Studying urban stratigraphy: Dark Earth and a microstratified sequence on the site of the Court of Hoogstraeten (Brussels, Belgium). Integrating archaeopedology and phytolith analysis Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Soil micromorphology has become an important tool in urban archaeology to investigate enigmatic dark, humus-rich, apparently homogeneous units, known as Dark Earth. It has also proven to be of great value to study microstratified sequences (such as floors), allowing a finer grained picture. Phytolith studies have also shown to be of particular interest to investigate archaeological layers, especially where other botanical remains are poorly ...