The Bright Edge Deep team presents an online exhibition inspired by the history, cultural heritag... more The Bright Edge Deep team presents an online exhibition inspired by the history, cultural heritage and restoration of peatlands. Through a variety of media – imagery and text, film and sound, poetry readings and lectures – the exhibition examines the scientific basis of peatlands as important ecosystems, and their role in capturing climate records and acting as climate mitigators. Visitors can explore this evolving exhibition through four major themes: Wilderness and Nature; Myths, Legends and the Spiritual; Landscapes of Power and Work; The Future of Peatlands. Bright Edge Deep is led by a group of art historians, archaeologists and palaeoecologists with a concern for peatland heritage (past), management (present) and restoration (future). They aim to bring together artistic, historical, cultural and scientific representations of peatlands as moderators of climate change to enhance understanding of their role as historic landscapes and ‘wild’ places of cultural and natural value for the future
ABSTRACT The value of understanding the landscape context within which sites of human occupation ... more 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.
SummaryThis paper highlights the potential for what could be termed an ‘archaeology of pain’, ref... more SummaryThis paper highlights the potential for what could be termed an ‘archaeology of pain’, reflecting on the potential significance and role of the infliction, suffering, endurance and observation of pain by individuals in the past. It presents a case study of ‘bog bodies’, human remains recovered from wetland which, due to the anoxic, waterlogged conditions, preserves human flesh and associated evidence, including injuries and cause of death. The central argument is that evidence from pathological investigations of certain later prehistoric bodies provides hitherto neglected information concerning the embodied experience of pain, in particular its duration and intensity, which may be central to the interpretation of these events. This understanding can be framed not only in terms of the experience of pain by the victims, but also in the potential perception of pain and suffering by those inflicting these and potentially by any observers of the final moments of these individuals.
An assessment of the predictive potential of backscettered lidar intensity to identigy organic pr... more An assessment of the predictive potential of backscettered lidar intensity to identigy organic preservation of waterlogged sediments in alluvial environments.
Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History
This paper uses interdisciplinary methods to investigate responses to the Little Ice Age in regio... more This paper uses interdisciplinary methods to investigate responses to the Little Ice Age in regions where livestock farming was dominant, a neglected subject due to the scarcity of detailed written records regarding pastoral land use. It argues that landscape-level histories which include pollen evidence and archaeology can address this challenge and reveal local processes of climate adaptation. Here we focus on Ireland and Scotland and a fascinating rise in small-scale cereal cultivation on upland pastures during the Little Ice Age. Bayesian modeling is used to test the chronological resolution of field evidence and compare it with climate reconstructions. We can see that the cultivation emerged in late medieval times, when cattle were facing climate-related stresses, and increased in early modern times during the Little Ice Age's main phase. We suggest that it started in an indirect adaptation to climate change, supplementing supplies of food and fodder for pastoralists, but increased as rural populations and external market demands grew. There is a need for finer temporal resolution in pollen records and archaeology, as well as greater integration with socioeconomic history, if we are to be more certain about changes in the relative significance of climate in pastoral land use.
The Bright Edge Deep team presents an online exhibition inspired by the history, cultural heritag... more The Bright Edge Deep team presents an online exhibition inspired by the history, cultural heritage and restoration of peatlands. Through a variety of media – imagery and text, film and sound, poetry readings and lectures – the exhibition examines the scientific basis of peatlands as important ecosystems, and their role in capturing climate records and acting as climate mitigators. Visitors can explore this evolving exhibition through four major themes: Wilderness and Nature; Myths, Legends and the Spiritual; Landscapes of Power and Work; The Future of Peatlands. Bright Edge Deep is led by a group of art historians, archaeologists and palaeoecologists with a concern for peatland heritage (past), management (present) and restoration (future). They aim to bring together artistic, historical, cultural and scientific representations of peatlands as moderators of climate change to enhance understanding of their role as historic landscapes and ‘wild’ places of cultural and natural value for the future
ABSTRACT The value of understanding the landscape context within which sites of human occupation ... more 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.
