Phosphorus traces left by Stone Age people in Aukštumala highmoor

ENThree settlements dated to the Final Palaeolithic were found on the fluvioglacial hill of the Aukštumala Highmoor. During the archaeological research, soil samples were taken from the settlement’s cultural layer, in which three indicators reflecting Final Palaeolithic human activity were determined: the amount of organic matter, phosphates, and the total phosphorus. The results showed that only one chemical indicator (organic matter) increased in the first settlement, where most artefacts were found, compared to the indicators in the control test pit. Meanwhile, in the second settlement, the values of organic matter were estimated to be four times higher, and the total phosphorus values were twice as high as in the control test pit. All three indicators showed traces of human activity in the cultural layer of the newly discovered third settlement, where the lowest number of finds was detected. The total amount of organic matter reached 2.54%; the phosphate concentration increased to 10.03 mg/ml WW, and the total phosphorus rose to 359.91 mg/kg, and was three, five and 1.5 times higher, respectively, compared to the measured values of the control test pit sample. Keywords: Aukštumala Highmoor, Soil, Phosphorus, Organic carbon, Human activity, Final Palaeolithic, Coastal Lithuania. [From the publication]

• The First Palaeolithic and Mesolithic settlements in Aukštumala, Šilutė district, the Nemunas river delta / Marijus Grigaliūnas. Archaeologia Baltica. 2013, t. 20, p. 174-189.
• The First Palaeolithic inhabitants and the Mesolithic in Lithuanian territory / Egidijus Šatavičius. Hundred years of archaeological discoveries in Lithuania / edited by Gintautas Zabiela, Zenonas Baubonis, Eglė Marcinkevičiūtė. Vilnius: Lietuvos archeologijos draugija, 2016. P. 8-39.