- Email: [email protected]
Reconstructing submerged archaeological landscapes off the north coast of Ireland
532
Abstracts / Quaternary International 279-280 (2012) 462–565
occurred as early as 128-118 ka. The link between modern humans and rainforests has been established at sites such as Niah Cave, Sarawak, where they flourished using elaborate subsistence behavior and sophisticated, habitat-tailored hunting techniques. Therefore, could these ‘gaps’ contain evidence of modern human arrival in SEA during early rainforest expansion? In this paper, we present preliminary results of a novel approach to addressing this question; 1) using breccias instead of unconsolidated sediments, which are well-preserved, rich in habitat-diagnostic fossils and represent a valuable source of palaeoenvironmental evidence; 2) applying an appropriate dating strategy – red TL, U-series, ESR/U-series combined techniques, and; 3) employing novel fossil ID procedures. This analysis demonstrates the potential of breccia deposits to provide fresh insights into the timing of human dispersal in Asia. RECONSTRUCTING SUBMERGED ARCHAEOLOGICAL LANDSCAPES OFF THE NORTH COAST OF IRELAND Kieran Westley. University of Ulster, United Kingdom E-mail address: [email protected]
The known human occupation of Ireland began in the Mesolithic, between 10-9000 cal BP. During this period, relative sea-level change around Ireland was spatially and temporally complex, a result of isostatic adjustment stemming from removal of the ice sheet which covered the island during the Last Glacial. Consequently, coastal areas favored by its earliest inhabitants are now submerged by anywhere between 5 to 40 m below present sea-level depending on local patterns of isostatic rebound. This paper outlines work currently being undertaken to reconstruct these submerged archaeological landscapes off the north coast of Ireland using full-coverage high-resolution multibeam echo-sounder and seismic profiler data sets. These data, informed by extant sea-level data from glacio-isostatic models and observations, have been used to produce timestepped palaeo-geographic reconstructions. These in turn have facilitated the identification of areas of high archaeological potential. Areas of high potential are identified on the basis of (a) whether a given area was exposed during sea-level lowstand and was attractive to past humans (e.g. providing shelter, access to inland and coastal resources, freshwater and raw material sources), and (b) the likelihood of burial rather than erosion of palaeo-land surfaces as sea level rose. The aim of this research is twofold. Firstly, to place the extant Irish Mesolithic record in a more accurate palaeo-geogrpahic and palaeo-environmental context and secondly, to use these reconstructions to target sampling exercises which will obtain new archaeological and palaeo-environmental evidence that can shed light on Ireland's earliest colonists and their interaction with changing landscapes of the early Holocene. HOW EXTREME WHERE THE FLOODS OF RIVER RHINE IN THE PREINSTRUMENTAL PERIOD? A NOVEL INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO RECONSTRUCT AND QUANTIFY PRE-INSTRUMENTAL FLOODS
period between mid seventeenth- and nineteenth century) and newspaper flood reports set in at the very end of the eighteenth century. In 1808 a gauge was established. The traditional scheme of flood reporting documented in nineteenth century newspapers was compared with floodmarks and gauge readings. The intercomparison of narrative with instrumental evidence allowed calibrating flood information from the Medieval Period. Based on this calibration hydrologists attempted discharge calculations based upon a one dimensional numerical flood routing model. The result is a 742 year long quantified flood series (m3 s-1) giving valuable hints for the assessment of return periods of > 100 years. ARCTIC SIBERIAN ENVIRONMENTS DURING THE LAST INTERGLACIAL Sebastian Wetterich. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany E-mail address: [email protected]
Late Quaternary permafrost deposits at coastal permafrost sections of the Dmitry Laptev Strait (East Siberian Sea) reveal proxy data on environmental and landscape dynamics at least during the last two glacialinterglacial cycles. Palaeoenvironmental records of the last Interglacial (MIS 5e; ca. 130 - 115 kyr ago) are preserved in lacustrine sediments exposed along the studied coasts. Due to climate warming the transition from glacial to interglacial conditions induced extensive thawing of icerich permafrost (thermokarst). Evolving thermokarst depressions transformed formerly frozen ground into taberal (thawed and refrozen) deposits. The overlying lacustrine thermokarst deposits are fossil-rich, including plants, insects (beetles, chironomids), ostracods and gastropods. Mean temperature reconstructions of the warmest month (MTWA) based on quantitative chironomid transfer functions revealed a MTWA of 12.90.9 C for the interglacial thermal optimum whereas the MTWA coexistence interval of plants proven by macrofossils reaches from 12.7 to 13.6 C. Low net precipitation is reflected by steppe plants and beetles. Terrestrial beetle and plant remains prove the former existence of open forest tundra with Dahurian larch (Larix dahurica), grey alder (Alnus incana) and boreal shrubs (Duschekia fruticosa, Betula fruticosa, B. divaricata, B. nana) interspersed with patches of steppes and meadows. Aquatic organisms such as chironomids, ostracods, gastropods and hydrophytes, and littoral pioneer plants indicate intense lake level fluctuations due to high evaporation. The temperature reconstruction based on independent approaches consistently indicates an interglacial MTWA about 10 C higher than present and is interpreted as a result of combined increased insolation and higher climatic continentality during the last Interglacial. NEOLITHIC AGRICULTURE, ECONOMY, LANDSCAPE AND CHRONOLOGY IN THE NORTH WEST OF EUROPE; PLACING IRELAND IN ITS WIDER CONTEXT Nicki Whitehouse. Queen's University Belfast, United Kingdom
