The Past Ubiquity and Environment of the Lost Earth Buildings of Scotland

This paper investigates the once ubiquitous vernacular earth-built structures of Scotland and how perceptions of such buildings were shaped and developed through periods of intense cultural and environmental change. We focus upon the past exploitation of traditional resources to construct vernacular architectures and on changes in the perception of the resultant buildings. Historic earth-built structures are today deeply hidden within the landscapes of Scotland, although they were once a common feature of both urban and rural settlements. Whilst the eighteenth and nineteenth century period of Improvement – during which many of these structures were destroyed, repurposed, or left to decay – has received extensive attention by historians, there exists no previous serious study of the human and environmental dimensions. Through analysis of the material aspects of landscape resource use and analysis of the historical perceptions of such use, we emphasize the national significance of this undervalued aspect of Scotland’s built and cultural heritage, increasingly at risk of being lost completely, highlighting the prior ubiquity of mudwall structures

Here is now and there the sound of the land: ground-breaking

Scientific and Sonic Perceptions of the African Sahel: Societies are often required to react to extreme events that arise through either anthropogenic or natural processes. Such extremity might be measured is in terms of its immediacy and intensity; it demands comprehension against understood norms. For example, our present-day debate on future climatic change is driven by scientific assertion, reinforced by evidence gathered from both instrument and indirect proxy measurements, whilst the varying societal responses are predicated by everyday cultural experiences. In contrast, places considered to offer experiences at the boundaries of or outside the everyday, e.g. hot and cold deserts, provide a different conception of extreme. In this conception, change and the rates of change typically lack context, validation and position within everyday norms. Consequently, it is within such surroundings that the greatest tension occurs between the perception of place and rates of change. While the methodologies of science and art practice are often respectively considered positivistic and non-rational, both are in fact able to investigate the extreme in this context. Whether or not such characterisations are legitimate, the obvious epistemological differences both illuminate and problematise our understanding. In this paper we describe a real-time generative installation commissioned from the authors by the UK Research Councils called Ground-breaking: Extreme Landscapes in Grains and Pixels that attempts to explore and test these differences. Further examples are available at http://www.ground-breaking.net

Soil Micromorphology in a New Context - the Science-Art Project "Ground-breaking: experience past landscapes in grains and pixels"

This paper examines the use of geoarchaeological information gained through soil micromorphology in a new context, that of a science-art project. The project is called “Ground-breaking: Experience Past Landscapes in Grains and Pixels” and was commissioned from the authors by the UK research councils as part of a programme to foster communication of scientific issues to wider audiences. The work focuses upon the Sahel region of Africa and uses micromorphology samples from a field site in North East Nigeria subject to past extremes of environmental change over several millennia. The project itself is in the form of a gallery installation where members of the public are invited to engage with science issues and practice. The installation uses advanced visual image and sonic processing techniques to render in a novel form the information gained through image analysis of soil thin-sections. These image analysis data are used to inform the synthesis of sound, thereby forming a direct linkage between the soil micrograph displayed and sounds heard in the installation. The work invites the audience to reflect on the nature of these past communities and extremes of the environment they face. In this paper, the soil thin-section micromorphology images and other materials used; the construction of the installation and the success of the project are considered

Here is Now and There the Sound of the Land: 'Ground-breaking'

Societies are often required to react to extreme events that arise through either anthropogenic or natural processes. Such extremity might be measured is in terms of its immediacy and intensity; it demands comprehension against understood norms. This work offers context and potential validation about change and the rate of change of an extreme environment: this is evidenced through scientific analysis of landscapes and soils and is translated, in a process of critical evaluation, to create an audio-visual installation. The installation seeks to convey cultural imprints left by societal responses to change experienced in a marginalised area, the African Sahel. By considering a landscape that is both extreme and has long-standing cultural activity, a narrative is developed

Occupational Exposure to Heavy Metals Poisoning: Scottish Lead Mining

The study examines historic occupational lead poisoning (occupational plumbism) amongst the mining labour force at Tyndrum lead mine in the Scottish southern highlands in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries set against the backdrop of the wider national context. Traditional archival research is combined with environmental science to both identify incidence of poisoning and the historic health risk factors that were specific to the industry, particularly at the surface of the mine. Emphasis is placed upon employment practices, technology and wider social conditions such as diet and alcohol and the toxicity of the different compounds of lead (mineralogy) that the workers were exposed too

Ground-breaking: Scientific and sonic perceptions of environmental change in the African Sahel

