It's a pity that this INQUA Congress field trip planned for 1st-5th August 2019 had to be cancelled because of lack of bookings. Mind you, at £845 for four days in the field, maybe there was a price issue. The trip was due to be led by James Scourse, who was not best pleased when I published my short Isles of Scilly paper last year, in which I argued that the Devensian glaciation on the islands was much more extensive than he thought. As far as I am concerned, the evidence for extensive glaciation during at least two glacial phases is now in print, and is rock solid, and it would have been good to get some more expert opinions from specialists with no axes to grind.
Ah well -- the evidence is still there for others to see, and I'm confident that it will eventually become "the established truth" no matter what the protests of the BRITICE-CHRONO boys and girls may be.........
The Isles of Scilly have been recognised as a classic Pleistocene locality for some 50 years following a seminal paper by Frank Mitchell and Tony Orme who mapped a clear ice limit across the archipelago. The excursion will review the stratigraphic and morphological evidence for this ice limit and review the application of combined dating methods recently used to constrain its age within the context of the BRITICE-CHRONO project. Sequences of glacial, periglacial, littoral, aeolian and full glacial organic sediments will be examined in open coastal cliff sections. Scilly is also exceptional archaeologically, described as the “Isles of the Dead” based on the profusion of burial structures, and the excursion will visit Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age and some more recent sites in the context of changing Holocene palaeoenvironments and relative sea level. The wealth of Quaternary geological and archaeological sites alongside great natural beauty – stunning beaches, crystal clear sea, benevolent climate with sub-tropical gardens – make Scilly a beguiling and enchanting place to visit for Quaternarists and accompanying participants alike. Please note that transport will be on foot on all days and will involve quite long treks over sometimes rough terrain; transport to off islands will be by boat taxi.
Shame it was cancelled. I keep trying to get it across to archaeologist nay - sayers that glaciology is a dynamic subject and old ideas of glacial limits are subject to revision.
ReplyDeleteArchaeologists tend to be rather blase, don't they, saying glaciation stopped well north of the Bristol Channel. We now know, don't we, that Dartmoor was subject to glaciation, for example, and Exmoor probably was too.
Quite so, Tony. The evidence for a Dartmoor ice cap seems to be very strong. The evidence re Exmoor is more difficult to interpret, but looks persuasive. There must have been very extensive snowfields (and possibly icefields) across many of the higher -- plateau -- areas of SW England. I reckon that they probably merged into the ice coming in from the north and west from the Celtic Sea ice lobe, which now seems to be well established.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, all ice margins are constantly subject to review. Scilly Islands, Lundy, Flatholm and Caldet are very much in the frame......
Oops -- Caldey
ReplyDeleteDid you obtain a copy of David Field's book "The Making of Prehistoric Wiltshire"? [2017]
ReplyDeleteHe may be ONE archaeologist, along with co - author David McOmish, who properly takes into account, in his writing, of the historic geomorphology of Wiltshire and neighbouring areas since the last glaciation. The two authors pay tribute to the influence of their colleagues at the old Royal Commission of Historic Monuments office in Salisbury.
"It outlines the effect of past climate change on the topography and how animals and people established the landscape that we know today".
These 2 authors also wrote the equally excellent "Neolithic Horizons, Monuments and Changing Communities in the Wessex Landscape", 2016. I recommend both books.
Yrs, I have the Prehistoric Wilts book on the bookshelf! I did a review of it as well........
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I have always been impressed how well-grounded David's comments and conclusions are. A man who is not greatly inclined to wild fantasies -- that's rather refreshing!
David and I know each other slightly. He lives fairly near Avebury, to its west. One time we were on an archaeology - based walk with connections to William Cunnington of Boles Barrow and also the very rich Bush Barrow excavations - and many other digs in the early 19th Century. This is at least one Wiltshire/ Wessex - based archaeologist who is NOT full of hubris.
ReplyDelete