The Flag Fen Basin


Book Description

The Flag Fen Basin has been the subject of nearly continuous archaeological research since about 1900. This research sheds new light on the Neolithic landscape, on the Iron Age and Roman landscapes, and on the changing environmental conditions since the earlier Neolithic.




Flag Fen


Book Description

Francis Pryor has been working at the late Bronze Age site of Flag Fen, near Peterborough, for over thirty years and, during that time, it has emerged as one of the most important and most understood prehistoric landscapes in Britain.




The Fens


Book Description

A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. 'Francis Pryor brings the magic of the Fens to life in a deeply personal and utterly enthralling way' TONY ROBINSON. 'Pryor feels the land rather than simply knowing it' GUARDIAN. Inland from the Wash, on England's eastern cost, crisscrossed by substantial rivers and punctuated by soaring church spires, are the low-lying, marshy and mysterious Fens. Formed by marine and freshwater flooding, and historically wealthy owing to the fertility of their soils, the Fens of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire are one of the most distinctive, neglected and extraordinary regions of England. Francis Pryor has the most intimate of connections with this landscape. For some forty years he has dug its soils as a working archaeologist – making ground-breaking discoveries about the nature of prehistoric settlement in the area – and raising sheep in the flower-growing country between Spalding and Wisbech. In The Fens, he counterpoints the history of the Fenland landscape and its transformation – from Bronze age field systems to Iron Age hillforts; from the rise of prosperous towns such as King's Lynn, Ely and Cambridge to the ambitious drainage projects that created the Old and New Bedford Rivers – with the story of his own discovery of it as an archaeologist. Affectionate, richly informative and deftly executed, The Fens weaves together strands of archaeology, history and personal experience into a satisfying narrative portrait of a complex and threatened landscape.




Membranes for Industrial Wastewater Recovery and Re-use


Book Description

In a world in which legislation promotes the recycling of wastewater new technologies are emerging that can fulfil such a remit. The papers that comprise this volume explore those technologies and explain what is driving and what is preventing their widespread implementation.




DK Eyewitness Books: Archeology


Book Description

Without the help of archeologists throughout time, very little would be known about some of the world’s greatest civilizations. Archeology, with its carefully developed preservation techniques, is responsible for uncovering artifacts like the Greek sculptures and Native American weaponry we see in museums everyday. Be an “eyewitness” to the fascinating world of archeology. See a loaf of bread preserved for 2,000 years, the first humanskeleton ever discovered, a corroded cannon from a shipwreck, and a reconstructed helmet made of gold, silver and bronze. Learn about carbon dating, how to tell the difference between a fake and the real thing, why tombs were plundered, and the secrets behind standing stones. Discover where the world''s first iron bridge was built, how a dig is organized, a "ghost ship''s" impression in the sand, how rescue evacuations are carried out, and much, much more! Discover the world of archeology how to piece together civilizations of the past and why it matters today




Geoarchaeology in Action


Book Description

Geoarchaeology in Action provides much-needed 'hands on' methodologies to assist anyone conducting or studying geoarchaeological investigations on sites and in landscapes, irrespective of date, place and environment. The book sets out the essential features of geoarchaeological practice and geomorphological processes, and is deliberately aimed at the archaeologist as practitioner in the field. It explains the basics - what can be expected, what approaches may be taken, and what outcomes might be forthcoming, and asks what we can reasonably expect a micromorphological approach to archaeological contexts, data and problems to tell us. The twelve case studies are taken from Britain, Europe and the Near East. They illustrate how past landscape change can be discovered and deciphered whether you are primarily a digger, environmentalist or soil micromorphologist. Based on the author's extensive experience of investigating buried and eroded landscapes, the book develops new ways of looking at conventional models of landscape change. With an extensive glossary, bibliography and more than 100 illustrations it will be an essential text and reference tool for students, academics and professionals.




Rivers in Prehistory


Book Description

From antiquity onwards people have opted to live near rivers and major watercourses. This volume explores rivers as facilitators of movement through landscapes, and it investigates the reasons for living near a river, as well as the role of the river in the human landscape.




Snapshots of the Past


Book Description

Archaeology has been a subject of endless fascination to scholars, students and the general public. For the past three decades, Prof. Brian Fagan has been the key narrator of the story of the past for many, through his textbooks, trade books and numerous magazine and journal articles. In recent years, Fagan has reported on the latest news, theories, and controversies in archaeology through his regular Timelines column in Archaeology Magazine. In Snapshots of the Past, Fagan collects many of these vignettes into a single work, leading the reader on a tour through time and space that ranges from the ascent of the human species to the public controversies that concern today's archaeologist. In these 30 brief chapters, the author offers readers a series of "snapshots" of the issues of greatest contemporary interest: the Eve hypothesis, the peopling of the New World, site looting, the translation of Mayan hieroglyphs, the domestication of animals, the impact of feminism on archaeology, the archaeology of slavery, and evidence of human cannibalism, among many others. Included among the articles are several pieces written specifically for this volume, including a description of the recent, spectacular cave art finds at Chauvet Grotto in France. For instructors of archaeology, the book is a handy compilation of brief, interesting cases to engage your students. For serious archaeologists, the book represents a collection of works of one of the important synthesizers of the field. For the avocational archaeologist, the book provides a fascinating, readable update on issues of current concern.




Fenland Survey


Book Description

Archaeological surveys of the Fenland of eastern England were initiated in the 1930s after it became clear that centuries of drainage and cultivation had seriously reduced the archaeological deposits. These studies were among the first to take a multi-disciplinary aproach to archaeological work, and continued with new work in the 1980s when intensive surveys were made of the wetlands of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. During the eight years of the Fenland Survey (1981-88), fieldworkers walked 250,000 hectares and initiated palaeoenvironemental investigations allied to a radiocarbon dating programme. At the end of the survey, in 1989-90, the survey results were evaluated and a programme of field investigations undertaken. This volume is a synopsis of that work. It provides an introduction to the traditional Fenland, as perceived by both ancient and modern geographers, explorers, and historians, and a summary of the complex environmental history of the region. It is presented broadly according to the traditional archaeological periods - Mesolithic to medieval - but it also provides an overview of cultural continuity and of the response to changing conditions over 6000 years of history. It concludes with some reflections on the present condition of the Fenland and the response of the archaeological community to the threats posted by recent agricultural and other practices.




Fen, Bog and Swamp


Book Description

"A lifelong acolyte of the natural world, Annie Proulx brings her witness and research to the subject of wetlands and the vitally important role they play in preserving the environment-by storing the carbon emissions that accelerate climate change. Fens, bogs, swamps, and marine estuaries are crucial to the earth's survival, and in four illuminating parts, Proulx documents their systemic destruction in pursuit of profit. In a vivid and revelatory journey through history, Proulx describes the fens of 16th-century England, Canada's Hudson Bay lowlands, Russia's Great Vasyugan Mire, and America's Okeefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. She introduces the early explorers who launched the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, and writes of the diseases spawned in the wetlands-the Ague, malaria, Marsh Fever. A sobering look at the degradation of wetlands over centuries and the serious ecological consequences, this is "an unforgettable and unflinching tour of past and present, fixed on a subject that could not be more important" (Bill McKibben)"--