Predictive Modelling of Archaeological site locations in Raised Mires

English Heritage summaries. 2003/2004

Raised mires present something of a conundrum to archaeologists. On the one hand they offer conditions suitable for the exceptional preservation of organic materials through saturation and the exclusion of oxygen. On the other hand sites are extremely difficult to find in such environments. In the past, the vast majority of archaeological finds from raised mires have been made during peat cutting, although modern mechanisation of this process has severely reduced the potential for identifying archaeological sites before their destruction. Furthermore, the reversion of many raised mires to nature conservation areas, means that the potential for finding sites in the future is severely reduced.

This project is aimed at redressing this archaeological problem through an integrated archaeological, palaeoenvironmental and GIS-based approach focused on the raised mire landscapes of Thorne and Hatfield Moors, predominantly contained within South Yorkshire, though extending into parts of North Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire. Through the four-dimensional (three spatial dimensions and time) reconstruction of the mire landscape, it is feasible to predict patterns of human activity at different periods through time. Themes of wetland morphology, vegetation change and hydrology will provide the backdrop for the generation and testing of hypotheses relating to a variety of anthropogenic issues including movement, marginality and changes in resource availability and hence possible archaeological site location and character.

The project will incorporate detailed stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental analyses with data from existing sources, including those from the peat contractor's geophysical surveys and previous palaeoenvironmental and archaeological investigations. The outputs from the project will inform on the likely distribution of archaeological sites within the two raised mires of Thorne and Hatfield Moors, and will have also implications for the study of mires elsewhere. Furthermore, it will develop and test1 the potential of new methods of archaeological predictive modelling.

This page was published 29/10/03