New Late Holocene palaeoenvironmental records from Loonan and Blythemo, Mainland, Orkney.

Abstract

The Orkney Islands have been the subject of many archaeological studies but few studies have attempted to reconstruct the past environment of the Islands. Following palaeoenvironmental reconstructions previously undertaken on parts of the Orkney Mainland (Moar, 1969; Bunting, 1994, 1996). The aim of this project is to reconstruct past environment using multiproxy techniques, a study area in the critical region is required, and a technique of reconstruction known to produce replicable and accurate palaeoclimatic data.The peat cores collected from two sites on North mainland Orkney were prepared for pollen analysis, and also peat humification to add finer resolution to the results obtained. Peat geochemistry will also be used as a potential palaeoclimatic indicator (Biester, et al. 2003). Cores will be dated using radiocarbon dating.The profile from Loonan was dated from c. 2692 BP and Blythemo c.3689 BP, from this age depth models and pollen assemblages were found to show the a multiproxy analysis of these sample sets from Orkney. Some similarities were found between Bunting (1994) in relation to Bronze age and Iron age influences. More extensive work with better preservation of pollen would aid a conclusion to accurate palaeoclimate records on these site on Orkney.

Date of Award	1 Aug 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	James Rothwell (Supervisor) & Peter Ryan (Supervisor)