ANALYSIS OF SOIL PHOSPHATE AS A TOOL IN ARCHAEOLOGY, CASE STUDY, RIVI, NORTH KHORASAN, IRAN

Rouhani, Abdulmannan; Azimzadeh, Hamidreza; Sotoudeh, Ahad; Kiani, Bahman

doi:10.22034/jsbs.2022.336576.1010

ANALYSIS OF SOIL PHOSPHATE AS A TOOL IN ARCHAEOLOGY, CASE STUDY, RIVI, NORTH KHORASAN, IRAN

Document Type : Original Research Article

Authors

Abdulmannan Rouhani ¹

Hamidreza Azimzadeh ²

Ahad Sotoudeh ²

Bahman Kiani ²

¹ Department of Environment, Faculty of Environment, the University of Jan Evangelista in Ústí nad Labem (UJEP), Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic.

² Department of Environmental Science, School of Natural Resources and Desert Studies, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran.

10.22034/jsbs.2022.336576.1010

Abstract

Phosphate is unique among the elements in being a sensitive and persistent indicator of human occupation. It has long been of interest to archaeologists because of its potential to inform them about the presence of past human activity and to offer clues regarding the type and intensity of human occupation. In fact, the soil of settlements is part of the phosphorus reservoir. The reconstruction of the human activities areas of archaeological sites using soil phosphate analysis is a well-known technique. This study aims to identify and compare the activity area at ancient mounds of Rivi through the measurement of the quantity of phosphates in the soil. In this study, 29 soil samples were collected from the study area, and phosphorus quantity was measured using Spectrophotometry. Multivariate statistical methods were used to classify the obtained results. The results showed that the phosphorus concentrations in the ancient areas were higher than in the control area, and among the ancient areas, the phosphorus quantity related to Rivi B was higher than in other mounds. Previous studies have shown that the Rivi area has been inhabited from around 2900 years ago to the last Sassanian years (1,500 years ago), and in the middle of the Islamic age (1000 years ago), it was a great village. In total, the archaeological site of Rivi was inhabited during the Iron Age, Achaemenid, Parthian, Sassanid, and Islamic periods, and that is why there was a high concentration of phosphorus in the Rivi area compared to the control area.

Keywords

Phosphorus

Chemical Analysis of Soil

Rivi mounds

Ancient Human Activity

North Khorasan

چکیده: فسفر در میان عناصر که نشانگر حساسیت و فعالیت‌های پایدار انسانی است، منحصر به فرد می‌باشد. باستان‌شناسان به دلیل پتانسیل فسفات در آگاهی بخشیدن به آن‌ها در مورد فعالیت‌های انسان در گذشته و ارائه سرنخ‌هایی در مورد نوع و شدت فعالیت انسانی، به مدت طولانی علاقه‌مند بوده‌اند. در واقع خاک سکونت‌گاه‌ها بخشی از مخزن فسفر است. بازسازی فعالیت‌های انسانی در مناطق باستان‌شناسی با استفاده از تجزیه و تحلیل فسفات خاک شیوه‌ای شناخته شده است. هدف از این تحقیق بررسی و مقایسه مکان‌های فعالیت در تپه‌های ریوی، استان خراسان شمالی با استفاده از آنالیز شیمیایی فسفات خاک می‌باشد. جهت انجام مطالعه ۲۹ نمونه خاک از منطقه مورد مطالعه برداشت شد و غلظت فسفر با استفاده از دستگاه اسپکتروفتومتری اندازه‌گیری شد. برای طبقه‌بندی نتایج به‌دست‌آمده از روش‌های چند متغیری آماری استفاده شد. نتایج نشان داد که غلظت فسفر در مناطق باستانی بسیار بیشتر از منطقه شاهد است و در بین مناطق داخل محوطه، مقادیر نمونه‌های مربوط به تپه ریوی Bبیشتر از تپه‌های دیگر بود. تحقیقات پیشین نشان داد که محوطه ریوی از حدود ۲۹۰۰ سال پیش تا سال‌های پایانی دوران ساسانی (۱۵۰۰ سال پیش) با کاربری شهری مسکونی بوده است و در دوران میانه اسلامی (۱۰۰۰ سال پیش)، روستایی بزرگ بوده است. در مجموع محوطه ریوی در دوره‌های آهن، هخامنشی، اشکانی، ساسانی و اسلامی مسکونی بوده است. در حقیقت غلظت بالای فسفر در محوطه ریوی نسبت به منطقه شاهد به همین دلیل است.

کلیدواژه: فسفر، آنالیز شیمیایی خاک، تپه‌های ریوی، فعالیت‌های انسان باستان، روش آنالیز اسپکتروفتومتری، خراسان شمالی.

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