History of Soil Science: A Review

Eric C. Brevika and Artemi Cerdb

a Department of Natural Sciences, Dickinson State University, Dickinson, ND, USA
b Department of Geography, University of Valencia, Valncia, Spain

Abstract
Human knowledge of soil has come a long way since agriculture began about 9000 BCE, when finding
the best soils to grow crops in was largely based on a trial and error approach. Many innovations to
manage and conserve soil, such as the plow, irrigation techniques, terraces, contour tillage, and even the
engineering of artificial soils, were developed between 9000 BCE and 1500 CE. Scientific methods began
to be employed in the study of soils during the Renaissance and many famous scientists addressed soil
issues, but soil science did not evolve into an independent scientific field of study until the 1880s. In the
early days of the study of soil as a science, soil survey activities provided one of the major means of
advancing the field. As the 20th century progressed, advances in soil biology, chemistry, genesis,
management, and physics allowed the use of soil information to expand beyond agriculture to
environmental issues, human health, land use planning, and many other areas. The development of soil
history as a subfield of the discipline in the latter part of the 20th century has promise to help advance soil
science through a better understanding of how we have arrived at the major theories that shape the
modern study of soil science.
Keywords: soil erosion; soil fertility; soil genesis; soil management; soil survey

Introduction
It is important for soil scientists to study the history of our field. A true understanding of the hypotheses
and theories that shape the way we approach the modern study of soils can only be appreciated if we also
understand where they came from and what other possibilities have been explored. This facilitates
understanding the strengths and weaknesses of our current knowledge base and in developing a core
understanding of our discipline. Studying history can also assist in directing research away from routes

that are likely to be unfruitful, as well as point us in directions that have not been well explored
previously and may have promise for additional research. Understanding soil science history from an
international perspective can help improve communication between countries, avoid wasted effort
through the exploration of ideas already established elsewhere, and perhaps more importantly, can assist
in forming a common language among soil scientists. Knowing our history can make us more efficient
and effective as scientists.
Soil science history has become a fairly well established subfield in modern soil science. Professional
societies including the European Geosciences Union (EGU), International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS),
and Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) have established subdivisions or committees within their
structures that promote the study of soil science history. In addition, many leading soil science journals
will accept soil science history submissions, and several internationally-known soil scientists and
historians have contributed to our understanding of the fields history.

Ancient Soil Science (9000 BCE to 1500 CE)

Through much of history soil knowledge has been linked to agriculture. The earliest evidence of
agricultural activity, including manipulation of soil to promote crop growth, comes from a site near
Jarmo, Iraq(1). However, agriculture also developed in areas beyond the Middle East. Africa, China, and
Peru and Mexico in the Americas saw the development of societies that cropped their own cereals, tubers
or vegetables. Animals were domesticated, which changed soils due to grazing and the manuring of
exhausted soils, reducing the use of shifting agricultural practices and encouraging sedentary societies and
increasingly intensive use of soil resources(2). The development of agriculture independently in different
parts of the world explains the high biodiversity of agricultural crops, and human reliance on agriculture
transformed the soils of the world in a few millennia(2). Except for Antarctica, agriculture, including
grazing, is widespread over all the continents of the world. A number of management advances were
made over the next several thousand years, including the development of early plows, terracing, and
contour tillage(1), all designed to improve soil conditions for the purpose of crop production. During this

time humans also began to recognize spatial patterns in soil and settlement patterns in many regions
began to correlate to soil types(3). By 2000 BCE the Chinese had developed a soil classification system, as
did the Greeks by about 300 BCE(1). Advances were also made in the Americas. The Aztec, Inca, and
Maya in Central and South America constructed artificial soils to improve crop production and developed
bench terraces; these civilizations were among the most successful in human history at minimizing soil
erosion and creating sustainable agricultural systems(1). In a sense they originated the concept of soil
conservation. Native Americans in North America were cultivating crops by 5000 BCE and maintained
soil fertility using intercropping of diverse crop mixes, adding ash from burned weeds and trees, and
incorporating fallow periods(4). Crops were typically planted in small mounds (Fig. 1), which were more
resistant to erosion than the rows that were traditional in Europe(4).