Oliver Wetter. Universität Bern / Oeschger Centre for Climate Cha, Switzerland E-mail address: [email protected]
History of natural disasters has become a key topic during the last decade, not least because of the widespread impression that the world in our days is being hit by such events at more frequent intervals. The still very young scientific field of Historical Hydrology mainly concentrates on reconstructing flood events of the pre instrumental period, usually by specifying damages caused or occasionally by addressing the issue to inundation heights or meteorological reasons. This paper in contrast is going to shed light on discharge quantities of several pre instrumental floods in such a way that comparisons between instrumental measured and unmeasured pre instrumental floods can be drawn for the first time. Why Rhine floods at Basel? The evidence for this town from the Middle Ages up to the present days is well preserved, because Basel was never destroyed again since the disastrous earthquake in 1356 which nearly annihilated the town. Narrative reports of trustworthy contemporary town chroniclers are at hand more or less without gaps from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century and most major events are so well documented that the peak water level as well as the size and location of inundated areas could be assessed. Other events are documented with flood marks (covering the
E-mail address: [email protected]
A defining characteristic of the Neolithic is the appearance of domesticated plants and animals, alongside changes in material culture and mortuary practices. Although there has been huge debate about the mechanisms of the transition to agriculture, there has been relatively less discussion of what happens after its arrival. What was the nature and timing of activities in terms of subsistence economy, settlement patterns and the nature and scale of the effects of these on the wider landscape and environment? Did these vary across space and time? What was the climate context associated with early agriculture? #Here, we explore these issues by reference to Ireland and its wider context, drawing upon published and unpublished evidence. The work forms part of the Republic of Ireland's Heritage Council INSTAR 2008-2010 research programme. The nature of the evidence analysed is diverse, multi-strand and complimentary: palaeoecological data (pollen, stratigraphic, dendrochronological), archaeological (‘domestic’ structures, alongside burial and ritual monuments) and associated economic data (in particular, macrobotanical remains). A major new dating programme, focusing on short-lived samples, has allowed to examine the sequence of archaeological and palaeoecological events in much greater detail than previously revealing an abrupt transition to agriculture, from c. 3800 cal BC, in particular associated
Abstracts / Quaternary International 279-280 (2012) 462–565
occurred as early as 128-118 ka. The link between modern humans and rainforests has been established at sites such as Niah Cave, Sarawak, where they flourished using elaborate subsistence behavior and sophisticated, habitat-tailored hunting techniques. Therefore, could these ‘gaps’ contain evidence of modern human arrival in SEA during early rainforest expansion? In this paper, we present preliminary results of a novel approach to addressing this question; 1) using breccias instead of unconsolidated sediments, which are well-preserved, rich in habitat-diagnostic fossils and represent a valuable source of palaeoenvironmental evidence; 2) applying an appropriate dating strategy – red TL, U-series, ESR/U-series combined techniques, and; 3) employing novel fossil ID procedures. This analysis demonstrates the potential of breccia deposits to provide fresh insights into the timing of human dispersal in Asia. RECONSTRUCTING SUBMERGED ARCHAEOLOGICAL LANDSCAPES OFF THE NORTH COAST OF IRELAND Kieran Westley. University of Ulster, United Kingdom E-mail address: [email protected]
The known human occupation of Ireland began in the Mesolithic, between 10-9000 cal BP. During this period, relative sea-level change around Ireland was spatially and temporally complex, a result of isostatic adjustment stemming from removal of the ice sheet which covered the island during the Last Glacial. Consequently, coastal areas favored by its earliest inhabitants are now submerged by anywhere between 5 to 40 m below present sea-level depending on local patterns of isostatic rebound. This paper outlines work currently being undertaken to reconstruct these submerged archaeological landscapes off the north coast of Ireland using full-coverage high-resolution multibeam echo-sounder and seismic profiler data sets. These data, informed by extant sea-level data from glacio-isostatic models and observations, have been used to produce timestepped palaeo-geographic reconstructions. These in turn have facilitated the identification of areas of high archaeological potential. Areas of high potential are identified on the basis of (a) whether a given area was exposed during sea-level lowstand and was attractive to past humans (e.g. providing shelter, access to inland and coastal resources, freshwater and raw material sources), and (b) the likelihood of burial rather than erosion of palaeo-land surfaces as sea level rose. The aim of this research is twofold. Firstly, to place the extant Irish Mesolithic record in a more accurate palaeo-geogrpahic and palaeo-environmental context and secondly, to use these reconstructions to target sampling exercises which will obtain new archaeological and palaeo-environmental evidence that can shed light on Ireland's earliest colonists and their interaction with changing landscapes of the early Holocene. HOW EXTREME WHERE THE FLOODS OF RIVER RHINE IN THE PREINSTRUMENTAL PERIOD? A NOVEL INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO RECONSTRUCT AND QUANTIFY PRE-INSTRUMENTAL FLOODS
