Pollen Record Formation Processes in Temperate Zone Archaeological Sites

Summary

The pollen spectra of archaeological sites in the temperate zone are subject to post-deposition modifications in the form of earthworms mixing the pollen in the humus zone.They are subsequently percolated downward in rainwater, at rates that vary with the location and nature of the matrix, and are physically degraded by aerobic fungi, by groundwater oxygen, and by repeated hydration and dehydration.These processes produce a profile with the highest pollen concentrations at the top and quantities of pollen grains that are too degraded to be identified that increase with depth. Eventually a depth is reached at which no identifiable pollen remains.Pollen contemporaneous with cultural activity in both prehistoric and historical-era archaeological sites has, however, been recovered in archaeological matrices from under flat rocks and artifacts, from under and inside structures, from under slopewash, from under both large and small earthworks, from in and under fills in ditches, from under mollusk shells positioned concave side down, and from the copper and iron oxides around buried artifacts.Soil compaction in urban sites also preserves historical-era pollen spectra in situ.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Natural Formation Processes

Keywords

Spatial Coverage