From Ponds to Pine Plantations in 9000 Years: The Environmental Archaeology of Beck Burn, Solway Moss, Cumbria

ABSTRACT

This article explores the evidence for environmental change at Beck Burn, Solway Moss, on the English/Scottish border. The analysed pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP) and microscopic charcoal particles permit several palaeoenvironmental events to be interpreted, supported by radiocarbon dating. These and previously published data suggest the presence of very early Mesolithic water-edge activity, later Mesolithic woodland management, clearance and small-scale cultivation during the early Neolithic period, followed by low-level disturbance for pastoral farming in the early Bronze Age. Woodland clearance and cereal cultivation are dated to the middle Bronze Age, with significant clearance and cultivation identified during the late Iron Age or early Roman period. The medieval period is characterised by evidence for a mixed subsistence economy, with reduced activity possibly coincident with the Wars of Scottish Independence, famines and the Black Death of the fourteenth century, as well as the Little Ice Age. Renewed activity, with evidence for both arable and pastoral farming, is dated to the late medieval to early post-medieval period. Pine plantations were then created, possibly in the eighteenth century or later. The data reveal the importance of palaeoenvironmental archaeology, in the absence of significant finds or features, in creating a link with the past.

KEYWORDS:

• Pollen
• palaeoenvironment
• woodland clearance
• anthropogenic
• disturbance
• Cumbria

Acknowledgements

Oxford Archaeology (OA) would like to thank OpenSpace Cumbria Ltd, acting on behalf of EDF Energy Renewables, for commissioning the project, and particularly the assistance, during fieldwork, of Jonathan Rook and Paul Hayton, and would also thank Peter Cardwell, archaeological consultant for EDF Energy Renewables, for discussions concerning the project. Sandra Bonsall (then OA) processed the pollen samples and Denise Druce (OA) identified plant macrofossils suitable for radiocarbon dating. The organisation is grateful to Lancaster University for the use of laboratory space for pollen processing.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by EDF Energy Renewables.

Notes on contributors

Richard A. Gregory

Richard A. Gregory is an archaeologist based in the United Kingdom. Richard has worked in archaeology for nearly 30 years, initially as a University-based researcher, as a senior project manager and latte as head of postrxcavation at Oxford Archaeology's Lancaster Office. He has a special interest in post-excavation and the archaeology of northern Britain and is actively involved in the dissemination of the results from developer-funded excavations undertaken by Oxford Archaeology Ltd.

Mairead Rutherford

Mairead Rutherford was formerly (now retired) a highly experienced palynologist at Oxford Archaeology's Lancaster Office. Over her career, Mairead completed numerous palaeoecological studies relating to the vegetation history, prehistoric and early historic human impacts and sea-level change, across a range of landscapes in northern England and the Isle of Man.