Physical and Geochemical Characteristics of Soils from Angel Mounds State Historic Site, Indiana, including a Case Study of Sherds from Unit A

Abstract

Using physical and chemical characteristics of soil to evaluate archaeological artifacts and their preservation potential along with associated features is well established. The soil characteristics and geochemistry of the Angel Mounds site (12Vg1) indicate the soil geochemistry is very homogenous and composed of loams and silt loams with a range of pH values from 4.69 to 6.17, mean value of 5.40 ± 0.47. The slightly acidic nature of the soil favors the preservation of pollen and soil diatoms, with minor corrosion potential for the bone, shell, and sherd artifacts. A comparison of the geochemistry of the soils from Unit A and site-wide sampling to sherds from Unit A suggests that elevated phosphorus (P) in the sherds is either the result of the addition of a P-rich temper material or from the sourcing of nonlocal clay-rich sediment, and not from use-derived residue or from the soils themselves.