The chronology of anthropogenic soil formation in Orkney

Abstract

Abstract Anthropogenic deep top soils in Orkney, formed by the process of ‘plaggen’ manuring, are dated by their association with settlements of known cultural age and by radiocarbon. On the basis of these methodologies, the initiation of deep top‐soil formation is dated to the mid to late Norse period. Possible reasons for the initiation of deep top‐soil formation include the introduction of the ‘plaggen’ manuring technique by monastic settlement and the need to sustain increasing population levels. Formation of these soils continued until the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries when new methods of maintaining arable soil fertility were introduced.