Studies of vegetation and land-use history on Bodmin Moor: pollen investigations from Leskernick

Abstract

Details of pollen investigations that accompanied archaeological excavations (of a Late Neolithic/Early Bronze ritual complex and a Middle to Late Bronze Age settlement) at Leskernick Hill Bodmin Moor, undertaken between 1995 and 1999, are presented. Samples were collected both from a nearby off-site location and from a variety of on-site contexts. The off-site peat profile contains a major hiatus. The earliest assemblage corresponds to the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age and indicates a largely open landscape in which both pasture and arable agriculture were practiced. Sedimentation recommenced during the early Medieval period and the pollen record shows the varying degrees to which grazing and arable agriculture were practiced up until the recent past. These phases do not accord well with historic evidence from the wider area, though other pollen diagrams from the region also record a wetter phase found at Leskernick (and dated here to c. 1400-1600 AD). Evidence obtained during the archaeological excavations suggests the ritual complex was abandoned early and the pollen records indicate this was accompanied by a period of low grazing pressure. Samples from the interiors of huts/houses dated to the Middle Bronze Age are dominated by Poaceae pollen suggesting relatively intense human activity. The assemblages from beneath the boundary walls around the settlement probably cover a considerable time period, in part as a result of rebuilding and the reuse of stone. With high Calluna vulgaris values they appear largely to reflect the stony nature of the environment in which the settlement was established. PreambleThis pre-print details the results of pollen investigations that accompanied archaeological excavations at Leskernick Hill, Bodmin Moor, undertaken between 1995 and 1999. A draft manuscript was prepared for publication in 2005, but the monograph in which it was to be included outlining the excavations, has not been forthcoming. Details of the archaeological/historic features present at Leskernick can be found in Johnson and Rose (1994) and Herring et al. (2008), while Bender et al. (2007) provides information on the work that these investigations formed part of. The 2005 manuscript is reproduced here with a new introduction and revisions incorporating information from the later publications.