2025/09/11 by Christopher Loveluck, Martin Millett, Simon Chenery +8 · 2 voices
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Conservation Techniques and Studies #Maritime and Coastal Archaeology
paper · pdf · doi:10.15184/aqy.2025.10175
Increasing interdisciplinary analysis of geoarchaeological records, including sediment and ice cores, permits finer-scale contextual interpretation of the history of anthropogenic environmental impacts. In an interdisciplinary approach to economic history, the authors examine metal pollutants in a sediment core from the Roman metal-producing centre of Aldborough, North Yorkshire, combining this record with textual and archaeological evidence from the region. Finding that fluctuations in pollution correspond with sociopolitical events, pandemics and recorded trends in British metal production c. AD 1100–1700, the authors extend the analysis to earlier periods that lack written records, providing a new post-Roman economic narrative for northern England.