Prehistoric activity in Peterstone Great Wharf Palaeochannels: field survey 2007-8 (original) (raw)
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Palaeoenvironmental Three Ways Wharf
Multi-proxy analyses from floodplain deposits in the Colne Valley, southern England, have provided a palaeoenvironmental context for the immediately adjacent Terminal Upper Palaeolithic and Early Mesolithic site of Three Ways Wharf. These deposits show the transition from an open cool environment to fully developed heterogeneous floodplain vegetation during the Early Mesolithic. Several distinct phases of burning are shown to have occurred that are chronologically contemporary with the local archaeological record. The floodplain itself is shown to have supported a number of rare Urwaldrelikt insect species implying human manipulation of the floodplain at this time must have been limited or episodic. By the Late Mesolithic a reed-sedge swamp had developed across much of the floodplain, within which repeated burning of the in situ vegetation took place. This indicates deliberate land management practices utilising fire, comparable with findings from other floodplain sequences in southern Britain. With similar sedimentary sequences known to exist across the Colne Valley, often closely associated with contemporary archaeology, the potential for placing the archaeological record within a spatially explicit palaeoenvironmental context is great.
Barnett, C. 2011. The Tilbury Alluvial Sequence and a Submerged Forest of Neolithic Age at 118 Victoria Dock Road, Canning Town, East London. LAMAS 62, 1-15 Archaeological evaluation of a small redevelopment site in Canning Town revealed a deep, well-stratified Holocene alluvial sequence (the Tilbury Formation) to 5.8m depth (-4.75m OD) over Devensian fluvial sands and gravels. A thin peat (the lower peat) at c.5.5—5.75m depth (-4.45 to -4.7m OD) contained tree trunks, some with roots attached. The layer was sampled and assessed for plant macrofossils, wood and molluscs and was radiocarbon dated to the early Neolithic (3940—3700 cal bc), probably relating to the Tilbury III regression. Floodplain alder carr and surrounding mixed deciduous woodland were inundated in the Early Neolithic by Thames flood waters during marine transgression and have been preserved in situ as a submerged forest. Human activity in the local forest is indicated by the presence of wood charcoal and scorched snails but no archaeological features or artefacts were found. The thick overlying sediment sequence contained two further main bodies of peat dating to the end of the Early Neolithic (3350—3030 cal bc) and Middle Bronze Age (1400—1130 cal bc), correlating broadly with other Tilbury sequences in London and with a shallower peat sequence at Silvertown, where a Neolithic trackway was identified. The pollen indicates the continuation of dense and relatively undisturbed forest for the Neolithic to Middle Bronze Age wetland edge landscape. Although long-term settlement of the area would not have been feasible due to the fluctuation and instability of these wetlands, it is likely that the area offered opportunities for economic activities such as fishing and fowling. Excellent preservation by waterlogging in this deep sequence has been demonstrated and archaeological evidence in the form of organic remains, eg trackways and fishtraps, may be discovered in the area in the future.
WOOD AS AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCE: THE SEVERN ESTUARY EVIDENCE
Archaeology in the Severn estuary, 2000
Wood is one of the most important and overlooked of archaeological materials. The Severn estuary region is fortunate in having a larger quantity of archaeological wood-both excavated and still in situ-than any other rural area of the UK. The evidence it contains can be analysed in many ways and provides a view ofpast societies which is more intense and more meaning/it! than that derived from 'normal' dry archaeology. The challenge which faces present day archaeologists is to develop strategies to overcome the forces which threaten the survival of this important resource.
A Late Prehistoric Timber Alignment in the Waveney Valley, Suffolk: Excavations at Barsham Marshes
Journal of Wetland …, 2011
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.
Life below the waves: palaeolandscapes preserved within the sub-tidal Bristol Channel
2014
Geophysical and geotechnical surveys offshore of Hinkley Point have revealed an extensive, yet fragmentary, Early Holocene submerged palaeolandscape. Radiocarbon dating indicates peat formation beginning c 7500 Cal BC, with brackish and marine inundation taking place c 7000 Cal BC. The comprehensive dating strategy has also demonstrated the difficulties of obtaining robust chronologies from peat deposits within the sub-tidal zone. Results from a suite of palaeoenvironmental techniques provide detailed insights into an Early Mesolithic landscape. Of particular note was the frequent presence of charred remains of reeds, sedges and grasses in the sub-tidal basal freshwater peats which might implicate deliberate Early Mesolithic human activity. Significantly, the record revealed by the work here complements, and extends, that recorded previously from shallower intertidal and inland sites. This helps to extend our knowledge of the less accessible, but equally important, now submerged ter...