The legacy of urban soils and sediments: urban geoarchaeological research in Belgium
Thu
24
Oct
Thursday 24 October, 2024at 13:00 - 15:00
HUM.H.119
The Research Seminar Series in Archaeology and Environmental archaeology invites you to a seminar with Yannick Devos, Archaeology, Environmental Changes & Geo-Chemical Research Group (AMGC), Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Devos will speak on the topic of "The legacy of urban soils and sediments: urban geoarchaeological research in Belgium".
Abstract: Urban soils and sediments offer great potential for the understanding of past settlement lifestyles and urban landscapes (Macphail & Devos, 2023). Nevertheless, urban soils were for a very long time largely neglected. In Belgium, for instance, it is only since the 1990’s, facing the complexity of the urban stratigraphy, that urban archaeologists started to involve geoarchaeologists in their research and that awareness of their importance emerged (Devos et al., 2020).
Whereas initially the main research topics concerned the understanding of complex site stratigraphy resulting from many superimposed phases of occupation, the last decades the perspectives broadened, and new avenues were explored, such as the understanding of late medieval agricultural and horticultural practices in an emerging city, the organization of urban space, the preservation of urban soils and ancient soil pollution. For Brussels, it also resulted in the development of an interdisciplinary research protocol to tackle the emerging research questions (Devos & Degraeve, 2018).
The present contribution intends to illustrate how the improved understanding of the formation of urban soils impacts on the current research, and how it creates awareness for the importance of urban soils for past, current and future communities.
The Research Seminar Series in Archaeology and Environmental Archaeology presents and discusses current research in archaeology and environmental archaeology. See more upcoming seminars in the series
