PSA: The soil color shift at that dig site in Nevada blew my mind

I was working on a small volunteer dig out near Lovelock Cave last month, and we kept hitting this weird line in the dirt. The top 6 inches were this light tan color, but then right below that everything turned a dark, almost blackish brown. It was a super sharp change, not gradual at all. Our lead archaeologist said it was probably from a big fire or maybe a flood event that happened around 800 years ago. The carbon dating on some charcoal we found in the dark layer lined up with that timeframe pretty close. It got me thinking about how much a single event can totally change a landscape and what people leave behind. Has anyone else seen a soil color change that told a clear story about what happened at a site?

2 comments

2 Comments

saraho482d ago

That sharp change you described with the soil color reminds me of something I saw on a dig in Ohio back in '09. We hit a layer of bright orange dirt that was mixed with bits of rusted metal, maybe from an old blacksmith shop that burned down in the 1800s. The soil told the story without us even digging much deeper - you could see where the fire had been so hot it baked the ground underneath. It was a clear line too, like someone drew it with a ruler. Made me wonder how many stories are sitting right under our feet, just waiting for someone to notice the dirt.

the_julia2d ago

Man, isn't that the truth... the ground keeps secrets better than we do sometimes.