A
Research and Teaching Laboratory for the
Study
of Ancient and Modern Anthrosols
The primary goal of the Cultural Soilscapes
Research Group is the discovery and application of new knowledge about ancient,
historical, and contemporary human/soil dynamics to solve problems of the
present and future. To achieve this goal, we actively support collaboration,
training, and professional growth among faculty, graduate students, and
undergraduates interested in cultural soilscapes, past and present.
“Soil is usually
considered to be the product of numerous intersecting natural processes, including
those associated with the erosion of geological materials, topography, climate,
living organisms, and time. Recently, social scientists—but especially
archaeologists and geographers—have proposed that “culture” (learned and shared
knowledge and beliefs that produce, and are produced by, human behavior) be
added to this list, and that soil be understood and studied as a product of
social forces as much as natural ones. Indeed, soil surveyors and pedologists
have long recognized that physical, biological, and chemical properties of soil
may be altered significantly as a direct result of human activity. It is not
surprising, then, that recent approaches to soil morphology and related
research consider the cultural soilscape,
which can be defined as a given area of
the earth’s surface that is the result of spatially and temporally variable
geomorphic, pedogenic, and cultural processes. As the physical embodiment
of human/environment relationships, the cultural soilscape is an important
analytical domain, because it reveals the consequences of the complex and
multi-layered dialectic between human behavior and soil bodies over long
periods.” Read more…
HEADLINES
USF Scientist Tracks Dirt Path to Sustainable Future.
Bay Soundings, February 1. (K. Loft,
2010)
Wells Tracks Dirt Path to
Sustainable Future. USF News,
January 5. (S. Harff, 2010)
USF Scientist Tracks Dirt Path
to Sustainable Future. 83
degrees, January 5. (K. Loft, 2010)
Leads Found But No Body At S. Tampa Home,
Police Say. The Tampa Tribune, http://www.tbo.com/news,
January 23. (M. Wells, 2008)
Tomorrow Searching Again: Forensic
Specialists Will Be at It Again on Saturday Searching for Evidence on the
Disappearance of Sandra Prince. Televised interview, WFLA-TV NBC News Channel
8, Tampa. (N. Shepherd, 2007)
Digging Deeply into the Past:
Chemistry Is Increasingly Helping Archaeologists Answer Questions of What,
Where, and When. Chemical
& Engineering News 84(17):35-38. (C. H. Arnaud, 2006)
Gritty Clues: How Soils Can
Tell Stories of the Past. Science
News 169(23):362-364. (A. Cunningham, 2006)
RESEARCH
GROUP
Coordinator & Principal Investigator
E. Christian Wells
Project Leaders
Stefanie Butera (2007-2009)
Zaida Darley (2006-2009)
Robert King (2007-2008)
Derek Lincoln (2006-2007)
Christine Martin (2006-2008)
Michael Nicolay
(2007-2008)
Kara Rothenberg
(2008-2010)
Jolien Verdaasdonk
(2003-2007)
Analysts
Alejandro Figueroa (2008-2009)
Whitney Goodwin (2008-2009)
James Hawken (2005-2007)
Meaghan Lawson (2007-2008)
David McCormick (2009-2010)
Lorena Mihok
(2007-2008)
José Moreno Cortés
(2005-2006)
Claire Novotny
(2005-2007)
Faye Postma (2007-2008)
Christopher Robertson (2007-2008)
Nicole Shelnut (2004-2005)
FACULTY
COLLABORATORS
David G. Anderson (Department of Anthropology,
University of Tennessee-Knoxville)
Zachary D. Atlas (Center for Geochemical Analysis,
University of South Florida)
Ruth F. Beeston (Department of Chemistry, Davidson
College)
Tamara L. Bray (Department of Anthropology, Wayne
State University)
David S. Butler (Department of Anthropology,
Rollins College)
Ethan A. Goddard (College of Marine Science,
University of South Florida-St. Petersburg)
Karla L. Davis-Salazar (Department of Anthropology,
University of South Florida)
Richard W. Estabrook (Florida Public Archaeology
Network-Central Regional Center)
William J. Hunt (Midwest Archeological Center,
National Park Service)
Erin H. Kimmerle (Department of Anthropology,
University of South Florida)
David D. Kuehn (David Kuehn
Consulting)
Lisa LeCount (Department of Anthropology,
University of Alabama)
Nicole Misarti (Institute of Marine Science,
University of Alaska-Fairbanks)
Jeff Moates (Florida Public Archaeology
Network-West Central Regional Center)
Virginia Rimmer (The Oriental Institute, University
of Chicago)
Christopher I. Roos (Department of Anthropology,
Southern Methodist University)
Roderick B. Salisbury (Department of Anthropology,
State University of New York-Buffalo)
Sarah C. Sherwood (Department of Anthropology,
Sewanee: The University of the South)
Donald A. Storer (Department of Chemistry, Southern
State Community College)
Richard E. Terry (Department of Plant and Animal
Sciences, Brigham Young University)
Nancy M. White (Department of Anthropology,
University of South Florida)
RESEARCH
THEMES
Anthrosol Development
● Activity Area Analysis
● Prospection
Soil Memory
● Ethnoarchaeology
● Forensic Science
Human Impacts
● Sustainable Agriculture
● Geoarchaeology
Cultural Perceptions
● Folk Soil Taxonomy
● Ethnopedology
DELIVERABLES
Edited Works
Wells, E. Christian, and Richard E. Terry, Editors
2007 Advances in Geoarchaeological Approaches to Anthrosol
Chemistry, Part I: Agriculture. Special Issue of Geoarchaeology: An International Journal 22(3).
