66,838 research outputs found
Aspects of the Romano-British landscape around holme on Spalding moor, east Yorkshire
No full textAn examination was undertaken of the nature and extent of Romano-British settlement and industry in the context of the landscape around Holme on Spalding Moor. An environmental reconstruction of the study area was made, showing it to be marginal, low lying and prone to wetness. The most suitable land for exploitation were the ridges of Aeolian sands. Systematic field survey over an 8 x 8 km square, together with cropmark evidence showed that site distribution was closely related to soil type, watercourses and other environmental constraints. A total of 106 Romano-British kiln and settlement sites, 49 sites with iron working or manufacture and several with evidence for glass working were discovered from fieldwalking, examination of museum collections and archives and excavations. Worked flints and stone axes showed that there had been activity on the sand ridges near to watercourses since the Neolithic. The data suggests that settlement was intensified during the later Iron Age with iron working and manufacture being undertaken especially near the dendritic creek system in which the Hasholme Iron Age log boat sank. The Romano-British pottery industry seems to have built up around the same creek system, which provided a means of distribution to Shiptonthorpe, Brough and other Romano-British settlements further afield. Fabric and form analysis of local wares when compared with pottery of known date showed that production began in the later 2nd century A.D., reaching a peak in the mid fourth.Clay was plentiful and managed woodland may have provided fuel for furnaced based industries. Settlement types showed little change from the late Iron Age, but followed developments paralleled elsewhere, with some degree of Romanisation. Marine flooding did not cause the decline of industry and settlement in the area as has been previously suggested. It is possible that these settlements formed the basis of the hamlets within the parish of Holme on Spalding Moor, although continuity has yet to be proved
Promoting and assessing value creation in communities and networks: a conceptual framework
No full textAssessment of ancient land use in abandoned settlements and fields : A study of prehistoric and Medieval land use and its influence upon soil properties on Holne Moor, Dartmoor, England.
No full textIgnorance about the pattern of ancient land use within prehistoric and medieval fields on Dartmoor and elsewhere provided the catalyst for the research reported in this thesis, which explores new ways of assessing past land use in abandoned enclosures. The first chapter provides a brief, critical evaluation of relevant earlier archaeological
research; the limitations of current procedures, which reveal little about pastoral land use, are discussed and it is concluded that, although there have been few scientifically rigorous studies of the soils in ancient settlements and fields, soil analysis accompanied by explicit modelling of the interaction of agricultural land use and soils could provide new information about past land use, but only within a framework of research that defines the natural trajectories of soil development as a prerequisite to the isolation of 'land use—deflected' pedogenesis. In Chapter 2, a review of some of the principal features of moorland soils is followed by an assessment of the ways in which they may have been modified by recent, 'extensive' land use. Information provided by pedological and agricultural research is then used to formulate
models of changes in the physical and chemical properties of soil that might be expected to occur as a result of various forms of 'intensive' agricultural land use; particular attention is paid to the pattern of phosphorus redistribution in pastoral enclosures. An environmental and cultural history of Holne Moor on Dartmoor is presented in Chapter 3, and it is shown that this area possesses
archaeological and pedological features that make it eminently suitable as a study area within which to test ideas and predictions about the way in which early land use may have modified soil properties; the chapter concludes with an account of the fieldwork and laboratory strategies
that have been used to investigate the soils within this study area. The results of a field survey of the soils and vegetation on Holne Moor are described and interpreted in Chapter 4; it is concluded that many of the properties of the surface soils reflect a combination
of features acquired during medieval farming and during subsequent pedogenetic reversion. The pattern of soil properties is shown to be consistent with a pattern of land use that can be inferred from archaeological investigations of the medieval enclosures themselves and provides
additional information about land use within the enclosures and the sequence of land abandonment. Qunntitative investigations of soil phosphorus and organic matter
are reported and analysed in Chapter 5. Palaeosol studies provide evidence of the general course of pedogenesis and also allow the conclusion that significant changes in soil phosphorus have occurred since prehistoric times and even over the past thousand years. Analyses of soils in prehistoric houses and monuments, and in the fields of nearby, modern farms are then used to establish a picture of the way in which the soils of the study area have responded to phosphorus inputs and agricultural management. Conclusions reached as a result of these studies, together with the models offered in Chapter 2 1 form the basis for
interpretation of investigations of the soils within medieval and prehistoric agricultural enclosures; these are described in the concluding sections of the chapter, where it is shown that patterns consistent with the models can be identified within these ancient enclosures. Some of the more important conclusions arising from this research are set out in Chapter 6; the primary conclusions are that very detailed
