Midden cultivation in prehistoric Britain
Arable Crops in Gardens
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3919722 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Eba Guttmann (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 224-239 |
| Publication date | 2005-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | World Archaeology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0043-8243 • E-ISSN: 1470-1375 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00438240500094937 |
| OpenAlex | W1967042924 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 32 |
| References cited | 28 |
This paper summarizes some of the geoarchaeological evidence for early arable agriculture in Britain and Europe, and introduces new evidence for small-scale but very intensive cultivation in the Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age in Scotland. The Scottish examples demonstrate that, from the Neolithic to the Iron Age, midden heaps were sometimes ploughed in situ; this means that, rather than spreading midden material onto the fields, the early farmers simply ran an ard over their compost heaps and sowed the resulting plots. The practice appears to have been common in Scotland, and may also have occurred in England. Neolithic cultivation of a Mesolithic midden is suggested, based on thin-section analysis of the middens at Northton, Harris. The fertility of the Mesolithic middens may partly explain why Neolithic farmers re-settled Mesolithic sites in the Northern and Western Isles
Agriculture · Arable land · Archaeology · Bronze Age · Excavation · Geoarchaeology · Geography · Hearth · Mesolithic · Midden · Prehistory · Stone Age · History
Evaluating Mississippian Period Hunting Strategies at the Rutherford-Kizer Site
Neolithic population crash in northwest Europe associated with agricultural crisis
Midden Cultivation
Anthropogenic Sediments and Soils
A Sheep’s Eye View
The Prehistory of Britain and Ireland
Systematic cultivation of the Swifterbant wetlands (The Netherlands). Evidence from Neolithic tillage marks (c. 4300–4000 cal. BC)
Possible Neolithic ard marks and field boundaries at Wellhill and Cranberry, Perth and Kinross, and an evaluation of current physical evidence for Neolithic farming in Scotland
Agrarian archaeology in northern Iberia
Soil micromorphological evidence from Iron Age land use at Tornby and Mörtlösa in Linköping, Sweden
Limpet shell oxygen isotopes as markers of seasonality in shell middens
Settling the argument
Anthrosols and ancient agriculture at Sanyangzhuang, Henan Province, China
Maintaining soil productivity as the key factor in European prehistoric and Medieval farming
Isotopic Evidence for Changes in Cereal Production Strategies in Iron Age and Roman Britain
Recession or Resilience
New insights into agriculture in northwestern France from the Bronze Age to the Late Iron Age
Anthrosols in Iron Age Shetland
Upland agriculture and environmental risk
The impact of manuring on nitrogen isotope ratios in cereals
A palynological and geoarchaeological investigation into Bronze Age farming at Belderg Beg, Co. Mayo, Ireland
Manuring and stable nitrogen isotope ratios in cereals and pulses
An integrated stable isotope study of plants and animals from Kouphovouno, southern Greece
Nitrogen isotopes and the trophic level of humans in archaeology
Histories of deposition
From Middened Pottery to Pit Deposit
Neolithic Farming and Wild Plant Exploitation in Western Britain
Calling Time on Oronsay
Niche Construction and Long-Term Trajectories of Food Production
Cereals, fruits and nuts in the Scottish Neolithic
Industrializing Bacterial Work
Early Neolithic Agriculture in County Mayo, Republic of Ireland
Aspects of the chemical and microscopic characteristics of plant ashes found in archaeological soils
Death and the Regeneration of Life
Scatness, shetland
Micromorphological Evidence of Past Agricultural Practices in Cultivated Soils
Sand-drift and Soil Formation Along an Exposed North Atlantic Coastline
Β-Stigmastanol and Related 5β-Stanols as Biomarkers of Manuring
An Investigation of Microscopic Calcareous Spherulites from Herbivore Dungs
An Arthropod Assemblage and the Ecological Conditions in a Byre at the Neolithic Settlement of Weier, Switzerland
Excavation of a Neolithic farmstead at Knap of Howar, Papa Westray, Orkney
A Late Bronze Age Landscape at South Hornchurch, Essex
An Early Iron Age Farmstead
Garden agriculture’ and the nature of early farming in Europe and the Near East
Soil micromorphological evidence of early agriculture in north‐west Europe
Neolithic Farming in Central Europe
The beginnings of manuring in western Europe
The wet, the wild and the domesticated
The Wet, the Wild and the Domesticated
Garden cultivation of staple crops and its implications for settlement location and continuity
Hunter-gatherers transformed
The Neolithic timber hall at Balbridie, Grampian Region, Scotland
Muck 'n' molecules
| Unique citing works | 32 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,6 |
| Citation span | 2006 - 2025 (20) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 30 |