Application of Soil Analyses as Markers to Characterize a Middle Eastern Chalcolithic - Late Bronze Age Mounds

Abstract

Tell El-Ghassil in Lebanon's Beka'a Valley is typical of mounds, in Syria, Turkey, and Iraq. While stratigraphy and human artefacts are used in archaeological investigations of such sites, soil analysis is a less frequently used. This study involved sampling to a depth of about 6 to 7 meters on exposed surfaces of a vertical transect, as well as away from the mound. The data show that parameters such as organic matter, total and available phosphorus, and the proportion of iron oxides are potentially useful indicators of soil weathering and the intensity of human occupation of the site, as well as periods of abandonment, and thus in charting the human evolution of the mound. The diffuse archaeological layers, i.e., the stratigraphy of the mound, which is difficult to distinguish, may also be elucidated with soil analysis.