Analytical Methods:Field colour

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Soil colour
Soil colour is a product of the parent materials of the deposit as affected by post-depositional processes.

Questions
Soil colour is one of the main ways by which excavators differentiate between different depositional contexts. Soil colour is a product of the materials that make up a deposit (both natural and anthropogenic) but these can then be transformed by the effects of post-depositional processes such as gleying (waterlogging) and podzolisation (movement of organic matter and iron through the profile). Understanding the origin of the soil colour therefore is vital to the interpretation of site formation and post-depositional processes.

Analysis
More information on recording soil colour in the field can found here.

Data and interpretation
More information on soil colours and what they might mean click here.

Related Techniques
Organic matter and manganese field determination

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