SummaryThis paper highlights the potential for what could be termed an ‘archaeology of pain’, ref... more SummaryThis paper highlights the potential for what could be termed an ‘archaeology of pain’, reflecting on the potential significance and role of the infliction, suffering, endurance and observation of pain by individuals in the past. It presents a case study of ‘bog bodies’, human remains recovered from wetland which, due to the anoxic, waterlogged conditions, preserves human flesh and associated evidence, including injuries and cause of death. The central argument is that evidence from pathological investigations of certain later prehistoric bodies provides hitherto neglected information concerning the embodied experience of pain, in particular its duration and intensity, which may be central to the interpretation of these events. This understanding can be framed not only in terms of the experience of pain by the victims, but also in the potential perception of pain and suffering by those inflicting these and potentially by any observers of the final moments of these individuals.
An assessment of the predictive potential of backscettered lidar intensity to identigy organic pr... more An assessment of the predictive potential of backscettered lidar intensity to identigy organic preservation of waterlogged sediments in alluvial environments.
Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History
This paper uses interdisciplinary methods to investigate responses to the Little Ice Age in regio... more This paper uses interdisciplinary methods to investigate responses to the Little Ice Age in regions where livestock farming was dominant, a neglected subject due to the scarcity of detailed written records regarding pastoral land use. It argues that landscape-level histories which include pollen evidence and archaeology can address this challenge and reveal local processes of climate adaptation. Here we focus on Ireland and Scotland and a fascinating rise in small-scale cereal cultivation on upland pastures during the Little Ice Age. Bayesian modeling is used to test the chronological resolution of field evidence and compare it with climate reconstructions. We can see that the cultivation emerged in late medieval times, when cattle were facing climate-related stresses, and increased in early modern times during the Little Ice Age's main phase. We suggest that it started in an indirect adaptation to climate change, supplementing supplies of food and fodder for pastoralists, but increased as rural populations and external market demands grew. There is a need for finer temporal resolution in pollen records and archaeology, as well as greater integration with socioeconomic history, if we are to be more certain about changes in the relative significance of climate in pastoral land use.
Wetland archaeology has long been dominated by a focus on single archaeological sites and palaeoe... more Wetland archaeology has long been dominated by a focus on single archaeological sites and palaeoenvironmental sequences, in part due to the time and expense required for investigation. Consequently, the broader spatial and chronological patterns of landscape scale processes in the evolution of wetland systems are in general poorly understood. Reconstructing wetland evolution and wider environmental change from site scale to landscape is critical for understanding the role of different 'drivers' (e.g. climate, relative sea level, human impacts etc.) and for contextualising the archaeological record and human activity. Such investigations present significant problems and little concerted effort has to date considered the methodological and theoretical challenges faced by wetland archaeological, palaeoenvironmental and chronological research seeking to understand how to move across and between spatial and chronological scales. In addition, questions concerning the character of human activity in wetland landscapes and between wetlands and drylands necessitate an integrated approach drawing on scientific and humanities-based research. In this session we intend to move beyond single sites and records to discuss progress in method and theory, moving towards a landscape archaeology of wetlands. We especially welcome contributions addressing the following themes: Methodological approaches addressing the theoretical challenges of 'scaling up' site specific palaeoenvironmental records to larger spatial and temporal scales; Potentials and problems of connecting archaeological records from wetlands and dryland to better understand macroscale processes of environmental and cultural change; Recent insights gained from landscapescale research projects or from studies on the specific archaeological sites within their wider landscapes; Integration of humanities and scientific data and approaches at various scales, and the difficulties of 'disentangling' social and environmental drivers of resilience and change. If you are intested in submitting a paper for the session please see: https://forms.ncl.ac.uk/view.php?id=1365317
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