Nicki Whitehouse

The introduction of agriculture is arguably the defining characteristic of the Neolithic period in Europe. Ireland is on the margins of Europe, located at its north-western edge, and agriculture made its way to this region during the fourth millennium cal BC. The main crops in Neolithic Ireland (4000-2500 cal BC) were wheat (Triticum spp.) and barley (Hordeum spp.), but we know little about their relative importance, the intensity of agricultural activity, or how crops varied across space and time. International narratives on prehistoric agriculture rarely mention the Irish evidence, except as an adjunct to British research, despite indications of divergence between the two regions (Cooney 2000; Bradley 2007). It is not clear if early agriculture in Ireland reflects primarily special or symbolic consumption in ‘ritual’ contexts (Edmonds 1999; Thomas 2003, 2008), or if crops provided a major component of daily subsistence, as has been proposed for parts of central Europe (Monk 2000; Jones and Rowley-Conwy 2007). This paper will reveal new findings from a major study of plant macro-remains from Neolithic Ireland, investigating the variety of crops recorded at different times and locations, and exploring what this tells us more broadly about Neolithic society.

The contributions in this volume indicate that research into the study of early agriculture continues to remain a flourishing area of science. We discuss the contribution of the volume’s papers and provide a review of how they add to our knowledge about the process to early
agriculture, its development and impacts upon the Holocene landscape. The main focus of many of the papers is on the European Neolithic record, with several contributions focusing on research from other regions. Our understanding of the processes happening in Europe is deepening to a level where we have a relatively good understanding of events at a regional level and moving towards understanding at a continental level. This contrasts with other
areas of the world where there is still considerable need for intensive primary data collection and where the narrative of agricultural subsistence practices varies considerably. In some regions, existing models of understanding may not be fully adequate and the process of “agriculture” in these areas was likely substantially different to how this occurred in Europe and the Near East. Indeed, it is clear that a more nuanced understanding of how we currently
define ‘agriculture’ is necessary. This recognises the diversity of agricultural practises that are evident in different areas of the world, which may be quite removed to what might be recognisable as ‘agriculture’ in places such as Europe.

It is evident that the switch from hunter-gatherer subsistence to agro-pastoralism had a huge effect on the Earth system, impacting biodiversity, land cover and the global carbon cycle. Archaeologists have much to contribute towards our knowledge of these impacts and the development of the modern ‘cultural landscape’.

The passing of Russell Coope in 2011 brought an end to a vigorous, dynamic research career that launched the field of Quaternary entomology. This issue of Quaternary International is composed mostly of papers given in his honour in June, 2012 at Royal Holloway University of London. It comprises 21 papers that cover a wide range of topics. The reconstruction of British Pleistocene environments was arguably Coope's most important contribution to science. Three papers containing previously unpublished Middle and Late Pleistocene beetle faunas and their interpretations are included here. A discussion paper on the origins of the insect faunas of North Atlantic islands echoes another of Coope's research interests, as do two studies of late glacial climates of northwest Europe. A suite of several papers discussing the environmental archaeology of sites ranging in age from the Bronze Age to the early 20th century honour Coope's pioneering work in this field. Pleistocene research from sites in North America and Japan complete the volume, followed by descriptions of two large-scale insect fossil databases.

The acquisition of high quality, well dated local site records is essential for progressing regional environmental reconstructions. As part of a wider study designed to examine intra- and extra- site ecosystem responses to environmental change, this paper presents new palaeoecological data from the floodplain of the River Torne in the Humberhead Levels, adjacent to the lowland raised mire of Hatfield Moors, a site with a long history of palaeoecological investigations. The potential of using floodplain records to reconstruct local variations in ecosystem response to environmental change is also considered. Coleoptera and pollen are used to reconstruct floodplain ecosystem dynamics, whilst chronologies are established using Bayesian age-depth modelling. Between 10200 cal BP and 2300 cal BP, the floodplain experienced multiple phases of ecological change. At 10200-9910 cal BP, a cut-off channel began to infill with peat, while the surrounding floodplain remained relatively dry with Pinus forest growing nearby. Between 9630-9500 cal BP and 7270-7020 cal BP, a depositional hiatus occurred in the sedimentary record. By the end of this period, the local woodland had diversified and expanded to mixed deciduous tree cover. A wet shift identified at 6870-6160 cal BP was shortly followed by a rise in Alnus and Tilia from 6410-6160 cal BP. At this time, widespread floodplain paludification had occurred in the Humberhead Levels, which was largely controlled by Relative Sea-Level (RSL) rise and the associated rise in regional water tables. Floodplain expansion also resulted in the widespread occurrence of Alnus dominated fen woodland. The local Torne floodplain experienced varying levels of wetness that influenced the decline and subsequent regeneration of the woodland from 5870-5640 cal BP. At this time, the Ulmus decline is identified in the pollen stratigraphic record. Floodplain hydrology appears to have been controlled by a combination of water table fluctuations and changes in channel pattern/flow, both of which can be linked to RSL variations recorded in the Humber Estuary. Floodplain alluviation, also linked to rising water tables, is dated to 4360-4160 cal BP. Anthropogenic woodland clearance further upstream may have further compounded this event. We emphasise the importance of obtaining well-considered, securely dated local palaeoecological reconstructions prior to examining regional patterns of change.

