Search

A method of the Holocene paleoenvironment reconstruction based on the analysis of pedobiomarkers in tell deposits is suggested. On the Yunacite tell, such a reconstruction has been accomplished applying two types of environmental records: (a) soil records documented in the profiles of two soils within the middle and lower parts of the tell and reflecting changes in the conditions of pedogenesis averaged over relatively long periods and (b) soil-sedimentary records in the cultural deposits of the Eneolithic and the Early Bronze Ages (3.5 and 2.5 m in thickness, respectively). The lower soil identified at the depth of 9.2–10.0 m was buried about 5000 cal BC (the chronology is based on calibrated 14C dates). The low humus and high carbonate contents indicate arid climate conditions in the 6th millennium BC. The middle soil at a depth of 5 m was formed for about 1500 years (4350–2850 cal BC) according to 14C data. According to chemical and micromorphological analyses, it has a higher humus content and is more leached of CaCO3, as it was formed under more humid climate conditions. A detailed time record of CaCO3 leaching processes has been revealed in the sediments of the Eneolithic and the Bronze ages that were accumulating for about 600 years in the 5th millennium BC and for about 350 years in the 3rd millennium BC. Due to the increase in climate humidity, the leaching process was intensified twice: about 4500 and 2800 cal BC. In the same two periods, especially in the former period, the proportion of residues of hydrophilic beech increases significantly, and the proportion of oak residues decreases. Similar data have been obtained by the analysis of phytoliths and pollen.

Soils and sediments composing Tell Kortik Tepe (Epipaleolithic, Turkey) and Tell Yunatsite (Chalcolithic (Eneolithic), Bulgaria) have been studied with the aim to gain a better insight into their microfabrics, determine the composition of anthropogenic artifacts, and, on this basis, to analyze similarities and distinctions between these objects and the modern soils of urban areas. The methods of micromorphology, scanning electron microscopy with an energy dispersive X-ray microanalyzer, X-ray fluorometry, and other techniques to determine the chemical and physical properties of the soils and sediments have been applied. Two paleosols have been identified in Tell Yunatsite with a total thickness of 9 m: the paleosol buried under the tell and the paleosol in its middle part. Sediments of Tell Kortik Tepe have a total thickness of up to 5 m; their accumulation began at the end of Pleistocene over the surface of buried paleosol. The cultural layer of the tells consists of construction debris mainly represented by a mixture of clay and sand and of domestic wastes with the high content of phosphorus. The major source of phosphorus is calcium phosphate (apatite) of bone tissues. The abundance of various anthropogenic materials in the sediments is clearly seen in thin sections. Even in the paleosols developed within the cultural layer (the mid-profile paleosol in Tell Yunatsite), the amount of microinclusions of bone fragments, charcoal, and burnt clay (ceramics) is very high. Micromorphological data indicate that up to 50% of the layered material filling an Epipaleolithic construction in Tell Kortik Tepe consists of the anthropogenic inclusions: bone fragments, charcoal, etc. The features of pedogenic transformation are present in the sediments. Such sediments can be classified as synlithogenic soils similar to the modern Urbic Technosols. It is shown that the formation of paleosols and sediments of Tell Kortik Tepe took place under extreme environmental conditions—arid climate of the latest Pleistocene climate cooling phase (the Younger Dryas, Tell Kortik Tepe)—and intensive anthropogenic loads (tells Kortik Tepe and Yunatsite).