Wells, E. Christian, and Richard E. Terry, Editors
2007 Advances in Geoarchaeological Approaches to
Anthrosol Chemistry, Part II: Activity Area Analysis. Special Issue of Geoarchaeology: An International Journal
22(4).
Articles
Wells, E. Christian, and
Lorena D. Mihok
2010 Ancient Maya Perceptions of
Soil, Land, and Earth. In Soil and Culture, edited by E. R.
Landa and C. Feller, pp. 311-327. Springer, New York. (E. C. Wells and L. D.
Mihok)
Wells,
E. Christian, and José E. Moreno Cortés
2010 Chimie du sol et
activités humaines anciennes: les exemples archéologiques du Mexique et
d'Amérique centrale. Etude et Gestion des
Sols 17(1):67-78. (E. C. Wells and J. E. Moreno Cortés)
Wells, E. Christian,
Claire Novotny, and James R. Hawken
2007 Quantitative
Modeling of Soil Chemical Data from Inductively Coupled Plasma—Optical Emission
Spectroscopy Reveals Evidence for Cooking and Eating in Ancient Mesoamerican
Plazas. In Archaeological
Chemistry: Analytical Techniques and Archaeological Interpretation, edited
by M. D. Glascock, R. J. Speakman, and R. S. Popelka-Filcoff, pp. 210-230. American
Chemical Society, Washington, DC.
Wells, E. Christian, and Richard E. Terry
2007 Introduction to the Special
Issue: Advances in Geoarchaeological Approaches to Anthrosol Chemistry, Part I:
Agriculture. Geoarchaeology:
An International Journal 22(3):285-290.
Wells, E. Christian, and Richard E. Terry
2007 Introduction to the Special
Issue: Advances in Geoarchaeological Approaches to Anthrosol Chemistry, Part
II: Activity Area Analysis. Geoarchaeology:
An International Journal 22(4):387-390.
Wells, E. Christian
2006 Cultural Soilscapes.
In Function of Soils for Human Societies
and the Environment, edited by E. Frossard, W. E. H. Blum, and B. P.
Warkentin, pp. 125-132. Geological Society, London.
Wells, E. Christian
2006 Pedology and Archaeology: A
Conversation with Vance T. Holliday, University of Arizona. Newsletter
of the Commission on the History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Soil Science,
International Union of Soil Sciences 13(1):21-25.
Wells, E. Christian
2005 Review
of “Soils in Archaeological Research,” by V. T. Holliday, Oxford University
Press, Oxford, 2004. SAS Bulletin,
Newsletter of the Society for Archaeological Sciences 28(3):16-18.
Wells, E. Christian
2004 Investigating
Activity Patterns in Prehispanic Plazas: Weak Acid-extraction ICP/AES Analysis
of Anthrosols at Classic Period El Coyote, Northwest Honduras. Archaeometry 46(1):67-84.
Wells, E. Christian
2004 A
Brief History of Archaeological Soil Chemistry. Newsletter of the
Commission on the History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Soil Science, International
Union of Soil Sciences 11(1):2-4.
