Revealing the invisible floor: Integrated geoarchaeological analyses of ephemeral occupation surfaces at an early medieval farmhouse in upland Perthshire, Scotland

Reid, Vanessa; Milek, Karen; O'Brien, Charlotte; Sneddon, David; Strachan, David

Abstract

Poorly defined occupation surfaces restrict the ability to interpret the use of space in archaeological structures and settlements around the world. Integrated geoarchaeological methods, such as soil chemistry and micromorphology, can provide information about site preservation and characterise the use of archaeological space when stratigraphy is lacking but have rarely been applied in such contexts. This paper presents a comparative study of multiple geoarchaeological methods that were used to study ephemeral occupation surfaces in a 7th to 9th century AD turf longhouse in the upland settlement of Lair in Glen Shee, Perthshire, Scotland. When subjected to principal component analysis (PCA) and k-means clustering, the combined data were successful in identifying activity areas and relating this to maintenance practices, the organisation of space, and post-depositional processes. Most significantly, the integrated multi-method approach demonstrated that ephemeral occupation surfaces retain surviving characteristics of the use of space, even if floors are not preserved well enough to be clearly defined in the field or in thin-section.

Citation

Reid, V., Milek, K., O'Brien, C., Sneddon, D., & Strachan, D. (2023). Revealing the invisible floor: Integrated geoarchaeological analyses of ephemeral occupation surfaces at an early medieval farmhouse in upland Perthshire, Scotland. Journal of Archaeological Science, 159, Article 105825. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2023.105825

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 13, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Sep 28, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023-11
• Deposit Date: Nov 25, 2022
• Journal: Journal of archaeological science
• Print ISSN: 0305-4403
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 159
• Article Number: 105825
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2023.105825
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1184909
• Related Public URLs: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4294742