Potential of scanning electron microscopy in the study of earth archaeological sites of the steppe zone of Russia

Abstract

The article aims to test the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique for studying earthen archaeological sites of the steppe zone of Russia. The earthen material of the Maikop culture kurgan (the 4th-3th millennia BC) in the Western Caucasus and two “black platforms” of the Sintashta culture (the 19th-18th centuries BC) in the Southern Pre-Urals are examined using a JEOL JSM 6060 A SEM with an EX-2300 BU energy-dispersive spectrometer (JEOL, Japan). The elemental composition of the surface was determined in each instance, and variations in the structure of earthen buildings were exposed based on their visibility during SEM investigations. The samples from earthen constructions are unique because nearly all of their interior surfaces are covered with a clay film of various thicknesses. The earthen “cement” used by the Maikop people to hold the stoneworks on the kurgan's slopes and the cromlech at its base was characterized by especially smoothed clay forms, consolidated structure, and a comparatively high content of Al and a low content of Si in the clay film. In contrast, the material inside the kurgan has a higher Si content, a looser structure, and a fragmented clay coating. The structure of the two “black platforms” of the Suntashta culture was found to differ; one was looser, while the other was consolidated and essentially monolithic (“stone-like”), and the elemental makeup of its substance showed an increase in Al and Fe concentration. In terms of building technology, the SEM studies enabled us to assume that the sedimentation process contributed to the smooth (clay-based) surfaces of the earthen structure fragments in the Maikop kurgan, and that the application of specific compaction techniques produced an artificial stone-like body of the black platform of the Sintashta culture.

References

1.    Герасимова М.И., Ковда И.В., Лебедева М.П. и др. Микроморфологические термины как отражение современного состоянии исследований микростроения почв // Почвоведение. 2011. № 7. С. 804–817.
2.    Ковалева Н.О., Решетникова Р.А., Ковалев И.В. и др. Вариабельность изотопного состава углерода (13С/12С) в почвах и культурных слоях геоархеологических памятников Русской равнины // Вестн. Моск. ун-та. Сер. 17. Почвоведение. 2023. № 1. С. 46–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.55959/MSU0137-0944-17-2023-78-1-46-60
3.    Купцова Л.В., Усачук А.Н. Пара щитковых псалиев с территории степного Приуралья // Краткие сообщения Института археологии. 2024. Вып. 275. С. 114–131. http://dx.doi.org/10.25681/IARAS.0130-2620.275.114-131
4.    Сверчкова А.Э., Хохлова О.С., Макеев А.О. и др. Геоархеологический анализ почв и земляных конструкций крупного кургана бронзового века, Краснодарский край // Почвоведение. 2023. № 11. С. 1303–1326. http://dx.doi.org/10.31857/S0032180X23600129
5.    Сверчкова А.Э., Хохлова О.С., Моргунова Н.Л. и др. Большой Болдыревский курган раннего бронзового века в Южном Приуралье: курганные конструкции, палеопочвы, реконструкции палеоклимата // Почвоведение. 2022. № 6. С. 687–700. http://dx.doi.org/10.31857/S0032180X22060132
6.    Хохлова О.С., Наглер А.О. Курган Марфа в Ставропольском крае – пример древнего архитектурного сооружения // Археология, этнография и антропология Евразии. 2020. Т. 48, № 2. С. 38–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.17746/1563-0102.2020.48.2.038-048
7.    Хохлова О.С., Сверчкова А.Э., Моргунова Н.Л. и др. Основные приёмы строительства курганов ямной культуры в Южном Приуралье // Почвы и окружающая среда. 2023. Т. 6, № 2. e213. http://dx.doi.org/10.31251/pos.v6i2.213
8.    Borisov A.V., Eltsov M.V., Krivosheev M.V. et al. “Sod blocks” in kurgan mounds: Historical and soil features of the technique of tumuli erection // J. of Archaeological Science: Reports. 2019. Vol. 24. P. 122–131. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.01.005
9.    Cammas C. Micromorphology of earth building materials: Toward the reconstruction of former technological processes (Protohistoric and Historic Periods) // Quaternary International. 2018. Vol. 483. P. 160–179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2018.01.031
10.    Gavrilov D.A., Bronnikova M.A., Khabdulina M.K. et al. Soil-archaeological studies of Koy-Gunzhar Scythian tumuli (Kazakhstan): building materials and techniques, diagenetic transformations of buried paleosols // Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana. 2022. Vol. 74, № 3. https://doi.org/10.18268/bsgm2022v74n3a061022
11.    Friesem D.E., Wattez J., Onfray M. Earth construction materials / In: C. Nicosia and G. Stoops (Eds), Archaeological soil and sediment micromorphology. 2017. P. 99–110. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118941065.ch10
12.    Khokhlova O., Sverchkova A., Myakshina T. et al. A geoarchaeological study of the large Early Bronze Age Essentuksky 1 kurgan in Ciscaucasia, Russia // Geoarchaeology. 2022. Vol. 37(2). P. 400–417. https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.21897
13.    Macphail R.I., Courty M.A., Goldberg P. Soil micromorphology in archaeology // Endeavour. 1990. Vol. 14, № 4. P. 163–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-9327(90)90039-T
14.    Macphail R.I., Goldberg P. Chapter 27 – Archaeological Materials / In: G. Stoops, V. Marcelino, F. Mees (Eds), Interpretation of micromorphological features of soils and regoliths. 2018. P. 779–819. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-63522-8.00027-9
15.    Makeev A., Rusakov A., Kurbanova F. et al. Soils at archaeological monuments of the Bronze Age - A key to the Holocene landscape dynamics in the broadleaf forest area of the Russian Plain // Quaternary International. 2021. Vol. 590. P. 26–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.09.015
16.    Mikhaylova D., Khokhlova O., Makeev A. et al. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction based on the study of soils of an early iron age kurgan cemetery in the forest-steppe zone of the Russian plain // Catena. 2025. Vol. 249. 108665. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2024.108665
17.    Ortmann A.L., Kidder T.R. Building mound A at Poverty Point // Geoarchaeology. 2013. Vol. 28. P. 66–86. Monumental Public Architecture, Ritual Practice, and Implications for Hunter‐Gatherer Complexity. https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.21430
18.    Villagran X.S., Gianotti C. Earthen mound formation in the Uruguayan lowlands (South America): micromorphological analyses of the Pago Lindo archaeological complex // Journal of Archaeological Science. 2013. Vol. 40, № 2. P. 1093–1107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.10.006