The environmental impact of prehistoric mining at Copa Hill,Cwmystwyth,Wales

Abstract

A recent upsurge of interest in early mining and metal working sites in Europe led to experimental quantification of their apparently prodigious demand for fuelwood. However, the real impact of prehistoric mining on woodland remained unknown. Excavation of a prehistoric copper mine at Copa Hill, Cwmystwyth, from 1986-91, afforded an opportunity for linked palaeoenvironmental investigations. Pollen analytical methods were applied in a pilot study of blanket peat deposits adjacent to the prehistoric mine at Copa Hill. Results provide circumstantial evidence linking prehistoric human activity at the mine in the Early Bronze Age both to selective woodland removal and to upland peat initiation close to the site. Woodland clearances seem to have been relatively small-scale during the inferred period of mining, with limited overall impact, suggesting either protracted small-scale mining operations, or active management of woodland resources. Future directions for study of the impact of early mining on woodland are suggested.

Keywords

Prehistory Bronze Age early mining pollen concentration copper mining woodland depletion peat initiation.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Andersen, S.T. 1973: The differential pollen productivity of trees and its significance for the interpretation of a pollen diagram from a forested region . In Birks, H.J.B. and West, R.G. , editors, Quaternary plant ecology . Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 109-116.

Barber, K.E. 1976: History of vegetation. In Chapman, S.B. , editor, Methods in plant ecology. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific, 5-83.

Berglund, B.E. 1969: Vegetation and human influence in South Scandinavia during prehistoric time. Oikos Supplement 12, 9-28.

Birks, H.J.B. and Birks, H.H. 1980: Quaternary palaeoecology. London : Edward Arnold.

Chambers, F.M. 1982a: Two radiocarbon-dated pollen diagrams from high-altitude blanket peats in South Wales. Journal of Ecology 70, 445-59.

— 1982b: Environmental history of Cefn Gwernffrwd, near Rhandirmwyn, mid-Wales. New Phytologist 92, 607-15.

Clark, R.L. 1982: Point count estimation of charcoal in pollen preparations and thin sections of sediments. Pollen et Spores 24, 523-35.

Edwards, KJ 1983: Quaternary Palynology: multiple profile studies and pollen variability. Progress in Physical Geography 7, 587-609.

Gale, D. and Ottaway, B.S. 1990: An early mining site in the Mitterberg ore region of Austria . In Crew, P. and Crew, S. , editors, Early mining in the British Isles, Plas Tan y Bwlch Occasional Paper No. 1, 36-38.

10.

Havinga, AJ 1984: A 20-year experimental investigation into the differential corrosion susceptibility of pollen and spores in various soil types. Pollen et Spores 26, 541-58.

11.

Hirons, K.R. 1983: Percentage and accumulation rate pollen diagrams from East Co., Tyrone. In Reeves-Smith, T. and Hammond, F. , editors, Landscape archaeology in Ireland, Oxford: British Archaeological Report, British Series 116, 95-115.

12.

Lewis, A. 1990a: Firesetting Experiments on the Great Orme, 1989 . In Crew, P. and Crew, S. , editors, Early mining in the British Isles, Plas Tan y Bwlch Occasional Paper No. 1, 55-56.

13.

— 1990b: Underground exploration of the Great Orme's Head . In Crew, P. and Crew, S. , editors, Early mining in the British Isles, Plas Tan y Bwlch Occasional Paper No. 1, 5-10.

14.

Mighall, T.M. , Blackford, JJ and Chambers, F.M. 1990: Bryn y Castell - Late Bronze Age clearances or climatic change? Archaeology in Wales 30,14-16.

15.

O'Brien, W.F. 1990: Prehistoric copper mining in south-west Ireland: the Mount Gabriel-type mines. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 56, 269-90.

16.

Pickin, J. and Timberlake, S. 1988: Stone hammers and firesetting: A preliminary experiment at Cwmystwyth Mine, Dyfed. Bulletin Peak District Mines Historical Society 10, 165-67.

17.

Pott, R. 1986: Palynological evidence of extensive woodland management in turn with agriculture in the area of the Hauberge in Siegerland, Nortirhine-Westphalia FRG. In Behre, K.-E. , editor, Anthropogenic indicators in pollen diagrams. Rotterdam : A. A. Balkema, 125-34.

18.

Rackham, O. 1986: The history of the countryside. London : Dent. Smith, A.G. and Cloutman, E.W. 1988: Reconstruction of vegetation history in three dimensions at Waun-Fignen-Felen, an upland site in south Wales. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B322, 159-219.

19.

Stockmarr, J. 1971: Tablets with spores used in absolute pollen analysis . Pollen et Spores 13, 615-21.

20.

Timberlake, S. 1987: An archaeological investigation of Early Mine-workings on Copa Hill, Cwmystwyth. Archaeology in Wales 27, 18-20.

21.

— 1990a: Excavations at Parys Mountain and Nantyreira. In Crew, P. and Crew, S. , editors, Early mining in the British Isles, Plan Tan y Bwlch Occasional Paper No. 1, 15-21.

22.

— 1990b: Excavations at an early mining site on Copa Hill, Cwmystwyth, Dyfed 1989 and 1990. Archaeology in Wales 30, 7-13.

23.

— 1990c: Excavations and fieldwork on Copa Hill, Cwmystwyth, 1989 . In Crew, P. and Crew, S. , editors, Early mining in the British Isles, Plas Tan y Bwlch Occasional Paper No. 1, 22-29.