dickens, R.S. (eds) The Archaeologist’s Laboratory. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47654-1_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47654-1_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-306-46369-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-306-47654-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation