www.sgem.org Section Name HOLOCENE SIGNALS OF CLIMATE DYNAMICS IN THE PROFILES OF SOILS BURIED UNDER ARCHAEOLOGICAL OBJECTS IN THE CENTRAL PART OF THE EAST EUROPEAN PLAIN Tatiana Puzanova 1 , Alexander Makeev 1 , Olga Khokhlova 2 , Elena Aseeva 1 , Fatima Kurbanova 1 1 M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia; 2 Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Moscow region, Russia ABSTRACT Humid and arid climatic cycles during Sub-Atlantic time in the forest-steppe area of the East European Plain were studied based on soils buried under archaeological sites of different time. The shift of the boundary between steppe and forest patches is recorded in the shift of the studied soils: Luvic Greyzemic Fhaeozems of the forest patches and Luvic Chernozems under steppe environment. The complex research is based on archaeological investigation, assemblages of morphological (marco-, meso- and micromorphological), microbiomorphic (pollen, phytoliths) and analytical features. Climatic rhythms in the Sub-Atlantic period entailed the transformation of the whole complex of landscape parameters, including soil features: development of Agric horizon, greyzemic features, characteristics of humus and carbonate profiles, C/N ratio, soil microbiomorphic complex, etc. A group of stable and dynamic indicators of climatic shifts was established by ranking soil features in their degree of transformation in various environmental conditions. Key words: buried soils, archaeological sites, Holocene, soil chronosequence, East-European Plain. INTRODUCTION Paleolandscape reconstructions are focused on the study of trends in the evolution of soil and vegetation cover; dynamics of soil properties in line with landscape dynamic. The Russian plain in the second half of the Holocene seems to be an arena of complex interactions of different civilizations. Ethnic shifts were largely determined by the climatic rhythms recorded in the buried soils of archaeological sites. In this regard, paleolandscape reconstructions are important for understanding the causes of ethnic shifts and migration waves, resettlement, changes in the kind of economic activity of the ancient and medieval population. Paleolandscape reconstructions within the forest-steppe landscapes of the East European Plain have a long research history [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. For the last 3000 years the major trend included the advance of steppe patches to the forest areas. On the other hand, there are still many unresolved issues, including the study of both long chronosequences extending to all archaeological epochs and short ones allowing identification of stable and unstable soil features, the rates of many soil-forming processes during the environmental changes. During the Early Iron Age, the forest-steppe area of the East European Plain was inhabited by sedentary tribes that introduced fortified settlements dated within VII-VI centuries BC to the Middle Ages. These settlements are widely spread in the steppe, forest-steppe and forest areas allowing studying soils buried under the earth banks of fortifications in various environmental conditions. Research is focused on soil chronosequences that include soils buried under fortification earth walls and day surface soils in Lipetsk region.