Geoarchaeology:Resource Use

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Resource and Land Use Management
Soils and sediments are an important resource, they provide a basis for agriculture, are a source of building materials and fuel, and they provide a means of disposing of waste products. The management of soils to maintain fertility and ensure access to scarce or economically important resources has been a common human theme through time. Geoarchaeology, therefore, can provide an important insight into the relationships between past human societies and these resources, and the ways in which these resources have been managed.


 * Agriculture: Soil fertility, and the maintenance of that fertility, is an important issue for all agriculturally based societies. Management of soils to promote fertility, through manuring or cultivation practices such as building ridged field systems, can require a significant investment in terms of time and resources for any community. Some communities have invested significant effort in soil fertility (Papa Stour and Terra Preta examples) whilst for others the degradation of the soil resource through loss of fertility, wetness or drought, and salinisation has had disastrous consequences (references).
 * Building materials: Earth derived building materials including clay and turf are an important resource that need to be carefully managed alongside other soil functions. For example, the scalping of land for turf to use in building takes away an area of land for grazing. Geoarchaeology may prove insights into the management of building resources.
 * Fuel: Soils and sediments have been an important source of fuel for human populations, providing warmth, cooking facilities, and power and heat for transport and industrial processes. This fuel comes in the form of peat, turf, coal, and oil. Deforestation and the resulting erosion and degradation of soils, can also lead to the loss of wood as a fuel resource. Geoarchaeology can provide information regarding the use and choice of fuel materials.
 * Waste/refuse: Soils are widely used as a repository for waste materials. In some cases this may be part of a deliberate system of land management designed to maintain or improve soil fertility. However, in other cases waste disposal can have detrimental effects on the soil fertility and/or human and livestock health.

Analytical techniques
Click on the links below to find out more about some of the geoarchaeological analytical techniques commonly used to study resource and land use management:
 * Mapping and GIS
 * X ray diffraction
 * Micromorphology

Case study
Examples of the use of geoarchaeological techniques to address questions of resource and land use management include:
 * Soil and sediment analysis from Viking to Medieval deposits in Norse Orkney.
 * Fuel Resource Utilisation between c. AD871 to 1000 at Mývatnssveit in Northern Iceland.
 * Soils and palaeo-climate based evidence for irrigation requirements in Norse Greenland.
 * Multi-element analysis to identify functional areas, Tayside, Scotland.

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