Benjamin R. Gearey

Archaeological predictive modelling in raised mires – concerns and approaches for their interpretation and future management

Abstract Whilst raised mires retain high potential for exceptional preservation of organic archaeological remains, locating such features is problematic. Within dryland landscapes, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) provide a range of tools that enable the predictive modelling of site locations on the basis of observed trends in the relationships between environmental conditions and human agency. However, the formation processes of raised mires mean that this is apparently not feasible due to considerable spatial and temporal complexity. This paper re-defines this position arguing that predictive modelling of archaeological site locations within raised mires is possible through four-dimensional landscape reconstruction and analysis, using multiple strands of archaeo-environmental data.

Managing, Valuing, and Protecting Heritage Resources in the Twenty-First Century: Peatland Archaeology, the Ecosystem Services Framework, and the Kyoto Protocol

Abstract This paper argues that the development of the Ecosystem Services framework, which has recently emerged as an internationally recognized framework for valuing ‘the ‘natural capital’ of ecosystems, presents a number of opportunities for heritage management and the archaeological record, arguing that the inclusion of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental ‘value’ within this framework presents an opportunity to incorporate heritage alongside a range of other critical ‘services’. It presents a short case study focusing on the problems facing the preservation of peatland archaeological sites and deposits in situ alongside developments within peatland conservation and restoration initiatives partly driven by the ability of healthy, functioning peatlands to sequester carbon and hence mitigate climate change. It is argued that this drive towards peatland re-wetting may bring both positive benefits and opportunities for heritage management but also presents a number of practical issues, which now require active engagement from the archaeological community.

Planning policy, in situ preservation and wetland archaeology in the United Kingdom – some present concerns

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From Rackham to REVEALS: Reflections on Palaeoecological Approaches to Woodland and Trees

ABSTRACT In this paper we reflect on aspects of palaeoecological approaches to understanding past woodland environments. With increasing requirements for interdisciplinarity in research, and an increase in popular interest in the ‘natural environment’ such as ‘new nature writing’, we suggest that palaeoecology is potentially well situated to engage with other audiences and disciplines, and inform wider debates. However, in order to achieve this, we tentatively suggest that palaeoecology should be self-reflexive and examine how current methods, terminology and underlying theoretical perspectives inform (and inhibit) our practice. Using insights from Oliver Rackham’s influential woodland studies as focal points, we examine selected aspects of method and theory in palaeoecology and suggest an approach to developing a praxis of woodland palaeoecology. In practical terms, this (1) incorporates other information and alternative perspectives, and is willing to question its methods and ways of thinking, (2) takes account of past and present, differences in the perceptions of the environment, (3) looks to build enriched accounts without privileging one perspective/set of ‘data’ over another by ‘flattening out’ knowledge hierarchies, potentially making the discipline more flexible in its outlook and applicability. A short case study from Shrawley Woods, Worcestershire, UK, illustrates the approach and includes the first example of historical documents and oral history accounts being used in the construction of a pollen diagram.

The Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition and the Chronology of the “elm decline”: A Case Study from Yorkshire and Humberside, United Kingdom

The Neolithic in Britain saw the first appearance of domestic plant and animal resources, pottery, polished stone axes, monuments, and new house structures. With the introduction of domesticates and associated subsistence strategies, the Neolithic represents a significant change in human–environment interaction. Other changes have been observed in the palynological record of Britain in the early fourth millennium cal BC, including the elm decline, and archaeologists and paleobotanists have long discussed the degree of human involvement in this. This paper presents the first Bayesian statistical analysis of the elm decline using the case study of the east of Yorkshire and Humberside and key sites in west Yorkshire, and evidence for the last hunter-gatherer Mesolithic material culture and the first Neolithic material culture record. This region is critical because it is the only area of Britain and Ireland where we have robust and accurate published estimates for the timing of the latest Mesolithic activity and timing for the earliest Neolithic activity. Unpacking this perceived chronological correlation between the elm decline and the start of the Neolithic is critical to understanding the scale of human–environment modification at this time, and the nature of the first Neolithic societies in Britain.

