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  • Past human and environment dynamics

Past human and environment dynamics

These pages hold legacy content of completed research. Our new online home with details of our most recent achievements will be the Past Human and Environment Dynamics Research and Enterprise Group on the university research portal.

For a list of all university research groups and centres, visit the University of Brighton's page on organisational research units.  

________________

 

 

The Past Human and Environment Dynamics (PHED) research group brings together academics and PhD students working on key issues at the intersection of Quaternary science, geomorphology and archaeology. The group shares a number of common methodological approaches, with particular expertise in sediment micromorphology and the analysis of sediment and artefact geochemistry. Members of PHED are also active participants of the Centre for Aquatic Environments, and the Applied Geosciences, Sustainability and Resilience Engineering and Society, Space and Environment research groups.

Research within PHED falls under the following two themes:

  • Reconstruction of past environments
  • Humans in ancient landscapes

James-Cole-in-Isimila

Dr James Cole examines Late Quaternary lacustrine sediments at the Isimila archaeological site, Tanzania

The extent to which climate variability impacted upon the lives of our human ancestors has been much debated – our research drives forward these debates

Reconstruction of past environments

Research within this theme focuses upon reconstructing past environments, ranging over timescales from millions of years to the recent past. Our work has two main foci: the macro- and microscale analysis of glacial, periglacial and terrestrial geochemical sediments, and the reconstruction of historic climate variability using documentary sources.

Research in these areas provides a fundamental understanding of past environmental and landscape changes, but also has real world applications. For example, the results of climate history research by members of PHED are being used to extend rainfall and tropical cyclone records in India and southern Africa. Understanding and characterising the impacts of iceberg scour on seafloor sediments informs, for example, the limits of glacial margins, and is being applied to reduce deformation damage to Arctic pipelines by iceberg keels. Work on the origins and distribution of sarsens and puddingstones is being used to inform our understanding of the construction of prehistoric monuments in the southern UK.

Tidewater-glacier-in-western-Svalbard

Tidewater glacier in western Svalbard

Humans in ancient landscapes

Research within this theme focuses on the ways in which humans engaged with landscapes in the past. Members of PHED lead research projects investigating the origins of our species in East Africa c.200,000 years ago, and lithic raw material transportation in the Kalahari Desert c.100,000 years ago. At more recent timescales, our work focuses on Bronze Age gold and tin extraction from the Mourne Mountains (Ireland), the Iron Age African civilisation of Merowe (Sudan), and the ritual significance given to rivers and watery places in the UK during the Bronze-Iron Age.

As well as conducting regular fieldwork, PHED members contribute to theoretical debates and methodological developments in archaeology. Topics span from the origins of language and symbolic behaviour in our human ancestors to the 3D modelling and scanning of artefacts to gain a better understanding of their physical and social properties. PHED members also innovate new techniques for geochemical mapping of Bronze and Iron Age mineral processing.

Silcrete-hand-tools

Spearhead manufactured from silcrete, excavated from the Middle Stone Age layers at Rhino Cave, Botswana

Research projects

group-shot-Botswana

ProSAIK: Provenancing silcrete artefacts in the Kalahari Desert

Past-humans-silcrete

Heat treatment of silcrete raw materials

The implications of temperature-induced transformations for archaeological provenancing studies

Enso-Africa-Natal-Times-2

ENSO Africa

Societal responses to El Niño-related climate extremes in southern Africa

Sampling-for-paleaosol-at-Wintershead

Human environmental dynamics on Exmoor during the Mid Holocene

Isimila-thumbnail

The Isimila stone age project

James-Cole-v3

Assessing the calorific significance of human cannibalism in the Palaeolithic

Coping-with-climate-banner

Coping with climate: The legacy of Homo heidelbergensis

Figure-1-Cu-anomalies-Trewortha

Alternative approaches to elucidating the social organisation of metalworking in the British Chalcolithic-Bronze Age

Dinosaur-Sophie

Osteology and Palaeobiology of north Africa's first stegosaur: implications for herbivorous dinosaur evolution and biogeography

Stonehenge-project

Geochemical fingerprinting the sarsen stones at Stonehenge

Deposit-Modelling-and-Archaeology_book-cover

Deposit modelling and archaeology

Research team

Dr Chris Carey

Dr James Cole

Dr Jaime Kaminski

Dr Lorna Linch

Dr Norman Moles

Professor David Nash

Dr Gary Nichols

Judith Watson

Output

Adamson, George and Nash, David (2013) Long-term variability in the date of monsoon onset over western India Climate Dynamics, 40 (11-12). pp. 2589-2603. ISSN 0930-7575

Adamson, George and Nash, David (2014) Documentary reconstruction of monsoon rainfall variability over western India, 1781-1860 Climate Dynamics, 42 (3-4). pp. 749-769. ISSN 0930-7575

