Buried artifacts in stable upland sites and the role of bioturbation: A review

Abstract

Burial of artifacts in Holocene soils developed in pre‐Holocene sediments on stable uplands is commonly interpreted as resulting from post‐depositional accretion of sediment. However, soils are by nature dynamic and burial or displacement of artifacts can and does occur due to “normal” syndepositional and post‐depositional biomechanical pedogenic processes. This paper presents a review of the role of bioturbation in artifact burial. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Identification of a Palaeoindian occupation in compressed stratigraphy: A case study from Ahai Mneh (FiPp-33)

“…However, the same general trends in lithic raw material distribution were observed in this unit as the rest of Area B. It is nevertheless reasonable to assume that artifacts were subjected to some postdepositional translocation processes (Balek 2002). Bioturbation factors, including tree roots and rodent burrows, were noted throughout both excavation areas, while the deeper component breaks in Unit 52 are possibly attributable to trampling.…”

Biomechanical Effects of Trees on Soil and Regolith: Beyond Treethrow

“…W hereas soils and regoliths were once conceived as a primarily geological mantle and a medium for biological activity, geomorphologists and pedologists increasingly view soils as continuously-mixed biomantles (Johnson 1990(Johnson , 2002Paton, Humphries, and Mitchell 1995;Balek 2002;Gabet, Reichmann, and Seabloom 2003). This perspective goes back at least to the late nineteenth century, but only recently have conceptual models of soil and regolith incorporating the idea of continuous bioturbation become widely accepted (Johnson 2002;Gabet, Reichmann, and Seabloom 2003).…”

Looking for the traces of the last hunter–gatherers: Geophysical survey in the Mesolithic shell middens of the Sado valley (southern Portugal)

“…Only some recent items such as glazed earthenware were found in the modern soils, and very sparse materials (a few flakes) in the older layers. Yet the latter should probably be attributed to vertical migrations of materials, characteristic of sandy deposits (Gifford-Gonzalez et al, 1985;Balek, 2002), so the place where this trench was excavated probably lies outside the prehistoric settlement. No explanation could be found for the magnetic anomaly.…”