period between mid seventeenth- and nineteenth century) and newspaper flood reports set in at the very end of the eighteenth century. In 1808 a gauge was established. The traditional scheme of flood reporting documented in nineteenth century newspapers was compared with floodmarks and gauge readings. The intercomparison of narrative with instrumental evidence allowed calibrating flood information from the Medieval Period. Based on this calibration hydrologists attempted discharge calculations based upon a one dimensional numerical flood routing model. The result is a 742 year long quantified flood series (m3 s-1) giving valuable hints for the assessment of return periods of > 100 years. ARCTIC SIBERIAN ENVIRONMENTS DURING THE LAST INTERGLACIAL Sebastian Wetterich. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany E-mail address: [email protected]
Late Quaternary permafrost deposits at coastal permafrost sections of the Dmitry Laptev Strait (East Siberian Sea) reveal proxy data on environmental and landscape dynamics at least during the last two glacialinterglacial cycles. Palaeoenvironmental records of the last Interglacial (MIS 5e; ca. 130 - 115 kyr ago) are preserved in lacustrine sediments exposed along the studied coasts. Due to climate warming the transition from glacial to interglacial conditions induced extensive thawing of icerich permafrost (thermokarst). Evolving thermokarst depressions transformed formerly frozen ground into taberal (thawed and refrozen) deposits. The overlying lacustrine thermokarst deposits are fossil-rich, including plants, insects (beetles, chironomids), ostracods and gastropods. Mean temperature reconstructions of the warmest month (MTWA) based on quantitative chironomid transfer functions revealed a MTWA of 12.90.9 C for the interglacial thermal optimum whereas the MTWA coexistence interval of plants proven by macrofossils reaches from 12.7 to 13.6 C. Low net precipitation is reflected by steppe plants and beetles. Terrestrial beetle and plant remains prove the former existence of open forest tundra with Dahurian larch (Larix dahurica), grey alder (Alnus incana) and boreal shrubs (Duschekia fruticosa, Betula fruticosa, B. divaricata, B. nana) interspersed with patches of steppes and meadows. Aquatic organisms such as chironomids, ostracods, gastropods and hydrophytes, and littoral pioneer plants indicate intense lake level fluctuations due to high evaporation. The temperature reconstruction based on independent approaches consistently indicates an interglacial MTWA about 10 C higher than present and is interpreted as a result of combined increased insolation and higher climatic continentality during the last Interglacial. NEOLITHIC AGRICULTURE, ECONOMY, LANDSCAPE AND CHRONOLOGY IN THE NORTH WEST OF EUROPE; PLACING IRELAND IN ITS WIDER CONTEXT Nicki Whitehouse. Queen's University Belfast, United Kingdom
Oliver Wetter. Universität Bern / Oeschger Centre for Climate Cha, Switzerland E-mail address: [email protected]
History of natural disasters has become a key topic during the last decade, not least because of the widespread impression that the world in our days is being hit by such events at more frequent intervals. The still very young scientific field of Historical Hydrology mainly concentrates on reconstructing flood events of the pre instrumental period, usually by specifying damages caused or occasionally by addressing the issue to inundation heights or meteorological reasons. This paper in contrast is going to shed light on discharge quantities of several pre instrumental floods in such a way that comparisons between instrumental measured and unmeasured pre instrumental floods can be drawn for the first time. Why Rhine floods at Basel? The evidence for this town from the Middle Ages up to the present days is well preserved, because Basel was never destroyed again since the disastrous earthquake in 1356 which nearly annihilated the town. Narrative reports of trustworthy contemporary town chroniclers are at hand more or less without gaps from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century and most major events are so well documented that the peak water level as well as the size and location of inundated areas could be assessed. Other events are documented with flood marks (covering the
E-mail address: [email protected]
A defining characteristic of the Neolithic is the appearance of domesticated plants and animals, alongside changes in material culture and mortuary practices. Although there has been huge debate about the mechanisms of the transition to agriculture, there has been relatively less discussion of what happens after its arrival. What was the nature and timing of activities in terms of subsistence economy, settlement patterns and the nature and scale of the effects of these on the wider landscape and environment? Did these vary across space and time? What was the climate context associated with early agriculture? #Here, we explore these issues by reference to Ireland and its wider context, drawing upon published and unpublished evidence. The work forms part of the Republic of Ireland's Heritage Council INSTAR 2008-2010 research programme. The nature of the evidence analysed is diverse, multi-strand and complimentary: palaeoecological data (pollen, stratigraphic, dendrochronological), archaeological (‘domestic’ structures, alongside burial and ritual monuments) and associated economic data (in particular, macrobotanical remains). A major new dating programme, focusing on short-lived samples, has allowed to examine the sequence of archaeological and palaeoecological events in much greater detail than previously revealing an abrupt transition to agriculture, from c. 3800 cal BC, in particular associated