Case Studies:Case study 45

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An evaluation of the site specificity of soil elemental signatures for identifying and interpreting former functional areas
This study compares the soil geochemistry of two highly comparable abandoned farm sites (Balnreich and Tombrek, N Loch Tayside, Scotland) and finds that despite their geological, geographical and socio-economic similarities the multi-element signatures are different enough so as to provide only poor prediction of functional area. Indeed a generic model of abandoned farm soil geochemistry based on a range of farms from across the UK and from very different geological areas gave a better result. It is suggested that individual site specific practices, particularly those associated with the abandonment and post-abandonment history of sites, mean direct one-to-one comparisons can be relatively ineffective. This has implications for the use of ethnographic sites in the interpretation of multi-element soil analyses.

Keywords:Multi element analysis, ethnographic sites, soil signatures, discriminant models

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[[media:multi-element analysis site specificty.pdf|An evaluation of the site specificity of soil elemental signatures for identifying and interpreting former functional areas]]

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