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The Antiquaries Journal, 2015
A trial trench cut into a newly located low circular mound on Frensham Common produced a pedo-sed... more A trial trench cut into a newly located low circular mound on Frensham Common produced a pedo-sedimentary sequence indicating that it is of probable turf stack construction and, on that evidence, is likely to be of Bronze Age date. It is probably an outlier of the known barrow group situated 350m to the south, on the King's Ridge between the Great and Little Ponds. The severely eroded mound only became visible following heather cutting in 2002.
International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2015
Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, 2014
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2006
There are many geochemical reconstructions of environmental change in the mid and high latitudes ... more There are many geochemical reconstructions of environmental change in the mid and high latitudes but relatively few in the tropical latitudes, despite their considerable potential for reconstructing environmental processes that cannot be identified using more traditional proxies. Here we present one reconstruction of environmental change for the tropics. This reconstruction covers the past 50 ka using a suite of geochemical data from the high-resolution sequence of Lynch's Crater in northeast Queensland, Australia, a region highly sensitive to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) activity. The 23 major oxides and trace elements measured could be summarised by extracting three axes using principal components analysis (accounting for 72% of the variability). The data indicate that the greatest variability in the geochemical data accounted for erosional activity within the catchment that was associated with past changes in the frequency of ENSO activity (though this was less sensitive during wetter periods, probably as a result of buffering by high vegetation cover). The remaining variability was largely explained by elements that form complexes with organic compounds (e.g., humic acids) and those that are important nutrients for specific vegetation types (and therefore a measure of vegetation distribution). For more detailed reconstructions, further work is required to disentangle the complex controls of elements within sedimentary sequences. D
Batchelor, C.R., Branch, N.P., Allison, E.A., Austin, P.A., Bishop, B., Brown, A.D., Elias, S.A., Green, C.P. and Young, D.S. 2014 The Timing and Causes of the Neolithic Elm Decline: new evidence from the Lower Thames Valley (London, UK). Environmental Archaeology 19 (3), 263-290., 2014
Two new multi-proxy records of environmental change are provided from Horton Kirby Paper Mill and... more Two new multi-proxy records of environmental change are provided from Horton Kirby Paper Mill and Old Seager Distillery in the Lower Thames Valley. Each site has evidence for a decline in elm woodland, which at Horton Kirby Paper Mill is recorded earlier than any other published record from the British Isles: sometime between 7320 and 7240 cal BP. Scolytus scolytus/S. multistriatus (the vectors for Dutch elm disease) are recorded after the decline in both sequences, adding to the number of sites with such evidence in the British Isles. Evidence of paludification and human activity are also recorded at the time of the elm decline reinforcing the multi-causal hypothesis. Integration of these results with 21 palaeoenvironmental records has produced a large number of well-dated, multiproxy records of the elm decline in this part of the UK. On the basis of this dataset, a classification system for categorising the relationships between the causal factors of the elm decline is proposed and recommended for future studies.
The Wetlands Handbook, 2009
... Development in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam RJ SAFFORD1, EDWARD MALTBY2, DUONG VAN NI3 AND NICK ... more ... Development in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam RJ SAFFORD1, EDWARD MALTBY2, DUONG VAN NI3 AND NICK P. BRANCH4 ... The role of the wet-lands in the three main phases of development is summarised below, largely from Duong Van Ni et al. (2001). History up to 1985 ...
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 2013
ABSTRACT The radiocarbon-dated palaeoecological study of Lago Riane (Ligurian Apennines, NW Italy... more ABSTRACT The radiocarbon-dated palaeoecological study of Lago Riane (Ligurian Apennines, NW Italy) presented here forms part of a wider investigation into the relationships between Holocene vegetation succession, climate change and human activities in the northern Apennines. The record of vegetation history from Lago Riane indicates that, since the end of the last glaciation, climate change and prehistoric human activities, combined with several local factors, have strongly influenced the pattern and timing of natural vegetation succession. The pollen record indicates an important change in vegetation cover at Lago Riane at ~8500–8200 cal. years b.p., coincident with a well-known period of rapid climate change. At ~6100 cal. years b.p., Fagus woodland colonised Lago Riane during a period of climate change and expansion of Late Neolithic human activities in the upland zone of Liguria. A marked decline in Abies woodland, and the expansion of Fagus woodland, at ~4700 cal. years b.p., coincided with further archaeological evidence for pastoralism in the mountains of Liguria during the Copper Age. At ~3900–3600 cal. years b.p. (Early to Middle Bronze Age transition), a temporary expansion of woodland at Lago Riane has been provisionally attributed to a decline in human pressure on the environment during a period of short-term climate change.
The Holocene, 1997
... (ii) The timing of the wastage of the Weichselian glaciers from the region (Gudmundsson, 1997... more ... (ii) The timing of the wastage of the Weichselian glaciers from the region (Gudmundsson, 1997), and the timing and extent of glacial events in the region between the wastage of Weichselian ice and the 'Little Ice Age' glacier advance. Th6rarinsson (1956) ...
