Aging mulberry trees (Morus nigra L): The Charterhouse, London, UK

Black or Common Mulberry (Morus nigra) was introduced into Britain in the late sixteenth–early seventeenth centuries and has since had limited success as an ornamental and fruit-producing tree. Older specimens survive in a limited number of locations including at The Charterhouse in central London. Four of these trees were investigated with the aid of standard dendrochronological techniques, historic images, including an early postcard and a painting by Edward Ardizzone, and with the application of expert knowledge of the forms and ages of contemporary mulberry trees. Results included the creation of a new ring-width chronology (CH_Mulberry) and dating that suggests the two oldest trees may well have been planted to commemorate either Queen Victoria’s Golden (AD 1887) or Diamond Jubilee (AD 1897). The research represents a first known dendrochronological investigation of the species, highlighting issues associated with sampling “tortuous” growth forms and the poor visibility of sapwood rings, as well as the potential for the use of branch ring-widths to facilitate dendrochronological dating of fruit and other trees

Evaporating legacies: Industrial heritage and salt in Cheshire, UK

This paper examines the nature and legacies of the salt industry in Cheshire and recommends action to avoid losing an understanding of its fragmentary heritage. Brine and rock salt occurring in the natural environment has led to significant industrial development in Cheshire over the last two millennia. Technologies for salt exploitation have varied in scale and in location, and their ephemeral nature has often left few traces in the landscape. This industrial legacy contrasts with extractive industries such as coal which leave more tangible aftermaths - infrastructure and communities. Cheshire salt legacies include the unplanned consequences of subsidence, but also informal opportunities, for instance in nature conservation and recreation. Salt industry heritage in Cheshire is the central justification for the new Weaver Valley Regional Park which seeks to promote future social and economic well-being, but the salt legacies which delimit its area deserve sufficient recognition and wider communication

‘Pine Decline or pine declines?’ Analysis and Interpretation of Bog-Pines from Wem Moss, Shropshire, UK

A dendrochronological investigation was undertaken on subfossil Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stumps following their discovery during conservation management at Wem Moss, a small (28 ha) former raised mire in Shropshire, UK. Two ring-width chronologies were constructed from 14 of the 17 trees sampled spanning 198 and 208 years, respectively. Whilst dendrochronological dating was not possible, radiocarbon assays provided an estimated age for this mire-rooting woodland of between 3015 and 2505 years cal. BCE, coinciding with the age traditionally associated with the widespread mortality of pine trees throughout much of the UK and Ireland, often referred to as the Pine Decline (ca. 4000 radiocarbon years BP). Placed in a wider geographical context, the Wem Moss pines are located within the lowland Meres and Mosses region, where previous studies on subfossil pine have demonstrated protracted declines in mire-rooting trees. These have included tree mortality significantly post-dating the Pine Decline, especially at larger peatland sites that exceed 5 km2. Such macrofossil evidence for the presence of Scots pine into the late Holocene is supported by continuous Pinus pollen representation at peatland sites in the Welsh Marches (English–Welsh border), suggesting the possible survival of native Scots pine trees in this area up to the present day. The investigation of Wem Moss bog pines and their wider geographical context highlights the incomplete and patchy nature of palaeo-vegetational records and also the need for future genetic research on living Scots pine in possible refugial areas in Britain and Ireland

Hydrogeomorphic control on tree growth responses in the Elton area of the Cheshire Saltfield, UK

