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Phaeozems with very deep mollic topsoil overlying a cambic B horizon occur in a patchy distribution in Eastern Romania, in areas where present climatic conditions are rather favourable for forest soils development. Due to their unusual characteristics, it has been hypothesized that the main factors implied in their development could be related to the prehistoric habitation and climate changes during the Holocene, but this approach was never explored. In this context, an archaeological excavation into an Eneolithic (5000–3500 BCE) settlement located in north-eastern Romania offered the opportunity to investigate pre- and post-Eneolithic development of these soils. Fifty soil samples were collected above and below an Eneolithic dwelling floor, between adjacent dwellings and by off-site sampling. A portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometer was used to scan the soil samples and the total element …