Brown, Antony, Carey, Christopher and Dinnin, Mark (2011) The geomorphology, geoarchaeology and alluvial history of the Frome Valley In: White, Paul and Ray, Keith, eds. The Frome Valley Herefordshire: Archaeology, landscape change and conservation. Herefordshire Studies in Archaeology . Herefordshire Archaeology, Hereford, pp. 62-78. ISBN 9780954699840

Brown, Antony, Toms, Phil, Carey, Christopher and Rhodes, Eddie (2013) Geomorphology of the Anthropocene: time-transgressive discontinuities of human-induced alluviation Anthropocene, 1. pp. 3-13. ISSN 2213-3054

Brown, Antony, Toms, Phil, Carey, Christopher, Howard, Andy and Challis, Keith (2013) Late Pleistocene–Holocene river dynamics at the Trent-Soar confluence, England, UK Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 38 (3). pp. 237-249. ISSN 0197-9337

Carey, Christopher and Juleff, Gill (2013) Geochemical survey and metalworking: a case study from Exmoor, southwest Britain In: Humphris, Jane and Rehren, Thilo, eds. The world of iron. Archetype Publications, London, pp. 383-392. ISBN 9781904982975

Carey, Christopher, Juleff, Gill, Wickstead, Helen J., Anderson, Jens C. and Barber, Martyn J. (2014) Geochemical survey and metalworking: analysis of chemical residues derived from experimental non-ferrous metallurgical processes in a reconstructed roundhouse Journal of Archaeological Science, 49. pp. 383-397. ISSN 0305-4403

Challis, Keith, Carey, Christopher, Kincey, Mark and Howard, Andy (2011) Assessing the preservation potential of temperate, lowland alluvial sediments using airborne lidar intensity Journal of Archaeological Science, 38 (2). pp. 301-311. ISSN 0305-4403

Cole, James (2012) The Identity Model: a theory to access visual display and hominin cognition within the Palaeolithic Human Origins, 1. pp. 24-40. ISSN 2041-403X

Cole, James (2014) The Identity Model: a theory to access visual display and hominin cognition within the Palaeolithic In: Dunbar, R.I.M., Gamble, C. and Gowlett , J.A.J., eds. Lucy to Language: Benchmark Papers. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 90-107. ISBN 9780199652594

Cole, James (2015) Examining the Presence of Symmetry within Acheulean Handaxes: A Case Study in the British Palaeolithic Cambridge Archaeological Journal. ISSN 0959-7743

Cole, James (2015) Handaxe symmetry in the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic: implications for the Acheulean gaze In: Coward, F., Hosfield, R., Pope, M. and Wenban-Smith, F.F., eds. Settlement, Society and Cognition in Human Evolution: Landscapes in Mind. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 234-257. ISBN 9781107026889

Cole, James (2015) Hominin language development: a new method of archaeological assessment Biosemiotics, 8 (1). pp. 67-90. ISSN 1875-1342

Cole, James and Ruebens, Karen (2012) Papers from the British Academy Lucy to Language: the Archaeology of the Social Brain Seminar Series on Visual Display in the Palaeolithic [Edited Collections]

Galanidou, Nena, Cole, James, Iliopoulos, Georgios and McNabb, John (2013) East meets West: The Middle Pleistocene site of Rodafnidia on Lesvos, Greece Antiquity, 87 (336). ISSN 0003-598X

Grab, S.W. and Nash, David (2010) Documentary evidence of climate variability during cold seasons in Lesotho, southern Africa, 1833 - 1900 Climate Dynamics, 34 (4). pp. 473-499. ISSN 0930-7575

Howard, Andy, Kincey, Mark and Carey, Christopher (2015) Preserving the Legacy of Historic Metal-Mining Industries in Light of the Water Framework Directive and Future Environmental Change in Mainland Britain: Challenges for the Heritage Community The Historic Environment: Policy & Practice, 6 (1). pp. 3-15. ISSN 1756-7505

Jackson, Robin, Brown, Antony, Carey, Christopher, Howard, Andy, Mann, Andy, Roberts, Tony, Sworn, Simon and Toms, Phil (2012) Delivering the Benefits of Aggregates Levy Sustainability Funded Research on River Valley Archaeological Sites in the Severn-Wye Catchment, UK Historic Environment: Policy and Practice (2). pp. 97-115. ISSN 1756-7505

Linch, Lorna and van der Meer, J.J.M. (2013) Metripol birefringence imaging of unconsolidated glaciotectonized and ice keel scoured sediments: identification of unistrial plasmic fabric Boreas. ISSN 0300-9483

