Geoarchaeology

Geoarchaeology is an interdisciplinary field that applies geological methods and theory to archaeological questions. By examining how landscapes, sediments and soils form and change, geoarchaeologists seek to understand site formation, preservation biases, and the environmental contexts in which past humans lived and acted. The field integrates geology, geomorphology, soil science, hydrogeology, paleoclimatology, and geospatial analysis to interpret artefacts within their stratigraphic and landscape setting. It covers a wide temporal range and a variety of environments, from alluvial plains and coasts to caves and rocky outcrops, across the world.

Common field approaches include coring, trenching, trench logs, pitting, and micromorphology of soil and sediment blocks; laboratories apply grain-size analysis, sediment microscopy, X-ray diffraction and fluorescence, charcoal analysis, pollen, and microfossil analyses, and sometimes geochronology (radiocarbon dating, optically stimulated luminescence, luminescence dating, magnetostratigraphy). Geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, LiDAR and drone imagery are used to map landscapes, identify paleochannels and terraces, and integrate artefact distributions with environmental data.

Geoarchaeology informs interpretations of site formation processes, such as sediment burial, bioturbation, fluvial or aeolian deposition, erosion, and human-mediated disturbance. It helps reconstruct past environments and climate, water management and agricultural practices, resource procurement, and settlement choices. The approach is complementary to traditional artefact-centric archaeology and is critical for assessing preservation biases and dating strategies.

Challenges include complex diagenesis, post-depositional mixing, and dating uncertainties. The field is inherently collaborative, bridging earth sciences and archaeology, and relies on careful interpretation of multiple lines of evidence. It has contributed to a broad range of sites worldwide, from prehistoric river valleys to historic urban environments, and continues to play a central role in landscape archaeology and climate-history research.