Science is Applied to the Study of Soil (1500 to 1880 CE)

The Renaissance began in the western world about 1500 CE, and scientific practice in western societies
was revolutionized. Scientific methodology began to be applied to the investigation of a number of
phenomena, and scientists who are well-known for their contributions to other fields applied scientific
principles to the study of soil. For example, Charles Darwin, famous for the theory of evolution, worked
on the concept of soil profiles and through his study of the influence of earthworms on soil formation
became a leading figure in establishing soil biology(1) while Leonardo da Vinci, Francis Bacon, and
Robert Boyle, widely regarded as a founder of modern chemistry, conducted early studies in nutrient
cycling in and plant nutrition from soil(5). By the late 1820s C. Sprengel proposed a theory on mineral
nutrition of plants and the law of the minimum that would become the basis of J. von Liebigs Mineral
Theory of plant nutrition, which is well-known to soil scientists today(6).
During this period governments in Europe became interested in land valuation as a basis for taxation,
which led to creation of the first soil maps in the early 1700s. The Chinese had also used soil attributes as
a basis for taxation as early as the 1100s, but did not create soil maps to assist in this(5). As more accurate
and detailed base maps became widely available in many parts of Europe in the 1800s, thematic maps

such as soil maps could be made much more efficiently and accurately(7). This led to a significant
expansion of soil mapping efforts in Europe and the USA(1, 5).
Despite the application of scientific principles to soil science issues during this time, the study of soil
science as a scientific field had not yet developed. From 1500 through about 1880 CE, soils were being
investigated as components of chemical, geological, or biological systems, but were not viewed as an
independent field of study in and of themselves. Events that occurred in the 1880s would change that
view.

Soil Science Develops as an Independent Scientific Field (1880 to 2000 CE)

The early 1880s were marked by the 1883 publication of Russian Chernozem by Vasilii V. Dokuchaev,
an event that is widely recognized as the birth of modern soil science(1, 5, 8). In this work and others,
Dokuchaev 1) recognized soil as an independent natural body worthy of study in its own right, 2)
established the five soil forming factors that are still widely used today and developed one of the first
models of soil genesis, and 3) broadly introduced the concept of A, B, and C horizons as they are used
today(1, 8, 9). Although Dokuchaev certainly did not do all of this on his own, and aspects of his ideas had
been discussed previously by other scientists, Dokuchaev was able to pull all the ideas together and
present them in a logical and convincing fashion to a scientific world that was largely ready to accept
them(5), even if it would take decades before some parts of the world would do so(1).
The end of the 1800s and beginning of the 1900s also saw the beginning of detailed national soil survey
programs in many countries (Table 1)(8). These surveys became significant drivers in the development of
soil science knowledge, as soil surveyors sought to understand the genesis and function of the soils they
discovered as well as develop classification systems to organize this new knowledge. Initially these
surveys tended to be focused on soil knowledge as needed for agriculture, but over time the role of these
surveys expanded to include information relevant to geomorphology studies, land use planning,
paleoenvironmental reconstructions, archaeology, human health, soil and water conservation, and other
environmental issues(8). The use of soil information to address environmental issues was probably the

