SLOPE SEDIMENTATION AND SOIL DEVELOPMENT AT TALL DHIBAN, JORDAN

Ongoing interdisciplinary work at the site of Tall Dhiban, in central Jordan, aims to determine the geomorphic and environmental influences acting upon archaeological preservation, as well as historical efforts at landscape stabilization. Sediment accumulation and soil formation are limited at the site proper, where occupation since ~5 ka has resulted in significant disturbance and erosion. However, the construction of stabilizing walls along the lower slopes of the Tall led to sediment accumulation in a series of erosional deposits, supporting the idea of regular soil loss at the Tall over time. Radiocarbon ages obtained from the middle of a sampled section suggest that slope sedimentation was active after ~1.8 ka, although the deepest units were not datable. Soils and sediments sampled from these profiles are low in organic matter and are not differentiable via carbonate content, with carbonate comprising approximately 30% of soil composition. High percentages of gravel are common, composed primarily of variably degraded local limestone and chert. Determination of grain size curves and soil properties will aid in the differentiation of slope deposits from wadi deposits at the base of the Tall, whereas dates obtained from limited organic materials may determine periods when architectural efforts were made toward erosion control. Anthropogenic depositional sequences provide one of the primary sedimentary archives in this area; differentiating these from natural deposits provides evidence of human efforts to control a challenging archaeological landscape.