EarthLab group: the Geoarchaeology Laboratory

‘EARTH’ is a generic term for rocks, soils, and sediments (apparently the proto Indo-European root is *er- - “earth, ground.”). ‘EARTH’ also brings to mind space, territory, landscape, and the planet. Consequently, it invokes all the terrestrial components of the constructed human niche in their geographical context.

The Institute’s Earthlab group is led by Dr Manuel Arroyo-Kalin (contact for doctoral supervision enquiries). EarthLab’s broad research programme is to investigate “past earth” through the study of material signatures of specific human, diagenetic, and sedimentary processes. Several ongoing research project involve the study of anthropogenis soils associated with past human habitation/cultivation. Expertise is on hand to study complex site stratigraphy as well as the sedimentary record of past industrial processes. Recent added capabilities permit luminiescence stratigraphy and soil carbon sequestration studies.
 

Indicative (ongoing) projects:

• Development of Dutch plaggen soils (PhD, Jonathan Cogdale)
• Lamanai urban stratigraphy (PhD, Francesca Glanville-Wallis, LAHP funded)
• Geoarchaeology and archaebotany of Amazonian dark earths (PhD, Wiktoria Sagan, part of the PARINÃ project, a partnership with Museu da Amazônia, Museu Goeldi, Federal São Carlos University, and Instituto Socioambiental, Brazil)
• Anthrosols and the geoarchaeology of slash and burn cultivation (led by Manuel Arroyo-Kalin as co-Lead with Museu Goeldi; UKRI Grant Voices of Indigenous Amazonia; apply for a competitively-funded NERC PhD Studentship by 20 Jan 2026)
• Geoarchaeology of Low density urbanism in the Bolivian Amazon (under development by Manuel Arroyo-Kalin as co-lead with Bonn University; UCL GEO scoping funds awarded in 2024)   

In 2024 we were delighted to congratulate Dr Ana Vital on obtaining her PhD and Rowan Barton for obtaining a Johnathan Rowe prize on her MSc dissertation on African vitirfied dung. Past MSc dissertations awarded prizes include: Katya Turchin (Ukrainian sites), Kim Hunnisett (field systems), Francesca Glanville-Wallis (Dark Earths), Selina Amaral (Paleosols in alluvial sequences), Marina Paraskova (Neolithic pits), Leon Veal (Dark Earths), Jon Cogdale (Caclcitic spherulites).  In 2025, Jack Bentham and Aditee Tupe are working on their MSc dissertations involving micromorphological analyses of samples collected from archaeological excavations at Greenwich Park, London and Norton, Suffolk.

Earthlab group members use research assets distributed across the Institute of Archaeology. These include:

Room B50 (aka the Geoarchaeology Lab), which houses equipment for geoarchaeological research, including a state-of-the-art Logitech GTS-1 saw, a Logitech LP70 lapping unit, and slide mounting presses. EarthLab is capable of tackling projects involving the manufacture of large format thin sections for micromorphological/petrographic analyses. The lab is also home to two desktop Bartington Magnetic Susceptibility units and is equipped with a dessicator oven, electronic balances, hydrometers, Endecott sieves, pH meters, and assorted glassware for sedimentological research. Room B50 is used primarily for research except during term 2, when it is also used for teaching.

Room 302 (aka the Micromorphology Lab) is our facility to dry sediment samples collected in the field and where we resin impregnate/embed samples for the manufacture of thin sections. The room includes a fume cupboard, air extractor, and a Logitech IU30 vacuum impregnation chamber. Room B302 is used exclusively for resinated sample preparation.

Room B10 (aka the Optical Microscopy Lab) is a shared lab that houses EarthLab’s optical petrographic microscopes. These include a suite of polarising Leica microscopes and stereo zoom microscopes (‘macroscopes’) equipped with digital cameras. Room B10 is used exclusively for research; microscopes need to be booked via ClusterMarket.

Room B58, the EarthLab group has acquired an Elementar SoliTOC Cube for Carbon measurment (TOC, ROC and TIC), as well as a SUERC pOSL unit for studies of luminescence stratigraphy. 

Room 401 (aka Manuel Arroyo-Kalin’s office), houses our micromorphological reference collections, which include the Cornwall and Macphail thin sections collections, Arroyo-Kalin’s research collection, and many of the sample sets used in previous MSc dissertations. In aggregate, these reference slides cover a large number of known contexts studied by micromorphologists across the planet.

Our yearly EarthLab Archaeological Micromorphology Course (next to be run in February 2026), jointly organised by Manuel Arroyo-Kalin and Richard Macphail, provides an opportunity for dedicated study of these collections and learning micromorphological analysis. UCL MSc and PhD students may attend this CPD course by arrangement if there enough places are available.      

Room 405 (aka Photography Studio): in 2025 we acquired a state-of-the-art DJI Mavic 350 drone with an L2 LiDAR, to be used for mapping landscapes and large sites under dense vegetation in conjunction with geoarchaeological research. 

EarthLab group members also use other equipment and facilities available at the Institute of Archaeology, including the Wolfson Labs’s SEM/EDS, pXRF, Muffle furnace, cold store for sediment storage, milling unit, pellet unit, ACM Brillant saw, and the Paleoenvironmental Lab’s wet lab for centrifuging, organic matter removal, phytolith extraction and, in future, sieving under red-light conditions.

• Research Enquiries (including doctoral / postdoctoral supervision): Dr Manuel Arroyo-Kalin
• Lab Support: Timea Grego