Abstract Doggerland was a land mass occupying an area currently covered by the North Sea until marine inundation took place during the mid-Holocene, ultimately separating the British land mass from the rest of Europe. The Storegga Slide, which triggered a tsunami reflected in sediment deposits in the Northern North Sea, North East coastlines of the British Isles and across the North Atlantic, was a major event during this transgressive phase. The spatial extent of the Storegga tsunami however remains unconfirmed because to date no direct evidence for the event has been recovered from the southern North Sea. We present evidence that Storegga associated deposits occur in the southern North Sea. Palaeo-river systems have been identified using seismic survey in the southwestern North Sea and sedimentary cores extracted to track the Mid Holocene inundation. At the head of one palaeo-river system near the Outer Dowsing Deep, the Southern River , we observed an abrupt and catastrophic inundation stratum. Based on lithostratigraphic, macro and microfossils and sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) evidence, supported by optical stimulation luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating, we conclude these deposits were a result of the Storegga event. Seismic identification of this stratum to adjacent cores indicated diminished traces of the tsunami, largely removed by subsequent erosional processes. Our results demonstrate the catastrophic impact of Storegga within this area of the Southern North Sea, but indicate that these effects were temporary and likely localized and mitigated by the dense woodland and topography of the area. We conclude clear physical remnants of the wave are likely to be restricted to inland basins and incised river valley systems.
Plants were an important source of raw materials for many types of cloth in Europe during the Neolithic. On the basis of evidence from waterlogged sites, the most significant raw materials were flax and tree bast, which were used to create woven textiles, twined cloth and netting. Looking towards the investigation of cloth in social anthropology, I propose that issues of time and place are a significant aspect of the social context of cloth. The aim of this paper is to investigate these issues in relation to processing cloth from plants, through a case study of the Neolithic lake dwelling of Hornstaad Hornle IA on Lake Constance, Germany, dated c.3900 BC. Building on recent research into the way these cloth types were processed and constructed in the Neolithic, I use the evidence at Hornstaad Hornle IA to consider the location of these tasks in the home, village and wider landscape, as temporal aspects carried out daily, seasonally or over a number of years and in relation to the lives of members of the village. Through this I hope to show how the methods of processing cloth were not only a technical solution to satisfy the need for various types of cloth, but were part of the way that people’s lives were created and made meaningful.
Archaeological skeletal material from most sites represents a cross‐sectional, opportunistic sample of the burials. These are influenced by the proportion and area of the site that is excavated, the taphonomic conditions, and survival of tissues. This may not be representative of the population, and in an attritional cemetery may represent a long period of use, during which humans will have differing life courses. Here we describe a commingled skeletal assemblage, the only human remains recovered from the historically significant medieval site of St Stephen's Chapel, Palace of Westminster, London. Using carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) stable isotope ratios of bulk bone collagen and incremental dentine to investigate dietary life histories from five individuals, we combine the evidence with radiocarbon dating to assign them to two different temporal cohorts.
Doggerland was a landmass occupying an area currently covered by the North Sea until marine inundation took place during the mid-Holocene, ultimately separating the British landmass from the rest of Europe. The Storegga Event, which triggered a tsunami reflected in sediment deposits in the northern North Sea, northeast coastlines of the British Isles and across the North Atlantic, was a major event during this transgressive phase. The spatial extent of the Storegga tsunami however remains unconfirmed as, to date, no direct evidence for the event has been recovered from the southern North Sea. We present evidence of a tsunami deposit in the southern North Sea at the head of a palaeo-river system that has been identified using seismic survey. The evidence, based on lithostratigraphy, geochemical signatures, macro and microfossils and sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA), supported by optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating, suggests that these deposits were a result of the tsunami. Seismic identification of this stratum and analysis of adjacent cores showed diminished traces of the tsunami which was largely removed by subsequent erosional processes. Our results confirm previous modelling of the impact of the tsunami within this area of the southern North Sea, and also indicate that these effects were temporary, localized, and mitigated by the dense woodland and topography of the area. We conclude that clear physical remnants of the wave in these areas are likely to be restricted to now buried, palaeo-inland basins and incised river valley systems.
Calcium carbonate percentages at Þve Ceara Rise sites were estimated at 1-to 2-k.y.intervals over the past 5 m.y., using reßectance spectroscopy and magnetic susceptibility proxies.From these estimates and detailed correlations between sites, gradients of calcite and terrigenous sediment accumulation rates in a depth transect of sites reveal variations in local climate and calcite dissolution related to deep-water masses.Relative to shallow sites on the southern Ceara Rise, accumulation rates of terrigenous sediments at deeper sites near the Amazon Fan were higher during glacial periods.Analogous variations in terrigenous sedimentation before the expansion of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets ~3 m.y.ago suggests that tropical climate cycles occurred independently of polar glaciation.Decreasing accumulation rates of calcite with increasing water depth reveal patterns of carbonate dissolution, which varied on orbital time-scales (10 -100 k.y.periods) throughout the PlioceneÐPleistocene. Maximum dissolution at deep relative to shallow sites occurred in the transition from interglacial to glacial conditions, and maximum preservation occurred during global warming, at all orbital periods.If the local dissolution gradient is linked to relative contributions of North Atlantic Deep Water and Antarctic Bottom Water, this phasing of events conÞrms a key prediction of SPECMAP that deep-water adjustments may translate climate changes between hemispheres.Dissolution and preservation events, however, may also reßect a transient response to a net ßux of organic matter between the continents and the oceans during ice-age climate transitions.
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