GIS Models of Past Vegetation: An Example from Northern England, 10,000–5000 BP

Abstract

Archaeological interpretations of past societies, particularly those of past hunter-gatherer groups, have traditionally drawn heavily on evidence for past environments and environmental changes. Ironically however our understanding of these environments is typically far from ideal, particularly at the scale most relevant to broad settlement patterns. Limitations lie not just in the lack of evidence, but also the nature of the evidence that we have for past environments. Most notably, descriptions of environments and environmental change tend to be either very simplistic at the large scale, or detailed, but limited to small scale local landscapes. It is thus difficult to find regional reconstructions to relate to interpretations or models of population and settlement (particularly important when considering mobile populations). The models described here have been developed in order to improve understanding of large scale spatial changes in terrestrial vegetation. The limitations and potentials for developing models of vegetation patterns are considered, and one such model (constructed using GIS techniques) of changes in the distribution of woodland types in northern England from the Early Holocene is described.