by Matthew Law

Plaggen soils, derived from the German word Plagge or sod, are a feature of farming practices in north-western Europe during the Middle Ages. Cattle byres were lined with cut turves, which were then spread over arable fields when the byres were mucked out (Guttman et al. 2005: 72). The result of this process was the plaggen soil, a deepened and enriched topsoil. It is likely that plaggen soils began to be created in the Netherlands in the 12th -13th centuries, and at around the same time in Orkney and Shetland (Guttman et al. 2005: 72-3).

The characteristics of plaggen soils are soils over a depth of 1 metre, low pH, high phosphate content, and a dark colour (Guttman et al. 2005: 72, 73), although a plaggen system in Shetland abandonned in the 1960s had a higher pH than the unamended soils (Guttman et al. 2005: 73). Plaggen soils have excellent properties for water retention, oxygenation and penetration (Guttman et al. 2005: 72), and also serve to deepen the soil, preventing waterlogging (Sonneveld et al. 2004: 186), however they are low in nutrients, and in many areas plaggen soils were abandonned and afforested by the end of the nineteenth century (Guttman et al. 2005: 72-3).

References:

Guttman, E.B., Simpson, I.A., and Davidson, D.A., 2005: Manuring practices in antiquity: A review of the evidence. In Smith, D.N., Brickley, M.B., and Smith, W. (Eds.) Fertile Ground: Papers in Honour of Susan Limbrey. Symposia of the Association for Environmental Archaeology No 22 (Oxford: Oxbow) 68-76

Sonneveld, M.P.W., Bouma, J., and Veldkamp, T., 2004: A co-production perspective on soil development in the Friesian woodlands. In Wiskerke, J.S.C., and van der Ploeg, J.D.(Eds), Seeds of Transition: Essays on novelty production, niches and regimes in agriculture (Assen: van Gorcum)

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