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Palaeoecological research in the River Trent catchment of the English Midlands has been extensive, and this paper focuses on the reconstruction of Lateglacial (GS-1) and early Holocene climates and palaeoenvironments in the Middle Trent valley using organic-rich sediments from Late Devensian terrace deposits. It presents results from three sites: Hemington, Barrow upon Trent, and Aston-on-Trent; each site revealing distinct sedimentary sequences that provide a record of environmental changes. The study employs a multi-disciplinary approach to environmental reconstruction, analysing site stratigraphy, insect remains, as well as pollen and plant macrofossils. The Mutual Climatic Range (MCR) method is used to infer past temperatures based on insect assemblages. The results indicate a predominance of open wetland and herbaceous vegetation during the Lateglacial period, with evidence of reed-swamp habitats. The analysis of pollen and plant macrofossils records demonstrates correspondence between vegetation and climatic conditions, highlighting the significance of these records in understanding climate dynamics. Insects, principally Coleoptera and Trichoptera, indicate cold conditions typical of Lateglacial environments whilst insects from early Holocene Aston suggest conditions slightly more continental than present day. The Lateglacial and early Holocene are periods characterised by rapid, extreme climatic change which reflect tipping points. This study emphasises the importance of understanding past trends to model future environmental characteristics of fauna and flora.

This study examines how human activities influenced soil development at two contrasting Arctic sites: Maiva, a 19th-century farmstead, and Snuvrejohka, a seasonal Sámi reindeer herding settlement in the Lake Torneträsk region, northern Sweden. Using geochemical and geophysical soil analyses, we explore the spatial distribution and vertical development of anthropogenic signals in the soil. At Maiva, prolonged agricultural use and earthworm bioturbation have led to extensive soil mixing and altered soil horizons, resulting in elevated phosphate, lead, and organic matter concentrations in Ap and Ah horizons. In contrast, Snuvrejohka displays more stratified profiles with localized chemical enrichment around hearths, primarily within E horizons. These results highlight how different land-use practices leave distinct geochemical fingerprints in Arctic soils and emphasize the need for sampling strategies adapted to site-specific soil formation processes. Our findings demonstrate that even short-term or seasonal human activities can leave distinct and detectable signatures in Arctic soils. Through an integrated approach combining soil science, geoarchaeological methods, and historical data, this study provides new insights into the reconstruction of past land-use practices and highlights the vulnerability of archaeological soil records in Arctic environments facing rapid climate-driven change.

The archaeobotanical study of Dilling includes the analysis of 719 samples, representing 115 houses, most of which collectively cover the Pre-Roman Iron Age to the Migration Period (200 BC – AD 500). This extensive sampling allows for a general picture of everyday activities to be reconstructed from the remains of plants found at the site, and which can be extrapolated to the region as a whole. The results show that a variety of activities have taken place, at different intensities, across the seven excavation areas. The preservation of the plant remains, however, differs considerably between the areas. In general, the preservation of plant macrofossils is poor at the site, but the large number of samples, and the application of a multiproxy approach, provides a unique opportunity to better understand everyday life in the region during the Iron Age. The combination of the archaeobotanical results, geoarchaeology (see chapter 13) and charcoal remains (chapter 11) collectively provides a valuable source of information on past agricultural practices, crop processing and diet. This is the first attempt to present an overview of the huge dataset from Dilling, and there is undoubtedly room for further interpretation and discussion.

To understand the implications of past changes in climate, landscape and human activity on contemporary biodiversity patterns, data from modern and palaeoecological studies must be connected. The Strategic Environmental Archaeology Database (SEAD) provides access to big data from archaeology and Quaternary science and is an enormous potential resource for investigating past changes in biodiversity. By linking SEAD to SBDI, past species distributions can be analysed for their implications for landscape and climate change. Recent macroecological research using SEAD/ SBDI illustrates trends in Late Holocene anthropogenic landscape change in north-western Europe. Over the past few thousand years, humans have impacted insect biodiversity as much as climate change did after the last Ice Age. This demonstrates that data from archaeology, and the consequences of human activity, are essential for fulfilling the promi- se of using data driven ecology for guiding future conservation practices in response to climate change. 

The geoarchaeological investigation of the large settlement at Dilling involved 1171 bulk geochemical analyses (fractionated P, LOI, MS, and MS550) and 92 thin section studies (including SEM/EDS microchemistry). Geology played a crucial role in site location and development, and Pre-Roman Iron Age–Roman Iron Age Areas 1-6 span the beach sands and finest sediments, with Area 6 at the lowest elevation. The very large number of 14C dates available allowed the suggestion that settlement in Areas 2-6, which had been established and consolidated from ca. 600 BC, had ceased by ca. AD 250. This date coincides with the onset of climatic change when conditions became wetter and cooler. We conclude that the settlement was first established on low ground on fine marine sediments, but as the climate deteriorated free drainage from the end-moraine led to increased soil wetness and wetland development downslope. PCA analysis of dated posthole and post imprints also highlighted this settlement shift upslope. Chemistry clearly suggested a dominance of organic phosphate (LOI v PQuota) at Dilling, reinforcing the long-held view that the Pre-Roman Iron Age–Roman Iron Age settlements were mixed farming communities that concentrated on organic manured arable fields (Hristova et al., this volume). Livestock were housed in long house byres and possible postals – sunken byres, like those found across Roman Belgium, for example. Trackways recorded animal movements and possible transport of composted dung to the fields through time, rather than always employing raw byre waste (see Ødegaard, this volume). Settlement morphology and function were also scrutinised.

Northern Fennoscandia is a geologically complex region affected by both glacial and postglacial processes. Quartzite was a key material type utilized by hunter-gatherers in Northern Sweden around the period 4 000 – 2 000 BP, and is thus critical to the understanding of raw material procurement and material flow within the region. However, there is a severe lack of methodological development in the characterization of these materials, and provenance of locally available geological material is complex and fraught with uncertainty. 126 quartz/quartzite points and preforms were sampled from 47 archaeological sites along the upper Ångerman river valley in Västerbotten, Sweden. The material has been analysed non-destructively using three separate portable spectroscopic instrumentations (Near-infrared, Raman, X-Ray Fluorescence). Evaluation of the spectra and exploratory data analysis using Principal Component Analysis demonstrates detectable differences in the material that likely stem from diagenetic/paragenetic origin. The presence of graphite, muscovite and biotite could likewise provide information on the material’s metamorphic grade. In addition to reaffirming the potential of field-based screening instrumentation, these results will benefit future surveys of geological sources in the region. They also indicate potential for the construction of a predictive model that could classify the quartzite based on its chemical characteristic. Such a model would prove useful in future spatial analysis and testing of models of raw material management.