fastest growing non-agricultural area of soil science in the second half of the 20th century(1). Early soil
surveyors used paper maps and then aerial photographs as base maps, but by the end of the 20th century
remote and proximal sensed imagery managed with geographic information systems (GIS) was available
that significantly advanced the information available to map soils and investigate spatial variability. These
new data sources and tools also challenged traditional concepts of map scale(7).
By the early 1900s there was considerable interest in the links between soils and human health. In Europe,
Robert McCarrison, the County Palatine of Chester Local Medical and Panel Committee, Lady Eve
Balfour, and Andr Voisin were all early voices promoting soil and human health links, while in the USA
individuals such as Charles E. Kellogg, Selman Waksman (who was awarded the 1952 Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine for the isolation of antibiotics from soil microorganisms), William Albrecht, and
J. I. Rodale investigated the issue(10). Sir Albert Howard, well-known worldwide for his work promoting
organic agriculture, was a major proponent of the idea that soils were intimately linked to human health.
In the latter part of the 20th century a wide array of soil and human health topics were studied, including
exposure to heavy metals, organic chemicals, and pathogens, the filtration capacity of soils, nutrient
supply through the soil-plant system, and the supply of medications (about 40% of all prescription drugs
have a soil origin). By the end of the 20th century much had been learned about links between soils and
human health, but there was still a need for well-designed scientific studies(10).
Selected individuals, such as M.E. Wllny in Germany(1) and William John McGee and Edward Elway
Free in the USA(4), studied soil erosion in the late 1800s and early 1900s, but few people viewed soil
erosion as a serious problem until the Dust Bowl hit the USA in the 1930s(1). A combination of the Dust
Bowl and persistent preaching of the erosion problem by Hugh H. Bennett led to formation of the Soil
Erosion Service (SES) by President F.D. Roosevelt in 1933, which was transformed into the Soil
Conservation Service (SCS; now the Natural Resources Conservation Service) by an act of Congress in
1935(1). Both the SES and later the SCS were under Bennetts direction. The SES/SCS undertook a
number of soil erosion projects to test and demonstrate soil conservation and erosion control measures;
one of the major results of these efforts was the development of conservation tillage(4). These projects

were also interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary, including agronomists, anthropologists, biologists,

engineers, economists, and soil scientists(4). The idea that interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary studies
are critical to the advancement of soil science is quite popular today(8, 11), but the SES/SCS projects show
that this is not a new idea. Despite the fact that soil erosion studies received a lot of attention in the USA
beginning in the 1930s, by the end of the 20th century the USA was the only country in the world that had
long-term soil erosion data collected using standardized methods for large expanses of the country. Other
countries either did not have standardized data collection in place or waited until much later in the 20th
century to begin national programs of erosion data collection and assessment(12). While erosion data was
available for much of the rest of the world, coverage was more sporadic than in the USA and methods
were not as standardized(12).
In the latter half of the 20th century soil science history began to develop as a subfield of the discipline.
Most who work in this subfield have their primary specialization in one of the scientific subfields of soil
science or in a subfield of history but devote some of their time to soil science history because they feel it
is important. Many well-respected soil scientists, including but certainly not limited to Ronald
Amundson, Winfried Blum, James Bockheim, Johan Bouma, Marlin Cline, Christian Feller, Walter H.
Gardner, Alfred Hartemink, Daniel Hillel, Hans Jenny, Rattan Lal, Alex McBratney, Daniel deB. Richter,
Roy Simonson, Johan Six, Donald Sparks, and Dan Yaalon have published on various aspects of soil
science history, and there has been a concerted effort by the soil scientists in the soil history community
to reach out to like-minded historians for collaborations. Historians who have engaged in these
collaborations include Lloyd Ackert, Benjamin Cohen, John McNeill, Martin Melosi, Laura Sayre,
Richard Unger, and Verena Winiwarter(13). The study of soil science history received a major boost in
1982 when IUSS Commission 4.5 - History, philosophy, and sociology of soil science was created,
largely due to the efforts of Dan Yaalon(13). SSSA formed the Council on History, Philosophy, &
Sociology of Soil Science in 1990 to coordinate with IUSS activities in this area with leadership from
John Tandarich, Walter Gardner, Chris Johannsen, and Roy Simonson(13). The most recent professional
scientific society to add soil science history to regular society activities was EGU. This began in 2011,

when Artemi Cerd, the president of the Soil Systems Sciences (SSS) Division of EGU at the time,
contacted Eric Brevik and Alfred Hartemink with a request to organize a soil science history session for
the 2012 EGU General Assembly (GA). At the 2012 EGU-GA the History, Education and Society of Soil
Science subdivision was created during a reorganization of the SSS(13).

