Human Earth Lab

Distorted touch: clay shrinkage experiments and the challenge of fingerprint analysis

The study presents the first experimental dataset of this scale linking fingerprints on pottery from Qedesh with measured shrinkage of regionally relevant clays and temper types. It demonstrates that generic predetermined corrections are insufficient for reliable biometric interpretation.

• The experimental programme included 420 samples made from regional clays and different temper types.
• Measured shrinkage varied from about 6% to 20% depending on raw material and preparation.
• Fire preserved the fingerprint but also reduced its dimensions. Reliable interpretation therefore requires correction based on the properties of the actual ceramic fabric.

Qedesh

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

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

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

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

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

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