Lake and crannog: A 2500-year palaeoenvironmental record of continuity and change in NE Scotland

TY - JOUR

T1 - Lake and crannog

T2 - A 2500-year palaeoenvironmental record of continuity and change in NE Scotland

AU - Jones, Samantha

AU - Stratigos, Michael John

AU - López-Costas, Olalla

AU - Martínez-Cortizas, Antonio

AU - Mighall, Timothy

AU - Noble, Gordon

N1 - © 2022 The Authors

PY - 2022/6/1

Y1 - 2022/6/1

N2 - Wetland environments have been important resources for human habitation since prehistoric times and in parts of northern Europe these have witnessed the construction of artificial islet settlements, known as ‘crannogs’ in Scotland and Ireland. This paper presents a high-resolution multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental study from the Loch of Leys, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the site of a recently excavated crannog that provides a chronological context for its inhabitation. The combined datasets demonstrate that the first occupation from AD 20-210 coincided not only with a transitional phase from lake to wetland (mire) but also with the timing of the first major Roman campaigns in northeast Scotland. Techniques including microfossil analysis, geochemistry, IR-spectroscopy and physical properties integrated with archaeological and historical records have helped to better define both natural changes that took place in the wetland environment and human activity (agriculture, fires, metal working) spanning the Roman Iron Age through to the present. This has allowed a better understanding of the responses of existing Iron Age communities to Roman military activity (e.g. through continuity or change in land use) as well as the resources exploited in frontier zones during the Roman and post Roman eras. This has wider significance not just for Scotland but also for other parts of Europe that had similar frontiers and conflict zones during the Roman period.

AB - Wetland environments have been important resources for human habitation since prehistoric times and in parts of northern Europe these have witnessed the construction of artificial islet settlements, known as ‘crannogs’ in Scotland and Ireland. This paper presents a high-resolution multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental study from the Loch of Leys, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the site of a recently excavated crannog that provides a chronological context for its inhabitation. The combined datasets demonstrate that the first occupation from AD 20-210 coincided not only with a transitional phase from lake to wetland (mire) but also with the timing of the first major Roman campaigns in northeast Scotland. Techniques including microfossil analysis, geochemistry, IR-spectroscopy and physical properties integrated with archaeological and historical records have helped to better define both natural changes that took place in the wetland environment and human activity (agriculture, fires, metal working) spanning the Roman Iron Age through to the present. This has allowed a better understanding of the responses of existing Iron Age communities to Roman military activity (e.g. through continuity or change in land use) as well as the resources exploited in frontier zones during the Roman and post Roman eras. This has wider significance not just for Scotland but also for other parts of Europe that had similar frontiers and conflict zones during the Roman period.

KW - crannog

KW - eastern Scotland

KW - environmental change

KW - Roman Iron Age

KW - Early and post medieval

KW - palynology

KW - Geochemistry

KW - FTIR-ATR

U2 - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107532

DO - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107532

M3 - Article

SN - 0277-3791

VL - 285

JO - Quaternary Science Reviews

JF - Quaternary Science Reviews

M1 - 107532

ER -