Buried Arable Soils and Cultural Layers of Ancient Yaroslavl as a Record of Natural and Anthropogenic Processes

A comparative analysis of a number of cultural layers of different ages and buried arable horizons was carried out in order to determine the contribution of climatic changes and stages of existence to their properties and characteristics. The chronology of three successively located cultural layers is: 1150 years (cultural layer 3), the beginning of the 13th century (cultural layer 2) and 1220–1238 years (cultural layer 1) reflects a climatic rhythm lasting about 100 years – the period of transition from the climatic optimum to the Little Ice Age. The chronological series of two arable soils is represented by soils plowed in the early Iron Age (III–V centuries AD) and the early Middle Ages (X–XI centuries), that is, the climatic rhythm is about 700–900 years. The morphological, micromorphological, microbiomorphic and basic chemical properties of soils are considered. It is shown that the accumulative sedimentation processes of residential stages of territory formation, being formed under the influence of two processes – natural and anthropogenic, fully reflect both of these processes. And turbation processes characteristic of arable soils neutralize climate dynamics, reflecting only the anthropogenic factor (for example, the application of certain fertilizers, watering fields, etc.).