Landscapes of Production: Exploring the Palaeaoenvironmental Context of Stone Tool Quarrying, Manufacture, Use and Deposition on Neolithic Shetland

“生产景观项目将探索新石器时代设得兰群岛的Felsite工具采石的古环境背景。设得兰群岛是欧洲最北部的地区，在新石器时代进行农业活动，在公元前四千年早期抵达设得兰群岛后不久，人们开始大规模地开采和制造抛光石器（Cooney等人，2019年）。这些采石场的保存是前所未有的，但我们对更广泛的新石器时代早期社会知之甚少。该项目将通过使用地理空间和古环境分析来解决这一差距，以探索这些人工制品的环境背景，包括围绕工具功能的重要问题，以及新石器时代森林砍伐的速度和时间。 该项目将有三个工作包：1）数据整理和综合：这一步骤将涉及将现有的考古和古生态数据整理成一个地理空间数据库，并将这些数据集与奥克尼群岛和西部群岛的类似数据集进行比较。2）数据收集和实地工作：设得兰群岛的古环境数据主要侧重于大陆。来自岛上其他地方的少量岩芯表明史前时期森林砍伐和景观变化的不同模式（Edwards等人，2005年）。鉴于设得兰群岛上令人难以置信的丰富的史前考古记录，关于植被和景观变化的详细古环境研究仍然相对较少。这一步骤将涉及在Modesty（定居点）和Ronas Hill（采石场）的两个当代新石器时代遗址收集与felsite工具相关的核心。花粉分析和相关的代理（如微观木炭，非花粉palynomorphs和沉积物地球化学）将结合14 C测年，以产生新的高分辨率记录的植被和景观变化，这些地区，特别是新石器时代的重点。3)数据管理和分析：这一步骤将利用第一步收集的考古学和古生态学数据以及第二步收集的新的古生态学数据，探索如何利用空间统计和土地使用建模方法，在过去的景观中建立这种关系的模型。然后，它将确定景观变化和考古活动之间的重要关系。"

"The Landscapes of Production project will explore the palaeoenvironmental context of felsite tool quarrying in Neolithic Shetland. Shetland is the northernmost part of Europe where agriculture was practised during the Neolithic, and shortly after arriving on Shetland in the early 4th millennia BC, people began to quarry and manufacture polished stone tools on an impressive scale (Cooney et al 2019). The preservation of these quarries is unprecedented, yet we know little about wider Early Neolithic society. The project will address this gap by using geospatial and palaeaoenvironmental analysis to explore the environmental context of these artefacts, including important questions surrounding the function of tools, and the rate and timing of deforestation during the Neolithic period. The project will have three work packages: 1) Data Collation and synthesis: This step will involve the collation of existing archaeological and palaeoecological data into a geospatial database, and comparing these to similar datasets on Orkney and The Western Isles. The geospatial component will form the data management backbone of the project 2) Data collection and fieldwork: Palaeoenvironmental data for Shetland focuses largely on Mainland. The small number of cores from elsewhere on the island suggest differing patterns of deforestation and landscape change in Prehistory (Edwards et al. 2005). Given the incredibly rich prehistoric archaeological record on Shetland, there are still relatively few detailed palaeoenvironmental studies of vegetation and landscape change. This step will involve the collection of cores at two contemporary Neolithic sites associate with felsite tools at Modesty (settlement) and on Ronas Hill (quarry). Pollen analysis and associated proxies (e.g. microscopic charcoal, non-pollen palynomorphs, and sediment geochemistry) will be combined with 14C dating to produce new high-resolution records of vegetation and landscape change for these areas, with specific focus on the Neolithic period. 3) Data management and analysis: This step will use data on archaeology and palaeoecology collected in step 1 and new palaeoecological data collected in step 2, to explore ways to model this relationship in past landscapes, using spatial statistics and land-use modelling approaches. It will then identify significant relationships between landscape change and archaeological activity."