Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
temporary shelters precluded most traces of their living
accommodation. Conversely, survival of large burial
chambers, earthworks and stone monuments of presumed
ceremonial function forms a principal artefactual legacy
of Neolithic farming communities.
occupancy from 225 ka
BP
to the early Holocene. Active
cave processes (roof falls, flash-flood sedimentation and
dissolved carbonate, reprecipitated as travertine) seal in
human debris accumulating on the cave floor.
Humans began to physically alter the landscape during
the later Palaeolithic - through construction of stone
walls for driving animal prey, primitive shelters and
shallow excavations for hearth sites, etc. Major expansion
of earthworks and structures came with the Neolithic, not
through any innovation in tools so much as the availability
of a work force and spare time associated with a settled
agricultural food strategy. Construction of early
megalithic
monuments such as Avebury after
c.
6.0 ka
BP
, Stonehenge
from
c.
5.0 ka
BP
and the penecontemporaneous Egyptian
pyramids mark this transformation. All subsequent
excavation and construction - laced with period artefacts
- forms the archaeological record of human occupancy.
Industrial archaeology complements our understanding
of the industrial revolution, alongside surviving buildings
and documents, as the youngest branch of the disci-
pline. Humans also modify land surfaces inadvertently,
primarily through alteration or removal of natural
vegetation and resultant destabilization of slopes and river
channels, thereby acting as
anthropo-geomorphic
agents.
The coincidence of landslides and blanket bog formation
in northern England with the early Bronze Age, for
example, suggests that substantial human agency began
in later prehistory.
Prehistoric construction and landscape
evidence
Our ancestors' other principal legacy lies in what we
call the 'built environment' of functional buildings,
earthworks and transport infrastructure. We might expect
dwellings to feature strongly here but, with one major
exception, issues of preservation context makes this less
promising until early historic times. Although some walled
dwellings survive from the Neolithic, readily biodegrad-
able timber, roof thatch and plaster were the principal
domestic building materials until later medieval times -
their former existence often marked only by sediments
infilling their post holes. Caves (wholly enclosed spaces)
and rock shelters (overhangs) are the exception, provid-
ing some of the principal Palaeolithic sites for human
remains, artefacts and cave fauna. In Britain, caves in
Carboniferous limestone in the Mendip Hills (Somerset),
Gwr peninsula (south Wales) and Clwydian Hills (north
Wales) and Permian limestone at Creswell Crags
(Nottinghamshire) (see
Plate 23.6
)
yield human sub-fos-
sils, artefacts and other remains reflecting intermittent cave
Environmental reconstruction
APPLICATIONS
Environmental reconstruction takes on new meaning through our ability to replicate artefacts, test the properties of
materials used, methods of manufacture and effectiveness in use. This usually starts with trial and error, and often
a sense of superiority of modern technology, but we quickly discover that - for their time - our ancestors developed
a sophisticated understanding of material capabilities and methods of construction and use. The ever-increasing range
of artefactual reconstruction in experimental archaeologyincludes: stone and bronze axe manufacture, their trial use
and rate of woodland clearance; formation, transport and erection of megalithic stones, of sizes found at Stonehenge;
various styles of boat fabrication and use; manufacture and use of tools and techniques used in textile making, metal
smelting and refining and food acquisition, storage and preparation.
Plate 23.8
shows a reconstruction of dwellings
based on the archaeology of Glastonbury Iron Age Lake Village, Somerset, stocked with replica tools and used for
historical re-enactments of period life. Similar purposes lie behind artistic reconstruction in historical interpretation
(
Plate 23.9
).
In these ways we bend the uniformitarian principle by creating anew an analogue for the past based on
its own archaeological evidence, without being certain of the accuracy of reconstruction. However, the scientific and
educational value of reconstruction is increasing and we learn much about our ancestors' behavioural and socio-
economic organization, as well as their resource appraisals and technical abilities.
