A spatial approach to upland vegetation change and human impact

The Aber Valley, Snowdonia

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12654036
AutoresJohn Woodbridge (0000-0003-0756-3538, University of Plymouth, autor correspondente), Ralph Fyfe (0000-0002-5676-008X, University of Plymouth), Ben Law, B E Law (0000-0002-1605-1203, University of Plymouth), Amy Haworth-Johns (University of Plymouth)
Ano2012
Volume17
Fascículo1
Páginas80-94
Data de publicação2012-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoEnvironmental Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1461-4103 • E-ISSN: 1749-6314
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1179/1461410312z.0000000006
OpenAlexW2034359009
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas41

Uplands have long been considered important ‘barometers’ for human-environment relationships. Five pollen sequences from the upper Aber Valley (Snowdonia), across an altitudinal gradient, reveal that human impacts have varied temporally on small spatial scales in the region. Woodland taxa persisted into the later Holocene at lower altitudes and sites located at higher altitude reveal a more open landscape history, possibly as a result of increased exposure limiting tree growth at high elevation. Continuous pastoral human land use is evident in the high upland (400 to >600 m AOD) landscape with evidence of clearing, burning and grazing indicators throughout the records covering the last ∼6000 years, with increased activity apparent during the last 2000 years. There is no clear evidence to suggest that climate change (e.g. deteriorating climatic conditions from ∼850 BC) resulted in land abandonment and it appears more likely that climatic shifts could have led to changes in human land management. The results demonstrate that pastoral land use varied at different altitudes across the Aber Valley upland, and have highlighted the value and potential of high/fine spatial sampling in providing insights into land use history and the mosaic of habitats that result

Altitude (triangle · Archaeology · Biology · Clearing · Climate change · Environmental change · Geography · Holocene · Land use · Land use, land-use change and forestry · Physical geography · Vegetation (pathology · Woodland · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Ecology