Soil Micromorphological Analysis
The micromorphological and geoarchaeological analysis at Thessaloniki Toumba focuses on the deposits which derive from the settlement at the top of the mound, and, mainly, on the deposits which are related to the edifices’ floors, with residues of use or of specific indoor and outdoor activities.
The aim of the analysis is:
- to define the characteristics of different floor types and the meaning of possible differentiations, detected on the interior floors of the building complexes, in the outdoor areas, as well as comparatively among different building complexes in the settlement.
- to define the characteristics of area use where the samples derive from as well as to detect differences in the way indoor and outdoor areas were used, among different areas of the same edifice or diachronically, within the limits of a single area.
- to connect the micromorphological and micro-stratigraphic features detected in the laboratory through the microscope with the macro-stratigraphic characteristics detected on site designed through the excavation.
The Thessaloniki Toumba excavation is the first excavation of a tell site where systematic sampling is conducted for micromorphological analysis. In this way, it will significantly contribute to the classification, the characterization and the interpretation of the use of deposits coming from a settlement, which is characterized by an intensive occupation of long duration without gaps. So far, we have corresponding data, only from similar locations (tells) in Anatolia..
From 2006 to 2009, samples were mainly retrieved from the interior of buildings B and E at the top of the Toumba. They derive from accumulations use remains on the floors of interior and exterior areas, floors, hearths, building materials (mudbricks) and wall mortars, as well as other types of deposits, rather rich in organic substances.
The sample analysis is conducted by the geoarchaeologist Styliani Kyrilidou at the School of Human and Environmental Sciences (SHES), University of Reading,Great Britain, and at the Centre Européen de Recherches Préhistoriques de Tautavel, CERP, France.