The Medicine Tree: Unsettling palaeoecological perceptions of past environments and human activity

In this paper, we consider palaeoecological approaches to past landscapes and reflect upon how these are relevant to archaeological themes concerning concepts of environmental change and the role of past and present human communities in these processes. In particular, we highlight the importance of local context in the perception and understanding of landscape. Utilising a case study from Nepal, we look to ‘unsettle’ a conventional palaeoecological interpretation of a pollen record, originally constructed on western ecological principles, and instead draw on an interpretative perspective rooted in local Buddhist ecological knowledge, or a ‘folk taxonomy’, known as ‘The Medicine Tree’. We discuss how the interpretations of patterns and processes of vegetation change from a pollen record are not necessarily absolute. In particular, we outline how the palaeoecological frame of enquiry and reference is rooted in an essentially Eurocentric, Western scientific paradigm, which, in turn, shapes how we perceive and conceive of past landscapes and the role of ‘anthropogenic impact’ on vegetation. The aim of this is not to suggest that scientific approaches to the ‘reconstruction’ of past landscapes are necessarily invalid, but to illustrate how ‘empirical’ scientific methods and interpretations in archaeological science are contingent upon specific social and cultural frames of reference. We discuss the broader relevance of this, such as how we interpret past human activity and perception of landscape change, the ways in which we might look to mobilise research in the context of contemporary problems, issues concerning ‘degraded landscapes’ and how we incorporate local and archaeological perspectives with palaeoecology within an interconnected and iterative process.

Palaeoenvironmental investigations of the River Chelmer, Chelmsford, Essex, UK,

ABSTRACT The value of understanding the landscape context within which sites of human occupation are situated is key to understanding their function and locality. The recovery of a borehole adjacent to the current course of the river Chelmer during the replacement of the existing A138 Chelmer Viaduct and river bridge allowed the palaeoenvironmental analysis and radiocarbon dating of floodplain sediments. The results of which demonstrated that woodland clearance and possible exploitation of the valley floor were occurring by early Bronze Age, despite a lack of archaeological evidence for settlement at this time. The nearby sites of Springfield Lyons and Great Baddow demonstrate a lack of human activity in this period although unexcavated cropmark evidence from within the wider valley may yet demonstrate the presence of earlier human activity. This study demonstrates the potential of the Chelmer valley to preserve palaeoenvironmental records and potentially for the preservation of archaeological sites in the floodplain deposits.

A Late Prehistoric Timber Alignment in the Waveney Valley, Suffolk: Excavations at Barsham Marshes

Abstract This paper describes the results of excavations and associated palaeoenvironmental analyses at Barsham Marshes, Suffolk, England. The site is a triple post alignment of oak stakes built at the edge of a palaeochannel of the River Waveney. The alignment has been traced for over 30 m but neither terminus of the site has been excavated. Dendrochronological dating of the timbers has produced a range of felling dates between 8 BC and AD 8 indicating a late Iron Age date for the structure. No other cultural material was recovered. Palaeoenvironmental analyses of the associated deposits indicate that the site was located at the edge of a shallow channel of the River Waveney with local aquatic and alder carr vegetation and evidence for more open scrub and pastoral environments in the wider landscape. This channel appears to have infilled by the 11th century AD and is overlain by a thin layer of humified peat, corresponding to the uppermost level of preservation of the stakes. It is likely that any superstructure originally supported by the stakes had finally decomposed or been dismantled by this time. The site is compared to that of Beccles some 3 km down river where excavations have revealed a triple post alignment also dating to the late Iron Age but with evidence for activity during the Romano-British period. The possible form and function(s) of the sites are discussed.

Planning policy, in situ preservation and wetland archaeology in the UK: a comment on Lillie et al.

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