scholarly journals TRACES OF IRON AGE SLASH-AND-BURN AGRICULTURE UNDER THE SLAVIC KURGANS AT THE MSU ZVENIGOROD BIOLOGICAL STATION

Author(s):  
Е. В. Пономаренко ◽  
Е. Г. Ершова ◽  
Н. А. Кренке ◽  
В. О. Бакуменко

В работе представлены результаты анализа почв, погребенных под курганами XII-XIII вв. Волковской курганной группы на территории Звенигородской биостанции МГУ. На основе разработанной авторами диагностики слоев, связанных с подсечным земледелием, были проанализированы погребенные почвы и угленасыщенные горизонты под двумя курганными насыпями. Выявлены следы нескольких эпизодов подсечно-огневого земледелия; они датированы радиоуглеродным методом I, II и X веками н. э. The paper reports on the analysis of soils buried under the kurgans of the 12th - 13th centuries from the Volkovo kurgan group situated within the compound of the MSU Zvenigorod biological station. Based on the diagnostic assessment of the layers associated with slash-and-burn agriculture developed by the authors, the buried soils and the carbonaceous horizons under two kurgan mounds were examined. Traces of several instances of slash-and-burn agriculture use were identified, the radiocarbon dating puts them to the 1st, the 2nd and the 10th centuries.

Author(s):  
E. Ershova ◽  
◽  
E. Ponomarenko ◽  
A. Alexandrovskiy ◽  
N. Krenke ◽  
...  

The horizons of slash-and-burn agriculture were distinguished by pedological, anthracological, phytolithic and palynological features. Radiocarbon dates were obtained from the coals. Most of the dates refer to the time of the Great Migration and the Middle Ages. Some of the slash horizons are dated to the Early Iron Age, the earliest are from the Bronze Age and, presumably, the Neolithic.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. e86042 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eben N. Broadbent ◽  
Angélica M. Almeyda Zambrano ◽  
Gregory P. Asner ◽  
Marlene Soriano ◽  
Christopher B. Field ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Varvara O. Bakumenko ◽  
◽  
Ekaterina G. Ershova ◽  
◽  

In this work we present the results of spore and pollen analysis of forest soils from the Zvenigorod biological station of Moscow State University (Moscow Region, Russia). A comparative analysis of forest soils formed on the site of historical fields of the XVIII–XIX centuries and beyond showed that a specific complex of pollen and spores remains in the residual arable horizons, characteristic only of soils that have passed through the stages of plowing and fallow. It includes pollen from cultivated cereals and arable weeds (buckwheat, cornflower blue), spores of the mace-shaped plaunus (Lycopodium clavatum), as well as spores of the mosses Riccia glauca and Anthoceros spp. The latter are exclusive indicators of fallows, since they are practically not found in other habitats. The identified pollen indicators can be used in landscape and archaeological research to interpret the data of spore-pollen analysis of cultural layers, buried soils, gully-ravine sediments. They can also be used to define the boundaries of ancient fields under modern vegetation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bob W. Zwartendijk ◽  
H.J. (Ilja) van Meerveld ◽  
Ryan J. Teuling ◽  
Chandra P. Ghimire ◽  
L. Adrian Bruijnzeel

<p>In many tropical areas slash-and-burn agriculture is an important driver of forest loss. In areas where slash-and-burn agriculture has been practiced for decades, land cover is typically a mosaic of patches of remnant forest, fields under active cultivation, fallows in various stages of regrowth (ranging from young shrub to semi-mature), and degraded fire-climax grasslands. Although runoff generation mechanisms are expected to be different for these different patches, little quantitative information is available in this regard, particularly at the catchment scale and over longer time-scales (i.e., multiple slash-and-burn cycles).</p><p>We re-instrumented a 31 ha catchment in upland Eastern Madagascar, where slash-and-burn agriculture has been practiced for more than 70 years in 2015; it had been monitored between 1963 and 1972 as well<sup>1</sup>. We measured streamflow at two locations and overland flow and soil moisture for four hillside plots (0.05 – 1.93 ha): one plot under repeatedly coppiced and burned <em>Eucalyptus</em> and three plots under young shrub and tree fallows. One of the plots underwent rudimentary terracing in the past. We analysed the rainfall-runoff dynamics for 50 rainfall events (median 12 mm, maximum 71 mm).</p><p>For 60% of the events, the stormflow coefficient (minimum contributing area) was <3%, which is the proportion of valley-bottom wetlands and rice paddies in the catchment. Stable isotope sampling for five storm runoff events indicate a maximum total event-water contribution of 16%. However, instantaneous event-water contributions were as high as 66%. The hillside plot runoff response was dominated by saturation-excess overland flow and showed strong threshold behaviour in terms of the antecedent soil moisture storage in the upper 30 cm of the soil plus the event total rainfall amount (ASI + P). Average threshold values for overland flow occurrence ranged from 87 mm for the coppiced <em>Eucalyptus</em> to 137 mm for the young fallow plots (regardless of terrace presence). Stormflow also increased after an ASI+P-threshold was exceeded (100 mm based on the soil moisture sensors for the <em>Eucalyptus</em> plot and 150 mm for the sensors at the tree fallow plots).</p><p>These results indicate an increased hydrological connectivity between hillslopes and valley bottom under wetter conditions and that stormflow in the study catchment is strongly affected by variations in seasonal rainfall. The results will be used to validate a hydrological model to determine the net effect of concurrent changes in soil infiltrability and vegetation water use associated with forest loss and recovery on stormflow totals and the seasonal flow regime.</p><p><strong><sup>1</sup></strong>Bailly, C., de Coignac, G.B., Malvos, C., Ningre, J.M., and Sarrailh, J.M. (1974). Étude de l'influence du couvert naturel et de ses modifications á Madagascar. Expérimentations en bassins versants élémentaires. Cahiers Scientifiques, 4. Centre Scientifique Forestier Tropical, Nogent-sur-Marne, France, 114 pp.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Thomas

Abstract This article reviews the major problems in the political history of Megiddo during the early Iron Age (Iron Age I–IIA), at the time of the early monarchic period in Israel (eleventh–ninth centuries BCE). Megiddo has been central to an ongoing debate over the nature of the early monarchic period in Israel and the exact chronology of the Iron Age I–IIA periods. This importance derives both from the extensive excavations of the relevant strata at Megiddo (VIA, VB and VA-IVB) as well as Megiddo’s appearance in relevant historical sources, namely the Hebrew Bible, which claims that Solomon “built” Megiddo, and its appearance in the campaign list of pharaoh Sheshonq I. Though the fragment of a stela of Sheshonq I was found at Megiddo, it was only found after having been discarded and so its stratigraphic attribution is unclear. Radiocarbon dating from these strata has assisted to some degree but still left dating and historical questions quite open. This article will demonstrate that the political history of Megiddo during the early Iron Age is beset with ambiguities in the evidence, which have been divided into seven ambiguities for the purpose of the discussion here. When these ambiguities are taken into account, it becomes clear that the interpreter has much latitude in making their reconstruction, specifically in how they date strata and associate them with putative historical developments. Different cases can be made for associating particular strata and their termination with Solomon, Sheshonq or even later kings, but none can claim to objectively be the correct or superior reconstruction.


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