Ants are among the soil mesofauna that cause significant bioturbation at the location of their nests. They can have significant impact on the preservation of soil features and on post-depositional artefact distribution. Moreover, there is discussion on the natural or anthropogenic nature of so-called ‘pit-hearth’ features dating to the Mesolithic. Such features are common in parts of the Netherlands, NW Belgium, and NW Germany, and form an important body of evidence in the study of hunter-gatherer landscape use. However, it has been hypothesized that these features represent ant nests burnt due to climate-related wildfires, instead of anthropogenic pit hearths, and are therefore of little archaeological value, other than as a potential proxy for climate conditions. Considering the lack of direct evidence on underground characteristics of ant nests, we investigated the characteristics of two wood ant nests: Oone abandoned and one accidently burnt in a wildfire c. 10 years earlier. We trenched through the ant nest remains and used micromorphology to study the characteristics of the ant-influenced soil profiles. The surface domes of the ant nests had disappeared, leaving behind a bowl-shaped depression. In the burnt ant nest, a thin band of charred litter-like organic material was all that was left over from the burned superstructure. These depressions seem not to reach deeper than the top of cemented podzol Bhs-horizons. Surrounding and underneath the depression, extensive networks of tunnels and chambers were found in the B- and C-horizons. If archaeological artefacts had been present on the site, they would have become buried and moved to the top of the B-horizon. Any soil features would have been destroyed. Moreover, the extensive tunnel and chamber network extending from the depression would potentially affect the botanical record and the OSL signal of the deposits.

中文翻译：

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对蚂蚁巢形态和微形态、野火的影响及其对理解考古特征的影响的一些初步观察


蚂蚁是土壤 mesofauna 之一，会在它们的巢穴位置引起显着的生物扰动。它们会对土壤特征的保存和沉积后伪影的分布产生重大影响。此外，还讨论了可追溯到中石器时代的所谓“坑炉”特征的自然或人为性质。这些特征在荷兰、比利时西北部和德国西北部的部分地区很常见，并构成了狩猎采集景观利用研究的重要证据。然而，据推测，这些特征代表了因气候相关野火而被烧毁的蚂蚁巢，而不是人为的坑炉，因此除了作为气候条件的潜在代表外，几乎没有考古价值。考虑到缺乏关于蚂蚁巢地下特征的直接证据，我们调查了两个木蚁巢的特征：Oone 被遗弃，另一个在大约 10 年前的野火中意外烧毁。我们在蚂蚁巢的遗骸中挖沟，并使用微形态学来研究受蚂蚁影响的土壤剖面的特征。蚂蚁巢的表面圆顶已经消失，留下了一个碗状的凹陷。在被烧焦的蚂蚁巢中，被烧毁的上层建筑只剩下一条薄薄的烧焦的垃圾状有机物质。这些洼地似乎没有比胶结灰化土 Bhs 层的顶部更深。在洼地周围和下方，在 B 层和 C 层中发现了广泛的隧道和腔室网络。如果遗址上有考古文物，它们就会被掩埋并移动到 B 层的顶部。任何土壤特征都会被破坏。 此外，从洼地延伸出来的广泛隧道和腔室网络可能会影响沉积物的植物学记录和 OSL 信号。