Mollusc remains from excavations at an Iron Age and Romano-British settlement site at Melton, North Humberside (site code: MEL94): Technical report (original) (raw)
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Summary A group of sediment samples and hand-collected bones and molluscs, from deposits of mostly Roman date (2nd to 4th Century AD), have been assessed for their bioarchaeological potential. Plant and invertebrate remains were present in approximately one-third of the samples but, with the exception of one context (1277), in numbers too small to be of interpretative value. One other context yielded some material which may be peat or mor humus. The bone assemblage, though only of modest size, is of some importance: rural animal bone assemblages from the North of England, and of this period, are rare. Shell assemblages of this region and period are also rare, and selected further work on this material is recommended.
The Pliocene and Pleistocene mollusc archive at Norwich Castle Museum.
This paper is one in a series on recent projects researching and documenting the geology collections of Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service. It describes three years of work databasing the P. E. P. Norton Collection, formed between 1961 and 1978 whilst researching the East Anglian early Pleistocene Mollusca and those of associated sites, with comparative and reference specimens from the Pliocene, Pleistocene and Holocene of NW Europe and Iceland. Several of the collection sites no longer exist. The resulting database, of 1925 records and 4500 images, the collection itself and associated documents together with unresearched material donated to the British Geological Survey, form an accessible resource for future documentation of other specimens or collections. The database records ‘monstrosities’, ‘attacked’ and parasitized shells, new findings on Macoma balthica, and taxa which require further examination. The database forms a ‘Digital Monograph’ including illustrations of not only the best but also the least identifiable shells. A preliminary survey of other mollusc collections in Norwich Castle Museum, mainly from the 19th Century, is also summarized together with a brief guide to other institutions possessing cognate material. The limitations of the collection are discussed. Suggestions for new approaches in future work are included, with particular emphasis on the need to build up new collections with modern tools and methods and a finer resolution of stratigraphic detail and site description. New directions may include biomass estimation and other palaeoecological studies. An Appendix lists many of the earlier mollusc collectors and the location their stored material.
A late pleistocene marine molluscan fauna from the Drifts of the Cheshire plain
Geological Journal, 2007
Some recent finds from two working pits in the outwash sands of the Cheshire Plain are recorded. The opportunity is taken to discuss the dating and ecology of the fauna in relation to past and present theories of environment in the late Pleistocene, and their relationship to the fauna of the Macclesfield New Cemetery Beds.
1995
Summary Marine erosion of dunes at Low Hauxley, Northumberland, has revealed an extensive humic horizon interpreted as a buried soil. This passes laterally into waterlain peats and muds in places and is associated with Bronze Age, and tentatively identified Mesolithic, human activity, Fifteen of the forty General Biological Analysis (GBA) samples submitted to the EAU, representing different areas of the site, have been analysed for invertebrates. A substantial proportion contained appreciable numbers of insect and other invertebrate remains, sufficiently well-preserved for identification. From the assemblages as a whole, the fauna consisted of a mixture of aquatic and terrestrial species. The former will provide a definition of the nature of the depositional basin, with a guide to water quality. The terrestrial species, if recovered in sufficiently large numbers, will allow reconstruction of vegetation and land-use (if any) of nearby 'dry land'. The molluscs from spot sample...
Construction of the Civil Aviation Authority's new en-route centre on the site of the former Bursledon Brickworks at Lower Swanwick, during 1991-1992, re-exposed sections in the London Clay unavailable since this site fell into disuse in 1974. New material collected from the recent excavations has prompted a reappraisal of the mollusc fauna of this site. This is reviewed along with material collected during the working life of the brickworks and now held in the Natural History Museum, London. The mollusc fauna consists of 146 species and is listed in systematic order, with an indication of local stratigraphic range and palaeoecological interpretation. The taphonomy of the mollusc fauna is discussed, and a number of notes given detailing taxonomic revisions. Three new species of bivalve are described: Semeloidea curryi, Siliqua kingi and Abra (Syndosmya) cygnea and three gastropods: Entomope semipunctata, Solariorbis lawsoni and Epalxis kempi. Lectotypes are designated for Eopleurotoma simillima crassilinea and Microdrillia tricincta. The majority of the fauna is illustrated photographically, in most cases for the first time.
MOLLUSCA FROM ALLUVIAL CONTEXTS: PROGRESS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS
2000
Evans et al.(1992) provided a framework for improving the interpretation of Mollusca recovered from Holocene overbank alluvium in central southern England. Since that date the number of published sub-fossil molluscan sequences for that area has increased dramatically (eg Davies, 1996, 1997). This additional sub-fossil data indicates that although the framework still holds in a general sense, particularly with respect to methodology, the level of environmental interpretation offered is still not particularly high.