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Quantifying the threat to archaeological sites from the erosion of cultivated soil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Keith Wilkinson ,
Andrew Tyler ,
Donald Davidson  and
Ian Grieve
Keith Wilkinson
Affiliation:
1Department of Archaeology, University of Winchester, West Hill, Winchester SO22 4NR, UK (Email: Keith.Wilkinson@winchester.ac.uk)
Andrew Tyler
Affiliation:
2School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK
Donald Davidson
Affiliation:
2School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK
Ian Grieve
Affiliation:
2School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK
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Extract

Ploughing is probably the greatest agent of attrition to archaeological sites world-wide. In every country, every year, a bit more is shaved off buried strata and a bit more of the past becomes unreadable. On the other hand, people must eat and crops must be planted. How can the fields be best managed to get the best of both worlds? Perhaps the most pressing need for resource managers is to know how quickly a particular field is eroding: negotiation and protection is then possible. Up to now that has been difficult to measure.

The new procedure presented here, which draws on the unexpected benefits of nuclear weapons testing, shows how variation in the concentration of the radioisotope 137Cs can be used to monitor soil movements over the last 40 years. The measurements allow a site's ‘life expectancy’ to be calculated, and there are some promising dividends for tracking site formation processes.

Keywords

CRMsite formation processes137Cs inventorysoil redistributiontillageerosionQuantock Hills
Type
Method
Information
Antiquity , Volume 80 , Issue 309 , 1 September 2006 , pp. 658 - 670
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2006

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