Prehistoric Farming Impacts and Erosion Revealed Through a Palaeolimnological Investigation of Lough Inchiquin, Co. Clare, Western Ireland

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of a multi-proxy, palaeolimnological investigation of Lough Inchiquin, a large lake located immediately south of the Burren, a distinctive karst landscape in Co Clare, western Ireland which has been exploited since the Neolithic period. Chironomid sub-fossil analysis and lake sediment geochemistry provides an opportunity to infer lake response to prehistoric farming activity. The results of these new analyses are contextualised by pollen and loss-on-ignition evidence from the same lake catchment. The combined data of chironomid, loss-on-ignition (LOI550, LOI950 and non-combustible fraction (NCF)), organic geochemistry (δ13Corg, δ15N, Corg:N ratio), inorganic geochemistry (Ti, Fe, Mn, S and δ18O) and fossil pollen has allowed for an in-depth understanding of the palaeolimnological and palaeoenvironmental changes from the Mesolithic to the Late Bronze Age (c. 4590–660 BC) in the catchment of Lough Inchiquin. The data highlight the increasing ecological impact of anthropogenic activity through time and provide well-dated evidence for the initiation of Holocene soil erosion from the Burren.