THE ALLUVIAL ARCHAEOLOGY OF NORTH-WEST EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN ABSTRACTS OF CONFERENCE PAPERS

Archaeological research has long assumed that tidally-influenced valley floor environments in the immediate locality of the Muge middens provided a rich food resource for local Mesolithic communities. To date, however, there has been little attempt to evaluate palaeoenvironmental records of contemporary environments and their subsequent changes. Here we demonstrate that the presently canalised, intensively cultivated and low-relief Holocene valley floor of the lower Muge is locally infilled with at least 11 m of fine-grained alluvium and peat with good pollen, macrofossil, diatom and ostracod preservation. Sediments in the upper 4 m of this sequence post-date c. 7500 BP and bury early Holocene landscapes contemporary with local Mesolithic occupation. Preliminary pollen and foraminiferal analysis of alluvium deposited between c. 7500-2200 BP demonstrates the transformation of an open, saline lagoonal environment (which would have provided a rich resource for prehistoric communities) to freshwater alder woodland around 2200 BP. It is concluded that the alluvial record of the lower Muge offers a rare and hitherto unforeseen opportunity to elucidate the specific environmental context and potential resource base of hunter-gatherer communities in the Muge valley. There is also a possibility to determine the degree to which ‘neolithisation’ in this area was associated with changing resource bases as a result of local environmental change.