Richard Tipping

Dr. Richard Tipping

Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science

PhD - CNAA
BA - University of Hull

School of Biological & Environmental Sciences
University of Stirling
Stirling
Scotland, FK9 4LA

tel: +44 1786 466541
fax: +44 1786 467843
email: Richard Tipping

Research Interests

Holocene landscape history, environmental change and environmental archaeology: My major activities are in reconstructing vegetation history, climate change, geomorphic activity and land uses in the Holocene Epoch, and exploring the complex links between these components. My principal research areas today are in northern Britain which, being on the eastern edge of the North Atlantic Ocean, provides more than enough work of international relevance. I have published widely on many aspects of Late Quaternary landscape evolution in three edited books, over 80 research papers and over 80 contributions to edited books.

Current & Recent Research Programmes

Teaching

I contribute to first and second year teaching, trying always to embed our understanding of global and regional landscape change within a framework of human decision-making, seeking to move beyond simplistic catastrophist explanations of human impact, and embedding people within our historical ecology.

Recent Publications

Edited Books

Tipping, R. 2003. The Quaternary of Glen Affric & Kintail. London: Quaternary Research Association. 217 pp. 

Academic Journals

Tipping, R. & Milburn, P. 2000. The mid-Holocene charcoal fall in southern Scotland: spatial and temporal variability. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 164, 193-209.

Edwards, K.J., Whittington, G. & Tipping, R. 2000. The incidence of microscopic charcoal in late glacial deposits. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 164, 263-278.
 
Finlayson, B., Mithen, S., Carruthers, D., Kennedy, A., Pirie, A. & Tipping, R. 2000. The Dana-Faynan-Ghuwayr Early Prehistory Project. Levant 32, 1-16.
 
Long, D.J. Tipping, R., Holden, T.G., Bunting, M.J. & Milburn, P. 2000. The use of henbane (Hyoscyamus niger L.) as an hallucinogen at Neolithic ‘ritual’ sites’: a re-evaluation. Antiquity 74, 49-53.  

Tipping, R., Waldron, R. & Cowley, D. 2001. Pollen analyses and historic landscape change at Ashentrool, Menstrie Glen, Stirlingshire. Forth Naturalist & Historian 24, 3-8.

Tyler, A.N., Carter, S., Davidson, D.A., Long, D.J. & Tipping, R. 2001. The extent and significance of bioturbation on 137Cs distributions in five upland soil profiles. Catena 43, 81-99.

Bunting, M.J. & Tipping, R. 2001. Anthropogenic pollen assemblages from a Bronze Age cemetery at Linga Fiold, West Mainland, Orkney. Journal of Archaeological Science 28, 487-500.

Bridgland, D.R., Preece, R.C., Roe, H.M., Tipping, R.M., Coope, G.R., Field, M.H., Robinson, J.E., Schreve, D.C. & Crowe, K. 2001. Middle Pleistocene interglacial deposits at Barling, Essex, UK: evidence for a longer chronology for the Thames terrace sequence.  Journal of Quaternary Science 16, 813-840.

Carter, S., Bunting, M.J. & Tipping, R. 2001. Grims Ditch North: the analysis of the buried soil and ditch sediments. Yorkshire Archaeology 7, 231-233.

Tipping, R. 2002. Climatic variability and ‘marginal’ settlement in upland British landscapes: a re-evaluation. Landscapes 3, 10-28.

Hamilton, J., Clarke, C., Dunwell, A. & Tipping, R. 2002. A prehistoric ford near Rough Castle, Falkirk. Scottish Archaeological Journal 23, 91-103.

Cayless, S.M. & Tipping, R. 2002. Data on mid-Holocene climatic, vegetation and anthropogenic interactions in southern Scotland. Vegetation History & Archaeobotany 11, 201-210.

Campbell, C., Tipping, R. & Cowley, D. 2003. Continuity and stability in past upland land uses in the Western Cheviot Hills, Southern Scotland. Landscape History 24, 111-120.

Smith, D.E., Cullingford, R.A., Haggart, B.A., Tipping, R., Wells, J.M., Mighall, T.M. & Dawson, S. 2003. Holocene relative sea level changes in the lower Nith valley and estuary. Scottish Journal of Geology 39, 97-120.

Bunting, M.J. & Tipping, R. 2004. Complex hydroseral vegetation succession and ‘dryland’ pollen signals: a case study from north-west Scotland. The Holocene 14, 53-63.

Davies, A.L. & Tipping, R. 2004. Sensing small-scale human activity in the palaeoecological record: fine spatial resolution pollen analyses from West Glen Affric, northern Scotland. The Holocene 14, 233-245.

Tipping, R. 2005. Coping with climatic stresses: climate change, prehistoric farmers and the transmission of knowledge. Landscape Archaeology and Ecology 5, 90-95.

