Although geological study of Pleistocene cave sites goes back to the nineteenth century, a new paradigm was set in train during the 1920s, when G. Caton-Thompson and E.W. Gardner established a sequence of prehistoric occupations linked to the changing spatial and ecological contours of fluctuating lakes in Egypt's Faiyum Depression. Subsequent collaborations have carried research beyond geochronology and climate stratigraphy to address human settlement within changing environments, which served both as resource and artifact. Geoarchaeologists, as they were eventually called, worked at multiple scales and with new skills, exploring new ground such as cultural sediments and the taphonomy of site formation, preservation, and destruction. Others, especially in the UK, investigated human modification of particular watersheds. Forty years of work on Mediterranean soil erosion issues saw researchers continue to wrestle with climate or destructive land use as possible prime movers in ecological degradation. The number of geoarchaeologists, full or part time, has increased by an order of magnitude, and the literature continues to explode in quantity and diversity. Perhaps the overarching conceptual framework for most remains a deep interest in landscape histories and the ways in which they co-evolve with human societies. This paper encourages our confraternity to engage more assertively in the broader academic debates of the day, as empirical scientists open to interdisciplinary exchange and qualified to argue for competent and reasonable positions. We should play a more effective role in environmental history, alongside historians and political ecologists. The popular “new” environmental determinism centered on civilizational collapse in response to “abrupt” climatic change calls for strong voices of caution, on the premise that coincidence, even when true, does not prove causality. We are qualified to monitor the environmental and adaptive changes critical to future projections of global change, and we all have our ideas, even if intuitive, with regard to alternative ways of thinking about sustainability.

In the past two centuries, several researchers, based on different interpretations of the Homeric poems, have proposed that the ancient homeland of Odysseus may not have been the present Ithaca Island in the Ionian Sea but somewhere else. Among them, there is the opinion that the Homeric Ithaca was the western part of Kefalonia Island, the Paliki peninsula, separated at that time from the main island by a channel. The aim of this study is to verify, based on geological and geomorphological field observations, the existence of the proposed “channel” during the Homeric era, and its filling by a series of landslides originating from the eastern mountains, and to determine the paleogeographic evolution of the study area in the late Holocene. Detailed geological and geomorphological mapping was performed focusing on different landforms of fluvial origin, slope changes, planation and depositional surfaces, karst features, mass wasting features, and faults. Topographic diagrams and maps, aerial photographs, and satellite images were used, accompanied by extensive fieldwork. For the geological mapping, field observations were combined with previous works. A spatial database derived from the aforementioned material and work was constructed using geographic information system (GIS) techniques. A digital terrain model (DTM) of the study region was also created. All the geological and geomorphological evidence refutes the hypothesis for the existence of a channel in NW Kefalonia. Moreover, there is a serious discordance in the time period needed for the formation and evolution of the landscape, considering the rock type and the Mediterranean climate of the area.

Interrelationships between coastal sand dune dynamics and prehistoric human activity are explored from three sites along the sandy, high-energy Atlantic coast of County Donegal, NW Ireland. Dunes at these sites yield artifacts and shell middens of Bronze Age to Medieval date. The detailed sedimentary context of shell middens and associated dark-stained occupation horizons and hearths was investigated from exposures within dune faces. Occupation horizons show mixed shells dispersed throughout, and wind-eroded and lagged upper surfaces. Shells located within these horizons are distinguished from those located within unstained sand, which are interpreted as middens formed marginal to semipermanent occupation sites. Sediments immediately overlying midden and hearth sites contain components (including shell fragments and charcoal) derived directly from these anthropogenic layers. The influence of this sediment source, tracked by the presence and abundance of shell and charcoal fragments, decreases rapidly upward. This field evidence suggests that changes in the nature of the land surface (by devegetation, sediment compaction, development of occupation horizons, hearths) may cause temporary changes in subsequent dune sedimentation processes and sediment characteristics. This also suggests that, as well as being difficult to evaluate using conventional geoarchaeological techniques, the sedimentological impact of past human activity in the coastal zone has probably been underestimated.

