Modelling Vegetation Cover and Wetland Expansion in the Lower Thames Valley, UK: Multi-Proxy Records from Littlebrook Power Station, Kent

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dc.creatorStastney, Phil
dc.creatorScaife, Rob
dc.creatorGiorgi, John
dc.creatorWhittaker, John E
dc.date2025-04-02T23:30:27Z
dc.date2021-07-03
dc.date.accessioned2026-08-03T03:15:45Z
dc.descriptionThe interaction of ‘natural’ environmental processes and human activity in shaping landscapes is vividly illustrated in the Lower Thames Valley, UK. Through development-led (geo)archaeological investigations, intensifying redevelopment of this (currently) industrial landscape presents opportunities to gain long-term perspectives on these processes and to investigate the timing and extent of human impact on the environment in the past. This paper describes a novel multi-method approach undertaken at the former Littlebrook Power Station, Kent, comprising landscape-scale deposit modelling, multi-proxy palaeo-environmental analysis and vegetation cover reconstruction using REVEALS to produce schematic landscape reconstruction maps. Micropaleontological data reveal variable estuarine/freshwater influence, which alongside longer-term trends towards rising relative sea level drove lateral expansion of wetlands through the Holocene. Pollen-derived vegetation models show Early Holocene dense forest cover reduced to ∼55 per cent by 7–8 kyr BP followed by a step-change to grassland dominance in the early Bronze Age. Since grassland expansion was not proportionate to modelled expansion of wetlands but was associated with increased pastoral indicators, an anthropogenic cause of the deforestation in the Bronze Age is probable. This paper highlights the value of combining geoarchaeological data with novel modelling approaches to visualise ancient landscapes and thereby offer long-term perspectives on landscape-scale human-environment interactions.
dc.formatapplication/pdf
dc.identifier1466-2035
dc.identifierhttps://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/382101
dc.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.117086
dc.identifier2040-8153
dc.identifier.urihttps://repo.dare.co.zw/handle/123456789/174641
dc.languageeng
dc.publisherTaylor & Francis
dc.publisherMcDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
dc.publisherhttps://doi.org/10.1080/14662035.2021.2042050
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
dc.rightshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
dc.subject4301 Archaeology
dc.subject43 History, Heritage and Archaeology
dc.subject15 Life on Land
dc.titleModelling Vegetation Cover and Wetland Expansion in the Lower Thames Valley, UK: Multi-Proxy Records from Littlebrook Power Station, Kent
dc.typeArticle

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