‘An Integrated Multi-Proxy Approach to the Late Pleistocene Landscapes and Environments of Ireland and Scotland, and the Potentials for Human and Faunal Recolonizations at the End of the Last Ice Age’
The above expansive epitaph is the current remit of my QUADRAT PhD project at the University of Aberdeen, in its current state it represents a potential lifetime of work and quite possibly as it is an ‘epitaph’ the end of me. It will therefore not remain as it is, the current task consequently is the narrowing of this flood of potential direction and information. Which is what I am supposed to be doing at this precise moment instead of scribing this post. So, why am I putting in this effort? The reasoning is actually surprisingly important and integral to not only this project, but also who I intend to be as a researcher. This project will be completely open access, so far as possible with the account for human fallibility, I will record here the direction of my thinking, the decisions I actively make, the developments… successes and no matter how frustrating the failures. This will be not only a traditional research project but an experiment, an inquiry into the boundaries of open science and its potential for communication. So above all this project will uphold FAIR principles as defined by GoFair…
F – findability… Data should be easy to find for both humans and computers, this is the first step in encouraging re(use) of datasets.
A – accessibility… Once a user finds required data, she/he/they must be able to understand how this can be accessed in every sense of the word.
I – interoperability… The data may need to be integrated with other data to ensure workability, interoperating with applications or workflows for analysis, storage and processing.
R – reuse… In order to optimize the reuse of data it must be well-described, so that it can subsequently be replicated and/or combined in a different context.
The principles of ethical data sharing will apply to the project data created throughout this process, with the creation of a GitHub repository for collaborative use and the development of a community of stakeholders. Equally, all published data which enters this project will undergo a FAIR assessment, using a subject-specific FAIR assessment tool based on the FAIR Enough? checklist. This will follow the model created by the FAIR Phytolith Project, The Turing Way (an open-source community led guide to reproducible research) and the further work of Dr E. Karoune, adapted in some cases for the foibles of archaeological research. In this small way perhaps, this project will help to positively influence research culture. So, maybe at the end people will read of this project and see all the ways that it could have been better, because believe me I know that at the end, after a break, that is what I will probably be thinking. But that would be good, a positive result, because it means that people, researchers all, will be learning from this and becoming better.
So, the details of what I should be doing currently, well reading ‘Reindeer Hunters at Howburn Farm, South Lanarkshire: A Late Hamburgian settlement in southern Scotland – its lithic artefacts and natural environment’ by T. B. Ballin et al. To anyone attempting the research I am, any and all documents detailing the site of Howburn Farm are integral, this was without exaggeration the site which changed it all! Prior to the discovery of Late Pleistocene deposits at Howburn Farm the mere suggestion of settled communities residing in Scotland, so far north, in that period would have sent many archaeologists into fits of laughter. It has been thought that the conditions would simply have been too inhospitable, what we failed to recognise is the extraordinary ability of the human species to adapt to even the most frontier of conditions, somehow, someway, we simply survive. After Howburn Farm, well it isn’t so ludicrous anymore. I’ve read some way into this tome, which unfortunately is not easily accessible to all, and already it’s got me thinking, below is what I’m hoping to discuss with my supervisor Prof K. Britton.
1. The Hamburgian contingent of settlers at Howburn Farm potentially followed the migration of a reindeer herd, this would have been a migration process closely aligned to localised geomorphology and environmental developments. In terms of narrowing down the ‘epitaph’, well, ‘animals’ is a bit broad, so why not focus on reindeer as one target species particularly as there is a symbiosis with the human community. Equally as a contrast to this it might be effective to include a more sedentary or territory-focused target species, as the comparison may further clarify the role of environmental change in recolonisation events and spatial data.
2. As well as creating target species movement/habit profiles, regional cultural (material culture) profiles will be necessary for human communities. There is a demonstrable fragmentation of material cultures following the flood of Doggerland and subtle technological differences to material cultures on the continent thereafter. As a side note Ballin mentions that this could potentially indicate differences in subsistence strategies, how exciting! This could be a direct response to environmental shift/change… So, with profiles on the various regional cultures, the movement of these groups in response to environment can be documented… My thought process is, perhaps, these groups responded differently and are spatially distinct.
3. It would also perhaps be advisable to quantify/identify the geomorphological profiles of known sites to note influence on spatial decision-making. Ballin notes that the Howburn site may have been on the peripheral of what it termed the ‘Howburn Loch’, an expanse of water or logically Loch. It is also noted that this is not an uncommon state for Late Pleistocene sites on the continent, so a commonality for places of settlement. If a part of this project is suggesting where human and faunal recolonisations could have occurred, then a part of this could be predictive geomorphologies.
1?. I need more knowledge of how Late Pleistocene communities i.e. the remnant archaeological sites, present spatially. Ballin mentions that the Trench 2 main concentration may represent a temporary dwelling structure, this was indicated through distribution analysis. How does distribution analysis work as a mechanism, what is the degree of accuracy, etc.
2?. The majority of the assemblage at Howburn is composed of ‘stone tools’, this is therefore a significant main data source on human communal movement and there are intricacies to the datasets analysis which can suggest regional variations. I also therefore need more knowledge of this aspect of material culture, not only the artefacts themselves but also the methodologies of making them. In short these communities are liable to only be understood through their ‘stone tools’.
3?. On a slightly more frustrating point, where is the Late Pleistocene-Mesolithic Transition? There is seemingly no evidence currently for this in Scotland, and yet there cannot simply be a cessation of lifeways. Potentially the answer lies in the paleoenvironmental dataset and further to, in this project remit.
UPDATE: So, I spoke with my primary supervisor Prof. K. Britton on this, and a plan is consequently beginning to form, potentially there will now be three phases to this project.
1. A collation of all extant data for the Late Pleistocene in Scotland and some form of visual representation of this, an interactive map perhaps.
2. A series of new data cores analysed for pollen to reconstruct on a more localised scale in-depth a Late Pleistocene environmental sequence, perhaps the Tweed Valley… where Howburn Farm is situated.
3. A study of coprophilous fungal spores and other relevant proxies for the same localised area, a study into the presence and patterns of movement of herbivorous herd species.
This is all extremely exciting and interesting, still a massive undertaking but it will be a valuable contribution if I can manage it. Now I have another challenge, working out if I am going to do this via a PhD by Papers or not. The next article should be a delayed comment on my first QUADRAT interaction, the Annual Science Meeting and my first Training Day.
Signing off,
Leia Tilley