McCulloch, R.D., Bentley, M.J., Tipping, R. & Clapperton, C.M. 2005. Evidence for Late-glacial ice dammed lakes in the central Strait of Magellan, southern Chile. Geografiska Annaler 87A, 335-362.

Tipping, R., Davies, A.L. & Tisdall, E. 2006. Long term woodland stability and instability in West Glen Affric, northern Scotland. Forestry 79, 351-359.

Tipping, R. & Tisdall, E. 2006. The landscape context of the Antonine Wall: a review of the literature. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 135, 443-470.  

Shaw, H.E. & Tipping, R. 2006. Recent pine woodland stability and disturbance: high spatial resolution palaeoecological approaches in east Glen Affric, northern Scotland. Forestry 79, 331-341.

Tipping, R. 2007. Multidisciplinary approaches to defining historic coastal and fluvial changes at Dunglass Burn, south east Scotland. Scottish Geographical Journal 123, 16-32.

Tipping, R. & Adams, J. 2007. Structure, composition and significance of Medieval storm beach ridges at Caerlaverock, Dumfries & Galloway. Scottish Journal of Geology 43, 115-123.

Tipping, R. 2008. Blanket peat in the Scottish Highlands: timing, cause, spread and the myth of environmental determinism. Biodiversity & Conservation 17, 2097-2113.
 
Tipping, R. 2008. Climate change in Pictish Scotland: changing views on scale, frequency, intensity and the human context. Journal of the Pictish Arts Society 17, 25-32.

Tipping, R. 2008. Storminess as an explanation for the decline of pine woodland ca. 7,400 years ago at Loch Tulla, western Scotland. Vegetation History &Archaeobotany 17, 345-350.

Tipping, R. 2008. Medieval archaeological features at Dunglass Burn, Borders Region, Scotland. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 137, 337-356.
 
Tipping, R., Ashmore, P., Davies, A., Haggart, A., Moir, A., Newton, A., Sands, R., Skinner, T. & Tisdall, E. 2008. Prehistoric Pinus woodland dynamics in an upland landscape in northern Scotland. Vegetation History & Archaeobotany 17, 251-267.

Tipping, R., Davies, A., McCulloch, R. & Tisdall, E. 2008. Response to late Bronze Age climate change of farming communities in north east Scotland. Journal of Archaeological Science 35, 2379-2386.

Tipping, R., Jones, A.P., Carter, S., Holden, T. & Cressey, M. 2008. The chronology and long term dynamics of a low energy river system: the Kelvin Valley, central Scotland. Earth Surface Processes & Landforms 33, 910-922. 

Harrison, J. & Tipping, R. 2008. Early historic settlement on the western carselands of the Forth valley: a reappraisal. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 137, 461-470.

Murray, H.K., Shepherd, I.A.G., Lamb, C., Kerr, N.W., Davies, A.L., Tipping, R., Mukherjee, A., Jay, M. & Richards, M.P. 2008. Excavation of a beaker cist burial with meadowsweet at Home farm, Udny Green, Aberdeenshire. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 137, 37-58. 

Tipping, R., Bunting, M.J., Davies, A.L., Murray, H. & Fraser, S. 2009. Modelling land use around an early Neolithic timber ‘hall’ in north east Scotland from high spatial resolution pollen analyses. Journal of Archaeological Science 36, 140-149.

Contributions to Edited Works

Tipping, R. 2000. Pollen preservation analysis as a necessity in Holocene pollen analysis. In Stallybrass, S. & Huntley, J.P. (eds) Taphonomy and Interpretation. Oxford: Oxbow, 23-34.

Tipping, R. 2000. Palaeoecological approaches to historic problems: a comparison of sheep-grazing intensities in the Cheviot Hills in the Medieval and later periods. In Atkinson, J., Banks, I. & MacGregor, G. (eds) Townships to Farmsteads. Rural Settlement Studies in Scotland, England and Wales. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports 293, 30-43.

Tipping, R. 2000. Accelerated geomorphic activity and human causation: problems in proving the links in proxy records. In Nicholson, R.A. & O’Connor, T.P. (eds) People as an Agent of Environmental Change. Oxford: Oxbow, 1-5.

Tipping, R., Davies, A. & Tisdall, E. 2000. The West Affric Forest Restoration Initiative: Palaeoecological Approaches. In Tipping, R. (ed) Using the Past in the Future of Scotland’s New Native Woodlands. St. Andrews: Scottish Woodland History Discussion Group Notes IV, 13-21.

Tipping, R. & Milburn, P. 2000. Palaeoenvironmental significance of peat-stratigraphic analyses from the Den of Boddam. In Merritt, J.W., Connell, E.R. & Bridgland, D.R. (eds) The Quaternary of the Banffshire Coast and Buchan: Field Guide. London: Quaternary Research Association.  

