A palaeoenvironmental context for Terminal Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic activity in the Colne Valley

Offsite records contemporary with occupation at Three Ways Wharf, Uxbridge

Bibliographic Data

ID12653685
AuthorsMichael Grant (0000-0002-4766-6913, Coastal and Offshore Archaeological Research Services (COARS) Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton, European Way, Southampton, UK, corresponding author), Craig Stevens (0000-0002-2669-5715, Institute of ArchaeologyUniversity College London, London, UK), Nicki J Whitehouse (School of GeographyEarth and Environmental Sciences, Plymouth University, Drake Circus, Plymouth, UK), N Whitehouse (0000-0002-7044-6492, Queen's University Belfast), David Norcott (Wessex ArchaeologyPortway House, Old Sarum Park, Salisbury, UK), Richard I Macphail (0000-0002-4499-3572, Institute of ArchaeologyUniversity College London, London, UK), Catherine Langdon (Geography and EnvironmentUniversity of Southampton, University Road, Southampton, UK), Nigel Cameron (Environmental Change Research Centre, Department of Geography, University College London, Pearson Building, Gower Street, London UK), Catherine Barnett (0000-0002-6156-1640, Wessex ArchaeologyPortway House, Old Sarum Park, Salisbury, UK), Peter G Langdon (0000-0003-2724-2643, Geography and EnvironmentUniversity of Southampton, University Road, Southampton, UK), John Crowder (Archaeological Services (UWLAS) University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, Lampeter, Ceredigion, UK), Nicola Mulhall (Wessex ArchaeologyPortway House, Old Sarum Park, Salisbury, UK), Kevin Attree (Kingston University), Matt Leivers (0000-0003-1600-261X, Wessex ArchaeologyPortway House, Old Sarum Park, Salisbury, UK), Richard Greatorex (Cotswold Archaeology, Stanley House, Walworth Road, Andover, Hampshire, UK), Chris Ellis (0000-0002-2201-9517, Cotswold Archaeology, Stanley House, Walworth Road, Andover, Hampshire, UK)
Year2014
Volume19
Issue2
Pages131-152
Publication date2014-01-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironmental Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1461-4103 • E-ISSN: 1749-6314
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1179/1749631413y.0000000015
OpenAlexW2055897522
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited42

Multi-proxy analyses from floodplain deposits in the Colne Valley, southern England, have provided a palaeoenvironmental context for the immediately adjacent Terminal Upper Palaeolithic and Early Mesolithic site of Three Ways Wharf. These deposits show the transition from an open cool environment to fully developed heterogeneous floodplain vegetation during the Early Mesolithic. Several distinct phases of burning are shown to have occurred that are chronologically contemporary with the local archaeological record. The floodplain itself is shown to have supported a number of rare Urwaldrelikt insect species implying human manipulation of the floodplain at this time must have been limited or episodic. By the Late Mesolithic a reed-sedge swamp had developed across much of the floodplain, within which repeated burning of the in situ vegetation took place. This indicates deliberate land management practices utilising fire, comparable with findings from other floodplain sequences in southern Britain. With similar sedimentary sequences known to exist across the Colne Valley, often closely associated with contemporary archaeology, the potential for placing the archaeological record within a spatially explicit palaeoenvironmental context is great. © 2014 Association for Environmental Archaeology

Archaeology · Context (archaeology · Geography · Mesolithic · Terminal (telecommunication · Wharf · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Engineering · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Geology

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