Mineral soil composition interfacing archaeology and chemistry

• Mineral analysis of soils interfacing archaeology and analytical chemistry was conducted.
• The methods used in archaeological soil analysis were discussed.
• There is an urgent need for an in-depth evaluation of the methods used to achieve archaeological goals.

In the last decade, different soil types have been analysed to evaluate the effect of human activities from an archaeological point of view. In particular, in the last few years, tremendous advances have been made in sample preparation and analytical methods used in archaeological soil analyses. However, there is still a need to set standardized protocols to achieve different archaeological goals. Therefore, in this study, the analytical methods available to study archaeological soils have been reviewed together with a critical discussion on the challenging archaeological questions, which could be answered by determining their mineral composition. Data on trace elements and rare earth elements, which could provide a fingerprint of the human activities, have been evaluated in different studies and discussed here.