Effect of medieval farming activities on elemental composition of soils – case study of deserted village Regenholz (Czech Republic)

Regenholz is a deserted medieval village existing approximately between the 13th and 15th centuries. It originated in the colonisation period when the villages were usually founded in upland regions of Central Europe in the High Middle Ages. The study presents the results of a research based on geochemical and spatial analyses of one of the village’s field areas. The aim of the study was to reveal the spatial characteristics of the elemental composition of the previously ploughed soils which are now covered by forest. The analysed field area comprised bundles of 13 strip plots, which were approximately from 30 to 40 meters (up to 60 meters in two cases) wide and 300 meters long. The village and its fields were adjacent to the village Lovětín, which was analysed and published earlier. This made it possible to compare the geochemistry of the deserted fields of both villages with the same natural conditions and historical development. The soil samples were measured for elemental composition by portable XRF. The composition was dominated by elements generally interpreted as past human activity indicators: P, Zn, Mn, and Sr. Past human presence was represented mainly by Cu and partially by Mn content (P and Sr showed similar trends). The obtained results were compared with the data from the adjacent village Lovětín: the results were similar just by comparing the PCA data. The past human activity indicators reached less spatial diversity than those of natural factors.

1. Abel, W. 1976: Die Wüstungen des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Quellen und Forschungen zur Agrargeschichte 1. Stuttgart. 3rd edition. CrossRef

2. Aitchison, J. 1982: The Statistical Analysis of Compositional Data, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series B (Methodological) 44, 139-177. CrossRef

3. Antrop, M. 2005: Why landscapes of the past are important for the future, Landscape and Urban Planning 70, 21-34. CrossRef

4. BAS Rudice spol. s r.o., 2021: https://www.bas.cz/

5. Bork, H. R. - Bork, H. - Dalchow, C. - Faust, B. - Piorr, H. P. - Schatz, T. 1998: Landschaftsentwicklung in Mitteleuropa. Gotha - Stuttgart.

6. Canti, M. - Huisman, D. J. 2015: Scientific advances in geoarchaeology during the last twenty years, Journal of Archaeological Science 56, 96-108. CrossRef

7. Crutzen, P. J. - Stoermer, E.F. 2000: The "Anthropocene", Global Change Newsletter 41, 17-18.

8. Czech Geological Survey, 2020: https://mapy.geology.cz/geocr50/.

9. Czech National Geoportal, 2020: https://geoportal.gov.cz/.

10. Čapek, L. - Holata, L. 2017: General overview of medieval settlement research in the Czech Republic : Emergence and development of the field, main issues and adoption of landscape context. Revista ArkeoGazte Aldizkaria 7, 267-320.

11. Černý, E. 1992: Výsledky výzkumu zaniklých středověkých osad a jejich plužin. Historicko-geografická studie v regionu Drahanské vrchoviny [Results of the research of deserted medieval villages and their ploughlands: A historical-geographical study in the region of the Drahany Uplands]. Brno.

12. Dambrine, E. - Dupouey, J. L. - Laut, L. - Humbert, L. - Thinon, M. - Beaufils, T. - Richard, H. 2007: Present forest biodiversity patterns in France related to former Roman agriculture, Ecology 88, 1430-1439. CrossRef

13. Davidson, D. A. - Wilson, C. A. - Meharg, A. A. - Deacon, C. - Edwards, K. J. 2007: The legacy of past manuring practices on soil contamination in remote rural areas, Environment International 33, 78-83. CrossRef

14. Dick, R. P. 1992: A review: long-term effects of agricultural systems on soil biochemical and microbial parameters, Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 40, 25-36. CrossRef

15. Dick, R. P. - Sandor, J. A. - Eash, N. S. 1994: Soil enzyme activities after 1500 years of terrace agriculture in the Colca Valley, Peru, Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 50, 123-131. CrossRef

16. Diedhiou, A. G. - Dupouey, J. L. - Buée, M. - Dambrine, E. - Laüt, L. - Garbaye, J. 2009: Response of ectomycorrhizal communities to past Roman occupation in an oak forest, Soil Biology and Biochemistry 41, 2206-2213. CrossRef

17. Droogers, P. - Bouma, J. 1997: Soil Survey Input in Exploratory Modeling of Sustainable Soil Management Practices, Soil Science Society of America Journal 61, 1704-1710. CrossRef

18. Dupouey, L. J. - Dambrine, E. - Laffite, J. D. - Moares, C. 2002: Irreversible impact of past land use on forest soils and biodiversity, Ecology 83, 2978-2984. CrossRef

19. Egozcue, J. J. - Pawlowsky-Glahn, V. - Mateu-Figueras, G. - Barceló-Vidal, C. 2003: Isometric Logratio Transformations for Compositional Data Analysis, Mathematical Geology 35, 279-300. CrossRef

20. Ellis, E. - Maslin, M. - Boivin, N. - Bauer, A., 2016: Involve social scientists in defining the Anthropocene, Nature 540, 192-193. CrossRef