Soils surrounding ancient settlements can hold evidence of the activities of past societies. To seek an understanding of how past societies have reacted and contributed to environmental change requires many data sources. The real-time audiovisual installation Ground-breaking problematises the presentation of such data gained through the image-analysis of soil materials. These data are used to connote environmental events and consequent human responses. Combining these data with audiovisual synthesis and environmental recordings, a basis for developing conceptualizations of new locales undergoing environmental change is presented; the visual and sonic narratives developed allowing the art-science interface to be explored

Fuel resource utilisation in landscapes of settlement

One little understood aspect of the settlement and colonisation of Iceland is fuel resource use. In this paper we identify fuel ash residues from temporally constrained middens at two contrasting settlement age sites in Mývatnssveit, northern Iceland, one high status, the other low status and ultimately abandoned. Fuel residues derived from experimental combustion of historically defined fuel resources are used to provide control for thin section micromorphology and complementary image analyses of fuel residue materials found in the midden deposits. The results suggest that fuel resources utilised at the time of settlement were for both low temperature and high temperature use, and included a mix of birch and willow wood, peat, mineral-based turf and cow dung. There are, however, marked variations in the mix of fuel resources utilised at the two sites. This is considered to reflect social regulation of fuel resources and socially driven changes to local and regional environments that may have contributed to the success or failure of early settlement sites in Iceland

Human responses, resilience and vulnerability : an interdisciplinary approach to understanding past farm success and failure in Mývatnssveit, northern Iceland

This thesis presents a new perspective on the study of past farm success and failure; it builds on the concepts of resilience and vulnerability to construct a theoretical framework which integrates environmental, historical and ethnographical data. The basic framework establishes that the resilience or vulnerability of a social-ecological system is a function of three factors: i) the exposure of the system to external (environmental) stresses, ii) the sensitivity of the system to these stresses and iii) the ability of the human component of the system to respond to them. The research focused on the component of human capacity of response (the sum of coping and adaptive capacity) within this framework. The temporal scale of the study was the 18th century, although reference is made to earlier periods for comparison. The location of the study area was Mývatnssveit, a livestock-based farming community in northern Iceland, while the spatial scale of the study is that of individual farms in the area. The results showed that successful farms had a higher capacity of response than failed farms, and that this was conferred by a greater availability and quality of resources, including human resources, natural resources and productive resources (those directly involved in agriculture). Human resources were assessed by records of number of servants per farm and by evidence of learning/knowledge transfer obtained via micromorphological analyses of home-field soils. Natural resources considered to be of particular importance were fish and eggs. Indicators of productive resources included tax value, land rent, livestock numbers and phosphorus content in home-fields. The latter revealed that the soil condition pre-settlement was linked to its post-settlement quality. An analysis of present day perceptions of historical farm abandonment in the area corresponds with the conclusions reached through the data integration in placing the human factor above the environmental one in influencing success and failure. The thesis concludes by highlighting the individuality of the study farms and the historical resilience of the livestock-based farming system. Additionally, areas of potential for future research are identified.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Human responses, resilience and vulnerability : an interdisciplinary approach to understanding past farm success and failure in Mývatnssveit, northern Iceland

This thesis presents a new perspective on the study of past farm success and failure; it builds on the concepts of resilience and vulnerability to construct a theoretical framework which integrates environmental, historical and ethnographical data. The basic framework establishes that the resilience or vulnerability of a social-ecological system is a function of three factors: i) the exposure of the system to external (environmental) stresses, ii) the sensitivity of the system to these stresses and iii) the ability of the human component of the system to respond to them. The research focused on the component of human capacity of response (the sum of coping and adaptive capacity) within this framework. The temporal scale of the study was the 18th century, although reference is made to earlier periods for comparison. The location of the study area was Mývatnssveit, a livestock-based farming community in northern Iceland, while the spatial scale of the study is that of individual farms in the area. The results showed that successful farms had a higher capacity of response than failed farms, and that this was conferred by a greater availability and quality of resources, including human resources, natural resources and productive resources (those directly involved in agriculture). Human resources were assessed by records of number of servants per farm and by evidence of learning/knowledge transfer obtained via micromorphological analyses of home-field soils. Natural resources considered to be of particular importance were fish and eggs. Indicators of productive resources included tax value, land rent, livestock numbers and phosphorus content in home-fields. The latter revealed that the soil condition pre-settlement was linked to its post-settlement quality. An analysis of present day perceptions of historical farm abandonment in the area corresponds with the conclusions reached through the data integration in placing the human factor above the environmental one in influencing success and failure. The thesis concludes by highlighting the individuality of the study farms and the historical resilience of the livestock-based farming system. Additionally, areas of potential for future research are identified.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo