Hadrianâs Wall in Context: A Multi-Proxy Palaeoenvironmental Perspective from Lakes

Petra Dark

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Hadrianâs Wall in Context: A Multi-Proxy Palaeoenvironmental Perspective from Lakes

In: Environment and Society in the Long Late Antiquity

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Petra Dark

Petra Dark
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 121â134

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004392083_009

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Abstract

The Hadrianâs Wall area has more pollen sequences spanning Late Antiquity than any other part of the British Isles, but most are from peat bogs, posing problems of distinguishing between changes in the local wetland vegetation and events in the wider landscape. Here, an alternative perspective is offered by multi-proxy analyses of sediments from two lakesâCrag Lough and Grindon Loughâadjacent to the central sector of Hadrianâs Wall and the Stanegate, respectively. These demonstrate that at least the central sector of the Hadrianic frontier was constructed in a landscape already shaped by two millennia of woodland clearance, burning, farming and soil erosion. Roman military presence led to changes in agricultural and settlement patterns, but the overall impact, from an environmental perspective, was minor compared to that of prehistoric peoples. Roman withdrawal led to a relaxation in land use intensity, resulting in woodland regeneration on areas least favourable to agriculture, probably encouraged by climatic deterioration. The landscape, overall, remained predominantly open and agricultural, however, resembling that of the Late Iron Age. A multi-proxy multi-site approach offers the greatest prospect of understanding environmental and landscape changes connected with Roman military presence and withdrawal, and the varied spatial and temporal scales on which they occurred.

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Environment and Society in the Long Late Antiquity

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004392083

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 21 Feb 2019

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Hadrianâs Wall in Context: A Multi-Proxy Palaeoenvironmental Perspective from Lakes

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Environment and Society in the Long Late Antiquity

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Hadrianâs Wall in Context: A Multi-Proxy Palaeoenvironmental Perspective from Lakes