Fossiliferous beds in a complex sequence of late Middle to Late Pleistocene deposits at Whittlesey, eastern England, provided a rare opportunity for a multidisciplinary study of the palaeoecology of cool/cold stage deposits from different glacial stages. The fossiliferous sediments investigated form part of the River Nene 1st Terrace. Three of the four fossil assemblages investigated pre-date the last interglacial stage (Ipswichian/Eemian/marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 5e), whilst the other dates to part of the MIS 3 interstadial complex (Middle Devensian/Weichselian). Pollen, plant macrofossil, molluscan, coleopteran, ostracod, foraminifera and vertebrate data are available to a greater or lesser extent for each cool/cold stage assemblage, and they broadly present the same ecological picture for each one: a continuum from low-energy permanent to non-permanent aquatic habitats through marshland with associated waterside taxa, together with flood influxes of fluvial, riparian and ruderal taxa. Although each fossil assemblage records cool/cold climatic conditions, to a greater or lesser extent, these conditions are more apparent in the insect and ostracod faunas. ‘Mutual mutual’ palaeotemperature estimates from combined Coleoptera (TMAX) and ostracods ascertained for the three pre-Ipswichian/Eemian faunas indicate that minimum mean July temperatures were +1 to +3°C warmer than for the Last Glacial Maximum stadial in The Netherlands; however, the mean January (TMIN) temperature-estimate envelopes for these three faunas embrace the −8°C mean January temperature for the same location and period. There is, however, a disparity between the coleopteran and ostracod palaeotemperature estimates for the Middle Devensian/Weichselian fossil assemblage, which are based on two different sample stratigraphic levels; the lower, coleopteran assemblage is indicative of very cool, continental climates, whereas the stratigraphically slightly higher ostracod assemblage suggests a climatic amelioration. Lack of numerical age-estimates prevents a robust stratigraphical interpretation, but the youngest pre-Ipswichian/Eemian fossil assemblage could date to the marine oxygen isotope stage 7–6 transition, at a time when cooling preceded glacially driven sea-level fall. It is apparent from the rich coleopteran data that some continental cold-indicator taxa also appeared in pre-Ipswichian/Eemian cold stages and therefore assignment of continental cold-indicator taxa to particular Devensian/Weichselian intervals should be undertaken with care.

We present the results from two analogue studies that examine two aspects of dung beetle populations. Firstly, the degree to which the proportions of dung beetles in terrestrial faunas may reflect herd concentration is assessed by comparing modern sub-fossil faunas retrieved from a range of small ponds at Dunham Massey, Cheshire and Epping Forest in London. These studies suggest that it may be possible to use the proportions of ‘dung beetles’ recovered to differentiate high from low density grazing pressures in the palaeoentomological and archaeoentomological record.

A second study examines the insect faunas recovered from modern samples of dung from a range of bovids, cervids, suids and equids, chosen to replicate, as closely as possible, Pleistocene taxa. These include the famous Chillingham cattle herd from Northumberland and herds of red deer, wild boar and Konik horses from Kent. When the numbers of individuals and the nature and range of beetles in the whole fauna are considered, it may be possible to differentiate between the dung of a range of different animals. A number of limitations with the present study, their implications and the future potential of this type of study are outlined.

Summary
1. Priority question exercises are becoming an increasingly common tool to frame future agendas in conservation and ecological science. They are an effective way to identify research foci that advance the field and that also have high policy and conservation relevance.
2. To date, there has been no coherent synthesis of key questions and priority research areas for pal- aeoecology, which combines biological, geochemical and molecular techniques in order to recon- struct past ecological and environmental systems on time-scales from decades to millions of years. 3. We adapted a well-established methodology to identify 50 priority research questions in palaeoe- cology. Using a set of criteria designed to identify realistic and achievable research goals, we selected questions from a pool submitted by the international palaeoecology research community and relevant policy practitioners.
4. The integration of online participation, both before and during the workshop, increased interna- tional engagement in question selection.
5. The questions selected are structured around six themes: human–environment interactions in the Anthropocene; biodiversity, conservation and novel ecosystems; biodiversity over long time-scales; ecosystem processes and biogeochemical cycling; comparing, combining and synthesizing informa- tion from multiple records; and new developments in palaeoecology.
6. Future opportunities in palaeoecology are related to improved incorporation of uncertainty into reconstructions, an enhanced understanding of ecological and evolutionary dynamics and processes and the continued application of long-term data for better-informed landscape management.

Multi-proxy analyses from floodplain deposits in the Colne Valley, southern England, have provided a palaeoenvironmental context for the immediately adjacent Terminal Upper Palaeolithic and Early Mesolithic site of Three Ways Wharf. These deposits show the transition from an open cool environment to fully developed heterogeneous floodplain vegetation during the Early Mesolithic. Several distinct phases of burning are shown to have occurred that are chronologically contemporary with the local archaeological record. The floodplain itself is shown to have supported a number of rare Urwaldrelikt insect species implying human manipulation of the floodplain at this time must have been limited or episodic. By the Late Mesolithic a reed-sedge swamp had developed across much of the floodplain, within which repeated burning of the in situ vegetation took place. This indicates deliberate land management practices utilising fire, comparable with findings from other floodplain sequences in southern Britain. With similar sedimentary sequences known to exist across the Colne Valley, often closely associated with contemporary archaeology, the potential for placing the archaeological record within a spatially explicit palaeoenvironmental context is great.

A multi-disciplinary study assessing the evidence for agriculture in Neolithic Ireland is presented, examining the timing, extent and nature of settlement and farming. Bayesian analyses of palaeoenvironmental and archaeological 14C data have allowed us to re-examine evidence strands within a much stronger chronological framework. While the nature and timing of the very beginning of the Neolithic in Ireland is still debated, our results – based on new Bayesian chronologies of cereal remains – indicate a surge of activity from c. 3750 cal BC and reveal the rapid nature of the uptake of agriculture. We have emphatically confirmed the start of extensive Neolithic settlement in Ireland with the existence of a distinct ‘house horizon’, dating to 3720-3620 cal BC, lasting for up to a century. Cereals were being consumed at many sites during this period, with emmer wheat dominant, but also barley (naked and hulled), as well as occasional evidence for einkorn wheat, naked wheat and flax. The earliest farmers in Ireland, like farmers elsewhere across NW Europe, were not engaged in shifting cultivation, but practised longer-term fixed-plot agriculture. The associations between early agriculture and the Elm Decline seen in many pollen diagrams show that this event was not synchronous across all sites investigated, starting earlier in the north compared with the west, but that there is a strong coincidence with early agriculture at many sites. After this early boom, there are changes in the nature of settlement records; aside from passage tombs, the evidence for settlement between 3400-3100 cal BC is very limited. From 3400 cal BC, we see a decrease in the frequency of cereal evidence and an increase in wild fruits and nuts in the records, alongside evidence for re-afforestation in pollen diagrams (>3500–3000 cal BC). Changes occur at a time of worsening climatic conditions, as shown in Irish bog oak and reconstructed bog surface wetness records. This period seems to have been one of environmental, landscape, settlement and economic change. The later 4th millennium BC emerges as a period that would benefit from focused research attention, particularly as the observed changes in Ireland seem to have parallels in Britain and further afield.

This paper presents new insights into the appearance of agriculture at the north-western edge of Europe, focussing on archaeobotanical evidence from Neolithic Ireland (4000–2500 cal BC). Previous studies were based upon a limited plant macro-remains dataset, as much of the Irish evidence is unpublished. A research project, 'Cultivating Societies', was implemented to examine the nature, timing and extent of agricultural activity in Neolithic Ireland through collation and analysis of different strands of published and unpublished archaeological and environmental evidence, with a particular focus on plant macro-remains, pollen, settlement and 14C data. This paper will focus on results of plant macro-remains analyses. Remains from a total of 52 excavated sites were collated and analysed, representing the most comprehensive study to date of Neolithic plant remains from this region. Cereals were present at many locations and site types, sometimes in large quantities and most often at sites dating to the earlier Neolithic (3750–3600 cal BC). Emmer wheat was the dominant crop, at least at this time. Other crops included naked and hulled barley, naked wheat, einkorn wheat and flax. Analysis of arable weeds indicates that early plots were not managed under a shifting cultivation regime, which has new implications for understanding Neolithic settlement practises and how communities engaged with landscapes. The variety of crops cultivated in Neolithic Ireland is similar to that in Britain, reflecting a decreasing diversity in crop types as agriculture spread from south-east to north-west Europe.► A much-enlarged archaeobotanical dataset from Neolithic Ireland has been collated. ► Cereals were recorded at many locations, most often at earlier Neolithic sites. ► It appears cultivation plots were not managed under a shifting cultivation regime. ► A decrease in crop diversity is apparent as agriculture spread towards Ireland.

