Medieval

Cancelled due to speaker illness. 

Over the past decade, lake sediment DNA has been used by an increasing number of studies to trace past agricultural activities, human presence and landscape changes. Sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) has proven to be a complementary approach to the use of pollen and macrofossil remains in the field of palaeoecology when investigating past community changes, as it allows the direct identification of specific domesticates, rather than employing pollen or non-pollen palynomorphs as proxy indicator species. 

Open field systems characterised much of the agricultural landscape in medieval Europe, feeding population growth and leaving a profound impression on the countryside across England and beyond. However, after more than a century of documentary and landscape research, scholars have not yet reached any consensus as to when, where and how these distinctive agricultural regimes emerged and developed.