Increment cores were sampled from oak (Quercus robur) and ash (Fraxinus excelsior) growing at Elton, an area of the Cheshire Saltfield that has experienced significant subsidence and damage to the natural and built environments in the latter part of the twentieth century. Ring-width measurements for Elton trees permitted the construction of one main site chronology (Elton) and four sub chronologies (Elton A, Elton B, Elton C, Elton ASH). Ring-width difference between these and a control chronology identified periods of sustained growth reduction in oak trees commencing in AD 1859/1861, 1886 and 1934. Growth reductions after 1934 are related to watertable draw down caused by brine pumping from a concentration of nine boreholes at Elton, up to 2 km from tree sampling locations. Growth reductions in 1859/1861 and 1886 are likely to be the result of earlier phases of brine pumping in the Wheelock Valley, up to 5 km to the east of Elton, and these reductions correlate well with historic records of subsidence and pumping activity. Cessation of pumping in 1977 led to a lagged growth recovery in oak trees between 1981 and 1986, indicating that an artificial drought had been imposed on the Elton area for a period in excess off 100-y. This research demonstrates a hydrological separation of surface water and groundwater in an area where salt beds are overlain by till and that ring-width records of Q. robur can be used to reconstruct watertable variability and also the spatial impact of solution mining. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Le retour des cosaques

La renaissance des cosaques apparaît comme un vaste mouvement social encouragé à l'origine par le parti communiste, et surveillé de près par le ministère de l'Intérieur et de la Défense pour son potentiel militaire. Ce mouvement reflète avant tout le désarroi d'une part importante de la société russe, et rassemble les perdants et ceux qui, ne voulant pas se perdre, se raccrochent au mythe d'un passé dont les vertus seraient salvatrices. Il pourrait se présenter comme une troisième voie, entre les démocrates et Jirinovski. Mais il est avant tout profondément réactionnaire, nationaliste et antisémite, et dans ses conditions, il ne concourra pas à la modernisation de la société russe. Peut-être ne s'agit-il que d'un feu de paille qui s'éteindra de lui-même lorsque la Russie aura retrouvé la stabilité économique et la croissance

Post glacial history of the Nant Helen opencast site South Wales: implications for land restoration

A proposal to extend opencast mining at Nant Helen Colliery, South Wales, threatened both archaeological sites and a large expanse of upland mire on Mynydd y Drum. Excavations of two cairns and a length of post-medieval trackway were conducted there by the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust in the summer of 1987. These were accompanied by palaeoecological work to ascertain both the post-glacial environmental history of Mynydd y Drum and the contemporary environmental setting of the two cairns. Evidence suggests that the most dramatic impact upon local woodland was in the early Bronze Age. The evidence for former extensive deciduous woodlands on Mynydd y Drum now offers British Coal a wider range of land restoration goals, for consideration when the opencast mining ceases. -from Author

Recording and Reconstruction of Wood Macrofossils in Three-Dimensions

Building on an upsurge of interest in European wetland archaeology, which has led to methodological advances in field techniques, a new palaeoecological technique is outlined to enable reconstruction of wood macrofossils in their originalin situpositions within a peat deposit. Such three-dimensional reconstruction provides data on the temporal sequence and succession of mire woodland phases; these can be related to the fossil pollen record and to evidence of past human impact. Chronology building using tree ring-width series, is facilitated, and may assist in dating site records. The technique has wider application at sites where subfossiliferous peat is underlain by sand substrates, aiding palaeoenvironmental reconstruction and interpretation of the cultural landscape. © 1995 Academic Press Limited

Using fire scars and growth release in subfossil Scots pine to reconstruct prehistoric fires

Fire scars indicating low- to moderate-intensity fires on peat deposits have been sampled from subfossil Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) at sites in England, Wales and south-west Ireland. Analysis of ring-width responses to one fire event in 2800 BC illustrates its rejuvenating effect on Pinus sylvestris woodland, supporting a growing body of modern and palaeoecological data that illustrates the regenerative role played by fire in persistence of Pinus sylvestris woodland. Both the scale and timing of these fires suggest that infrequent low- to moderate-intensity fires are sufficient to stimulate Pinus sylvestris growth. This effect is shown by average increases in ring-width following the fire of between 0.62 and 1.16 mm in non-scarred trees and between 0.92 and 2.74 mm in fire-scarred individuals. Growth release in non-scarred trees may prove to be a more reliable method of detecting fire than using the relatively rare fire scars alone. Radii at time of scarring varied between 1.85 and 11.2 cm, much smaller than is predicted to survive from modern studies. © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V