New models of North West European Holocene palaeogeography and inundation

Fraser Sturt,Duncan Garrow,Sarah Bradley

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2013.05.023

Fraser Sturt, Duncan Garrow + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2013.05.023

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Abstract

This paper presents new 500 year interval palaeogeographic models for Britain, Ireland and the North West French coast from 11000 cal. BP to present. These models are used to calculate the varying rates of inundation for different geographical zones over the study period. This allows for consideration of the differential impact that Holocene sea-level rise had across space and time, and on past societies. In turn, consideration of the limitations of the models helps to foreground profitable areas for future research.

Highlights

In this paper we present, and make available in an interactive format, new high-resolution (500 year interval), palaeogeographic models for Britain, Ireland and the broader area shown in Fig. 1 from 11,000 BP to present day
In so doing we demonstrate the variable histories of change across the North West European continental shelf, and the impact that scale of analysis has upon interpretation
While Jacobi (1976) saw the North Sea as land in the Mesolithic, little weight was given to that space beyond being a corridor for past movement

Summary

Introduction

In this paper we present, and make available in an interactive format, new high-resolution (500 year interval), palaeogeographic models for Britain, Ireland and the broader area shown in Fig. 1 from 11,000 BP to present day. There, and in subsequent publications by a range of scholars (Clark, 1936; Coles, 1998, 1999; Gaffney et al, 2007), maps of the changing shape of land and sea boundaries have proven pivotal to discussion of prehistoric activity and social connectivity These outputs have been used to demonstrate the size of past habitable landscapes submerged offshore, and to allow perspective to be gained on the impact such changes may have had on past communities. This paper utilises a recent Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) model (Bradley et al, 2011) and data from bathymetric surveys, to generate new high temporal and spatial resolution reconstructions These outputs are queried to allow for quantification of variable rates and extents of inundation over the study area.

The palaeogeography of North West Europe: a history of research

Theory and method

Results

Discussion