Medieval markets: A soil micromorphological and archaeobotanical study of the urban stratigraphy of Lier (Belgium)

Market places remain underrepresented in studies of archaeological soil micromorphology. In Lier, micromorphology was applied to gain understanding of the stratigraphy and formation processes of the medieval “Grote Markt”. Block samples were obtained from a sediment profile that spanned the 11th-15th century and contained three separate phases of thick, dark-coloured, humic, homogeneous layers - so-called ‘dark earth’. Combined with textural and archaeobotanical analyses (seeds, fruits and phytoliths), the results shed light on the formation processes that shaped this site. The oldest dark earth, dated to the 11th century, was characterised by agricultural activities. The second dark earth (12–13th century) formed as a result of intensive human activities, witnessing the site's transformation to an urban space. This layer contained large amounts of organic matter and anthropogenic inclusions and developed gradually in situ. It probably represents an early market or open space close to dwellings or small courtyards. Units that contain evidence for intensive building activity separate the second and third dark earth, and are possibly the result of a spatial re-organisation of the square. The formation of the third dark earth, which started in the 14th century, is characterised by an intensification of traffic and craftworking activities. Surfaces may have been maintained by spreading organic matter such as leaves, sand and hearth detritus. However, there is no evidence for a kept, empty urban square before a thick layer of levelling sand was deposited (in the second half of the 14th century at earliest) and the market was cobbled. The analysis shows that mixed market activities took place in this intensively used zone, and presents a number of micromorphological characteristics and inclusions typical of a medieval market place in a temperate climate

Phytoliths as a tool for investigations of agricultural origins and dispersals around the world

Agricultural origins and dispersals are subjects of fundamental importance to archaeology as well as many other scholarly disciplines. These investigations are world-wide in scope and require significant amounts of paleobotanical data attesting to the exploitation of wild progenitors of crop plants and subsequent domestication and spread. Accordingly, for the past few decades the development of methods for identifying the remains of wild and domesticated plant species has been a focus of paleo-ethnobotany. Phytolith analysis has increasingly taken its place as an important independent contributor of data in all areas of the globe, and the volume of literature on the subject is now both very substantial and disseminated in a range of international journals. In this paper, experts who have carried out the hands-on work review the utility and importance of phytolith analysis in documenting the domestication and dispersals of crop plants around the world. It will serve as an important resource both to paleo-ethnobotanists and other scholars interested in the development and spread of agriculture

Special Issue: History of Banana Domestication

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The contribution of micromorphology to study Dark Earth: the example of Brussels (Belgium).

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L’identification des couches noires à Bruxelles: Un état de la question

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Beyond redundancy and multiplicity. Integrating micromorphology and phytolith analysis.

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Integrating phytoliths and archaeopedological data. 15 years of palaeoenvironmental research in the Brussels Capital Region

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Dark Earth

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