The Antiquaries Journal, 2015
A trial trench cut into a newly located low circular mound on Frensham Common produced a pedo-sed... more A trial trench cut into a newly located low circular mound on Frensham Common produced a pedo-sedimentary sequence indicating that it is of probable turf stack construction and, on that evidence, is likely to be of Bronze Age date. It is probably an outlier of the known barrow group situated 350m to the south, on the King's Ridge between the Great and Little Ponds. The severely eroded mound only became visible following heather cutting in 2002.
International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2015
Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, 2014
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2006
There are many geochemical reconstructions of environmental change in the mid and high latitudes ... more There are many geochemical reconstructions of environmental change in the mid and high latitudes but relatively few in the tropical latitudes, despite their considerable potential for reconstructing environmental processes that cannot be identified using more traditional proxies. Here we present one reconstruction of environmental change for the tropics. This reconstruction covers the past 50 ka using a suite of geochemical data from the high-resolution sequence of Lynch's Crater in northeast Queensland, Australia, a region highly sensitive to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) activity. The 23 major oxides and trace elements measured could be summarised by extracting three axes using principal components analysis (accounting for 72% of the variability). The data indicate that the greatest variability in the geochemical data accounted for erosional activity within the catchment that was associated with past changes in the frequency of ENSO activity (though this was less sensitive during wetter periods, probably as a result of buffering by high vegetation cover). The remaining variability was largely explained by elements that form complexes with organic compounds (e.g., humic acids) and those that are important nutrients for specific vegetation types (and therefore a measure of vegetation distribution). For more detailed reconstructions, further work is required to disentangle the complex controls of elements within sedimentary sequences. D
Batchelor, C.R., Branch, N.P., Allison, E.A., Austin, P.A., Bishop, B., Brown, A.D., Elias, S.A., Green, C.P. and Young, D.S. 2014 The Timing and Causes of the Neolithic Elm Decline: new evidence from the Lower Thames Valley (London, UK). Environmental Archaeology 19 (3), 263-290., 2014
Two new multi-proxy records of environmental change are provided from Horton Kirby Paper Mill and... more Two new multi-proxy records of environmental change are provided from Horton Kirby Paper Mill and Old Seager Distillery in the Lower Thames Valley. Each site has evidence for a decline in elm woodland, which at Horton Kirby Paper Mill is recorded earlier than any other published record from the British Isles: sometime between 7320 and 7240 cal BP. Scolytus scolytus/S. multistriatus (the vectors for Dutch elm disease) are recorded after the decline in both sequences, adding to the number of sites with such evidence in the British Isles. Evidence of paludification and human activity are also recorded at the time of the elm decline reinforcing the multi-causal hypothesis. Integration of these results with 21 palaeoenvironmental records has produced a large number of well-dated, multiproxy records of the elm decline in this part of the UK. On the basis of this dataset, a classification system for categorising the relationships between the causal factors of the elm decline is proposed and recommended for future studies.
The Wetlands Handbook, 2009
... Development in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam RJ SAFFORD1, EDWARD MALTBY2, DUONG VAN NI3 AND NICK ... more ... Development in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam RJ SAFFORD1, EDWARD MALTBY2, DUONG VAN NI3 AND NICK P. BRANCH4 ... The role of the wet-lands in the three main phases of development is summarised below, largely from Duong Van Ni et al. (2001). History up to 1985 ...
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 2013
ABSTRACT The radiocarbon-dated palaeoecological study of Lago Riane (Ligurian Apennines, NW Italy... more ABSTRACT The radiocarbon-dated palaeoecological study of Lago Riane (Ligurian Apennines, NW Italy) presented here forms part of a wider investigation into the relationships between Holocene vegetation succession, climate change and human activities in the northern Apennines. The record of vegetation history from Lago Riane indicates that, since the end of the last glaciation, climate change and prehistoric human activities, combined with several local factors, have strongly influenced the pattern and timing of natural vegetation succession. The pollen record indicates an important change in vegetation cover at Lago Riane at ~8500–8200 cal. years b.p., coincident with a well-known period of rapid climate change. At ~6100 cal. years b.p., Fagus woodland colonised Lago Riane during a period of climate change and expansion of Late Neolithic human activities in the upland zone of Liguria. A marked decline in Abies woodland, and the expansion of Fagus woodland, at ~4700 cal. years b.p., coincided with further archaeological evidence for pastoralism in the mountains of Liguria during the Copper Age. At ~3900–3600 cal. years b.p. (Early to Middle Bronze Age transition), a temporary expansion of woodland at Lago Riane has been provisionally attributed to a decline in human pressure on the environment during a period of short-term climate change.
