A Neolithic palaeo-catena for the Xagħra Upper Coralline Limestone plateau of Gozo, Malta, and its implications for past soil development and land use

French, C., Taylor, S., McLaughlin, R., Cresswell, A. , Kinnaird, T., Sanderson, D. , Stoddart, S. and Malone, C. (2018) A Neolithic palaeo-catena for the Xagħra Upper Coralline Limestone plateau of Gozo, Malta, and its implications for past soil development and land use. CATENA, 171, pp. 337-358. (doi: 10.1016/j.catena.2018.07.039)

Abstract

Geoarchaeological survey on the island of Gozo combined with test excavations and new chronometric dating of two Neolithic temple sites at Santa Verna and Ġgantija on the Xagħra plateau have revealed well preserved buried soils which tell a new story of soil development and change for the early-mid-Holocene period. Micromorphological analysis has suggested that the earlier Neolithic climax soil type was a thick, well-developed, humic and clay-enriched argillic brown Mediterranean soil. With human intervention on the Xagħra Upper Coralline Limestone plateau from at least the early 4th millennium BC, the trajectory of soil development quickly changed. Radical soil change was marked by the removal of scrub woodland, then consequent poorer organic status and soil thinning, and rubefication and calcification, no doubt exacerbated by Neolithic agricultural activities and a more general longer-term aridification trend. The beginnings of this transitional brown to red Mediterranean soil change process has been observed at Santa Verna temple by the early 4th millennium BC, and appears to be much further advanced by the time of the latter use of Ġgantija temple in the early-mid-3rd millennium BC. There is also evidence of attempts at amending these deteriorating soils during this period and into the 2nd millennium BC, a practice which probably underpinned the viability of later Neolithic agricultural society in the Maltese Islands. The changes observed ultimately resulted in the creation of the thin, xeric, red Mediterranean soils on the Coralline Limestone mesa plateaux which are typical of much of Gozo and Malta today.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: We are indebted to the ERC (FP7 Advanced Grant 323727) for its financial support.
• Keywords: Micromorphology, brown/red Mediterranean soils, argillic calcification, rubefication, Ġgantija and Santa Verna temples.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Kinnaird, Dr Timothy and Sanderson, Professor David and Cresswell, Dr Alan
• Authors: French, C., Taylor, S., McLaughlin, R., Cresswell, A., Kinnaird, T., Sanderson, D., Stoddart, S., and Malone, C.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre
• Research Group: Environmental physics
• Journal Name: CATENA
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 0341-8162
• ISSN (Online): 1872-6887
• Published Online: 28 July 2018
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V.
• First Published: First published in CATENA 171:337-358
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher