Case Studies:Case study 25
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[edit] The identification of manure and faecal materials in archaeological soils from Crete, Turkey, Athens, and Orkney
Researchers at the Organic Geochemistry Unit, University of Bristol have been used stanols, sterols and other organic biomarkers to identify the presence of faecal material and manures in soils from Orkney and Crete. In Orkney the addition turf and human and to a lesser extent pig faecal material was identified in buried anthropogenic soils dating to the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age at Tofts Ness through comparison with modern control and reference samples (Bull et al. 1999; Simpson et al. 1998). Soils from agricultural terraces dating to the Minoan Period on Pseira Island, Crete also contained evidence of human faecal material suggesting systematic faecal deposition and manuring (Bull et al. 2002).
At Çatalhöyük in Turkey organic geochemistry was used to look at faecal matter in middens and possible animal pens. Human faecal material was detected in the middens but steroidal concentration were too low in the suggested animal pens for further interpretation despite micromorphological evidence of animal dung from these contexts (Bull et al. 2005).
Finally the team also used faecal biomarkers to study the abandonment of a subterranean stone built culvert at the Agora, Athens, Greece. Human faecal indicators were in the highest concentrations in the lowermost fills of the culvert. The decrease in concentration up through the profile was indicative of the culvert falling out of use relatively rapidly, possibly at the time of the Slavic incursion in AD 582-583 (Bull et al. 2003).
Keywords: Archaeological soils, Organic geochemistry, Biomolecules, Faecal material, Manure
Copyright: remains with the original authors and publishers of the papers
Click on the link below to be taken to the authors personal university home page with links to papers on the use of biomolecules in archaeology.
Ian Bull University of Bristol Home Page
Useful papers include:
- Bull, I.D., Betancourt, P.P., and Evershed, R.P. (1999) Chemical evidence supporting the existence of a structured agricultural manuring regime on Pseira Island, Crete during the Minoan Age. Aegaeum, 20, 69-75.
- Bull, I.D., Betancourt, P.P., and Evershed, R.P. (2002)An organic geochemical investigation of the practice if manuring at a Minoan site on Pseira Isalnd, Crete. Geoarchaeology, 16, 223-242.
- Bull, I.D., Elhmmali, M.M., Perret, P., Matthews, W., Roberts, D.J., and Evershed, R.P. (2005) Biomarker evidence of faecal deposition in archaeological sediments at çatalhöyük. In, Inhabiting Çatalhöyük. Reports from the 1995-1999 seasons (Ed. I. Hodder) McDonald Institute Monographs, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK and the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, c/o British Academy, London, UK, 415-420.
- Bull, I.D., Elhmmali, M.M., Roberts, D.J., and Evershed, R.P. (2003) Using steroidal biomarkers to track the abandonement of a Roman wastewater course at the Agora (Athens, Greece). Archaeometry, 45, 149-161.
- Bull, I.D., Lockheart, M.J., Elhmmali, M.M., Roberts, D.J., and Evershed, R.P. (2002) The origin of faeces by means of biomarker detection. Environment International, 27, 647-654.
- Bull, I.D., Simpson, I.S., Dockrill, S.J., and Evershed, R.P. (1999) Organic geochemical evidence for the origin of ancient anthropogenic soil deposits at Tofts Ness, Sanday, Orkney. Organic Geochemistry, 30, 535-556.
- Bull, I.D., Simpson, I.A., van Bergen, P.F., and Evershed, R.P. (1999) Muck 'n' molecules: organic geochemical methods for detecting ancient manuring. Antiquity, 73, 86-96.
- Simpson, I.A., Dockrill, S.J., Bull, I.D., Evershed, R.P. (1998) Early anthropogenic soil formation at Tofts Ness, Sanday, Orkney. Journal of Archaeological Science, 25, 729-746.
