Donald A. Davidson

Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction and Evaluation: A Case Study from Orkney

One major aspect of an archaeological project concerned with the Orcadian Neolithic has been the reconstruction and evaluation of the palaeoenvironment during that period. Environmental reconstruction based largely upon palaeobotanical studies indicates the presence of a quite impoverished and virtually treeless landscape from at least 4ooo b.p. to the present day. Interpretation of this data allows the inference that geomorphic, edaphic and climatic conditions have changed relatively little throughout this time-span. Neolithic and later peoples adjusted to such terrain in pursuit of mixed agrarian economies. The relative importance of individual factors of the palaeoenvironment to early societies is evaluated by means of a simulation model designed to test the established view that Neolithic chambered tombs tend to be located at the back of better agricultural land. Seven environmental factors were recorded for a large number of points on the island of Rousay and were weighted in numerous ways. Sites were generated and the resultant simulated patterns compared to the actual distribution of tombs. It was found that a simulated pattern based on proximity to a beach coastline, or based on steep land, produced the best approximations and it is proposed that these, rather than the agricultural value of the land, are the chief factors influencing their distribution. ENVIRONMENTAL study today forms an integral part of most archaeological research projects in the field. The approach has led to many interesting investigations in which serious attempts have been made to reconstruct past landscapes. The treatment of this problem has evolved considerably in recent years. Whereas for some time it was usual to generalize and regard the salient features of the landscapes as uniform over a fairly wide region or ecological zone, more recently the aim has been to recognize for particular areas component microenvironments which differed in their resource value (e.g. Hole, Flannery and Neely, 1969). The insights into vegetational change in post-glacial times offered by pollen studies have more recently been followed by an appreciation of the sometimes very significant accompanying changes in landforms and soils which are open to study by geomorphological methods (Vita-Finzi, 1969; Davidson, 1971). Moreover, archaeologists are now analysing changing patterns of settlement in terms of dynamic cultural and social methods. In effect, they are beginning to reject deterministic approaches to man-land relationships and are adopting more behavioural viewpoints. Such a trend has marked implications for palaeoenvironmentalists connected with archaeological researches, since they must also attempt to recognize precisely those elements of the landscape which were of behavioural significance to early man (Davidson, 1972). The great difficulty, of course, is to visualize a former landscape as perceived by early inhabitants. One common method has been to note spatial correlations between archaeological remains and specific environmental factors, and hence to

Erosion and prehistory in melos: a preliminary note

The reconstruction of a palaeoenvironment is integral to any archaeological project and requires geomorphological, pedological and palaeobotanical investigations. It is widely accepted that the vegetation in almost any area has been subject to dramatic change since late-glacial times, but the corresponding changes in soils are not always appreciated. The reconstruction of former soil landscapes can be attempted by study of palaeosols, by making inferences on the basis of vegetational information, or by an analysis of the results of landscape degeneration. In a semi-arid area such as Greece, for which there are few pollen diagrams, the analysis of fluvial and colluvial deposits is essential to try to elucidate the chronology and magnitude of soil change. Such pioneering work has been carried out by Vita-Finzi (1969), who has obtained evidence throughout the Mediterranean for two major phases of alluviation-the Older and Younger Fills; he suggests that the former dates to late Pleistocene whilst the latter is almost entirely Late Roman and medieval in age. Bintliff (1975, 1976) has recently reviewed the literature and provides additional evidence to confirm Vita-Finzi’s alluvial chronology, which both relate to climatic change, although alternative explanations have been proposed (Wagstaff, 1967). This short paperc reports some results from a project on the island of Melos in the Aegean (Figure 1). The principal activity of the project is the excavation at the prehistoric site of Phylakopi, directed for the British School of Archaeology at Athens by Colin Renfrew. The site was first excavated by the School between 1896 and 1899, when it was shown to be a major prehistoric settlement with deposits ranging from the beginning of the early Bronze Age c. 3000 BC to the later part of the late Bronze Age c. 1100 BC. The project as a whole has the wider aim of reconstructing, as far as is possible, the developments in settlement and population in Melos from the earliest period to the present. The Melos survey, which is conducted in collaboration with Dr Malcolm Wagstaff of the Department of Geography, University of Southampton, involves therefore a consideration of land use in the present as well as in the past. Melos has a high-energy geomorphic environment. Its climate is of classic Mediterranean type characterized by a long arid summer, short sharp showers of rain in winter and wide inter-annual variations in precipitation. Much of the island consists of relatively

A land resource information system (LRIS) for land use planning

Abstract This paper describes a land resource information system (LRIS) which was developed to aid land use planning. A diverse study area extending from the carse lands of the Forth to the upland moors of the Gargunnock hills was selected in collaboration with the Planning Department, Central Region, Scotland. For each component 100× 100m grid cell, data on topography, soils, land use capability, vegetation, land type, tree species, forest yield class and exposure value were extracted from published sources. These data, along with profile records provided by the Soil Survey of Scotland, were the basis of a computer symbol mapping system. In the first instance emphasis was given to the production of single-factor maps but attention was later directed to an integrated land resource assessment.

Farm mounds in North Orkney: A preliminary report

The long‐standing problem of the ‘gardshauger’ of Arctic Norway, as summarised by Bertelsen (1979) and Holm‐Olsen (1981) has been under investigation for a number of years. Farm mounds which appear to be very similar to the Norwegian ones have now been recognized in Orkney, where they are restricted to a type of landscape found only in Sanday and North Ronaldsay, two of the outlying islands.

Terrain evaluation: Testing a technique in lower Deeside

Abstract A technique for the detailed assessment of terrain capability is described. The method is used to evaluate the terrain capability of 81 sample farms in North East Scotland. The relevance of the technique is assessed by an analysis to determine the influence of terrain capability on type of farming. Results are also presented to indicate that farmers’ perception of their land type may be different to its actual capability. The need for a flexible approach to terrain capability evaluation is stressed.