An organic geochemical investigation of the practice of manuring at a Minoan site on Pseira Island,Crete

Lipid components in a soil profile developed in an agricultural terrace at a Minoan site on Pseira Island, Crete, were analyzed to determine whether the practice of manuring in antiquity, as inferred by distributional and temporal sherd scatter, could be confirmed through the use of biomarker compounds as proxies for manuring. Analysis of total organic carbon and the abundance of n‐alkyl lipids (n‐alkanols and fatty acids) demonstrated that while the upper part of the soil profile had received more recent inputs of vegetation‐derived organic matter, the deeper archaeological strata remained essentially undisturbed. Further analysis of 5β‐stanols, sterol components which may be utilized as fecal biomarkers, revealed a signal indicative of manuring, with human or porcine‐derived fecal material, in the lower 15 cm of the profile. Additional appraisal of epicoprostanol abundance inferred the possible practice of composting in later periods. This study represents a detection of manuring, in the oldest samples to date, using organic geochemical methods. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.