Human Earth Lab

Human Earth Lab

people, soils and landscapes through time

Publications and results

Outputs

Peer-reviewed studies, reusable datasets and reproducible code connect field research with long-term landscape interpretation.

StudiesOpen data & code
6 studiespeer-reviewed research with DOI
6 Zenodo recordsdata, figures, GIS and R workflows
ORCID-linkedone connected research identity

Studies

Soil signals and organisation of the agricultural landscape at Ravat
2026CATENA

Written in the soil: Record of prehistoric subsistence agriculture in semi-arid foothills of Tien Shan, SW Kyrgyzstan

Ravat preserves over 25 km of canals, more than 90 fields and 45 homesteads linked to the Davan/Dayuan horizon. Geochemistry and stable isotopes reveal long-term manuring and distinguish prehistoric farming from Soviet and modern agriculture.

  • More than 25 km of canals, over 90 fields and 45 homesteads reveal an organised system for sharing seasonal water.
  • Prehistoric soils preserve evidence of long-term, low-intensity organic fertilisation.
  • The isotope signal in part of the field system is compatible with C₄ crops, most plausibly millet.

Site: Ravat

Result details DOI
Reconstruction of the development of Wenceslas Square
2026CATENA

Anthropogenic signatures in the heart of Prague: Urban Dark Earth and soil–sediment processes in a medieval marketplace

Urban layers beneath Wenceslas Square preserved chemical and biomolecular traces of market activity, waste and everyday urban life.

Site: Wenceslas Square

Result details DOI ZENODO
Sediment and Dark Earth profile at Mikulčice-Valy
2025CATENA

Explaining Dark Earth’s formation processes may help to understand the settlement strategy

Wet conditions required repeated levelling with permeable sands. Subsequent deposition and biological mixing of kitchen waste, charcoal, bone fragments and excrements contributed to Dark Earth formation.

Site: Mikulčice-Valy

Result details DOI
Spatial P, Ca and K signals in Area G at Tel Burna
2025Geoarchaeology

Geoarchaeology in the Absence of Layers: Large-Scale Sampling From an Iron Age Urban Context in the Southern Levant

Combined pXRF, pOSL and organic residue analysis distinguishes intact and degraded mudbrick, a destruction horizon and differential stratigraphic preservation in Area G.

Site: Tel Burna

Result details DOI
LiDAR and spatial zones at Třebokov
2024Scientific Reports

Stable isotope analysis in soil prospection reveals the type of historic land-use under contemporary temperate forests in Europe

Carbon and nitrogen isotopes preserved evidence of historical cultivation and manuring beneath present-day forest.

Site: Třebokov

Result details DOI ZENODO
LiDAR and spatial zones at Třebokov
2023CATENA

Multivariate analysis reveals spatial variability of soil geochemical signals in the area of a medieval manorial farm

Geochemical analysis revealed spatial activity zones within an abandoned medieval farmstead and its surrounding landscape.

Site: Třebokov

Result details DOI

Indexable citations

Bibliographic records

Exact titles, author teams and persistent identifiers for discovery and citation.

  1. Vatansever, A., Lisá, L., Janovský, M., Kadyrov, A., Trubač, J., Chajbullin Koštial, J., Petr, L., Bajer, A., Světlík, I., Lisý, P., Kočár, P., & Tashbaeva, K. I. (2026). Written in the soil: Record of prehistoric subsistence agriculture in semi-arid foothills of Tien Shan, SW Kyrgyzstan. CATENA, 273, 110474. DOI 10.1016/j.catena.2026.110474
  2. Janovský, M. P., Lisá, L., Starec, P., Trubač, J., Millerová, S., Štaffl, M., Slačálek, J., Kučera, L., Ferenczi, L., & Klír, T. (2026). Anthropogenic signatures in the heart of Prague: Urban Dark Earth and soil–sediment processes in a medieval marketplace. CATENA, 272, 110275. DOI 10.1016/j.catena.2026.110275 · Dataset
  3. Janovský, M. P., Lisá, L., Hladík, M., Arroyo-Kalin, M., Mazuch, M., Samec, P., & Ferenczi, L. (2025). Explaining Dark Earth’s formation processes may help to understand the settlement strategy. CATENA, 258, 109185. DOI 10.1016/j.catena.2025.109185
  4. Janovský, M. P., Millerová, S., McKinny, C., Ackermann, O., Lisá, L., Fišer, J., Ben-Gedalya, T., Imas, D., Spiteri, C., Nikolskaia, P., & Shai, I. (2025). Geoarchaeology in the Absence of Layers: Large-Scale Sampling From an Iron Age Urban Context in the Southern Levant. Geoarchaeology, 40(6), e70035. DOI 10.1002/gea.70035
  5. Janovský, M. P., Ferenczi, L., Trubač, J., & Klír, T. (2024). Stable isotope analysis in soil prospection reveals the type of historic land-use under contemporary temperate forests in Europe. Scientific Reports, 14, 14746. DOI 10.1038/s41598-024-63563-1 · Dataset
  6. Horák, J., Janovský, M. P., Klír, T., Malina, O., & Ferenczi, L. (2023). Multivariate analysis reveals spatial variability of soil geochemical signals in the area of a medieval manorial farm. CATENA, 220, 106726. DOI 10.1016/j.catena.2022.106726

Open science

Data, code and research records on Zenodo

All Zenodo records
DatasetOpen

Anthropogenic Signatures in the Heart of Prague: Urban Dark Earth and Soil–Sediment Processes in a Medieval Marketplace

Martin Janovský

Complete source data, GIS files, pXRF, granulometry, magnetic susceptibility, stable isotopes, figures and supplementary tables.

2026CC BY 4.092.6 MB
Open record ↗DOI
Data & R codeOpen

Stable isotope analysis in soil prospection: supporting dataset

Martin Janovský

Isotope measurements, GIS data, source tables, figures, R code and a reproducible R Markdown workflow.

2024CC BY 4.032.5 MB
Open record ↗DOI
Data & R codeOpen

Multiscalar integration of magnetometry and geochemistry

Jan Horák; Richard Hewitt; Julien Thiesson; Roman Křivánek; Alžběta Danielisová; Martin Janovský

Original spatial datasets, R scripts, functions and R objects for a reproducible archaeological data-integration case study.

2024CC BY-NC-SA 4.0695 MB
Open record ↗DOI
DatasetOpen

Dataset to Tel Burna geoarchaeological research, Israel

Martin Janovský

Geochemical tables, raw analytical data and figures supporting research on the Iron Age gate complex at Tel Burna.

2025CC BY 4.0149 MB
Open record ↗DOI
Data & R codeOpen

GPR as compositional data

Jan Horák; Mercedes Solla; Julien Thiesson; Ekhine Garcia-Garcia; Richard Hewitt; Martin Janovský

GPR and pXRF datasets with R scripts and functions for compositional transformation and visualisation.

2022CC BY-NC-SA 4.01 MB
Open record ↗DOI
Dataset recordRestricted

Geochemical and Micromorphological Insights into the Taphonomy of LBK Longhouse

Daniel Pilař; Lenka Lisá; Martin Janovský

Supplementary record for research on the geochemical and micromorphological taphonomy of an LBK longhouse.

2026CC BY 4.0Restricted access
View record ↗DOI