J Archaeol Sci 28 (5)

Presents the results of observations made via optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of microwear traces on experimental lithic tools used in the replication of rock art engravings. The overall aim of this experimental programme is to generate diagnostic microscopic criteria that could subsequently be used in the identification of archaeological artefacts that have been involved in the production of rock art engravings, and also in the inference of the engraving techniques in which they have been used.

Reports on some macro- and micromorphological analyses which were carried out on contexts in a series of five trenches containing pre-Roman plough grooves in moderately sandy buried soil profiles. Micromorphological observations of thirty-one thin sections showed that the pedofeatures (soil features) in question were not preferentially distributed in thin sections of sediments from within or below the plough layers, but were more concentrated in contexts which, as shown by field and archaeological evidence, were unlikely to have been affected by cultivation. Conversely, the pedofeatures were absent in other thin sections of sediments from and below the contexts where past agriculture was documented by field and archaeological features. The analysis also showed that the pedofeatures in question tended to be distributed in parts of the sequence with suitable porosity, soil structure and texture rather than in relation to the position of the cultivated layers. All the results in this case study showed that silty, sandy and dusty pedofeatures were not diagnostic for past agricultural practices.