Creating qualitative datasets in geoarchaeology: An easy-applicable description template for archaeological thin section analysis using Stoops 2003

Micromorphological thin section analysis is a powerful method in geoarchaeology to study deposits at archaeological sites. The approach is largely borrowed from soil science and relies on standard descriptive terminology established by [9] and others. Within archaeological micromorphology, we encounter two main issues with thin section description: (1) Anthropogenic deposits are highly variable when compared to purely natural deposits and soils and (2) many practitioners of archaeological micromorphology come from a range of backgrounds and experiences. Therefore, despite the use of standardized terminology, the qualitative nature of thin section description results in a high degree of variation amongst practitioners in the description and documentation of thin sections, particularly amongst beginners in the field. Here, we propose: • A template that can help to understand and remember the terminology, so that it can be an easy-to-use tool for beginners. • A template with better inclusion of anthropogenic material and features to better fit the needs of archaeological sites. • A way of documenting data from a thin section analysis, that results in understandable, reproducible, and shareable datasets that can be easily integrated with databases.