21. Entwistle, J. A. - Abrahams, P. W. - Dodgshon, R. A. 1998: Multi-Element Analysis of Soils from Scottish Historical Sites: Interpreting Land-Use History Through the Physical and Geochemical Analysis of Soil, Journal of Archaeological Science 25, 53-68. CrossRef

22. Entwistle, J. A. - Abrahams, P. W. - Dodgshon, R. A. 2000: The Geoarchaeological Significance and Spatial Variability of a Range of Physical and Chemical Soil Properties from a Former Habitation Site, Isle of Skye, Journal of Archaeological Science 27, 287-303. CrossRef

23. Gojda, M. - Hejcman, M. 2012: Cropmarks in main field crops enable the identification of a wide spectrum of buried features on archaeological sites in Central Europe, Journal of Archaeological Science 39, 1655-1664. CrossRef

24. Goodman-Elgar, M. 2008: Evaluating soil resilience in long-term cultivation: a study of pre-Columbian terraces from the Paca Valley, Peru, Journal of Archaeological Science 35, 3072-3086. CrossRef

25. Hejcman, M. - Karlík, P. - Ondráček, J. - Klír, T. 2013a: Short-Term Medieval Settlement Activities Irreversibly Changed Forest Soils and Vegetation in Central Europe, Ecosystems 16, 652-663. CrossRef

26. Hejcman, M. - Součková, K. - Gojda, M. 2013b: Prehistoric settlement activities changed soil pH, nutrient availability, and growth of contemporary crops in Central Europe, Plant and Soil 369, 131-140. CrossRef

27. Hopcroft, R. L. 1999: Regions, institutions, and agrarian change in European history. Ann Arbor. CrossRef

28. Horák, J. - Janovský, M. - Hejcman, M. - Šmejda, L. - Klír, T. 2018: Soil geochemistry of medieval arable fields in Lovětín near Třešť, Czech Republic, Catena 162, 14-22. CrossRef

29. Horák, J. - Klír, T. 2017: Pedogenesis, pedochemistry and the functional structure of the Waldhufendorf field system of the deserted medieval village Spindelbach, the Czech Republic, Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica - Natural Sciences in Archaeology 8, 43-57. CrossRef

30. Hijmans, R. J. 2016: raster: Geographic Data Analysis and Modeling. R package version 2.5-8. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=raster

31. Holliday, V. T. - Gartner, W. G. 2007: Methods of soil P analysis in archaeology, Journal of Archaeological Science 34, 301-333. CrossRef

32. Jones, R. 2009: Manure and the Medieval Social Order. In: J.A. Allen - N. Sharpless - T. O'Connor (eds.): Land and People. Papers in memory of John G. Evans. Prehistoric Society Research Paper 2, Oxbow Books, Oxford and Oakville, 215-225.

33. Klápště, J. 2012: The Czech Lands in Medieval Transformation. East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450, 17. Europe Leiden - Boston.

34. Klápště, J. 2016: The Archaeology of Prague and the Medieval Czech Lands, 1100-1600. Studies in the Archaeology of Medieval Europe Series, Equinox Publishing.

35. Klír, T. 2008: Osídlení zemědělsky marginálních půd v mladším středověku a raném novověku - The Settlements and Agriculture of the Margins in the Later Middle Age and Early New Age. Dissertationes Archaeologicae Brunenses / Pragensesque 5. Praha.

36. Klír, T. 2016: Zaniklé středověké vsi ve výzkumném záměru Ústavu pro archeologii Univerzity Karlovy v Praze. Zaniklý Spindelbach (Krušné hory), Kří a Hol (střední Čechy) - Research of Deserted Medieval Villages Conducted by the Institute of Archaeology at Charles University in Prague. Deserted Spindelbach (Ore Mountains), Kří and Hol (Central Bohemia). In: P. Nocuń - K. Fokt - A. Przybyła-Dumin, (eds.), Wieś zaginiona. Stan i perspektywy badań, (= Monografie i materiały MGPE 5) Chorzów, 17-58.

37. Kristiansen, S. M. 2001: Present-day soil distribution explained by prehistoric land-use: Podzol - Arenosol variation in an ancient woodland in Denmark, Geoderma 103, 273-289. CrossRef

38. Mazáčková, J. - Doležalová, K. - Těsnohlídek, J. 2016: Zaniklé středověké vesnice na Moravě, dějiny bádání a stav výzkumu - Deserted Medieval Villages in Moravia, History and the Current State of Research. In: P. Nocuń - K. Fokt - A. Przybyła-Dumin, (eds.), Wieś zaginiona. Stan i perspektywy badań, (= Monografie i materiały MGPE 5) Chorzów, 59-92.