We review the uses of fossil insects, particularly Coleoptera (beetles) and Chironomidae (non-biting midges) from ancient deposits to inform the study of wetland ecosystems and their ecological and restoration processes. In particular, we focus on two contrasting ecosystems, drawing upon research undertaken by us on British raised mire peats and shallow lake systems, one an essentially terrestrial ecosystem, the other aquatic, but in which wetland insects play an important and integral part. The study of raised mire peats suggests that faunal stability is a characteristic of these wetland systems, over what appear to be extensive periods of time (up to several millennia), whilst studies of shallow lake ecosystems over recent timescales indicates that faunal instability appears to be more common, usually driven by increasing eutrophication. Drawing upon a series of fossil Coleoptera records spanning several thousand years from HatWeld Moors, south Yorkshire, we reconstruct in some detail the mire’s ontogeny and Xuctuations in site hydrology and vegetation cover, illustrating the intimate association between substrate, topography and peat development. A comparison between fossil and modern beetle populations indicates that the faunal characteristics of this mire and its adjacent neighbour, Thorne Moors, become established during the early phases of peat development, including its rare endem- ics, and that the faunal biodiversity on the sites today is dictated by complex site histories. The over-riding characteristic of these faunas is of stability over several thousand years, which has important implications for the restoration of degraded sites, especially those where refugial areas are limited. In contrast, analyses of fossil Chironomidae from shallow lakes allow researchers to track changes in limnological status and while attempts have been made to reconstruct changes in nutrient levels quantitatively, the chironomids respond indirectly to such changes, typically mediated through complex ecosystem dynamics such as changes in Wsh and/or macrophyte communities. These changes are illustrated via historic chironomid stratigraphies and diversity indices from a range of shallow lakes located across Britain: Slapton Ley, Frensham Great Pond, Fleet Pond, Kyre Pool and Barnes Loch. These sites have shown varying degrees of eutrophication over recent time- scales which tends to be associated with a decline in chironomid diversity. While complex functional processes exist within these ecosystems, our evidence suggests that one of the key drivers in the loss of shallow lake chironomid diversity appears to be the loss of aquatic macrophytes. Overall, while chironomids do show a clear response to altered nutrient regimes, multi-proxy reconstructions are recommended for a clear interpretation of past change. We conclude that if we are to have a better understanding of biota at the ecosystem level we need to know more of the complex interactions between diVerent insect groups as well as with other animal and plant communities. A palaeoecological approach is thus crucial in order to assess the role of insect groups in ecosystem processes, both in the recent past and over long time scales, and is essential for wetland managers and conservation organisations involved in long term management and restoration of wetland systems.

Palaeoecological methods can provide an environmental context for archaeological sites, enabling the nature of past human activity to be explored from an indirect but alternative perspective. Through a palynological study of a small fen peatland located within the catchment of a multi-period prehistoric complex at Ballynahatty, Co. Down, Northern Ireland, we reconstruct the vegetation history of the area during the early prehistoric period. The pollen record reveals tentative evidence for Mesolithic activity in the area at 6410e6220 cal BC, with woodland disturbance identified during the MesolithiceNeolithic transitional period ca. 4430e3890 cal BC. A more significant impact on the landscape is observed in the Early Neolithic from 3950 to 3700 cal BC, with an opening up of the forest and the establishment of a mixed agricultural econ- omy. This activity precedes and continues to be evident through the Mid-Neolithic during which megalithic tombs and related burial sites were constructed at Ballynahatty. Due to chronological uncertainties and a possible hiatus in peat accumulation in the fen, the contemporary envi- ronment of the Ballynahatty timber circle complex (constructed and used ca. 3080e2490 cal BC) and henge (dating to the third millennium cal BC) cannot certainly be established. Nevertheless, the pollen record suggests that the landscape remained open through to the Bronze Age, implying a long continuity of human activity in the area. These findings support the idea that the Ballynahatty prehistoric complex was the product of a gradual and repeated restructuring of the ritual and ceremonial landscape whose significance continued to be recognised throughout the early prehistoric period.

The intercorrelation of palaeoclimate events from various studies is often hindered by a lack of precise chronological control. Tephra isochrons can overcome this problem by providing direct site linkages. This paper outlines a study of Holocene peat and diatomite deposits that accumulated within the floodplain of Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland. The Icelandic Hekla 4 tephra has been identified at the base of diatomite deposits at a number of sites and provides firm dating evidence for a widespread flooding event in the area at ca. 2300 BC. The evidence is consistent with other studies in Ireland and elsewhere for increased wetness at this time. The results demonstrate that the terrestrial deposits around Lough Neagh contain an important record of Holocene lake-level change. Dendrochronological evidence from the Lough Neagh area provides additional information about lake-level fluctuations over the past two millennia. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.