Dear authors,
please edit the manuscript according to your replies to the referees' comments.
Thank you for considering Soil to publish your research.
Nikolaus Kuhn
Topical Editor

Dear authors, after careful consideration of your replies to the referees‘ comments, we decided to return the manuscript to you for further revisions. The main reason is the assumption that a baseline for 1966 can be sampled today, despite changes in climate, atmospheric fertilisation and possible the use of the land, i.e. are wild or domestic animals completely controlled and in similar numbers than more than 50 years ago? Please try to address this question or adjust the scope of the paper accordingly, i.e. by focusing on current differences in soil properties and their potential origin rather than assuming an uncertain land use history.
Best regards,
Nikolaus Kuhn
Editor for Soil

Dear Authors,

Thanks for choosing SOIL to publish your work and working with the reviewers and editor to improve the manuscript. I am ready to accept this manuscript, but I would like you to resolve the spelling and grammar mistakes that are still in the manuscript. Hence, I suggest you use a spelling and grammar check tool and go once more over the whole manuscript to make sure that everything is correct.

Best,
Jo