Environmental Archaeology in the Cotswolds.
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Reading
Department Name: Archaeology
Abstract
Research Questions:
RQ1: To what extent does understanding the local environment reveal why prehistoric calcareous landscapes of north-west Europe were used and how did this more broadly influence the lifeways and landscape interactions of its populace?
RQ2: In particular, what was unique about calcareous landscapes that made them attractive to Mesolithic and Neolithic populations, and how did this influence prolonged occupation of upland and lowland locales and to what degree were anthropogenic actions responsible for landscape change through the Mesolithic and Neolithic?
RQ3: To what extent are contemporary management strategies representative of preserving 'historical' environments, and how can the palaeoenvironmental records help in informing and readdressing these schemes?
Research Context:
The calcareous (lime-rich) landscapes of northwest Europe have long been understood to be an important setting for Early Neolithic (give dates) monuments, providing the eventual focus for some of the most lauded and iconic ceremonial complexes in Britain, such as Stonehenge and Avebury (add references). Their landscapes and ecologies have provided important attributes for the development of these monumental complexes by virtue of their assumed open landscape character and their species rich herb-grassland especially suitable for animal grazing in what was otherwise a dense wildwood forest (add references). However, courtesy of their well-drained, alkaline soils they are generally poor at preserving organic materials, especially those pertaining to their past environments. Consequently, these landscapes are often considered within very broad environmental parameters or arbitrarily informed through limited studies, which can only ever provide a broad characteristic of past environments, and unable to fully contextualise the lifeways enacted at the time.
Current discussion of Mesolithic (10'000-4'000BC) and Neolithic (4'000-2'500BC) environments broadly set the two in polarised, arbitrary and somewhat amorphous environmental settings; the former as heavily impenetrable woodland and the latter characterised by small and broadening clearings caused by new agricultural groups. Consequently, this polarised view neglects to consider the true diversity of past landscapes, the interrelationships that particular landscapes had upon the lifeways of populations at the time and the extent to which landscape open-ness impacted settlement and subsistence choices. Understanding of the Mesolithic and Neolithic within these calcareous landscapes is highly fragmented, courtesy of the disproportionate and heavy reliance on the study of their funerary monumentality to the detriment of understanding the lifeways of the living population during these times (add references). Consequently, we know more about the dead than the living in these landscapes.
Suitable deposits for analysis and reconstruction of past environments do exist however, which can address the research questions proposed. For example, alongside the River Windrush (Cotswolds, England) a wetland with a stratified sequence, including organic deposits, was encountered (Wilkinson 1994). Dating to the Early Holocene (10952-5566BC) it provides an example of organic deposits from an upland calcareous landscape and provides compelling evidence to explore the potential of these landscapes.
Methodology and Research Outputs:
Objective 1: Desk-based study and consideration of the landscape and environmental conditions of Southern England and the Cotswolds.
Objective 2: Undertaking sampling of selected wetlands in the Cotswolds and applying a suite of analyses to extract empirical information concerning past cultural and environmental histories.
Objective 3: Develop national guidelines for the evaluation of wetlands based on their historic environment significance and value, and hence designation as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
RQ1: To what extent does understanding the local environment reveal why prehistoric calcareous landscapes of north-west Europe were used and how did this more broadly influence the lifeways and landscape interactions of its populace?
RQ2: In particular, what was unique about calcareous landscapes that made them attractive to Mesolithic and Neolithic populations, and how did this influence prolonged occupation of upland and lowland locales and to what degree were anthropogenic actions responsible for landscape change through the Mesolithic and Neolithic?
RQ3: To what extent are contemporary management strategies representative of preserving 'historical' environments, and how can the palaeoenvironmental records help in informing and readdressing these schemes?
Research Context:
The calcareous (lime-rich) landscapes of northwest Europe have long been understood to be an important setting for Early Neolithic (give dates) monuments, providing the eventual focus for some of the most lauded and iconic ceremonial complexes in Britain, such as Stonehenge and Avebury (add references). Their landscapes and ecologies have provided important attributes for the development of these monumental complexes by virtue of their assumed open landscape character and their species rich herb-grassland especially suitable for animal grazing in what was otherwise a dense wildwood forest (add references). However, courtesy of their well-drained, alkaline soils they are generally poor at preserving organic materials, especially those pertaining to their past environments. Consequently, these landscapes are often considered within very broad environmental parameters or arbitrarily informed through limited studies, which can only ever provide a broad characteristic of past environments, and unable to fully contextualise the lifeways enacted at the time.
Current discussion of Mesolithic (10'000-4'000BC) and Neolithic (4'000-2'500BC) environments broadly set the two in polarised, arbitrary and somewhat amorphous environmental settings; the former as heavily impenetrable woodland and the latter characterised by small and broadening clearings caused by new agricultural groups. Consequently, this polarised view neglects to consider the true diversity of past landscapes, the interrelationships that particular landscapes had upon the lifeways of populations at the time and the extent to which landscape open-ness impacted settlement and subsistence choices. Understanding of the Mesolithic and Neolithic within these calcareous landscapes is highly fragmented, courtesy of the disproportionate and heavy reliance on the study of their funerary monumentality to the detriment of understanding the lifeways of the living population during these times (add references). Consequently, we know more about the dead than the living in these landscapes.
Suitable deposits for analysis and reconstruction of past environments do exist however, which can address the research questions proposed. For example, alongside the River Windrush (Cotswolds, England) a wetland with a stratified sequence, including organic deposits, was encountered (Wilkinson 1994). Dating to the Early Holocene (10952-5566BC) it provides an example of organic deposits from an upland calcareous landscape and provides compelling evidence to explore the potential of these landscapes.
Methodology and Research Outputs:
Objective 1: Desk-based study and consideration of the landscape and environmental conditions of Southern England and the Cotswolds.
Objective 2: Undertaking sampling of selected wetlands in the Cotswolds and applying a suite of analyses to extract empirical information concerning past cultural and environmental histories.
Objective 3: Develop national guidelines for the evaluation of wetlands based on their historic environment significance and value, and hence designation as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
