Footprints from the past:the influence of past human activities on vegetation and soil across five archaeological sites in Greenland
Climate change has irrevocable consequences for the otherwise well-preserved archaeological deposits in the Arctic. Vegetation changes are expected to impact archaeological sites, but currently the effects are poorly understood. In this article we investigate five archaeological sites and the surrou...
Published in: | Science of The Total Environment |
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Online Access: | https://curis.ku.dk/portal/da/publications/footprints-from-the-past(fb4a07e1-bf40-42fb-8ca7-bce85b5b3e6e).html https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.018 |
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ftcopenhagenunip:oai:pure.atira.dk:publications/fb4a07e1-bf40-42fb-8ca7-bce85b5b3e6e 2024-05-12T07:59:09+00:00 Footprints from the past:the influence of past human activities on vegetation and soil across five archaeological sites in Greenland Fenger-Nielsen, Rasmus Hollesen, Jørgen Matthiesen, Henning Andersen, Emil Alexander Sherman Westergaard-Nielsen, Andreas Harmsen, Hans Michelsen, Anders Elberling, Bo 2019 https://curis.ku.dk/portal/da/publications/footprints-from-the-past(fb4a07e1-bf40-42fb-8ca7-bce85b5b3e6e).html https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.018 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Fenger-Nielsen , R , Hollesen , J , Matthiesen , H , Andersen , E A S , Westergaard-Nielsen , A , Harmsen , H , Michelsen , A & Elberling , B 2019 , ' Footprints from the past : the influence of past human activities on vegetation and soil across five archaeological sites in Greenland ' , Science of the Total Environment , vol. 654 , pp. 895-905 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.018 Archaeological remains Arctic Climate change Plant biomass Remote sensing Soil chemistry article 2019 ftcopenhagenunip https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.018 2024-04-18T00:28:15Z Climate change has irrevocable consequences for the otherwise well-preserved archaeological deposits in the Arctic. Vegetation changes are expected to impact archaeological sites, but currently the effects are poorly understood. In this article we investigate five archaeological sites and the surrounding natural areas along a climate gradient in Southwest Greenland in terms of vegetation types, above- and below-ground biomass, soil geochemistry and spectral properties. The investigations are based on data from site-sampling and optical remote sensing from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and satellites. Results show that the archaeological sites are dominated by graminoids with approximately two times more above- and below-ground biomass than the surrounding areas, where the vegetation is more heterogeneous. This difference is associated with a 2–6 times higher content of plant available phosphorus and water extractable nitrate and ammonium in the archaeological deposits compared to the surrounding soil. Furthermore, the vegetation at archaeological sites is less affected by the regional climate variations than the surrounding natural areas. This suggests that soil-vegetation interactions at archaeological sites are markedly different from the natural environment. Thus, the long-term vulnerability of buried archaeological remains cannot be assessed based on existing projections of Arctic vegetation change. Finally, the study demonstrates that vegetation within archaeological sites has distinct spectral properties, and there is a great potential for using satellite imagery for large scale vegetation monitoring of archaeological sites and for archaeological prospection in the Arctic. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change Greenland University of Copenhagen: Research Arctic Greenland Science of The Total Environment 654 895 905 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Copenhagen: Research |
op_collection_id |
ftcopenhagenunip |
language |
English |
topic |
Archaeological remains Arctic Climate change Plant biomass Remote sensing Soil chemistry |
spellingShingle |
Archaeological remains Arctic Climate change Plant biomass Remote sensing Soil chemistry Fenger-Nielsen, Rasmus Hollesen, Jørgen Matthiesen, Henning Andersen, Emil Alexander Sherman Westergaard-Nielsen, Andreas Harmsen, Hans Michelsen, Anders Elberling, Bo Footprints from the past:the influence of past human activities on vegetation and soil across five archaeological sites in Greenland |
topic_facet |
Archaeological remains Arctic Climate change Plant biomass Remote sensing Soil chemistry |
description |
Climate change has irrevocable consequences for the otherwise well-preserved archaeological deposits in the Arctic. Vegetation changes are expected to impact archaeological sites, but currently the effects are poorly understood. In this article we investigate five archaeological sites and the surrounding natural areas along a climate gradient in Southwest Greenland in terms of vegetation types, above- and below-ground biomass, soil geochemistry and spectral properties. The investigations are based on data from site-sampling and optical remote sensing from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and satellites. Results show that the archaeological sites are dominated by graminoids with approximately two times more above- and below-ground biomass than the surrounding areas, where the vegetation is more heterogeneous. This difference is associated with a 2–6 times higher content of plant available phosphorus and water extractable nitrate and ammonium in the archaeological deposits compared to the surrounding soil. Furthermore, the vegetation at archaeological sites is less affected by the regional climate variations than the surrounding natural areas. This suggests that soil-vegetation interactions at archaeological sites are markedly different from the natural environment. Thus, the long-term vulnerability of buried archaeological remains cannot be assessed based on existing projections of Arctic vegetation change. Finally, the study demonstrates that vegetation within archaeological sites has distinct spectral properties, and there is a great potential for using satellite imagery for large scale vegetation monitoring of archaeological sites and for archaeological prospection in the Arctic. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fenger-Nielsen, Rasmus Hollesen, Jørgen Matthiesen, Henning Andersen, Emil Alexander Sherman Westergaard-Nielsen, Andreas Harmsen, Hans Michelsen, Anders Elberling, Bo |
author_facet |
Fenger-Nielsen, Rasmus Hollesen, Jørgen Matthiesen, Henning Andersen, Emil Alexander Sherman Westergaard-Nielsen, Andreas Harmsen, Hans Michelsen, Anders Elberling, Bo |
author_sort |
Fenger-Nielsen, Rasmus |
title |
Footprints from the past:the influence of past human activities on vegetation and soil across five archaeological sites in Greenland |
title_short |
Footprints from the past:the influence of past human activities on vegetation and soil across five archaeological sites in Greenland |
title_full |
Footprints from the past:the influence of past human activities on vegetation and soil across five archaeological sites in Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Footprints from the past:the influence of past human activities on vegetation and soil across five archaeological sites in Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Footprints from the past:the influence of past human activities on vegetation and soil across five archaeological sites in Greenland |
title_sort |
footprints from the past:the influence of past human activities on vegetation and soil across five archaeological sites in greenland |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://curis.ku.dk/portal/da/publications/footprints-from-the-past(fb4a07e1-bf40-42fb-8ca7-bce85b5b3e6e).html https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.018 |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Climate change Greenland |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change Greenland |
op_source |
Fenger-Nielsen , R , Hollesen , J , Matthiesen , H , Andersen , E A S , Westergaard-Nielsen , A , Harmsen , H , Michelsen , A & Elberling , B 2019 , ' Footprints from the past : the influence of past human activities on vegetation and soil across five archaeological sites in Greenland ' , Science of the Total Environment , vol. 654 , pp. 895-905 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.018 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.018 |
container_title |
Science of The Total Environment |
container_volume |
654 |
container_start_page |
895 |
op_container_end_page |
905 |
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1798840136545337344 |