Wells, E. Christian
2003
La
arqueología y las lecturas químicas de las actividades rituales en la plaza
monumental del Sitio El Coyote, Santa Bárbara, Honduras. In XVI Simposio de Investigaciones
Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2002, edited by J. P. Laporte, B. Arroyo, H. L.
Escobedo, and H. Mejía, pp. 918-930. Museo Nacional de
Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Reports
Wells,
E. Christian
2010 Multi-elemental Analysis of Soils from
Inca-Caranqui, Ecuador. Reported submitted to Tamara Bray, Department of
Anthropology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.
Wells,
E. Christian, and Erin H. Kimmerle
2007
Scientific Report: Forensic Soil Analysis
for TTPD File No. 06-0000030. Report submitted to the Temple Terrace Police
Department, Temple Terrace, Florida.
Wells, E. Christian
2005 Soil
Chemical Analysis of Mound A, Shiloh Mound Complex, Tennessee. Report
submitted to the Southeast Archaeological Center, National Park Service,
Tallahassee, Florida.
Theses
Butera, Stefanie M.
2009 Estimating the Postmortem
Interval using Soil Chemistry of Pseudomorphs. B.A. Thesis,
Honors College, University of South Florida.
Doering, Travis F.
2007 An Unexplored Realm in the
Heartland of the Southern Gulf Olmec: Investigations at El Marquesillo,
Veracruz, Mexico. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of
Anthropology, University of South Florida.
Hawken, James R.
2007 Socio-Natural Landscapes in the Palmarejo Valley, Honduras. M.A. Thesis,
Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida.
Lincoln, Derek
2007 Water Manipulation: A Key to Power
in Prehispanic Palmarejo? B.A. Thesis, Honors College,
University of South Florida.
Verdaasdonk, Jolien S.
2007 Assessing Agricultural
Potential and its Implications for Political Development in Northwest Honduras.
B.A. Thesis, Honors College, University of South Florida.
Posters
Keister,
Elise, Alexander Bear, Kara A. Rothenberg, E. Christian Wells, and Robert H.
Tykot
2010
Experimental Analysis of Archaeological Soils from Honduras: Using
Portable X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry. Poster to be presented at the 8th Annual UR USF
Undergraduate Research Symposium, University of South Florida, Tampa.
Tykot,
Robert H., Keister, Elise, Alexander Bear, E. Christian Wells, and Kara A. Rothenberg
2010 Experimental Analysis of Archaeological Soils
from Honduras Using Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry. Poster to be
presented in the symposium, “Field Archaeology,” at the 42nd
International Symposium on Archaeometry, Tampa, Florida.
Wells,
E. Christian
2010 Alkaline Earth Metals as Human Activity
Markers in Archaeological Soils. Poster to be presented in the symposium,
“Archaeological Science 2010,” at the 75th Annual Meeting of the
Society for American Archaeology, St. Louis, Missouri.
Wells,
E. Christian
2010 The Significance of Alkaline Earth Metals for
Identifying Human Activity Areas on Ancient Soil Surfaces. Poster to be
presented in the symposium, “Field Archaeology,” at the 42nd
International Symposium on Archaeometry, Tampa, Florida.
Bohrer,
D., P. Griffith, K. Surharski, D. A. Storer, K. A. Rothenberg, and E. C. Wells
2009 Emission or Absorption? A Comparison of
Spectroscopic and Colorimetric Methods for Characterizing Extractable Phosphate
in Archaeological Soils. Poster presented at the 2009 Archaeological Sciences
of the Americas Symposium, Tampa, Florida.
Rothenberg,
Kara A., Donald A. Storer, and E. Christian Wells
2009 Interlinking Soil Properties to
Prospect for Ancient Activity Loci: An Example from Palmarejo, Honduras.
Poster presented at the 2009 Archaeological Sciences of the Americas Symposium,
Tampa, Florida.
Rothenberg,
Kara A., and E. Christian Wells
2009
Soilscape Legacies of the Palmarejo Valley, Northwestern
Honduras. Poster presented in the symposium, “Geoarchaeology and
Interpretation,” at the 74th Annual Meeting of the Society for American
Archaeology, Atlanta, Georgia.
Butera, Stefanie M. (Advisor:
E. Christian Wells)
2008 Soil Chemistry of
Pseudomorphs through Spectrophotometry. Poster presented at the 6th Annual UR
USF Undergraduate Research Symposium, University of South Florida, Tampa.
