1,720,976 research outputs found
The formation of anthropogenic soils across three marginal landscapes on Fair Isle and in The Netherlands and Ireland.
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The excavation of an Iron Age site at Nansledan, Newquay, Cornwall
No full textAn archaeological excavation by AC archaeology on land at Nansledan, Newquay, revealed an Earlier Iron Age circular enclosure 17m in diameter with causeways in the east and west. There was no evidence for its use and a ritual function is proposed. After a hiatus, in the Later Iron Age the enclosure became the focus of activity comprising a gully and post-built structure around a hollow containing pits and a hearth which contained sherds of imported Roman amphora. To the south of the enclosure and contemporary with the activity within it was a ring gully enclosing a stony spread. Elsewhere postholes indicated the position of a possible rectangular structure and a four-post structure. The finds and environmental remains indicate that the activity was probably domestic in character, although the structures are unusual and consideration of a special purpose for the Later Iron Age activity is entertained. A sequence of boundary ditches forming fields spanned the period of the Iron Age activity
Bronze Age Field System at Tower’s Fen, Thorney, Peterborough: Excavations at ‘Thorney Borrow Pit’ 2004-2005
No full textArchaeological excavation of about 11ha of land at Tower's Fen, Thorney, Peterborough (England), investigated part of an extensive pattern of ditched enclosures and fields associated with several waterholes and two ponds. One large pit, which may have been a waterhole, yielded Early Bronze Age pottery and is radiocarbon dated to the terminal 3rd millennium BC. Two other dates from the ponds came out at around 1500-1300 BC. The other features were probably also Middle to Late Bronze Age although the limited quantity of pottery was not datable precisely. Waterlogged material recovered from the deeper features included most of an unusual wooden tub or bucket, as well as other pieces of worked wood. The palaeo-environmental evidence from pollen, plant macro-fossils, insects and charred plant remains indicated that the land supported a mosaic of woodland, scrub, arable fields, meadow and short grazed grassland. A wide variety of trees was present, particularly wet-loving species such as willow and alder, and there was abundant evidence for coppicing. Nearby excavations at Pode Hole, and the wider picture provided by plotted cropmarks, indicate that the site formed part of an extensive prehistoric landscape. It is suggested that the Bronze Age agricultural landscape developed piecemeal and was based upon a mixed arable and pastoral economy. This contrasts with Fengate and other landscapes of this period where large-scale land divisions have been related to intensive livestock management. The sparse evidence for contemporaneous settlement is typical of many sites of this period
Petrological and geoarchaeological analysis of volcanic horizons and quarrying discovered at Dainton Elms Cross, Ipplepen, Devon
No full textArchaeological excavations on land adjacent to Dainton Elms Cross, Ipplepen, Devon in 2012 and 2013 revealed previously unseen geological strata. Detailed field and laboratory analysis illustrated a range of igneous deposits including tuff, basalt and thin pyroclastic horizons associated with explosive volcanic episodes during the Devonian period (375-398 Ma). These horizons appear to have been the focus of deliberate quarrying during the Romano-British and later periods within a wider industrial landscape
A Challenging Island? Agricultural and land use history on Donegal’s Tory Island/Oileán Thoraí, Ireland’s most remote, inhabited island.
