Heat impact and soil colors beneath hearths in northern Sweden

Excavations of ancient hearths also revealed examples of bowl-shaped discoloration in B-horizons deeper than 20 cm. These discolorations had a rather uniform red tone with no dark areas. This suggests that the darker areas, probably colored by reduced iron and not by charred particles, could have been altered over time. The main conclusion is that rubification in B-horizons beneath hearths can arise after a relatively short period of firing but-bowl shaped areas of deep coloration can only arise, in boreal and subarctic areas, when hearths have been fired heavily and continuously for long periods of time, indicating winter use.