39. Misarti, N. - Finney, B. P. - Maschner, H. 2011: Reconstructing site organization in the eastern Aleutian Islands, Alaska using multi-element chemical analysis of soils, Journal of Archaeological Science 38, 1441-1455. CrossRef

40. Navrátil, V. 1986: K povrchovému průzkumu zaniklých středověkých osad a jejich plužin na jihozápadní Moravě [On the surface research of deserted medieval villages and their ploughlands in southwest Moravian], Historická geografie 25, 201-228.

41. Nielsen, N. H. - Kristiansen, S. M. 2014: Identifying ancient manuring: traditional phosphate vs. multi-element analysis of archaeological soil, Journal of Archaeological Science 42, 390-398. CrossRef

42. Pebesma, E. J. 2004: Multivariable geostatistics in S: the gstat package, Computers & Geosciences 30, 683-691. CrossRef

43. Poschlod, P. 2017: Geschichte der Kulturlandschaft. 2nd edition. Ulmer.

44. R Core Team, 2016. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL http://www.R-project.org/.

45. Reimann, C. - Filzmoser, P. - Garrett, R. - Dutter, R. 2008: Statistical Data Analysis Explained. Applied Environmental Statistics with R. John Wiley and Sons. CrossRef

46. Salisbury, R. B. 2013: Interpolating geochemical patterning of activity zones at Late Neolithic and Early Copper Age settlements in eastern Hungary, Journal of Archaeological Science 40, 926-934. CrossRef

47. Sklenička, P. - Molnárová, K. - Brabec, E. - Kumble, P. - Pittnerová, B. - Pixová, K. - Šálek, M. 2009: Remnants of medieval field patterns in the Czech Republic: Analysis of driving forces behind their disappearance with special attention to the role of hedgerows, Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment 129, 465-473. CrossRef

48. Smetánka, Z. 1988: Život středověké vesnice. Zaniklá Svídna. Památníky naší minulosti 13. [The life of a medieval village: The abandoned village of Svídna. The monuments of our history 13]. Praha.

49. Smetánka, Z. - Klápště, J. 1981: Geodeticko-topografický průzkum zaniklých středověkých vsí na Černokostelecku. [Geodetical-topographical survey of deserted medieval villages in the Kostelec nad Černými Lesy region], Památky archeologické 73, 416-458.

50. Součková, K. - Hejcman, M. - Klír, T. 2013: Medieval Farming Practices in Deserted Villages Can be Determined Based on the Nitrogen Isotopic Signature in Recent Forest Soils, Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica - Natural Sciences in Archaeology 4/1, 63-71. CrossRef

51. Templ, M. - Hron, K. - Filzmoser, P. 2011: robCompositions: an R-package for robust statistical analysis of compositional data. In: V. Pawlowsky-Glahn - A. Buccianti (eds.): Compositional Data Analysis. Theory and Applications. Chichester, John Wiley & Sons, 341-355. CrossRef

52. Tolasz, R. et al. 2007: Climate atlas of Czechia. Praha - Olomouc.

53. Uhlig, H. - Lienau, C. (eds.) 1978: Flur und Flurformen - Types of Field Patterns - Le Finage agricole et sa structure parcellaire. Materialen zur Terminologie der Agrarlandschaft, Vol. I. Giessen. 2nd edition.

54. Vařeka, P. - Auchrechtová, A. - Hnízdilová, P. - Novák, R. - Rožmberský, P. - Veselá, R. 2006: Archeologie zaniklých středověkých vesnic na Rokycansku 1. [Archaeology of Deserted Medieval Villages in the Rokycany Region (West Bohemia) 1]. Plzeň.

55. Walkington, H. 2010: Soil science applications in archaeological context: A review of key challenges, Earth-Science Reviews 103, 122-134. CrossRef

56. Wilson, C. A. - Cresser, M. S. - Davidson, D. A. 2006: Sequential element extraction of soils from abandoned farms: an investigation of the partitioning of anthropogenic element inputs from historic land use, Journal of Environmental Monitoring 8, 439-444. CrossRef

57. Wilson, C. A. - Davidson, D. A. - Cresser, M. S. 2005: An evaluation of multielement analysis of historic soil contamination to differentiate space use and former function in and around abandoned farms, The Holocene 15, 1094-1099. CrossRef

58. Wilson, C. A. - Davidson, D. A. - Cresser, M. S. 2008: Multi-element soil analysis: an assessment of its potential as an aid to archaeological interpretation, Journal of Archaeological Science 35, 412-424. CrossRef

59. Wilson, C. A. - Davidson, D. A. - Cresser, M. S. 2009: An evaluation of the site specificity of soil elemental signatures for identifying and interpreting former functional areas, Journal of Archaeological Science 36, 2327-2334. CrossRef

60. Yu, Y. - Guo, Z. - Wu, H. - Finke, P. A. 2012: Reconstructing prehistoric land use change from archeological data: Validation and application of a new model in Yiluo valley, northern China, griculture, Ecosystems & Environment 156, 99-107. CrossRef