Degradation of mud brick houses in an arid environment: a geoarchaeological model
Degradation of mud brick houses in an arid environment: a geoarchaeological model
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jas.2010.12.011
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发表时间：
2011-05-01
影响因子：
2.8
通讯作者：
Shahack-Gross, Ruth
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Friesem, David;Boaretto, Elisabetta;Shahack-Gross, Ruth
近东考古的一个普遍假设是，大多数沉积物来自于退化的泥砖。对泥砖墙的降解机理了解甚少。在这里，我们对泥砖房的退化进行了详细的宏观和微观的民族考古研究，并提出了干旱环境中泥砖房形成过程的综合机制。这项研究是在以色列南部进行的，他们挖掘了一座大约有60年历史的废弃泥砖房，然后进行了广泛的沉积物采样。宏观观察表明，泥砖墙的退化是由于单块砖的倒塌和/或完整墙体部分的倒塌，无论是向内还是向外。此外，在房子内外，靠近墙壁的地方填充沉积物，形成各种颜色和纹理的交替沉积层。降解后的泥砖材料失去了其特有的宏观结构，这使得仅凭现场观测无法准确识别该材料。矿物学和元素分析确定了房屋填充物沉积物的来源，即泥砖和风吹沉积物。交替层主要来自于退化的泥砖材料和风吹的沉积物之间的混合。微观形态观察揭示了泥砖降解的微观机制，包括泥浆重力流、沉积物涂层和填充、墙壁的风力磨损、小规模水坑和生物扰动等过程。本研究为干旱环境下废弃泥砖结构的场地形成提供了一种工作方案。它提供了一套标准，可以区分地层和废弃后的沉积特征，从而提高了活动区研究的可靠性。(C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd.版权所有。
A common assumption in Near Eastern tell archaeology is that the majority of sediments originate from degraded mud bricks. Little is known about the mechanism of mud brick wall degradation. Here we present a detailed macro- and microscopic ethnoarchaeological study of the degradation of a mud brick house and propose a comprehensive mechanism for tell formation processes in arid environments. The study took place in southern Israel by trenching a ca. 60 year old abandoned mud brick house, followed by extensive sediment sampling. Macroscopic observations showed that mud brick walls degrade by collapse of single bricks and/or collapse of intact wall parts, either inwards or outwards. In addition, infill sediments within the house and outside it, in close proximity to its walls, form alternating sedimentary layers of various colors and textures. The degraded mud brick material lost its distinctive macroscopic structure, which makes it impossible to accurately identify this material by field observations alone. Mineralogical and elemental analyses established the sources of the house infill sediments, namely mud bricks and wind blown sediments. Alternating layers mostly originate from mixing between degraded mud brick material and wind blown sediments. Micromorphological observations revealed microscopic mechanisms of mud brick degradation and include processes of mud slurry gravity flows, sediment coatings and infillings, wind abrasion of walls, small-scale puddling, and bioturbation. This study provides a working scheme for site formation of abandoned mud brick structures in arid environments. It provides a set of criteria by which it is possible to differentiate floors from post-abandonment sedimentary features and thus improves the reliability of activity area research. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.