Premium
A reply to Carter and Davidson's “an evaluation of the contribution of soil micromorphology to the study of ancient arable agriculture”
Author(s) -
Macphail Richard I.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
geoarchaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1520-6548
pISSN - 0883-6353
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1520-6548(199808)13:6<549::aid-gea2>3.0.co;2-z
Subject(s) - arable land , assertion , agriculture , geoarchaeology , archaeology , history , computer science , programming language
In this current issue of Geoarchaeology , Carter and Davidson (535–547) have assessed published literature on soil micromorphological studies of ancient agriculture. Their “combative” arguments and final assertion that soil micromorphology cannot be used to identify ancient agriculture is challenged. It is also argued that, without confidence in this technique, it will be difficult for Carter and Donaldson to carry out the kinds of researches that they advocate. As well as challenging their view, the author provides an example of one way to collect and present data more accurately and convincingly from soil micromorphological studies of experiments in ancient agriculture. Readers can arrive at their own conclusions. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.