High-resolution stratigraphy of Scandinavian coastal archaeological settlements: the case of Håkonshella, W Norway

The stratigraphy of Scandinavian open-air archaeological settlements is usually characterized as homogeneous, highly enriched in decomposing organic matter and poor in biogenic carbonates such as shells or bones. As a result, stratigraphies are often difficult to read in the field and settlement sequences may pass unnoticed by archaeologists. Here we show how the integration of bulk analyses, soil micromorphology, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) core scanning and multivariate statistics can help in overcoming such limitations. We use the case study of Håkonshella 8, a Mesolithic hunter-fisher-gatherer settlement located in Bergen (W Norway). Fluctuations in the organic matter content, geochemical proxies (mainly P, Ga, Ti and the Si/Al ratio) and redoximorphic features highlight four cycles of site occupation and abandonment in an otherwise massive anthropogenic deposit. Following these settlement sequences, the site was covered by colluvium from nearby slopes over which a waterlogged soil formed. The approach used in Håkonshella has the potential to improve our capacity to interpret organically enriched anthropic deposits formed in coastal Scandinavia and in similar climatic regions.Peer Reviewe