King, Robert P., and
Christine E. Martin (Advisor: E. Christian Wells)
2008 The Archaeology of Cultural Soilscapes: Using Archaeology to Model
Landscape Legacies. Poster presented at the National Conference on
Undergraduate Research, Salisbury University, Salisbury, Maryland.
King, Robert P., and
Christine E. Martin (Advisor: E. Christian Wells)
2008 Toward Sustainable
Agriculture in Honduras: Looking to the Past for the Future. Poster presented
at the 6th Annual UR USF Undergraduate Research Symposium, University of South
Florida, Tampa.
Butera, Stefanie M., Faye Postma, E. Christian
Wells, and Erin H. Kimmerle
2007 Estimating Time since Death
Using Soil Chemistry of Burial Silhouettes. Poster presented at the
4th Annual Forensic Sciences Symposium, Nebraska Institute of Forensic
Sciences, Lincoln, Nebraska.
Darley, Zaida E., and E. Christian Wells
2007 Archaeological Soil Chemistry
in Cultivated Orange Groves: A Test Case from the Blueberry Site, Lake Placid,
Florida. Poster presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of
the Florida Anthropological Society, Avon Park, Florida.
Darley, Zaida E., and E. Christian Wells
2007 Dirt Cheap Dirt Science: Simple and
Inexpensive Soil Analyses for Archaeological Resource Managers. Poster
presented in the symposium, “Archaeometric Methods, Archaeological
Applications,” at the 72nd Annual Meeting of the Society for
American Archaeology, Austin, Texas.
Papers
Darley, Zaida E., and E. Christian Wells
2010 Archaeopedological and Geomorphological
Perspectives on Prehispanic Water Management at Palmarejo, Honduras. Paper to
be presented in the symposium, “On the Valley Floor: Regional Variation and
Cultural Difference in Southeast Mesoamerica,” at the 75th Annual
Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, St. Louis, Missouri.
Rothenberg, Kara A., and E. Christian Wells
2010 Using Soil Chemical Residue Analysis to
Prospect for Ancient Activity Loci at the Prehispanic Site of Palmarejo,
Northwest Honduras. Paper to be presented in the symposium, “Geoarchaeological
Research,” at the 75th Annual Meeting of the Society for American
Archaeology, St. Louis, Missouri.
Wells, E. Christian
2010 Ancient Maya Souls and Soils: Archaeological
Lessons for Sustainable Land Use. Paper to be presented in the symposium,
“Socio-sedimentary Dialectics,” at the 16th Annual Meeting of the
European Association of Archaeologists, The Hague, the Netherlands.
Wells, E. Christian
2009 The Importance of a Deep-time Perspective for Understanding
Land Use Legacies. Paper presented at the 4th Annual Campus and
Community Sustainability Conference, Tampa, Florida.
Wells, E. Christian
2009 Building Reference Models in Soil Chemistry
for Archaeological Prospection. Paper presented at the 2009 Archaeological
Sciences of the Americas Symposium, Tampa, Florida.
Wells, E. Christian, Ruth F. Beeston, and Donald A.
Storer
2009 Characterization in Shades of Blue:
Archaeological Applications of Extractable Soil Phosphate using Molybdate
Colorimetry and ICP-Emission Spectroscopy. Paper presented in the symposium,
“Archaeometry,” at the Annual Meeting of the Federation of Analytical Chemistry
and Spectroscopy Societies, Louisville, Kentucky. (E. C. Wells, R. F. Beeston,
and D. A. Storer)
King, Robert P., Christine E. Martin, and E.
Christian Wells
2008 The Archaeology of Cultural Soilscapes. Paper
presented in the symposium, “Soils and Archaeology,” at the 73rd
Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada.
Moreno Cortés, José E., E. Christian Wells, and
Karla L. Davis-Salazar
2008 Applying Archaeology to Hydroecological and
Agroecological Development in Honduras. Paper presented in the symposium,
“Archaeological Contributions to Understanding Socio-ecological Systems:
Emerging Collaborations between Ecology and Archaeology,” at the 73rd
Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada.
Wells, E. Christian
2008 Cultivated Landscapes as Inalienable Wealth in
Ancient Mesoamerica. Paper presented in the symposium, “Inalienable Possessions
in the Archaeology of Mesoamerica,” at the 73rd Annual Meeting of
the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (E.