Tipping, R., Thompson, R. & Young, R. 2000. The sedimentary history of Buiston Loch. In Crone, A. (ed) The History of a Scottish Lowland Crannog: Excavations at Buiston, Ayrshire, 1989-90. Edinburgh: Scottish Trust for Archaeological Research, 36-47.

Bunting, M.J. & Tipping, R. 2000. Sorting dross from data: possible indicators of post-depositional assemblage biasing in archaeological palynology. In Bailey, G., Charles, R. & Winder, N. (eds) Human Ecodynamics. Oxford: Oxbow, 63-69.

Long, D.J., Tipping, R., Carter, S., Davidson, D.A., Boag, B. & Tyler, A. 2000. The replication of pollen stratigraphies in soil pollen profiles: a test. In Harley, M.M., Morton, C.M. & Blackmore, S. (eds) Pollen and Spores: Morphology and Biology. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, 481-497.

Tipping, R. 2003. Living in the past: woods and people in prehistory to 1000 BC. In Smout, T.C. (ed) People and Woods in Scotland: A History. Edinburgh: University Press, 14-39.

Tipping, R., Davies, A., Reid, E. & Tisdall, E. 2003. Late Quaternary landscape evolution of Glen Affric and Kintail. In Tipping, R. 2003. The Quaternary of Glen Affric & Kintail. London: Quaternary Research Association, 9-28. 

Tipping, R., Tisdall, E. & Davies, A. 2003. Peat development in West Glen Affric. In Tipping, R. 2003. The Quaternary of Glen Affric & Kintail. London: Quaternary Research Association, 49-54.

Tipping, R., Tisdall, E. & Davies, A. 2003. Delayed deglaciation from the Loch Lomond Readvance: radiocarbon dated sequences from West Glen Affric. In Tipping, R. 2003. The Quaternary of Glen Affric & Kintail. London: Quaternary Research Association, 85-92.

Reid, E., Thomas, M. & Tipping, R. 2003. Holocene alluvial fan and fluvial activity in uper Gleann Lichd, Kintail. In Tipping, R. 2003. The Quaternary of Glen Affric & Kintail. London: Quaternary Research Association, 157-164.

Shaw, H. & Tipping, R. 2003. Allt an Laghair, East Glen Affric: recent woodland history. In Tipping, R. 2003. The Quaternary of Glen Affric & Kintail. London: Quaternary Research Association, 105-110.

Ward, N. & Tipping, R. 2003. Estimates of the age of small-scale recent slope failures in West Glen Affric. In Tipping, R. 2003. The Quaternary of Glen Affric & Kintail. London: Quaternary Research Association, 93-96.

Wolff, H. & Tipping, R. 2003. Recent woodland history in the pinewoods of East Glen Affric. In Tipping, R. 2003. The Quaternary of Glen Affric & Kintail. London: Quaternary Research Association, 97-104.

Tipping, R. 2004. Floodplains. In Harrison, S., Pile, S. & Thrift, N. (eds) Patterned Ground: Ecologies and Geographies of Nature and Culture. London: Reaktion Books, 205-207.

Tipping, R. 2004. Interpretative issues concerning the driving forces of vegetation change in the early Holocene of the British Isles. In Saville, A. (ed) Mesolithic Scotland and its Neighbours: The Early Holocene Prehistory of Scotland, its British and Irish Context, and some Northern European Perspectives. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 45-54. 

Tipping, R. & Tisdall, E. 2004. Continuity, crisis and climate change in the Neolithic and early Bronze Periods of North West Europe.  In Shepherd, I.A.G. & Barclay, G. (eds) Scotland in Ancient Europe. The Neolithic and Early Bronze Age of Scotland in their European Context. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 71-82.

Tipping, R., Davies, A., Dawson, A., Dawson, S., Smith, D., Tisdall, E. & Tyler, A. 2004. Landscape development and the Medieval coastline. In Brann, M. (ed) Excavations at Caerlaverock Old Castle 1998-99. Dumfries: Dumfries & Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, 9-15.

Tipping, R., Davies, A., Dawson, A., Dawson, S., Kontrowitz, M., Smith, D., Tisdall, E. & Tyler, A. 2004. Medieval coastal impacts on Caerlaverock Castle. In Brann, M. (ed) Excavations at Caerlaverock Old Castle 1998-99. Dumfries: Dumfries & Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, 99-109.
 
Tipping, R., Haggart, B.A., Milburn, P.A. & Thomas, J. 2004. Landscape perception in early Bronze Age henge construction at The Pict’s Knowe, southern Scotland: a palaeoenvironmental perspective. In Carver, E. & Lelong, O. (eds) Modern Views – Ancient Lands. New Work and Thought on Cultural Landscapes. Oxford: Archaeopress, 33-40.

