Field Visit
Date January 2014 - December 2014
Event ID 1013748
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1013748
HY 387 141, HY 425 660 and HY 294 131 (centred on) Work on Holocene sea level change in Orkney indicates that relative sea levels reached their present position some 4000 years ago. This project, which was set up in 2005, aims to construct a sea level curve to provide detail of former changes in relative sea level around Orkney and to investigate the possibility that remains of past human settlement might be preserved on the seabed.
The project combines different strands of work including sediment coring, remote sensing, seismic survey, diving, intertidal survey, palaeoenvironmental analysis on land, in the intertidal zone and from submerged surfaces, aerial photography, archive searches, and ethnoarchaeology. The work undertaken January – December 2014 focused on three areas.
In the Bay of Firth work focused on coring with the following aims: recovery of organic sediments from the western reaches of the Bay; recovery of organic material in the vicinity of the Main Mound site in order to determine possible anthropogenic activity; reconstruction of Early Holocene inundation sequence as it took place in the Bay of Firth and production of palaeogeographic reconstruction as inundation took place.
The use of vibrocore equipment and a small raft facilitated the recovery of sediment cores from the ancient lakebed lying towards the W end of the Bay. Core recovery was good with little deformation, and lithology and other analyses are taking place to build a picture of the inundation sequence. Recovery of cores in the vicinity of the Main Mound was not possible due to adverse weather but further attempts will be made to
complete this work.
In the Loch of Stenness work focused on coring with the following aims: recovery of organic sediments from key locations across the loch as determined by onshore archaeology and sonar and seismic scans taken in previous years; reconstruction of Early Holocene inundation sequence as it took place across the loch and production of palaeogeographic
reconstruction as inundation took place.
The use of vibrocore equipment allowed the extraction of eight cores from the S half of the loch. Research is ongoing but preliminary work by Killingbeck has reconstructed a detailed sequence of inundation and palaeoenvironmental change, suggesting that present sea level was not reached until at least 3000 BP.
The work in Sanday aimed to extend research away from the heartland of Mainland Orkney and to gather, date and interpret the palaeoenvironmental record from marine and intertidal sediment cores from key sites outwith the World Heritage area but near onshore heritage sites of international importance.
Preliminary work was undertaken including walkover survey for source sites where palaeoenvironmental cores might be obtained and some trial auguring.
Archive: Contributors (currently), ADS, Orkney SMR and RCAHMS
(intended)
Funder: Historic Scotland
CR Wickham-Jones, S Dawson, R Bates, M Bates, D Huws, E Gal and J Killingbeck – University of Aberdeen, University of Dundee, University of St Andrews, University of Wales, Trinity St David and University of Bangor
(Source: DES)