Recent excavations at the Valdoe Quarry in West Sussex have provided a new locality for the study of human activity and environment in the Middle Pleistocene. Fieldwork and analysis, funded through the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund, were undertaken at the Valdoe Quarry ahead of a renewed and final stage of gravel extraction at the site. Through geological mapping, sedimentary sequences entirely comparable to those at the Boxgrove Quarry, 6 km to the east, were sampled in order to determine their archaeological potential and characterize the associated paleoenvironmental conditions. This paper provides an introduction to this work ahead of detailed publication of the results. Initial results suggest that the site represents a locality within the same contemporary recessional paleolandscape as the main Boxgrove site.

In Britain, the majority of Lower and Middle Paleolithic archaeological finds come from river terrace deposits. The impressive “staircase” terrace sequences of southeast England, and research facilitated by aggregate extraction have provided a considerable body of knowledge about the terrace chronology and associated archaeology in that area. Such research has been essential in considering rates of uplift, climatic cycles, archaeological chronologies, and the landscapes in which hominins lived. It has also promoted the view that southeast England was a major hominin route into Britain. By contrast, the terrace deposits of the southwest have been little studied. The Palaeolithic Rivers of South West Britain (PRoSWEB) project employed a range of geoarchaeological methodologies to address similar questions at different scales, focusing on the rivers Exe, Axe, Otter, and the paleo-Doniford, all of which were located south of the maximum Pleistocene glacial limit (marine oxygen isotope stage [MIS] 4–2). Preliminary analysis of the fieldwork results suggests that although the evolution of these catchments is complex, most conform to a standard staircase-type model, with the exception of the Axe, and, to a lesser extent, the paleo-Doniford, which are anomalous. Although the terrace deposits are less extensive than in southeast Britain, differentiation between terraces does exist, and new dates show that some of these terraces are of great antiquity (MIS 10+). The project also reexamined the distribution of artifacts in the region and confirms the distributional bias to the river valleys, and particularly the rivers draining southward to the paleo–Channel River system. This distribution is consistent with a model of periodic occupation of the British peninsula along and up the major river valleys from the paleo–Channel River corridor. These data have a direct impact on our understanding of the paleolandscapes of the southwest region, and therefore our interpretations of the Paleolithic occupation of the edge of the continental landmass.

Key geoarchaeological factors are explored with reference to the formation and potential preservation and/or loss of early Paleolithic artifact assemblages within Pleistocene fluvial deposits. The importance of these assemblages concerns the uniquely long-term perspectives that they offer to the study of early hominin occupation histories and landscape use. The factors explored (river type, bedrock type, the chronology and cycles of fluvial activity, and confluence activity) build upon the previous work of D.R. Bridgland, and A.J. Howard and M.G. Macklin with regard to terrace formation, preservation, and other fluvial activity. Particular emphasis is placed upon short-term fluvial activity (the context for assemblage formation) and the long-term potential for preservation and erosion of fluvial terraces and their archaeological contents. Case study examples are presented for the Solent River and the River Axe on the British south coast, exploring geoarchaeological issues within the context of understanding assemblage taphonomy and hominin behavior at local and regional scales. The paper concludes by assessing the potential and limitations of the approaches outlined.

The semiarid plain of Lower Khuzestan, SW Iran, is drained by three active rivers: Karun, Karkheh, and Jarrahi. In this study, the history of this apparently homogeneous topographic landscape was investigated for the first time in detail through surficial geology and archaeological mapping. The results of satellite image, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) digital elevation model (DEM), and aerial photograph analyses reveal several phases of paleochannels, relict fans, and large lobate landforms associated with the present-day rivers. In addition to this, a wealth of archaeological canals, of various types and shapes, and sites has been detected. Correlations of archaeological features with environmental attributes in a geographical information system (GIS) show that the spatial distribution of the settlements and canals was closely related to the dynamic nature of the rivers. With the available data, keys to interpret the changes of the rivers are presented and a relative chronology is suggested for the evolution of the landscape of the plain.

