indicated that the contribution of aromatic carbon remained constant throughout the soil profile.[2] The high contribution of aromatic compounds to organic matter of some soils was related to the presence of substantial amounts of charcoal produced by vegetation fires.[3] Nitrogen, which had long been suspected to be of stable heterocyclic nature in soils, was shown to be mainly amide N, derived most probably from proteins.[4] With those results, the nature of organic matter as a mixture of macromolecular humic substances was questioned. It was shown that instead of macromolecules, substances with lower molecular weight are more likely to survive in soil. For example, studies with analytical pyrolysis showed that polysaccharides and proteins may have a much longer residence time in soils than molecules derived from lignin or other macromolecular substances.[5] From these findings, a new theory emerged after which the