Revolution and continuity? Reassessing nineteenth-century moorland reclamation through palaeoecological and archival research

Bibliographic Data

ID11167882
AuthorsLeonard Baker (0009-0000-5566-7329, Department of Archaeology and History, Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK, corresponding author), Francis M Rowney (0000-0002-7986-5351, University of Plymouth), Heleen French (0000-0002-5101-4782, Department of Archaeology and History, Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK), Ralph Fyfe (0000-0002-5676-008X, University of Plymouth)
Year2024
Volume49
Issue1
Pages48-63
Publication date2024-01-02
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLandscape Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0142-6397 • E-ISSN: 1469-9710
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01426397.2023.2244904
OpenAlexW4385738569
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited43

The upland moorlands of Britain are environmentally and culturally important ecosystems. Yet, our understanding of historical attempts to ‘reclaim’ these landscapes is often based upon incomplete accounts of agricultural ‘improvement’. Studies of historical landscape change have frequently focused on singular ‘revolutionary’ moments due to the limitation and biases of surviving historical sources, which has created a contemporary fixation on ‘reversing’ singular interventions. By combining palaeoecological data (pollen, coprophilous fungal spores and microcharcoal) from a recent study of five upland sites with newly rediscovered archival documents, this paper details the differences between how nineteenth-century actors described ecological interventions and some of their actual characteristics and consequences. Through interdisciplinary synthesis, we reveal how perceptions of ecological change were filtered and shaped by the sensibilities and motivations of ‘improvers’. This enables us to position ‘reclamation’ within a sequence of long-term management practices that shaped these complex ecosystems

Archaeology · Biology · Ecosystem · Geography · Land reclamation · Moorland · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Ecology · Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies · History · Soil erosion and sediment transport

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