Crucial impact of the ancient anthropogenic settlement on soil pedogenes

MSc. Sahar Poledník Mohammadi, MSc.

Doctoral thesis

Abstract:

The perception of long-term environmental modifications under natural and anthropogenic conditions is the tool of how to deal with future human sustainability. One of the most important is the variation of the climate influencing the soil cover and soil pedogenesis. Humans control not only variations in the plant species composition but also the microclimate and soil cover through feedback mechanisms. Therefore, the reconstruction of the environmental change sequence formed under natural and anthropic conditions is essential for future predictions and sustainable development of human activity. Unfortunately, the incomplete datasets curtail the ability of archaeologists to investigate such ancient landscapes. The research aimed to analyze the environmental impact of ancient human activities on affected land fertility by prehistoric and medieval settlements in selected sites in the Czech Republic (Pilsen, Chotěbuz) and France (Bibracte). The Pilsen-Hradiste site has been known to archaeologists for more than 150 years. Since then, several small-scale surveys and excavations have been taken. This site had at least five phases of occupation and building activities, dating from the end of the Early Bronze Age (17th/16th century BC) to the Early Medieval Period (9th-10th century AD). One of the best research sites of Early Middle age fortified locations in the Czech lands is undoubtedly the hillfort in Chotěbuz-Podobora near Český Těšín. This site is near the current Czech-Polish state border, where systematic archaeological research has been underway for over thirty years. It lies in the narrower north fields of the Moravian Gate, an important connecting point between the European south and north. This intensively researched site provides another excellent opportunity for studying long-term human impact on soils and the local environment in the respective periods in the easternmost part of the Czech Republic, which historically connected regions of Moravia and Little Poland. Bibracte is a French site representing one of the best examples of significant transformations in later prehistoric Europe. This site indicates the appearance of the large enclosed settlements known as oppida. These sites, known as the beginnings of urbanism in Europe, marked the rise of proto‐state communities and the focus of engagement with the expanding Roman Empire. However, it recognized that the concept of Late La Tène (c. 250 to 30 BC) oppida as a unified group obscures a more complex picture of urban and social developments. Several unenclosed ‘agglomerated’ settlements represent an earlier phase of this phenomenon. The record of environmental changes caused by anthropogenic pressure is reflected in soil morphology and properties. The occurrence of a whole sequence of fossil soils (called fossil or buried soils), or just buried soil horizons, plays a crucial role in the former environmental reconstruction and its evolution over time. Soils transformed by man to a varying extent and developed human activity results (Anthrosols and Technosols) characterized by sharp boundaries between different soil units and between individual soils. They often do not have the transition zones (pedoecotones), characteristic of natural soils properties of those developed as a result of spatially limited human activities (such as plowing, fertilization, liming, drainage, changes in the species composition of forest stands or their habitat, and activities related to production, etc.) persist at different time scales. Some newly developed properties may become obliterated in a relatively short time (tens or hundreds of years) if the causes are eliminated (e.g., the disappearance of characteristics related to anthropogenic soil salinity). On the other hand, other soil properties permanently encoded in the “soil memory” allow us to determine the extent and intensity of the former anthropogenic pressure, even in areas where human impact on the so

Abstract:

il is not visible during direct field observations. Humanity’s impact on natural ecosystems is well documented and has led to a decline in biodiversity globally. The anthropogenic drivers responsible for this are predominantly related to climate change and pollution that stem from the agricultural and industrial demand to support an ever-growing population.

Keywords

anthropogenic settlement, Archaeology, Soil micromorphology, Magnetic susceptibility, Oppidum, Pedogenesis

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 26. 8. 2023

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: prof. RNDr. Vladislav Chrastný, Ph.D.
• Reader: Marek Vach, Ph.D., doc. Mgr., Jaromír Beneš, externi, Martin Janovský, externi

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Environmental Sciences

Doctoral programme:
Applied and Landscape Ecology