Influence of Anthropogenic Activity in the Bronze Age on Chemical and Biological Properties of Soils in the Steppe Zone of the Crimean Peninsula

This study was conducted to examine the influence of ancient anthropogenic activity on the properties of recent virgin soils in northwestern Crimea. Soils were studied along a transect, which passed through a Bronze Age settlement and included lithozems (Petrocalcic Leptosols) and migration-segregational chernozems (Luvic Chernozems). The contents of particle-size fractions, organic carbon, total nitrogen and its mobile mineral forms, various forms of phosphates, and macro- and microelements, as well as microbial biomass and phosphatase activity were determined. It was shown that residential land-use and livestock keeping during the Bronze Age (the 12th–9th centuries BC) resulted in increased contents of phosphates, zinc, manganese, and other elements associated with economic use of soils in ancient times. Soils in the zone of active current erosion processes were characterized by increased contents of physical sand, carbonates, and sulfur, as well as of organic carbon, microbial biomass, and phosphatase activity. Soils in the accumulation zone outside the settlement showed increased contents of chemical elements associated with clay minerals and silt particles, namely iron, aluminum, titanium, magnesium, and sodium.