The impact of human activity on soil carbon stock and soil fertility is at the forefront of scientific research. In the past, human practices improved soil fertility and increased carbon storage over long periods of time. Studying the resulting anthrosols provides access to their evolution over time scales that are unavailable otherwise. These archeological Anthrosols have been extensively investigated in Amazonia and Europe, but are virtually unknown in Siberia. Here we examined four soil profiles from two archeological sites in western Siberia, along with two corresponding control profiles. The first site, Ketskii Ostrog, is an ancient 18th century fortress occupied by an agricultural population. The second site, Shaitan III, is a historical settlement of metallurgists and horse-breeders active from the 10th through the 17th century. We aimed to understand whether human activity at these two sites modified soil carbon and chemical fertility, and to compare these soils with other studied global anthrosols. We revealed a contrasting impact of human activity for these two sites. At Ketskii Ostrog, ancient agricultural practices improved soil chemical fertility, with the effects persisting until present day. Human activities exhibited a beneficial influence on deep horizons through improvements in their cation exchange capacity, pH and nutrient (P and Ca) concentrations. The Ketskii Ostrog soils were similar to plaggic soils documented in Northern Europe, which are characterized by the addition of fresh organic matter (OM) in the form of manure which was purposefully added to improve soil fertility. At Shaitan III, chemical fertility has also been improved, but to a lesser extent. In contrast to Ketskii Ostrog, Shaitan III soils are rich in charred organic matter and strongly resemble Amazonian Dark Earths with their physico-chemical properties. The Shaitan III soils also have a different origin, as the result of unintentional human impact. Anthropisation has increased carbon stocks in the soil at both sites; however, Shaitan III soils prove to be a more effective carbon sink than at Ketskii Ostrog. This two-fold dichotomy (intentional/unintentional vs. fresh OM/charred OM) is not limited by geographical borders (Amazonia, Europe, or Siberia) and soil typology as currently proposed in the WRB. This highlights the need for concerted studies on anthropised archaeological soils in regard to their importance for both soil fertility and carbon storage.

中文翻译：

---

西西伯利亚针叶林的人类深色土壤地平线：有机质的起源、土壤化学和可持续性


人类活动对土壤碳储量和土壤肥力的影响是科学研究的前沿。过去，人类的做法在很长一段时间内提高了土壤肥力并增加了碳储存。研究由此产生的人类溶胶提供了它们随时间尺度的演变，这是其他方式无法获得的。这些考古 Anthrosols 在亚马逊和欧洲得到了广泛的调查，但在西伯利亚几乎不为人知。在这里，我们检查了来自西西伯利亚两个考古遗址的四种土壤剖面，以及两个相应的控制剖面。第一个遗址是 Ketskii Ostrog，是一座古老的 18 世纪堡垒，由农业人口占据。第二个遗址是 Shaitan III，是 10 世纪至 17 世纪活跃的冶金学家和养马者的历史定居点。我们旨在了解这两个地点的人类活动是否改变了土壤的碳和化学肥力，并将这些土壤与其他研究的全球人类溶胶进行比较。我们揭示了人类活动对这两个地点的截然不同的影响。在 Ketskii Ostrog，古老的农业实践提高了土壤的化学肥力，其效果一直持续到今天。人类活动通过提高阳离子交换能力、pH 值和营养物质（P 和 Ca）浓度，对深层地平线表现出有益影响。Ketskii Ostrog 土壤与北欧记录的斑块土壤相似，其特点是以肥料的形式添加新鲜有机物 （OM），这是有意添加以提高土壤肥力的。在 Shaitan III，化学肥力也有所提高，但程度较轻。 与 Ketskii Ostrog 相比，Shaitan III 土壤富含烧焦的有机物，其物理化学特性与亚马逊的黑暗地球非常相似。由于人类无意的影响，Shaitan III 土壤也有不同的来源。人为化增加了这两个地点土壤中的碳储量;然而，Shaitan III 土壤被证明是比 Ketskii Ostrog 更有效的碳汇。这种双重二分法（有意/无意与新鲜 OM/烧焦的 OM）不受 WRB 中目前提出的地理边界（亚马逊、欧洲或西伯利亚）和土壤类型的限制。这凸显了对人类考古土壤进行协调研究的必要性，以了解它们对土壤肥力和碳储存的重要性。