This year, our team member Gairat Muhtarov spent one month in Warsaw, Poland, where he received hands-on training in archaeological soil micromorphology at the Institute of Geological Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences (INGPAN). Micromorphology is one of the key methods used in INASIA to investigate how deposits formed and changed through time. By studying sediments under a microscope, researchers can identify traces of human activities, natural processes, site formation dynamics and post-depositional alterations that are often invisible during excavation.
Under the supervision of and in collaboration with Dr. Greta Brancaleoni, Gairat successfully impregnated micromorphology samples collected from Kiik Kamar Cave and Darvazalik Cave in Uzbekistan. Together, they successfully completed the impregnation of sediment blocks which is a crucial step that stabilises fragile archaeological deposits and allows them to be transformed into thin sections suitable for microscopic analysis.
Thanks to the guidance of laboratory technician Krzysztof Jasiński, Gairat also learned the basic stages of thin-section production, gaining practical experience in the specialised laboratory procedures that take archaeological sediments from the field to the microscope.
The skills and experience gained during this visit will directly support the ongoing research carried out within INASIA. As the samples from Kiik Kamar and Darvazalik are analysed, they will help us better understand how these archaeological deposits formed and what traces of past human activities and environmental changes have been preserved within them. Just as importantly, the training provided Gairat with valuable practical experience that he can now bring back to the project and share with the wider team.
A huge thank you to the whole INGPAN team for such a valuable exchange of knowledge!
The INASIA project has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, grant agreement No. 101168587.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.