2007
DOI: 10.1002/gea.20185
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Sourcing fire ash on archaeological sites in the Western and Northern Isles of Scotland, using mineral magnetism

Abstract: The application of a new technique developed to identify different fuel sources from ash on nine archaeological sites in the Western and Northern Isles of Scotland is presented. The technique is based on variations observed in the mineral magnetic signatures that derive from the experimental burning of different fuels. The application of the technique is successful, demonstrating both uniformity and diversity in fuel use. A marked continuity of practice in fuel procurement is apparent over thousands of years f… Show more

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Cited by 32 publications
(26 citation statements)
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“…This ash had presumably spread from the central domestic hearth, either being deliberately laid down as part of a beaten floor level or trampled over time across the domestic space, a phenomenon noted in other blackhouse excavations (Smith 1996) and 19 th /20 th -century ethnography (Fenton 1978). The archaeobotanical remains would have been carbonized in the hearth, the principal taphonomic model for carbonized plant macrofossil preservation in North Atlantic archaeology Church et al 2005Church et al , 2007.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…This ash had presumably spread from the central domestic hearth, either being deliberately laid down as part of a beaten floor level or trampled over time across the domestic space, a phenomenon noted in other blackhouse excavations (Smith 1996) and 19 th /20 th -century ethnography (Fenton 1978). The archaeobotanical remains would have been carbonized in the hearth, the principal taphonomic model for carbonized plant macrofossil preservation in North Atlantic archaeology Church et al 2005Church et al , 2007.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Peat/turf ash was identified in the field as patches of orangey brown clayey ash, a common color and texture associated with the burning of peat and turf in the Western Isles (Church et al 2007). This identification was confirmed by the enhanced magnetic susceptibility (c) in deposits with large proportions of ash, and the range of frequency dependent magnetic susceptibility (kfd%) indicated a significant concentration of superparamagnetic grains (Dearing 1994), a feature of peat and turf ash (Church et al 2007;Peters et al 2000. Large numbers of burnt fragments of carbonized peat/ turf were also recovered from the bulk samples.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…This detailed examination at the base of coastal erosion archaeological sections was successfully used to identify the first archaeological sites of Mesolithic date in the Western Isles of Scotland (Gregory et al, 2005;Church et al, 2011). A similar palynological argument for early human settlement was proposed for the 'invisible Mesolithic' of the Western Isles, where small-scale clearance episodes evident in preNeolithic pollen sequences, coupled with a rise in microscopic charcoal, led researchers to propose hunter-gatherer fire ecology accounted for these disturbances, despite the lack of any Mesolithic archaeological sites in the island chain (Bennett et al, 1990;Bohncke, 1988;Edwards, 1996;Edwards and Sugden, 2003).…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…), moss leaf fragments, small culm nodes/bases, small rhizomes, and seeds from heath and grassland species. These plant macrofossils were likely to have been carbonized within the turfs used during the charcoal production process, because they reflect the suite of macrofossils expected when burning turf (Dickson 1998;Church et al 2007). …”
Section: Dating and Statistical Analysismentioning
confidence: 99%