Linch, Lorna and van der Meer, J.J.M. (2015) Micromorphology of ice keel scour in pebbly sandy mud and fine-grained sands: Scarborough Bluffs, Ontario, Canada Sedimentology, 62 (1). pp. 110-129. ISSN 0037-0746

Linch, Lorna, van der Meer, J.J.M. and Menzies, J. (2012) Micromorphology of iceberg scour in clays: Glacial Lake Agassiz, Manitoba, Canada Quaternary Science Reviews, 55. pp. 125-144. ISSN 0277-3791

McNabb, John and Cole, James (2015) The mirror cracked: Symmetry and refinement in the Acheulean handaxe Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 3. pp. 100-111. ISSN 2352-409X

McNabb, John, Hosfield, Robert, Dearling, Kevin, Barker, Dominic, Strutt, Kristian, Cole, James, Bates, Martin and Toms, Phillip (2012) Recent work at the Lower Palaeolithic site of Corfe Mullen, Dorset, England Proceedings of The Prehistoric Society, 78. pp. 35-50. ISSN 0079-497X

Metcalfe, S.E. and Nash, David (2012) Quaternary environmental change in the tropics [Edited Collections]

Metcalfe, S.E. and Nash, David (2012) Introduction to Quaternary environmental change in the tropics In: Metcalfe, S.E. and Nash, D.J., eds. Quaternary Environmental Change in the Tropics. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK, pp. 3-33. ISBN 9781118343258

Nash, David (2011) Desert crusts and rock coatings In: Thomas, D.S.G., ed. Arid Zone Geomorphology: Process, Form and Change in Drylands (3rd edition). Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, UK, pp. 131-180. ISBN 9780470519080

Nash, David (2011) Groundwater processes and controls In: Thomas, D.S.G., ed. Arid Zone Geomorphology: Process, Form and Change in Drylands (3rd edition). Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, UK, pp. 403-424. ISBN 9780470519080

Nash, David (2012) Desert environments In: Walker, M.J., ed. Hot Deserts: Engineering, Geology and Geomorphology. Engineering Geology Special Publications, 25 . Geological Society, London, UK, pp. 7-32. ISBN 9781862393424

Nash, David (2012) Duricrusts In: Southern African geomorphology: Recent trends and new directions. Sun Media, Bloemfontein, SA, pp. 191-229. ISBN 9781920382025

Nash, David (2015) Of dunes, depressions and dry valleys: The arid landscapes of the Kalahari Desert In: Grab, S. and Knight, J., eds. Landscapes and Landforms of South Africa. World Geomorphological Landscapes . Springer International, Switzerland, pp. 129-137. ISBN 9783319035598

Nash, David and Adamson, George (2014) Recent advances in the historical climatology of the tropics and subtropics Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 95 (1). pp. 131-146. ISSN 0003-0007

Nash, David and Eckardt, Frank (2015) Drainage development, neotectonics and base-level change in the Kalahari Desert, southern Africa South African Geographical Journal. ISSN 0373-6245

Nash, David and Grab, S.W. (2010) "A sky of brass and burning winds": documentary evidence of rainfall variability in the Kingdom of Lesotho, Southern Africa, 1824 - 1900 Climatic Change, 101 (3-4). pp. 617-653. ISSN 0165-0009

Nash, David and Meadows, M.E. (2012) Africa In: Metcalfe, S.E. and Nash, David, eds. Quaternary Environmental Change in the Tropics. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK, pp. 79-150. ISBN 9781118343258

Nash, David and Metcalfe, S.E. (2012) Past environmental changes, future environmental challenges In: Metcalfe, S.E. and Nash, David, eds. Quaternary Environmental Change in the Tropics. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK, pp. 392-411. ISBN 9781118343258

Nash, David, Coulson, Sheila, Staurset, Sigrid, Ullyott, Stewart, Babutsi, Mosarwa, Hopkinson, Laurence and Smith, Martin (2013) Provenancing of silcrete raw materials indicates long-distance transport to Tsodilo Hills, Botswana, during the Middle Stone Age Journal of Human Evolution, 64 (4). pp. 280-288. ISSN 0047-2484

Nash, David, Coulson, Sheila, Staurset, Sigrid, Smith, Martin and Ullyott, Stewart (2013) Provenancing silcrete in the Cape coastal zone: implications for Middle Stone Age research in South Africa Journal of Human Evolution, 65 (5). pp. 682-688. ISSN 0047-2484

Nash, David, Pribyl, Kathleen, Klein, Jørgen, Endfield, Georgina, Kniveton, Dominic and Adamson, George (2014) Tropical cyclone activity over Madagascar during the late nineteenth century International Journal of Climatology, 35 (11). pp. 3249-3261. ISSN 0899-8418

