Soil erosion, agricultural terracing and site formation processes at Markiani, Amorgos, Greece: The micromorphological perspective

Abstract

Soils and sediments of a terraced slope at an Early Bronze Age site on the Aegean island of Amorgos were examined micromorphologically to determine the nature and amount of erosion on the slope during the past 5000 years, and how this had affected the formation of the surviving archaeological record. The deposits forming representative terraces were examined, as was the postdepositional sequence overlying the site, and a palaeosol preserved beneath terrace retaining walls at the break of slope. The buried, preterrace system was a reworked red palaeosol, much affected by downslope erosion processes, which probably commenced with clearance associated with the Early Bronze Age occupation of the site. Examination of this soil suggested that there were at least two premodern phases of use of the hillside. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.