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Mid to late Holocene vegetation and land use history in the Weald of south-eastern England: multiple pollen profiles from the Rye area

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Abstract

The High Weald is an unusually well-wooded area in southern England. A high proportion of this woodland is ancient, being formerly exploited as seasonal pasture and coppice. Multiple pollen profiles from the Rye area have been used to elucidate the origins of this cultural landscape. By combining sites with small and large pollen source areas, both local and regional patterns of vegetation change have been determined. The mid-Holocene Tilia-dominated woodlands were subjected to temporary clearance as early as the Neolithic. This woodland was more extensively exploited over a ca. 700 year period from the beginning of the Bronze Age. The main elements of the modern landscape (woodland, pasture and limited cultivation) can be traced back to a more intensive phase of human activity, which commenced in the late Bronze Age. A regional increase in Fagus sylvatica pollen ca. 750 B.C. probably reflects the use of the Wealden woods for pasturage. There is no palynological evidence that the fuel demands of the Roman iron industry resulted in widespread woodland destruction. The early Anglo-Saxon period appears to have been one of land-use continuity, with a second increase in Fagus pollen at ca. A.D. 700 corresponding to historical evidence for the presence of wood-pastures in the Weald.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded through English Heritage under the Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund project: “The Evolution of the Port of Rye”. We would like to thank our collaborators on the project A. Long and D. Laidler (Durham University), A. Plater, P. Stupples and K. Elmore (University of Liverpool) and P. Wilson (English Heritage). A. Bayliss of the English Heritage Scientific Dating Section, and J. Meadows (UCL), are thanked for their contribution to the radiocarbon dating programme. A. Woodcock, M. Gardiner, L. Barber and A. Tyler provided assistance with the archaeological data. We thank M. O’Connell for comments on an earlier draft of the text. Fig. 1 was drawn by C. Ivison at Kingston University.

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  1. Centre for Earth and Environmental Science Research, School of Earth Sciences and Geography, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, KT1 2EE,, UK

    Martyn P. Waller

  2. Department of Geography and Environment, University of Aberdeen, Elphinstone Road, Aberdeen, AB24 3UF,, UK

    J. Edward Schofield

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  1. Martyn P. Waller
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Correspondence to Martyn P. Waller.

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Waller, M.P., Schofield, J.E. Mid to late Holocene vegetation and land use history in the Weald of south-eastern England: multiple pollen profiles from the Rye area. Veget Hist Archaeobot 16, 367–384 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-006-0042-1

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