Congratulations to Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP students, Gonzalo Linares-Matás (Oxford) and James Clark (Cambridge), who have recently published a paper in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, based on collaborative research with Jonathan Lim, another doctoral student at the University of Oxford.
Their article is a geoarchaeological spatial analysis based on the application of doline delineation methods to subsurface Clay-with-flints (CWF) deposits in the chalk of the Chiltern Hills (southern England). They use publicly available datasets for predictive modelling, such as the Advanced National Superficial Deposit Thickness Model (ASTM) of the British Geological Survey, and artefact distribution data. Their research has revealed a wealth of potential features that could have acted as semi-permanent ponds or lakes in the Palaeolithic. These doline sites may therefore provide numerous primary-context Pleistocene deposits that have high potential for addressing questions on the behaviour of early human groups, such as the nature of resource procurement strategies throughout the landscape and regional settlement dynamics.
This methodological approach for understanding underground archaeological potential provides a valuable resource for informing national and local heritage planning policy.
Follow this link to view the paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102665
