Description
Authors: L. Basell, B. Morris, R. Fyfe, D. Challinor, J. Bampton, and S. WallsAbstract: This paper reports on archaeological and palaeoenvironmental investigations undertaken in 2016 by South West Archaeology Ltd. on land off Eastern Green, Ludgvan, Penzance prior to development. The site is primarily of palaeoenvironmental significance, since the only archaeology recorded during fieldwork was a sherd of unstratified eighteenth century stoneware. New dates on peat deposits and palaeoenvironmental results will be presented, and their significance considered in their local and regional context. Although minimal artefactual evidence of human activity was found during excavation, sampling and analysis, the peats and the palaeoenvironmental data they contain are of value in regional interpretations of Holocene landscape change, sea-level change, and understanding human-landscape interaction. The dating and analysis of this sequence supports a pattern seen elsewhere in the UK; namely that the “submerged forests” and coastal peats are part of complex sedimentary sequences and further research is required to elucidate their chronostratigraphic relationships. The site demonstrates the importance of contract archaeologists in recording and sampling such time-limited exposures, and the potential for geoarchaeological research on deposits of this type in the South West peninsula.
| Period | 03 Jan 2019 |
|---|---|
| Event title | Ussher Society: Geoscience in SW England |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Paignton, United KingdomShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | Regional |