The role of fluvial systems in coastal sediment dynamics, particularly regarding sediment storage in floodplains, the flux of sediment to the coast, and its influence on coastal evolution, is currently being widely considered. This study contributes to this debate through a geoarchaeological approach to reconstructing floodplain sedimentation rates in the Olway-Usk Valley system in South Wales, which is a tributary to the Severn Estuary, a coastal feature of global importance because it has the world's second highest tidal range. Archaeological and radiocarbon-dated horizons within alluvium indicate that floodplain deposition was initiated as Holocene sea levels rose toward present levels around 6500 yr B.P. River drainage appears to have been impeded at this time, leading to ground surface-water logging, sporadic peat formation in valley bottoms, and subsequent overbank deposition of alluvium. The mean Holocene sedimentation rate is 0.44 ± 0.02 mm yr −1 , but this includes a rise to around 1 mm yr −1 after the medieval period, rising again to around 10 mm yr −1 since the early nineteenth century. This increase reflects human activity, especially agricultural land use within the catchment such as widespread ploughing, which was not introduced until the nineteenth century. The volume of accumulated fluvial fine sediment stored within the Olway-Usk valley system is estimated to be 5.25 × 10 7 m 3 (7.09 × 10 7 t). These data are used here as a proxy for total fluvial sediment input into the Severn Estuary since marine inundation first occurred around 8500 yr B.P. The combined sediment contribution from rivers and intra-estuarine bedrock erosion is estimated to be 1.13 × 10 10 t. This corresponds precisely to a previously estimated amount of Holocene sediment lying beneath the coastal wetlands of the Severn Estuary. These independent estimates give confidence to our understanding of the sediment dynamics in the Severn Estuary through the Holocene, and the investigation provides a new case study to contribute to the wider debate of alluvial sediment storage and fluvial fine sediment flux to the coast.

This study investigates environmental change as a context for the location of occupation in campsites along the lower Nottawasaga River in southern Ontario, Canada. Evidence of Archaic and Woodland period campsites presents a difficult scenario for archaeological interpretation. Did Archaic cultures prefer to occupy higher ground, such as on the Edenvale moraine (206 m above sea level [a.s.l.]), or lower areas within river valleys, such as on the floodplain (181 m a.s.l.)? The aim of this study is to disentangle the evidence from a geoarchaeological perspective, considering cultural sites cross-temporally in their physical setting of a river floodplain in the Great Lakes region. We used geoarchaeological methods and methodologies, including soil-sediment analysis, sedimentological profiling of cutbanks and cores, topographic profiling in the field, river morphometric and hydrometric measurements using various techniques, ground-penetrating radar (GPR), and conceptual modeling. Results indicate that the Edenvale moraine, which topographically confines the channel and floodplain in the study area, may have led to catastrophic stripping of the floodplain during drainage of glacial lakes, causing the Nottawasaga River to downcut into the Edenvale moraine. This occurred following a period of floodplain stability, when natural and cultural deposits would have been preserved and buried in confined sections of the floodplain that are currently being vertically accreted. Any model that considers accretion style, such as the preservation-exposure model presented here, should be interpreted within the context of the environmental history of the area, since accretion style varies temporally and spatially at the river-reach scale.

This paper presents an overview of the Till-Tweed project, an Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund–sponsored geoarchaeological assessment of archaeological and paleoenvironmental records in a major northern UK river basin. The project methodology employed a suite of geomorphological, paleoecological, and archaeological techniques to identify, define, and delimit landform, sediment, and archaeological associations over 358 km 2 of the Till and lower Tweed Valleys. These associations were integrated in a geographic information system (GIS), establishing a baseline audit of the heritage resource that is driving the development of both heritage management and research frameworks in these river valley settings. Particular attention is paid to the new perspectives on landscape development, land use, and settlement that are being derived from analysis of associations between landforms, paleoenvironmental records, and enhanced archaeological data sets. The utility of this approach is illustrated by a case study of the Breamish–Till River at New Bewick, near Powburn, Northumberland. This landscape exhibits a wide range of documented archaeological records, including upstanding monuments, crop marks, and lithic scatters, as well as the potential for alluvial burial of remains that have yet to be discovered. Elements of particular interest are extensive areas of terraced sand and gravel associated with late Devensian deglaciation that are shown to host persistent, multiperiod occupation dating from the Mesolithic period. Numerous infilled kettle holes in these surfaces offer the prospect of long paleoenvironmental records, while paleochannel fills preserved on the adjacent Holocene alluvial valley floor have been shown to locally date from the fourth millennium B.C. and have yielded paleo-ecological evidence of episodic Anglo-Saxon and later woodland clearance, pastoral activities, and cereal cultivation in the immediate vicinity of the archaeological sites. We conclude that the integration of these geoarchaeological data sets into a GIS platform not only brings clear practical benefits to heritage managers and developers, but constitutes a valuable research tool by permitting more sophisticated and systematic analyses of links between the modern landscape, the environmental record, and the archaeological data set.