The Holocene, 1997
... (ii) The timing of the wastage of the Weichselian glaciers from the region (Gudmundsson, 1997... more ... (ii) The timing of the wastage of the Weichselian glaciers from the region (Gudmundsson, 1997), and the timing and extent of glacial events in the region between the wastage of Weichselian ice and the 'Little Ice Age' glacier advance. Th6rarinsson (1956) ...
The Holocene, 2012
A radiocarbon-dated multiproxy palaeoenvironmental record from the Lower Thames Valley at Hornchu... more A radiocarbon-dated multiproxy palaeoenvironmental record from the Lower Thames Valley at Hornchurch Marshes has provided a reconstruction of the timing and nature of vegetation succession against a background of Holocene climate change, relative sea level movement and human activities. The investigation recorded widespread peat formation between c. 6300 and 3900 cal. yr BP (marine 'regression'), succeeded by evidence for marine incursion. The multiproxy analyses of these sediments, comprising pollen, Coleoptera, diatoms, and plant and wood macrofossils, have indicated significant changes in both the wetland and dryland environment, including the establishment of Alnus (Alder) carr woodland, and the decline of both Ulmus (Elm; c. 5740 cal. yr BP) and Tilia (Lime; c. 5600 cal. yr BP, and 4160-3710 cal. yr BP). The beetle faunas from the peat also suggest a thermal climate similar to that of the present day. At c. 4900 cal. yr BP, Taxus (L.; Yew) woodland colonised the peatland forming a plant community that has no known modern analogue in the UK. The precise reason, or reasons, for this event remain unclear, although changes in peatland hydrology seem most likely. The growth of Taxus on peatland not only has considerable importance for our knowledge of the vegetation history of southeast England, and NW Europe generally, but also has wider implications for the interpretation of Holocene palaeobotanical records. At c. 3900 cal. yr BP, Taxus declined on the peatland surface during a period of major hydrological change (marine incursion), an event also strongly associated with the decline of dryland woodland taxa, including Tilia and Quercus, and the appearance of anthropogenic indicators.
Quaternary Science Reviews, 2006
Middle Pleistocene deposits at Hackney, north London comprise a thick unit of organic sands and s... more Middle Pleistocene deposits at Hackney, north London comprise a thick unit of organic sands and silts occupying a channel near the confluence of the River Thames in south-eastern England and its left-bank tributary the River Lea. They represent a short time interval, perhaps no more than a few years, within a late Middle Pleistocene interglacial. The organic sediments are overlain by unfossiliferous sands and gravels indicating deposition on the floodplain of a braided river under cool or cold climatic conditions. The fossil plant, insect, mollusc and vertebrate remains from the interglacial deposits all indicate climatic conditions with summers warmer than the present in SE England, and winters with a similar thermal climate. The biostratigraphic evidence suggests that the time period represented by the organic unit is part of MIS 9, although the geochronological evidence for such an age is inconclusive. The palaeontological evidence strongly suggests that this temperate stage was warmer than the succeeding temperate stage MIS 7 or the Holocene, and approaching the Ipswichian (MISs 5e) in its warmth. The multidisciplinary description of the Hackney deposits is one of the first to reconstruct terrestrial conditions in Marine Isotope Stage 9 in Western Europe. r
First pollen analysis from the site "Moggia di Pian Brogione" (Casanova di Rovegno – Genova -NW-I... more First pollen analysis from the site "Moggia di Pian Brogione" (Casanova di Rovegno – Genova -NW-Italy). In the course of the "1st field trip of Environmental History" (Val Trebbia, 2000) a sediment of 2.6 m, characterised by an alternation of peat and clay, was collected near Pian Brogione; this last is a plain placed a few hundred metres to the Southwest of the Moggia di Casanova peat bog. The aim of the research at Pian Brogione is to compare the palaeoenvironmental events regarding sedimentation, pollen and anthropogenic indicators, recorded in places situated at low distance among them. In particular, the presence of two different phases of peat sedimentation could be related to human activity. The deposition of fine-grained mineral-rich sediments and gravel indicates periods of both low-energy and high-energy erosion of surrounding slopes. The gravel units may indicate catastrophic events.
A preliminary pollen diagram is characterised by a scarce presence of trees, and the concentration diagram confirms this record. Possibly, the most interesting evidence is the pollen trend of Abies and the constant presence of Castanea; chestnut shows two peaks (~20% and ~50% of TLP), in both cases in connection with peat layers. Among the herbs, excluding hygrophytes and ferns, Poaceae, Plantago and Asteraceae are the most represented. Absolute dating are lacking, at present, nevertheless the diagram can be compared with that from the nearby site named Moggia di Casanova (Cruise, 1990): the trend of Abies can be likened with the most recent phase (not much older than 2000 years BP). Possibly, the uppermost peak of Castanea (66 cm) can be correlated with that found at 25-30 cm in the small "plateau North" of Pian delle Groppere
Inca Sacred Space: Landscape, Site and Symbol in the Andes