Davies, A.L., Tisdall, E. & Tipping, R. 2004. Holocene climatic variability and human settlement in the Scottish Highlands: fragility and robustness. In Housley, R.A. & Coles, G.M. (eds) Atlantic Connections & Adaptations. Oxford: Oxbow, 2-11.

Tipping, R. 2005. Palaeoecology and political history: evaluating driving forces in historic landscape change in southern Scotland. In Whyte, I. & Winchester, A.J.L. (eds) Society, Landcape and Environment in Upland Britain. Birmingham: Society for Landscape Studies, 11-21.

Tipping, R. 2006. Regional land use change in the historic period on the northern Solway Plain. In Lowe, C. (ed) Excavations at Hoddom 1989-1991. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 146-148.

Tipping, R., Davies, A.L. & McCulloch, R. 2006. Introduced oak woodlands in northern Scotland: pollen-analytical evidence for early historic plantations. In Woolf, A. (ed) Landscape and Environment in Dark Age Scotland. St. Andrews: University Press, 29-48.

Tipping, R. 2007. Long-term landscape evolution of the Wadis Dana, Faynan and Ghuwayr, southern Jordan. In Finlayson, B. & Mithen, S. (eds) The Early Prehistory of Wadi Faynan, Southern Jordan. Oxford: Council for British Research in the Levant, 14-46.

Tipping, R., Haggart, B.A. & Milburn, P. 2007. The interaction of site and landscape around Pict’s Knowe. In Thomas, J. (ed) Place and Memory: Excavations at the Pict’s Knowe, Holywood and Holm Farm, Dumfries & Galloway, 1994-8. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 6-36.

Milburn, P. & Tipping, R. 2007. Early historic land-uses at Pict’s Knowe: palynological evidence from the West Cutting. In Thomas, J. (ed) Place and Memory: Excavations at the Pict’s Knowe, Holywood and Holm Farm, Dumfries & Galloway, 1994-8. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 37-42.

Tipping, R., Ashmore, P., Davies, A., Haggart, A., Moir, A., Newton, A., Sands, R., Skinner, T. & Tisdall, E. 2007. Peat, pine stumps & people: interactions behind climate, vegetation change & human activity in wetland archaeology at Loch Farlary, northern Scotland. In   Barber, J. et al (eds) Archaeology from the Wetlands: Recent Perspectives. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 157-164.

Tipping, R., Tisdall, E., Davies, A. & Wilson, C. 2007. Living with peat in the flow country: prehistoric farming communities and blanket peat spread at Oliclett, Caithness, northern Scotland. In Barber, J. et al (eds) Archaeology from the Wetlands: Recent Perspectives. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 165-174.

Tipping, R. 2007. Landscape history of the Don Valley and north east Scotland. In Royal Commission on Ancient & Historical Monuments (Scotland) In the Shadow of Bennachie: A Field Archaeology of the Valley of the Don. Edinburgh: The Stationery Office, 25-44.

Carter, S., Dennison, E.P. & Tipping, R. 2008. Edinburgh before the burgh: the pre-medieval evolution of the Parliament site to c 1128. In Holyrood Archaeology Project Team (eds) Scotland’s Parliament Site and the Canongate: archaeology and history. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 9-16.  

 
Contributions to Research Monographs and Edited Volumes

Tipping, R. 2000. Pollen analyses of the ‘floors’ and fills of the cists. In Hunter, F. Excavation of an Early Bronze Age cemetery and other sites at West Water Reservoir, West Linton, Scottish Borders. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 130, 115-182.

Carter, S., Bunting, J. & Tipping, R. 2002. Grim’s Ditch North: the analysis of the buried soil and ditch sediments. In Roberts, I., Burgess, A. & Berg, D. (eds) A New Link to the Past: The Archaeological Landscape of the M1-A1 Link Road. Yorkshire Archaeology Monograph No. 7, 231-232.
 
Long, D. & Tipping, R. 2002. Becca Banks: pollen analysis. In Roberts, I., Burgess, A. & Berg, D. (eds) A New Link to the Past: The Archaeological Landscape of the M1-A1 Link Road. Yorkshire Archaeology Monograph No. 7, 233-236.

External Activities

Fellow, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

Advisory Board, Medieval or Later Rural Settlement Group (MOLRS) 1997-2004

Secretary and Trustee, Historic Rural Settlement Trust, 2004-2008

Trustee, Scottish Coastal Archaeology (SCAPE) Trust, 2000 to present

Consultant to the UK Government nomination of The Antonine Wall as a Proposed World Heritage Site 2006-2007

Advisor on the UNESCO Antonine Wall Management Group 2007-present

Board Member, Forth Naturalist & Historical Society 2007-present

Member of Council, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 2008-present

Member of the 'Neolithic' Panel of the Scottish Archaeological Research Framework