C. Wells)
Davis-Salazar, Karla L., E. Christian Wells, and
David D. Kuehn
2007 Alternative Models for Settlement and Land Use
in Prehispanic Northwest Honduras. Paper presented in the symposium, “Living on
the Land: The Complex Relationship between Population and Agriculture in the
Americas,” at the 72nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American
Archaeology, Austin, Texas.
Verdaasdonk, Jolien S.
(Advisor: E. Christian Wells)
2007 Assessing
Agricultural Potential and its Implications for Political Development in the
Palmarejo Region of Northwest Honduras. Paper presented at the 5th Annual UR
USF Undergraduate Research Symposium, University of South Florida, Tampa.
Wells, E. Christian
2006 Sampling Design and Inferential Bias in
Archaeological Soil Chemistry: Cautionary Tales from Honduras. Paper presented
in the symposium, “Social Spaces and Activities in the Past and Present:
Evaluating Chemical Analyses and Techniques for Archaeological Interpretation,”
at the 71st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology,
San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Wells, E. Christian, Claire Novotny, and James R.
Hawken
2006 Predictive Modeling of Soil Chemical Data by
ICP-OES Reveals the Uses of Ancient Mesoamerican Plazas. Paper presented in the
symposium, “Archaeological Chemistry: Analytical Techniques and Archaeological
Interpretation,” at the 227th Annual Meeting of the American
Chemical Society, Atlanta, Georgia.
Wells, E. Christian, and Donald A. Storer
2006 Archaeology through Soil Chemistry, Soil
Chemistry through Archaeology: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Teaching. Paper
presented at the 19th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education,
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.
Wells, E. Christian
2005 A Soil Chemical Approach to Understanding the
Diachronic Use of Space on Mound A. Paper presented in the symposium,
“Revealing Mound A, Shiloh, Tennessee: Research Results of the 1999-2004 Field
Program,” at the 2005 Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Columbia, South
Carolina.
Wells, E. Christian
2005 Soil Chemical Residues of Food Preparation:
Lessons from Mesoamerican Ethnoarchaeology. Paper presented in the symposium,
“Archaeological Studies of Cooking and Food Preparation,” at the 70th
Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Wells, E. Christian
2003 Quantitative Approaches for the Archaeological
Study of Soil Chemistry and Activity Areas. Paper presented in the symposium,
“Advances in Archaeological Approaches to Soil Chemistry,” at the 68th
Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Lectures
Wells, E. Christian
2009 The Value of
Deep-time Perspectives for Understanding Land Use Legacies. Lecture presented
in the Department of Geography, University of South Florida, Tampa, November
13.
Wells, E. Christian
2009 La cultura y la
agricultura: Una perspectiva desde el antiguo pasado. Lecture presented at the
Universidad Nacional de Agricultura, Catacamas, Olancho, Honduras, May 30.
Wells, E. Christian
2008 Souls and Soils of the Ancient Maya:
Archaeological Lessons for Sustainable Land Use. Lecture presented in the
Department of Anthropology, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, December 8.
Wells, E. Christian
2008 Understanding Chemical Residue Evidence in Soils
and Sediments. Lecture presented in the Forensic Science Brown Bag Series,
Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, Tampa, October 10.
Wells, E. Christian
2008 Soil Chemistry in Archaeology. Lecture and lab
demonstration presented in the course, “Archaeological Science,” Department of
Anthropology, University of South Florida, Tampa, February 26.
Wells, E. Christian
2008
Reconstructing Past Foodways from Ancient Soil Evidence. Lecture presented in
the course, “Ancient Diets,” Department of Anthropology, University of South
Florida, Tampa, October 21.
Wells, E. Christian
2007 Forensic Soil Analysis. Lecture and
demonstration presented in the workshop, “Outdoor Crime Scene: Forensic
Archaeology and Geophysical Techniques for Locating and Exhuming Clandestine
Burials,” University of South Florida, Tampa, December 10.
Wells, E. Christian
2006 Archaeological Soil Chemistry. Lecture and lab
demonstration presented in the course, “Archaeological Science,” Department of
Anthropology, University of South Florida, Tampa, January 24.
Davis-Salazar, Karla L., and E. Christian Wells
2006 Environmental Archaeology and Sustainable
Development in Honduras. Lecture presented in the “Environmental Research
Interdisciplinary Colloquium,” Department of Environmental Science and Policy,
University of South Florida, Tampa, February 15.
Wells, E. Christian
2004 Geoarchaeology and Anthrosols: Modern
Approaches. Lecture presented in the course, “Archaeological Science,”
Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, Tampa, January 20.