Neukom, Raphael, Nash, David, Endfield, G.H., Grab, S., Grove, Craig, Kelso, Clare, Vogel, Coleen and Zinke, Jens (2014) Multi-proxy summer and winter precipitation reconstruction for southern Africa over the last 200 years Climate Dynamics, 42 (9-10). pp. 2713-2726. ISSN 0930-7575

Nicholson, Sharon, Nash, David, Chase, Brian, Grab, Stefan, Shanahan, Timothy, Verschuren, Dirk, Asrat, Asfawossen, Lezine, Anne-Marie and Umer, Mohammed (2013) Temperature variability over Africa during the last 2000 years Holocene, 23 (8). pp. 1085-1094. ISSN 0959-6836

PAGES 2k Consortium (including Nash, David) (2013) Continental-scale temperature variability during the past two millennia Nature Geoscience, 6. pp. 339-346. ISSN 1752-0894

Pope, Matthew, Bates, Martin, Cole, James, Conneller, Chantal, Ruebens, Karen, Scott, Beccy, Shaw, Andrew, Smith, Geoff, Underhill, David and Wragg-Sykes, Rebecca (2012) Quaternary Environments and Archaeology of Jersey: A New Multidisciplinary project looking at the early prehistoric occupation of the English Channel Region In: Unravelling the Palaeolithic Ten years of research at the Centre for the Archaeology of Human Origins (CAHO, University of Southampton), University of Southampton, 28-29 Jan 2011.

Ullyott, Stewart, Nash, David and Huggett, Jennifer (2015) Cap structures as diagnostic indicators of silcrete origin Sedimentary Geology, 325. pp. 119-131. ISSN 0037-0738

Warner, Richard, Moles, Norman, Chapman, Rob and Cahill, Mary (2010) The Mournes: a source of early Bronze Age tin and gold Archaeology Ireland, 24 (4). ISSN 0790-892X

Warner, Richard, Moles, Norman and Chapman, Rob (2010). Evidence for Early Bronze Age tin and gold extraction in the Mourne Mountains, Co. Down. Journal of the Mining Heritage Trust of Ireland, 10, 29-36. ISSN 1649-0908

Wilson-North, Rob and Carey, Christopher (2011) A burnt mound on Brendon Common, Exmoor In: Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society, UK.

Sources/links

British Society for Geomorphology

International Union for Quaternary Research

PAGES (Past Global Changes)

Quaternary Research Association

Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)

Collaborations

  • Aarhus University
  • British Antarctic Survey
  • British Geological Survey
  • Botswana National Museum
  • Bournemouth University
  • C-CORE, Newfoundland
  • FUGRO
  • Hedmark University College
  • Kings College London
  • Kola Science Centre, Apatity
  • Loughborough University
  • National Museums of Tanzania
  • National University of Singapore 
  • Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research
  • Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
  • Queen Mary University of London
  • Queen’s University Belfast
  • Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
  • University of Aberdeen
  • University College London
  • University of Bergen
  • University of Botswana
  • University of Cape Town
  • University of Dar es Salaam
  • University of Exeter
  • University of Florida
  • University of Johannesburg
  • University of Leeds
  • University of Liverpool
  • University of Montpelier
  • University of Nottingham
  • University of Oslo
  • University of Oxford
  • University of Pretoria
  • University of Sheffield
  • University of Southampton
  • University of Sussex
  • University of Tübingen
  • University of Wales Trinity St David
  • University of the Witwatersrand

Funding

Heat treatment of silcrete raw materials: the implications of temperature-induced transformations for archaeological provenancing studies. British Academy (£9,504; 2015) (to David Nash, with Dr. P. Schmidt, University of Tübingen).

Investigation of human-environmental dynamics in the Leitrim Valley through analysis of alluvial sediment archives. Mourne Cooley Gullion Geotourism and EU INTERREG IVA (£1,800, 2014, to Chris Carey and Norman Moles).

Transitional glaciation in the central Khibiny Mountains, Kola Peninsula, Arctic Russia (TRANSARC). EU-INTERACT (€4142; 2014) (to Lorna Linch, with Danni Pearce, University of Aberdeen and Vasili Kolka, Kola Science Centre, Apatity).

Characterising iceberg scour in diamictons: Scoresby Sund, East Greenland. Rising Stars, University of Brighton (£5835; 2013) and the Quaternary Research Association (£850) (to Lorna Linch, with Julian Dowdeswell, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge).

Societal responses to El Niño-related climate extremes in southern Africa. Leverhulme Trust (£193,063; 2009) (to David Nash, with Prof. G. Endfield, University of Nottingham, Prof. D. Kniveton, University of Sussex and Dr J. Klein, Hedmark University College, Norway).

Awards, recognition, impact

Professor David Nash is Honorary Research Fellow at the University of the Witwatersrand.

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