Northsealand. a Study of the Effects, Perceptions Of
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NORTHSEALAND. A STUDY OF THE EFFECTS, PERCEPTIONS OF AND RESPONSES TO MESOLITHIC SEA-LEVEL RISE IN THE SOUTHERN NORTH SEA AND CHANNEL/MANCHE A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities. 2013 James C Leary School of Arts, Languages and Cultures List of Contents Abstract 9 Declaration 10 Acknowledgements 13 Preface 15 Abbreviations 20 Chapter 1 Recognising Northsealand 1.1 Introduction 21 1.2 Palaeogeographies, palaeoevironments and sea-level curves 26 1.3 Sea-level rise, the Mesolithic period, and society 43 1.4 This study 53 Chapter 2 The place of nature and the nature of place 2.1 Introduction 59 2.2 The place of nature 60 2.3 The nature of place 74 2.4 Chapter summary 81 Chapter 3 Shaping the world with ice and sea 3.1 Introduction 84 3.2 Deglaciation and sea-level rise 84 3.3 Sea-level change: A story of complexity 88 3.4 Methods of establishing relative sea-level change 92 2 Sea-level index points 93 Age/altitude analysis 93 Tendency analysis 94 3.5 Problems with sea-level curves 95 3.6 Scales of change, variation and tipping points 97 Variation 97 Thresholds and tipping points 98 Scales of change 104 3.7 Chapter summary 108 Chapter 4 Thinking the imagined land 4.1 Introduction 110 4.2 Area 1: The Outer Silver Pit region (upper North Sea) 115 4.3 Area 2: The delta plain and Dover gorge 131 4.4 Area 3: The Channel River (eastern Channel/Manche) 146 4.5 People in their environment 163 4.6 Chapter summary 170 Chapter 5 Changing worlds and changing worldviews 5.1 Introduction 174 5.2 Submergence and loss of land 176 5.3 Erosion of deposits 181 5.4 Increased flooding and storm damage 183 5.5 Saltwater intrusion and rising water tables 187 5.6 Changing tidal regimes 190 3 5.7 Changes to river dynamics and estuary morphology 190 5.8 Reduced territory 193 5.9 Loss of flint source 194 5.10 Small island vulnerability 197 5.11 Loss of place 197 5.12 Chapter summary 205 Chapter 6 Living in a changing world 6.1 Introduction 209 6.2 Practice and belief 210 6.3 Mobility and migration 216 6.4 Information and knowledge 222 Social memory 222 Accumulated knowledge and resilience 227 6.5 Social networks and exchange 231 6.6 Flexibility, diversification and intensification 235 6.7 Technical and technological adjustments 239 6.8 Experimentation, innovation and creativity 242 6.9 Chapter summary 243 Chapter 7 Epilogue: The remembered land 7.1 Introduction 247 7.2 Land and sea in later communities 248 7.3 Reflections on Northsealand 258 4 Bibliography 271 Final word count: 75,693 5 List of Figures Chapter 1 Fig. 1.1: The Colinda antler point 23 Fig. 1.2: Clark’s map of the Mesolithic landscape 25 Fig. 1.3: Palaeogeographic reconstructions 29 Fig. 1.4: A seismic timeslice from the NSPP study area 33 Fig. 1.5: Named sand banks within the southern North Sea 34 Fig. 1.6: Location of intertidal and offshore peat deposits 35 Fig. 1.7: Dated offshore peat deposits within British waters 36 Fig. 1.8: Holocene sea-level curve for the southern North Sea 37 Fig. 1.9: The suggested coastline at 12,000 cal BC 38 Fig. 1.10: The suggested coastline at 9600 cal BC 39 Fig. 1.11: The suggested coastline at 7200 cal BC 40 Fig. 1.12: The suggested coastline at 6800 cal BC 41 Fig. 1.13: The suggested coastline at 6000 cal BC 42 Chapter 3 Fig. 3.1: The British-Irish ice sheet maximum limits 86 Fig. 3.2: Hypothetical impact zones of the tsunami 103 Chapter 4 Fig. 4.1: Map showing the location of the areas and sites 114 Fig. 4.2: Mapped Holocene features within the NSPP area 118 Fig. 4.3: Bathymetry of the western side of Area 1 121 Fig. 4.4: Physical features and named localities (Humber) 122 6 Fig. 4.5: Physical features and named localities (East Coast) 123 Fig. 4.6: The Cross Sands Anomaly geological feature 125 Fig. 4.7: A large Holocene channel off the East Anglian coast 133 Fig. 4.8: The relic Thames and channels 134 Fig. 4.9: Map showing the extent of chalk (Dover gorge area) 136 Fig. 4.10: Palaeogeography of the Rhine-Meuse (6550 cal BC) 138 Fig. 4.11: Palaeogeography of the Rhine-Meuse (6050 cal BC) 139 Fig. 4.12: Offshore solid geology in the Channel/Manche 148 Fig. 4.13: Physical features and named localities (South Coast) 151 Fig. 4.14: Prehistoric sites on the English and French coasts 152 Fig. 4.15: Aerial view of Langstone and Chichester Harbour 155 Chapter 5 Fig. 5.1: Illustration showing land loss and topography 176 Fig. 5.2: Trees dying due to saline intrusion, Solent 181 Fig. 5.3: Beach erosion based on Bruun’s model 182 Fig. 5.4: Beach nourishment on Hayling Island, Hampshire 183 Fig. 5.5: Contemporary woodcut of the 1607 flood 186 Fig. 5.6: The Outer Silver Pit 8050 cal BC and 7550 cal BC 188 Fig. 5.7: Multibeam bathymetry of the Cross Sands Anomaly 196 Fig. 5.8: Photograph of a Mesolithic footprint at Goldcliff 199 Chapter 6 Fig. 6.1: The formal deposition of flint cores and flakes 211 Fig. 6.2: Suggested movement of displaced groups 218 7 Fig. 6.3: Studying ice conditions in Toksook Bay, Alaska 229 Fig. 6.4: A flooded landscape in California, USA 231 Chapter 7 Fig. 7.1: Palaeogeographic reconstructions 249 Fig. 7.2: One of two Neolithic axes from the Brown Bank area 251 Fig. 7.3: Two possible Neolithic axes from the Dogger Bank area 252 8 Abstract This study identifies and critically assesses the social and physical consequences of, and possible responses to, sea-level rise and loss of land in the area that is now covered by the southern North Sea and English Channel/La Manche during the Mesolithic period. It suggests that Mesolithic studies still, despite debate on the matter, frame hunter fisher gatherers in economic terms. In this way, nature is seen as a separate entity to culture, the changing environment, therefore, becomes an external force against which people struggle. However, as an alternative, this thesis advocates an understanding of Mesolithic hunter fisher gatherers as an integral part of their changing world, suggesting that they would have had a fundamental awareness of these changes through a sensorial engagement, and acted accordingly. That said, it also suggests that, while not all people living in the area were equally affected by sea-level rise, the associated loss of land could have profoundly impacted people’s sense of place and being. It also highlights that, although sea-level rise and climate change occurred globally and on a millennial-scale, it unfolded and was experienced at a local and generational level. It therefore makes a case that to understand the human experience of early Holocene sea-level rise, it must be studied at the local-scale. This provides us with a better understanding of the effects of sea-level rise – a sense of the experience of it, rather than simply recording it as an abstract concept. Further, the local scale can identify problems that are not necessarily obvious from the larger scale. In this way, this thesis captures some of the nuances of environmental change that are frequently missing from the archaeological literature, and highlights the intense relationship between humans and their environment, providing a fresh approach to Mesolithic environment relations and a richer and more complex story of the effects of early Holocene sea-level rise. 9 Declaration I declare that no portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. Parts of Chapters 5 and 6 were published in ‘Leary, J. 2009. Perceptions of and responses to the Holocene flooding of the North Sea lowlands. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 28(3), 227–37’, and ‘Leary, J. 2011. Experiencing change on the prehistoric shores of Northsealand; an anthropological perspective on early Holocene sea-level rise. In J. Benjamin, C. Bonsall, C. Pickard, and A. Fischer (ed.) Submerged Prehistory, 75–84. Oxford: Oxbow Books’. Some of the themes developed in Chapters 2 and 5 have been submitted as ‘Leary, J. Forthcoming. Place, placelessness and sea-level rise in the Mesolithic. In Meso 2010. The eighth international conference on the Mesolithic in Europe. Oxford: Oxbow Books’. Elements of the thesis (particularly Chapters 5 and 6) were presented at the ‘10th Northern Hunter Gatherer Discussion Forum’ at the University of Birmingham in 2009, and in the same year at the ‘15th EAA annual conference’ in Riva del Garda, Italy. The research in general was also presented at ‘Meso 2010’ in Santander, Spain – the 8th five-yearly international conference on the Mesolithic in Europe, and the section on local-scale analysis were presented at the 32nd Theoretical Archaeology Group annual conference at the University of Bristol in 2010. 10 Copyright statement i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time.