Hunters, Fishers and Foragers in Wales by Little Malcolm;

Author:Little, Malcolm;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SOCIAL SCIENCE / Archaeology
ISBN: 4512781
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Published: 2015-07-31T04:00:00+00:00

Fig. 4.6: Antlers and skull “cup” found in situ at Thatcham, Berkshire (after Wymer 1962).

Star Carr: unique and perfectly typical

It has been argued that the work of Grahame Clark in the 1940s–1950s, and in particular his influential work at the site of Star Carr in the Vale of Pickering (Clark 1954), laid the foundations for subsequent, holistic studies of Mesolithic subsistence (Milner 2006). Unfortunately, relatively few British sites have matched the diversity of the material culture (in particular organic artefacts and faunal material) and duration of research activity occurring at Star Carr, and in its environs (Fig. 4.7). Many aspects of the work at Star Carr have provided important insights into the activities of hunter-fisher-forager groups in Mesolithic Britain, and the research agenda, whilst producing an extensive literature, has reached a point where debate in relation to the long term sustainability of Star Carr and its environs has come to the fore (Boreham et al. 2011). After more than six decades of intermittent research at Star Carr, with synthesis volumes produced by Clark (1954) and Mellars and Dark (1998a), excavations undertaken between 2004 and 2008 produced evidence for severely demineralised antler and bone, and also wood degradation at this location (Fig. 4.8; Milner 2007; Milner et al. 2011; cited in Boreham et al. 2011: 2833).

These authors have also noted that the sediments at Star Carr had changed from circum-neutral pH values to highly acidic conditions, and that de-watering and deep ploughing had resulted in compromised burial environments (Boreham et al. 2011). This situation is typical of many lowland wetland areas throughout Britain, where over-abstraction of the aquifer, aggregates extraction, de-watering through drainage, the introduction of agrochemicals through agricultural activities, and where development for a range of industrial, domestic and pleasure purposes, continue to impact upon and compromise lowland wetland environments. In addition, global climate change, with unpredictable weather patterns and more extreme events, such as the 2007 floods that occurred in Britain, is already beginning to impact negatively on lowland wetlands, to the point where sustainability and long term in situ preservation in waterlogged burial environments is in need of re-evaluation and a measured approach to management (Lillie et al. 2008; 2012).

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