Report on the buried soil

Extract

Present-day soils in the Borwick area form the Carnforth Association, i.e. freely drained gravelly brown earths, some calcareous brown earths and peaty gleys and peaty soils in hollows. pH is normally 6 to 7, with some soil pH higher than 7.

The buried soil beneath the cairn was a truncated stagnopodzol with a pH of 7.35. The Eag, Bf and Bs horizons were present but the lack of a topsoil and relatively high pH suggested that pollen analysis of the soil would be unproductive. Similarly, detailed soil analysis was unlikely to add to the interpretation of the site and was therefore not pursued. The development of podsolised soils on such gravels is not unusual and may indicate that the vegetation at the time the cairn was constructed was acid grassland or moorland. The soil pH would have been on the acid side at this stage, rising subsequently due to downward leaching of the calcium carbonate from the overlying limestone of the enclosure.