Early Medieval Place-Names and Riverine Flood Histories

A New Approach and New Chronostratigraphic Records for Three English Rivers

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7175694
AutoresBen Pear (0000-0002-2124-2514, University of Southampton, autor de correspondencia), Antony Brown (0000-0002-1990-4654, University of Southampton), James Carroll (0000-0002-7602-5285, University of Nottingham), Phillip Toms (0000-0003-2149-046X, University of Gloucestershire), Jamie Wood (0000-0003-0923-5511, University of Gloucestershire), Richard Jones (0000-0002-0904-3141, University of Leicester)
Año2020
Volumen23
Número3
Páginas381-405
Fecha de publicación2020-03-20
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEuropean Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1461-9571 • E-ISSN: 1741-2722
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/eaa.2019.72
OpenAlexW3012538420
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas8
Referencias citadas27

Environmental information from place-names has largely been overlooked by geoarchaeologists and fluvial geomorphologists in analyses of the depositional histories of rivers and floodplains. Here, new flood chronologies for the rivers Teme, Severn, and Wye are presented, modelled from stable river sections excavated at Broadwas, Buildwas, and Rotherwas. These are connected by the Old English term * wæsse , interpreted as ‘land by a meandering river which floods and drains quickly’. The results reveal that, in all three places, flooding during the early medieval period occurred more frequently between AD 350–700 than between AD 700–1100, but that over time each river's flooding regime became more complex including high magnitude single events. In the sampled locations, the fluvial dynamics of localized flood events had much in common, and almost certainly differed in nature from other sections of their rivers, refining our understanding of the precise nature of flooding which their names sought to communicate. This study shows how the toponymic record can be helpful in the long-term reconstruction of historic river activity and for our understanding of past human perceptions of riverine environments

Archaeology · Cartography · Flood myth · Flooding (psychology · Floodplain · Fluvial · Geography · Hydrology (agriculture · Period (music · Physical geography · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Philippine History and Culture · Tree-ring climate responses · Geology · Paleontology