Current Status (2000 to 2015 CE)

Through history soil science has made great strides as a scientific field, particularly during the latter parts
of the 19th century and the 20th century. Information learned and soil maps generated have proven highly
valuable in addressing many modern issues from agriculture to the environment, human health, and
beyond. However, there were plenty of challenges for soil scientists to address as we transitioned from the
20th into the 21st century. Soil survey coverage is very good in some countries but is still largely lacking in
others(12), and even countries that have nearly complete soil survey coverage lack the quantitative,
georeferenced soil information that is needed as input into modern high tech computer models(8). There
are still many different soil classification systems, which makes it difficult to communicate soil
information internationally, so a common language would help(8). The new high-powered computers,
global positioning systems (GPS), geographic information systems (GIS), proximal and remote sensing
information, and advanced spatial statistical and numerical analysis techniques now available to soil
scientists make a wealth of information available, but better models are needed to tie all the available
information together and take full advantage of it(8, 12). There is also a need for interdisciplinary and
transdisciplinary collaborations that will bring new ability and insights into the work we do, enhancing
the value of the final products produced for all end-users(8, 11). These challenges should not be viewed as
problems or weaknesses, but rather as challenges that continue to make the field of soil science vibrant,
exciting, and needed in the modern world.

Conclusion
Studying the history of our field provides insights into how we arrived at modern understandings, and the
strengths and weaknesses inherent in that understanding. It also has the ability to point out potentially

promising new areas of study by identifying areas that have not received adequate attention, and it has the
ability to identify past directions of study that were not fruitful. This chapter is only a very brief summary
of major points in soil science history, but there is much more to be explored. Publications presented in
the references and bibliography can provide a large amount of additional information that this chapter did
not have the space to address.

References
(1) Brevik, E.C.; Hartemink, A.E. Early soil knowledge and the birth and development of soil science.
Catena 2010, 83, 23-33.
(2) Diamond, J. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. W. W. Norton & Company: New
York, 2005.
(3) Miller, B.A.; Schaetzl, R.J. History of soil geography in the context of scale. Geoderma 2016, 264,
284-300.
(4) Brevik, E.C.; Fenton, T.E.; Homburg, J.A. Historical highlights in American soil science prehistory
to the 1970s. Catena 2015, doi:10.1016/j.catena.2015.10.003.
(5) Krupenikov, I.A. History of Soil Science From its Inception to the Present; Oxonian Press: New
Delhi, India, 1992.
(6) Feller, C.; Thuris, L.J.-M.; Manlay, R.J.; Robin, P.; Frossard, E. The principles of rational
agriculture by Albrecht Daniel Thaer (17521828). An approach to the sustainability of cropping
systems at the beginning of the 19th century. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science 2003, 166, 687698.
(7) Miller, B.A.; Schaetzl, R.J. The historical role of base maps in soil geography. Geoderma 2014, 230231, 329-339.
(8) Brevik, E.C.; Calzolari, C.; Miller, B.A.; Pereira, P.; Kabala, C.; Baumgarten, A.; Jordn, A. Soil
mapping, classification, and modeling: history and future directions. Geoderma 2016, 264, 256-274.

(9) Tandarich, J.P.; Darmody, R.G.; Follmer, L.R.; Johnson, D.L. Historical development of soil and
weathering profile concepts from Europe to the United States of America. Soil Science Society of
America Journal 2002, 66, 335346.
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(12) Brevik, E.C.; Pereira, P.; Muoz-Rojas, M.; Miller, B.A.; Cerd, A.; Parras-Alcntara, L.; LozanoGarca, B. Historical perspectives on soil mapping and process modeling for sustainable land use
management. In Soil mapping and process modelling for sustainable land use management; Pereira, P.,
Brevik, E., Muoz-Rojas, M., Miller, B., Eds.; Elsevier: Philadelphia, in press.
(13) Landa, E.R.; Brevik, E.C. Soil science and its interface with the history of geology community. Earth
Sciences History 2015, 34 (2), 296-309.

