Microstratigraphic analysis of sediments and soils; Wasden archaeological site, eastern Snake River Plain, Idaho

Abstract

Abstract Information about former environments of an archaeological site traditionally is acquired through interpretation of cultural materials and of associated faunal and floral remains. A synthesis based on data from these sources can be augmented by investigation of sediments and soils present at the site or in the immediate vicinity. The composition and structure of both sediments and the soils developed in them are products of geologic and pedologic processes that are influenced in varying degrees by aspects of local environmental controls. Therefore, the greater the detail of observations acquired through study of a sequence of sediments and soils, the more that becomes known about the environmental changes through time at a specific locality. In this chapter we seek to increase knowledge of paleoenvironments that affected an archaeological site in southeastern Idaho. The chapter is specifically designed to illustrate to those unfamiliar with microstratigraphic analysis of sediments and soils some of the data that may be applied to geoarchaeological interpretations, as well as to outline the methodology used to acquire those data. We obtained and interpreted field observations and laboratory analyses separately, then tested our conclusions by integrating the two sets.