Advances in Geoarchaeology and Environmental Archaeology Perspectives on Earthen-Built Constructions

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Advances in Geoarchaeology and Environmental Archaeology Perspectives on Earthen-Built Constructions" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In recent years, advancements in geoarchaeology and soil micromorphology as well as other complementary analyses from environmental archaeology (e.g., geochemistry, palynology, geochronology) have aided in reconstructing complex histories of earthen constructions, such as mounds, platform surfaces, enclosures, and terraces. Innovative analyses have revealed building materials and techniques and episodes in their construction, maintenance, and uses, as well as past environmental conditions and changes. Furthermore, micromorphology has revealed taphonomic and pedogenic processes that alter their preservation. Other recent developments in geoarchaeology that combine techniques of soil micromorphology with geochronology (e.g., radiocarbon and luminescence dating) offer promising avenues to address major challenges in providing absolute dates for earthen-built structures, including their construction phases, events of maintenance and other associated human activities, environmental changes, and postdepositional alterations. Geoarchaeology and soil micromorphology, through the identification of construction materials and techniques and their absolute dating, reveal cultural choices and meaning behind these prominent, often multigenerational, landscape features and associated human activities. This session serves as a platform for researchers to present on novel applications of geoarchaeology and soil micromorphology, regardless of temporal or geographic focus, for advancing the identification and interpretation of sociocultural processes behind comparative earthen-built constructions.