8,000 years back in time in 8m of Peat

The Oxford Team in action

A combined force of researchers from Oxford University have started work on decoding the history of our upland ecology from pollen samples contained deep in the peat of Boddle Moss. This will form one important strand of the Archaeological Story of Hepple led by Dr Anwen Cooper and Rose Ferraby that will describe the relationship between people and these windswept hills. We are very lucky to have found Marguerite Waechter who is going to build her Phd thesis around this project.

This first phase saw the extraction of a number of peat cores from the 10m+ deep peat of Boddle Moss. One of the deepest extractions was drawn from 8.9m deep. Given that peat accumulates at a little less than 1mm per year, it is possible that the pollen samples from this will be measured (using radiocarbon data) to be over 9,000 years old, getting us back close to the moment that the ice retreated after the ice age. Marguerite will be assessing pollen data - meticulous and fiddly work but revealing the beautiful pollen shapes

Pollen under the microscope

… The team in action….