No full textCarbon storage in river and floodplain systems: A review of evidence to update and inform policy development for riverine nature based solutions
Full text linkThe threat of climate change is increasingly motivating goals that seek to achieve net zero emissions in the next few decades (Rutter and Sasse, 2022). In the UK, net zero is a statutory requirement that must be met by 2050 (Gregg et al., 2021). An important element of this strategy is determining how nature can contribute to achieving Net zero – largely via carbon sequestration and storage (Gregg et al., 2021). The degradation of many natural systems has impacted natural carbon stores and so the role of nature-based solutions is increasingly being implemented with the beneficial aims of both increasing biodiversity as well as supporting climate change mitigation (Gregg et al., 2021). Decomposition and combustion of organic material releases CO2 to the atmosphere, while accumulation of biomass and soil organic carbon (SOC) sequesters CO2 (Hoffmann 2021). Wetlands such as peatlands, swamps, marshes, estuaries and floodplains provide optimal conditions for the sequestration and long-term storage of carbon although the precise timing of storage will depend on erosional (turnover) time of the specific habitat/system. Low oxygen concentrations support anaerobic conditions that reduce decomposition, whilst overbank sedimentation buries organic matter protecting it from further decomposition. On floodplains, the high clay content of deposits provide sites for chemical bonding with organic matter further reducing loss of carbon through decomposition and gaseous emission (Hoffman 2021). Research to date all points towards a substantial role for rivers and floodplains in the global carbon cycle (Whol and Knox 2022, Hoffman, 2021). An increasingly expanding literature consistently demonstrates that riparian ecosystems and floodplains can store a significantly larger amount of carbon per area compared to surrounding land (Suftin et al., 2016; Whol and Knox 2022). Floodplains cover 0.5–1% of the global land area but have been suggested to account for a range of 0.5–8% of global SOC storage. River networks contain significant portions of terrestrial C with greatest retention occurring in floodplain riparian ecosystems D’Elia et al (2017). Although, there is a large range of estimated values of OC in watersheds (0.5 to 1.5 Pg (Aufdenkampe et al., 2011) and 0.9 Pg (Regnier et al., 2013)), some estimates in mountainous headwater streams in the USA, indicate that riparian areas including floodplains may store about 25% of the total OC while occupying less than 1% of watershed area (Wohl et al., 2012). Sutfin et al., (2016) reported 22% of carbon entering headwater streams is unaccounted for after quantifying delivery to oceans or losses to outgassing as carbon dioxide (CO2), suggesting there is a substantial reservoir of carbon in riparian systems derived from sediment deposition. The role of rivers in carbon sequestration has often been interpreted as a conduit between terrestrial and marine carbon stores (Gregg et al., 2021). Carbon can be stored in the floodplain in many forms including above ground vegetation (Dyabla et al., 2019), and soil (Wohl et al., 2017), as well as within the river channel as large, drowned wood and vegetation (Hinshaw & Wohl, 2021). Much of the evidence remains focussed on above ground biomass and the first metre of soil (D’Elia et al., 2017). However, it is argued in Young et al., (2019) that recent carbon accumulation rates in surface peat can be misinterpreted in relation to carbon storage. It suggests that surface/topsoil peat measurements do not account for the future ability to be decomposed/lost in comparison to deeper long-term stores. This suggests that although there may be peat/organic matter present in topsoil this may not necessarily translate into long term carbon sequestration. A need for deeper sediment cores and paleoenvironmental analysis to present the natural state of UK rivers is identified across the literature (D’Elia et al., 2017; Quine et al., 2022), however, is not yet widely implemented, although the current Natural England led project to develop a national peat map is aiming to rectify this omission. The quantification of carbon stored in floodplains and the potential for restoration to increase this remains poorly understood (Hinshaw & Wohl, 2021; Hofmann 2021). To be able to quantify carbon storage it requires understanding how much is buried (storage quantity), over what timescales (storage period) and what processes are associated with carbon burial and storage. These factors are addressed in this report to better understand carbon storage in UK floodplains and whether current restoration is effective at increasing this. <br/
'The Fields of Britannia: Continuity and Change in the Late Roman and Early Medieval Landscape.
No full textIt has long been recognized that the landscape of Britain is one of the 'richest historical records we possess', but just how old is it? The Fields of Britannia is the first book to explore how far the countryside of Roman Britain has survived in use through to the present day, shaping the character of our modern countryside. Commencing with a discussion of the differing views of what happened to the landscape at the end of Roman Britain, the volume then brings together the results from hundreds of archaeological excavations and palaeoenvironmental investigations in order to mappatterns of land-use across Roman and early medieval Britain. In compiling such extensive data, the volume is able to reconstruct regional variations in Romano-British and early medieval land-use using pollen, animal bones, and charred cereal grains to demonstrate that agricultural regimes variedconsiderably and were heavily influenced by underlying geology. We are shown that, in the fifth and sixth centuries, there was a shift away from intensive farming but very few areas of the landscape were abandoned completely. What is revealed is a surprising degree of continuity: the Roman Empiremay have collapsed, but British farmers carried on regardless, and the result is that now, across large parts of Britain, many of these Roman field systems are still in use
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