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Dr Lucy VerrillResearch FellowPhD – ‘Later prehistoric environmental marginality in western Ireland: multi-proxy investigations’, University of Edinburgh (2006)
School
of Biological & Environmental Sciences tel: +44 1786 467757 |
Background / Previous posts
Independent contract researcher (2005-2008).
Project Officer (Environmental), Oxford Archaeology North, Lancaster (2007). Main projects:
- Pollen analysis of boreholes from the Channel Tunnel Rail Link / South Thames Development Route construction
- Geoarchaeological investigation of a proposed habitat development site at Burnham Overy Marshes, Norfolk
Current project
Landscape setting, ecological context and intervisibility within the Torbhlaren monument complex, Kilmartin, Argyll: Collaboration with the Universities of Southampton, Bristol and University College, Dublin (2008-2010).
Excavation of three examples of later prehistoric rock art (cup-&-ring markings) at Torbhlaren, within the internationally renowned later prehistoric ritual complex of Kilmartin, by Dr. Andrew Jones has resulted in the first directly dated evidence for their creation: 14C assays date the rock art to the mid-fifth millennium cal. BP. There are many questions unresolved about the role such markings played in the social life of early farmers, several of them related to their landscape and ecological contexts. Why are these enigmatic carvings where they are? Were they located centrally or liminally? Were they sign-posts? Were they intended to be hidden, known only to a few people?
To answer some of these questions, the project has linked geomorphological, palaeoecological and geoarchaeological components:
- Landscape setting (Dr Richard Tipping)
The physical context of the monument complex, and specifically the relation between the Torbhlaren monuments and the River Add. The aims are (a) to define whether the rock art at Torbhlaren was made in a special place or whether the present locations represent the only survivals of a formerly more extensive valley floor distribution, (b) to establish how close the river was to the monument complex and what the river and the valley floor looked like, (c) how these aspects affected access to the monuments and (d) how the natural landscape may have influenced the contemporary understanding of the monument complex.
- Ecological context (Dr Lucy Verrill, Ben Pears and Stuart Morrison)
Pollen analysis (LV) and soil micromorphological analysis (BP) will investigate relationships of the monument complex to contemporary land use. The aim here is to establish whether the valley floor at Torbhlaren supported natural woodland or whether the ground around the monuments was farmed in some way, and from this to establish whether the monument complex was separated from domestic activities;
- Intervisibility (Dr Lucy Verrill & Dr Sandy Winterbottom)
The integration of pollen analysis, pollen source modelling (LV) and GIS-based reconstructions (Virtual Reality and viewshed analysis: SW) will investigate whether people at the cup-marked rock at Torbhlaren 1 could see the cup-marked rock at Torbhlaren 2, 200m away, thus for the first time testing a fundamental assumption in many interpretations of Neolithic monument complexes.
Research interests
I am interested in human-environment interactions, particularly in the Neolithic and Bronze Age of Britain and Ireland, focusing on linking pollen analysis with other techniques to reconstruct environment and economy. Much of my research has been concerned with assessing human response to environmental change and identifying adaptive techniques in agricultural practice. My PhD thesis used pollen analysis, geoarchaeology, thin section soil micromorphology and peat humification analysis to reconstruct the occupation and agricultural history of a Neolithic and Bronze Age sub-peat field system at Belderg, Co. Mayo, Ireland. Such detailed multi-proxy analyses enabled the construction of an integrated history of land-use and environmental change, identifying the particular vulnerabilities of the site’s occupants, and pinpointing the nature and timing of environmental stresses. Publications from the thesis are in preparation.
Publications
Books
- Noble, G., Poller, T., Raven, J. & Verrill, L. (eds) 2008. Scottish Odysseys: Archaeology of Islands. Stroud: Tempus.
Journal papers
- Verrill, L. & Tipping, R. in press. A palynological and geoarchaeological investigation into Bronze Age farming at Belderg Beg, Co. Mayo, Ireland. Journal of Archaeological Science (2010), doi: 10.1016/j/jas.2009.12.020
- Verrill, L. & Tipping, R. forthcoming. Use and abandonment of a Neolithic field system at Belderrig, Co. Mayo, Ireland: evidence for economic marginality. The Holocene, accepted for publication.
- Verrill, L. 2006. Recording the postglacial sediment stratigraphy of the valley side at Belderg Beg, Co. Mayo, Ireland. Quaternary Newsletter 109: 50-52.
- Johnson, M., Flitcroft, C. & Verrill, L. in prep. The Calanais Fields Project: excavation of a prehistoric sub-peat field system at Calanais, Isle of Lewis, 1999-2000.
Specialist contributions
- Verrill, L. ‘Pollen analysis’, in Lucas, G. 2008. Pálstóftir: A Viking Age Shieling in Iceland. Norwegian Archaeological Review 41 (1).
- Verrill, L. ‘Soil tests’, pp138 in Johnson, M. & Rees, A. 2005. Excavation of an early historic palisaded enclosure at Titwood, Mearnskirk, East Renfrewshire. Scottish Archaeological Journal 25(2): 129-145.
Specialist reports
- Multiple client/archive reports for and on behalf of clients including CFA Archaeology Ltd, Oxford Archaeology and Institute of Archaeology, Iceland.
