Pollen and preservation at Star Carr: A 60-year perspective

Abstract

The early Mesolithic site of Star Carr, North Yorkshire, is well known for the exceptional preservation of a wide range of organic artefacts in the waterlogged deposits at the edge of a former lake, and for the richness of the associated palaeoenvironmental record – the subject of research by pollen analysts for more than six decades. Recent concerns over the effects of drainage on these deposits prompted a new phase of fieldwork (2004–2015) and environmental evaluation that sought to characterize the nature and extent of degradation of organic materials at the site. This included production of a new pollen series which, compared against sequences previously produced by the writer in the 1990s, suggested significant deterioration in pollen preservation in the intervening c. 20 years. It is, however, possible to provide a longer-term perspective on changing conditions at the site by consideration of the 1950 pollen sequence produced in association with the original excavations at Star Carr, but never fully published. Comparing these sequences, analysed over a 60-year period, indicates significant loss of palynological information at Star Carr in the latter half of the twentieth century, amounting to approximately 1000 years of environmental change, and highlights both the problems and potential of using pollen analysis to monitor long-term change in preservation conditions at wetland archaeological sites.