information about medieval land use can be, and has been obtained through intensive field survey alone, and that analysis of soil phosphorus can provide important, new information about the agricultural use of both medieval and prehistoric enclosures
Aspects of the ecology of some invertebrates on limestone outcrops in Moorland
No full textIn 1984-5 the carabids and staphylinids on ten isolated limestone outcrops and intervening blanket peat within the Moor House Reserve, Cumbria, were investigated. In 1986 a subsidiary study on similar habitats was made at Tailbridge Hill, Cumbria. Pitfall and window traps sampled beetles from the ground and air respectively. Numbers and alpha diversities of carabids and staphylinids were higher on the Moor House limestone outcrops than on the blanket peat. The outcrops acted as isolates to many species, but also suffered considerable contamination by adjacent peat faunas. Limestone species taken on outcrops exhibited a positive species: area relationship consistent with island biogeographical theory. Peat species taken on outcrops showed a negative species: area relationship. Overall, species of staphylinid were positively, and carabid, negatively, correlated with outcrop size. Dispersal of species between habitats was influenced by body size, degree of hygrophily and flight activity. Flight by carabids was negligible, but most staphylinids could fly. Weather conditions were probably the primary cause of this difference between taxa. Flight by staphylinids was related to the stability of the habitat or resources involved. All Nomadic species could fly whereas flight by Peat species was negligible. Limestone species showed relatively high levels of flight activity attributable to the need of many rarer species for regular dispersal between outcrops to spread the risk of extinction. The aerial fauna at Moor House had three components, with species deriving from the immediate habitat, moorland habitats nearby, or regions beyond the Reserve. A considerable influx of staphylinids (and aphids) onto the Reserve occurred in July-October as aerial plankton was carried in from the west by prevailing winds. The applicability of island biogeography theory to the Moor House system, and to 'habitat islands' in general, is discussed
Labour Migration for Vulnerable Communities: A Strategy to Adapt to a Changing Environment
No full textde Moor N. Labour Migration for Vulnerable Communities: A Strategy to Adapt to a Changing Environment. COMCAD Arbeitspapiere - Working Papers, 101. Bielefeld: COMCAD - Center on Migration, Citizenship and Development; 2011
Thermal expansion anomalies of R(Fe, M)(12) (R=Y, Nd; M=Mo and Si)
No full textStructural and thermal-expansion anomaly studies on R(Fe,M)(12) (R=Nd and and Y, M=Mo and Si) compounds were performed by x-ray diffraction. Mo atoms occupy the 8i site. While Si atoms occupy the 8f and 8j sites but not the 8i site. Thermal-expansion anomaly shows only in ab plane in the Mo compounds, while becomes very weak and along with only the c axis in the Si compounds. The anomaly was attributed to the contribution of the interactions of short Fe-Fe distances similar to the previous explanation on other R-Fe intermetallics and that of other strongly positive interactions such as 8j-8j. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000230168300025&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=8e1609b174ce4e31116a60747a720701Physics, AppliedSCI(E)EICPCI-S(ISTP)
Heathland ecology and vegetation history of Tulloch Moor, Inverness-Shire
No full textTulloch Moor is part of the RSPB reserve at Loch Garten. It contains a very good example of Calluna-Arctostaphylos heath. The vegetation of the moor was examined by means of 44 2x2m sample plots. 32 of these were in 8 permanently marked 4x4m quadrats, and provide a baseline to measure future change. 7 plots outside the permanent transect showed further variation in the heathland vegetation. The data indicate that time since burning, colonisation by trees, and variation in soil type are the important factors in determining the present variation. Ordination separated the Tulloch Moor heath releves from those given by McVean & Ratcliffe (1962) for the Arctostaphyleto-Callunetum which more often included Pyrola media and Dicranum scoparium, however the heath releves were more similar to the Arctostaphyleto- callunetum than to Callunetum vulgaris. The vegetation history of Tulloch Moor was investigated by pollen analysis of a sample of peat and a surface sample of moss. The peat sample was not dated. The pollen analysis indicates that there was a period when the Moor, or at least the sampling locality, was much more wooded than now, mainly with pine and some birch. Prior to this there was an open heath with some trees, much as now. Following the wooded period, the tree cover declined to a low level, and then increased in the recent past to its present level. Characteristics and measurements of Ericales reference pollen were compared with those of fossil pollen, and the results of the different methods of identification were compared. Most of the fossil pollen tetrads were Erica tetralix which presently grows on the peat bog surface. Very few tetrads of Arctostaphylos pollen were found, and these were at or near the surface. Examination of the peat for charcoal fragments indicates that fires have occurred in the area throughout the period represented by the peat sample. Some peaks in charcoal abundance are followed by a decline in tree pollen, indicating that fire was a cause of tree decline
Molecular and cellular changes associated with maturation and early development of sheep eggs
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