Bibliography
The number of references that could be used for this chapter were very limited. However, there are many
additional soil history publications available, some of which are given here.
Blume, H.P. Some aspects of the history of German soil science. Journal of Plant Nutrition & Soil
Science-Zeitschrift fur Pflanzenernahrung und Bodenkunde 2002, 165, 377-381.
Bockheim, J.G.; Gennadiyev, A.N.; Hammer, R.D.; Tandarich, J.P. Historical development of key
concepts in pedology. Geoderma 2005, 124, 23-36.
Boulaine, J. Histoire des Pdologues et de la Science des Sols. INRA, Paris, 1989.
Gardner, W.H. Early soil physics into the mid-20th century. Advances in Soil Science 1986, 4, 1-101.
Gong, Z.; Zhang, X.; Chen, J.; Zhang, G. Origin and development of soil science in ancient China.
Geoderma 2003, 115, 313.

Gonzalez, J.G.; Ventura Jr., E.; Castellanos, J.Z.; Brevik, E.C. Soil science in Mexico: history,
challenges, and future. Soil Survey Horizons 2010, 51, 63-71.
Helms, D.H.; Effland, A.B.W.; Durana, P.J. (Eds.). Profiles in the History of the U.S. Soil Survey. Iowa
State Press, Ames, 2002.
Hillel, D. Out of the Earth: Civilization and the Life of the Soil. University of California Press, Berkeley,
1991.
Jenny, H. E.W. Hilgard and the birth of modern soil science. Collana della Revisa Agrochemical, Pisa,
1961.
Lal, R. Evolution of the plow over 10,000 years and the rationale for no-till farming. Soil and Tillage
Research 2007, 93, 112.
Minasny, B.; McBratney, A.B. Digital soil mapping: A brief history and some lessons. Geoderma 2016,
264, 301-311.
Montgomery, D.R. Dirt: the erosion of civilizations. University of California Press, Berkeley, 2007.
Simonson, R.W. Historical highlights of soil survey and soil classification with emphasis on the United
States, 1899-1970. International Soil Reference and Information Centre Technical Paper 18. Wageningen,
The Netherlands, 1989.
Tandarich, J.P.; Darmody, R.G.; Follmer, L.R.; Johnson, D.L.. Historical development of soil and
weathering profile concepts from Europe to the United States of America. Soil Science Society of
America Journal 2002, 66, 335-346.
Wagner, L.E. A history of Wind Erosion Prediction Models in the United States Department of
Agriculture: The Wind Erosion Prediction System (WEPS). Aeolian Research 2013, 10, 9-24.
Warkentin, B.P. (Ed.). Footprints in the Soil: People and Ideas in Soil History. Elsevier, Amsterdam,
2006.
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Reiskirchen, Germany, 1997.

Young, A. Thin on the ground: Land resource survey in British overseas territories. The Memoir Club,
Plymouth, UK, 2007.

Table Caption
Table 1. The beginning date for detailed nationally-organized soil survey for select countries. Information
from Brevik and Hartemink (1) and Brevik et al. (8).

Figure Caption
Figure 1. Intercropped maize and squash with ground cover in a traditional Wampanoag garden at
Plimoth Plantation, Massachusetts. Note in particular the small mounds at the base of each maize plant,
showing the planting of the maize in individual hills. Photograph by Eric Brevik.

Table 1. The beginning date for detailed nationally-organized soil survey

for select countries. Information from Brevik and Hartemink (1) and
Brevik et al. (8).
Country
Date
Country
Date
United States of America
1899
China
1931
Russia
1908
Poland
1935
Canada
1914
The Netherlands
1945
Australia
1920s
Ghana
1946
Great Britain
1920s
Belgium
1947
Mexico
Sri Lanka

1926
1930

Malaysia

1955

Figure 1. Intercropped maize and squash with ground cover in a traditional Wampanoag garden at
Plimoth Plantation, Massachusetts. Note in particular the small mounds at the base of each maize plant,
showing the planting of the maize in individual hills. Photograph by Eric Brevik.