Underlying all archaeological investigations in riverine environments, there needs to be as full an understanding as possible of the history of the fluvial system in question because fluvial history influences taphonomy and archaeology. Detailed investigation of five sites on the Holocene floodplain of the Exe River, southwest England, has extended our knowledge of channel change and fluvial sedimentation in this area. New dating from optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) has been combined with previous radiocarbon dates from the Upper and Lower Exe, and the resulting chronology is in approximate agreement with the phases of fluvial change described from southern Britain that appear to relate to Holocene climate shifts. Over the mid–late Holocene, avulsion and reoccupation of former channels have occurred, while in historic time, channel systems have been relatively stable, with some oscillation around channel bars or islands. The recognition of this change in channel behavior in the very late Holocene at a classic site has solved what had been a “floodplain paradox”—a contradiction between the rates of historical channel lateral migration and archaeology found on, and in, UK floodplains. The reoccupation of former channels allows lateral deposits to be stacked and is part of floodplain aggradation by overbank and bed sedimentation. This has significant implications for the preservation of archaeological material, including artifacts. Mesolithic artifacts have been found on the valley floors within the Exe catchment; their preservation has, to a large extent, been controlled by the style of Late Glacial and Holocene floodplain development.

Sustainable archaeological practice involves the efficient performance of archaeological work in areas affected by development interests. In urban settings, planning agencies have recognized that geoarchaeological strategies are time and cost efficient. Deep testing methods minimize footprints to generate stratigraphic models that inform on past native environments, subsequent landscape change, absolute chronology, and site formation. When coupled with background historic and environmental data, geoarchaeological probing supplements or even precludes the need for costly excavation. In this study, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Capital Construction Company (MTACC) sponsored the drilling and detailed stratigraphic analysis of four deep borings in preparation for a new subway tunnel in New York City. A more expansive set of boring samples was taken by the MTACC for geotechnical purposes. Our stratigraphic construct facilitated “retrofitting” of the MTACC observations to develop a laterally extensive baseline sequence. An allostratigraphic model was developed for a ten-block length of the Upper East Side of Lower Manhattan on the strength of radiocarbon dates and ethnobotanic and malacological analyses. Finally, geographic information system (GIS) modeling generated a series of time slices chronicling the transformation of the project area from Late Glacial times through the area's prehistoric and historic past.

Cultural resources are an important nonrenewable national asset that, like the mineral resources in which they can occur, are finite and need protection. In the six years since 2002, geoarchaeological research funded by English Heritage (EH) through the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) has significantly enhanced our understanding and ability to safeguard the historic environment in areas impacted by aggregate extraction. Most of the funding has been allocated toward strategic research and survey aimed at characterization of both the mineral and archaeological resources, and also toward monitoring and management of the archaeological resources. A smaller but significant contribution has been directed at development and application of new survey and specialist archaeological dating techniques, as well as unexpected discoveries. Such research is aimed at reducing irreversible damage of the archaeological resource as the result of aggregate extraction and ultimately provides the fundamental evidence on which minerals planning policies can be based, thus protecting the finite resources for future generations.

The Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) tax on aggregate (sand and gravel) producers in England has provided the funding for a large number of aggregate-related archaeological projects by English Heritage since 2002. One of these projects was a review, presented herein, of aggregate-related archaeology both prior and subsequent to the introduction by the UK government of new Planning Guidance Note 16 (PPG16) in 1990. This guidance advised local authorities to impose archaeological conditions upon aggregate producers seeking new permissions and extensions for aggregate working. The review commissioned by English Heritage also examined the temporal and spatial variation in interventions using data collected by the Archaeological Investigations Project (AIP) based at Bournemouth University. This paper reveals trends over time largely related to the state of the economy and aggregate demand, and more significantly, large regional variations in both the number of archaeological interventions and the number of interventions encountering archaeology. While some of this variation is geologically related (hard aggregate– vs. soft aggregate–dominated regions), some variation is not, and may relate to variations in the archaeological planning process. Observations are also made as to the problems faced by archaeological interventions in aggregate quarries in accordance with planning procedures. This paper also draws attention to the probable direct and indirect effects of the changing hydrological and legislative climate on the aggregate industry and the implications this could have for aggregate-related archaeology in England, and by implication other developed countries.