Current Students

Floor Huisman

The aim of my PhD project is to contextualise later prehistoric (c. 4000 BC-100 AD) wetland sites and communities in the former East Anglian Fens. I examine how wetland(er)s fit into the wider socio-cultural and physical landscape by considering past human-environment interaction through a comparison of food remains (plant and animals) in three different environments. Unlike earlier projects, which often focus on individual wetland sites or areas, this study uses a large scale, broad comparative approach, which encompasses both wetland and dryland areas. Animal and plant remains from both wetland sites in the Fens and drier areas around this former wetland were recorded in a purpose-built database and systematically studied and compared to reconstruct human-environment interaction in three different environments (wetlands, drylands and the fen edge) through time (Neolithic to Iron Age, c. 4000 BC-100 AD). This analysis has demonstrated that there are clear differences in the ways that people interacted with the three environments over time, and therefore between Fenland communities and those in drier areas. However, despite these differences, there are clear relations between wetlands, the fen edge and drylands, and those exploiting and inhabiting these landscapes. Thus, wetland(ers)s were always an integrated part of the wider landscape.

https://www.dur.ac.uk/archaeology/research/research_postgraduates/?id=13238

Supervisory Team: Prof. Chris Scarre, Archaeology (Durham), Prof. Peter Rowley Conwy, Archaeology (Durham), Dr Mike Church, Archaeology (Durham)

Start Date: October 2014