| Microfacies type (MFT)/Soil microfabric type (SMT) | Sample No. | Depth (relative depth) Soil Micromorphology (SM) SEM/EDAX | Preliminary Interpretation and Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muriau Gwyddelod | |||
| MFT B1/SMT 3a, 3b | M7 | Depth? SM: homogeneous, but with SMT 3a dominating the upper half of the slide, and SMT 3b characterizing the lower slide; Microstructure: weakly massive fragmenting into fine and medium sub-angular blocky (aggregates) with crumb(?) and minor pellety; 40% voids, simple and complex packing voids and fine channels (roots); Coarse Mineral: C:F, 40:60, poorly sorted silt, fine to very coarse sand- and small stone-size quartz, feldspar and (few) rock fragments (max 20mm; shale, siltstones, sandstone, feldspar-rich breccia?); Coarse Organic and Anthropogenic: occasional wood charcoal (max 4mm), with trace amounts of burned mineral grains (eg 2mm-size rubefied sand); rare very fine roots (0.3–0.5mm); Fine Fabric: SMT 3: pale yellowish brown (3a) to dark brownish (3b)(PPL), very low interference colours (open porphyric, speckled b-fabric, XPL), darkish yellow brown [3a], to very dark brown [3b](OIL), mixed moderately humic and very humic staining, fungal material present; Pedofeatures: Amorphous: rare weak ferruginisation of root traces; Fabric: very abundant thin to broad burrows; Excrements: total excremental fabric, with very abundant very thin to broad excrements. |
Context 14 (buried Iron Age [or earlier] soil below bank – Context 11) Humic fine soil with few stones, rare roots, occasional wood charcoal (max 4mm) and trace amounts of burned mineral grains. Soil characterised by extremely thin to very thin and broad total excremental fabric of moderately acid-neutral mesofauna. Humic topsoil, with acidophyle mesofauna more actively affecting upper part, with earthworm crumbs more now dominant below. Probably moderately weakly acid-neutral (good-quality) pasture/grassland. The presence of only 'coarse' wood charcoal suggests that this is relict of clearance. |
| MFT B2/SMT 3c | M10 | Depth cm? SM: homogeneous SMT 3c; Microstructure: weakly massive fragmenting into fine and medium sub-angular blocky (aggregates) with crumb(?) and minor pellety; 35% voids (compact aggregates with 20% voids), simple and complex packing voids, poorly accommodated planar voids and fine channels (roots); Coarse Mineral: as M7, frequent small stones (max 15mm); Coarse Organic and Anthropogenic: trace of fine roots and iron-stained soil/sediment (trampled fragments?); occasional charcoal (wood charcoal; max 2.5mm); Fine Fabric: SMT 3c: as SMT 3b, with rare to occasional very fine charcoal; Pedofeatures: Textural: rare weakly formed fine matrix void coatings (100μm) and layering (preserved in aggregates); Excrements: many very thin, abundant thin and very abundant broad excrements. |
Context 8 over 14 (buried soil) Humic stony soil, composed of crumb and compact soil aggregates, with occasional charcoal (max 2mm) and rare to occasional very fine charcoal within the fine soil. Trace amounts of iron-stained and burned ('anthropogenic') soil-sediment occur. Rare weakly formed matrix void coatings and layering are preserved within aggregates. The fragmented nature of the charcoal and more compact soil at M10, compared to M7, suggests possible animal trampling here, as also indicated by the presence of textural pedofeatures. The trace amounts of 'anthropogenic' soil, perhaps formed by trampling elsewhere and tracked in by stock, is consistent with this hypothesis. |
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