Anthropic sediments on the Scottish North Atlantic seaboard: Nature, versatility and value of midden

• Main Author: Hamlet, Laura Elisabeth
• Other Authors: Simpson, Ian, Wilson, Clare, Historic Scotland University of Stirling
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Stirling 2014
• Subjects: Midden; Anthropic Sediments; Anthrosols; Orkney; Links of Noltland; Neolithic; Bronze Age; Prehistory; Archaeology; Geoarchaeology; Micromorphology; SEM EDX; Scanning Electron Microscopy; Western Isles; Hebrides; Shetland; Atlantic Ocean Coasts Scotland; Western Isles (Scotland); Orkney (Scotland); Shetland (Scotland); Hebrides (Scotland); Archaeological geology; Neolithic period; Coasts Scotland; Kitchen-middens; Anthropic principle; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/21175; http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/21175/1/Hamlet_thesis_2014.pdf

Traditionally archaeology has referred to the anthropic sediments accumulated around prehistoric settlements with the blanket term ‘midden’. This is now recognised as an inadequate term to describe the complex formation processes and functions represented in these sediments. This thesis reviewed the body of evidence accumulated over the past century of research into Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements on the islands of the Scottish North Atlantic seaboard and extrapolated the many occurrences of ‘midden’. Several contexts emerged for these sediments including interior floors, hearths, exterior occupational surfaces, dumped deposits, building construction materials and abandonment infill. In addition, ‘midden’ is described added to cultivated soils to form fertile anthrosols. The way in which prehistoric communities exploited this material for agriculture and construction has been described through geoarchaeological research which implied that to past communities ‘midden’ was a valuable resource. This led to the formation of a model based upon a human ecodynamics framework to hypothesise sediment formation pathways. Rescue excavation at the Links of Noltland, Westray provided an opportunity to conduct a holistic landscape and fine resolution based study of Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement to test this model. The research incorporated auger survey, archaeological and geoarchaeological excavation, thin section micromorphology and SEM EDX analyses. Sediments identified in literature review and recovered from the field site were described using this toolkit and set within a cultural and environmental context. Results demonstrate that anthropic materials were incorporated into all contexts examined. Discrete burning and maintenance activities were found to have taken place during the gradual accumulation of open-air anthropic sediments whilst incorporation of fuel residues and hearth waste into floors lead to the gradual formation of ‘living floors’ inside structures. An unexpected discovery was evidence of animal ...