Research in WAERC

WAERC members are involved in a wide range of interdisciplinary research projects throughout the world. Most of our research projects fall broadly within the remit of the Environmental Change Physical Geography Research Group. Research into archaeology, environmental change, and palaeoecology is both vibrant and stimulating, as befits a Centre within an RAE Grade 5 department. We also work collaboratively with other universities and agencies. Our work is published in appropriate books, conference proceedings and journals.

Selected current and recent research projects

• International Literature Review (English Heritage funded)
• Understanding water table dynamics and their influence on the buried archaeological resource in relation to aggregates extraction (English Heritage and MIRO funded Aggregates Levy Project)
• Understanding Waterlogged Burial Environments
• Biological & Cultural Identity of First Farmers: Multiple Bio-Archaeological Analysis of a Central European Cemetery (Vedrovice, Znojmo District, Moravia)

Recent publications

Lillie, M.C., Smith, R., Reed, J. & R. Inglis. 2008. 'South-West Scottish Crannogs: using in situ studies to assess preservation in wetland contexts'. Journal of Archaeological science 35: 1886-1900.

Lillie, M.C. and S. Ellis [eds.] 2007. Wetland Archaeology & Environments: Regional issues, Global Perspectives. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Smith, R. & M.C. Lillie. 2007. Assessing the parameters responsible for oak wood decay from waterlogged burial environments and their implication for the in situ preservation of archaeological remains. International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation 60: 40-9.

Lillie, M.C. and R. Smith. 2007. The in situ preservation of archaeological remains: using lysimeters to assess the impacts of saturation and seasonality Journal of Archaeological Science 34: 1494-1504.

Lillie, M.C., Smith, R., Reed, J. and R. Inglis. 2007. Monitoring in situ preservation on south-west Scottish crannogs. Barber et al. [eds.] Archaeology from the Wetlands: Recent Perspectives. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. pp.281-8. [WARP Occasional Paper 18].

Lillie, M.C. 2007. The North Sea: Liminal Space or Zone of Interaction? - some musings on Prehistoric sea-faring'. In Hårdh, B., Jennbert, K. & D. Olausson [eds.] On The Road - Studies in Honour of Lars Larsson. Acta Archaeologica Ludensia 4, No. 26: 231-6.

Ward, I., Larcombe, P. & M.C. Lillie. 2006. The Dating of Doggerland - Postglacial geochronology of the southern North Sea. Journal of Environmental Archaeology 11[2]: 207-18.

Lillie, M. 2005. Deconstructing Reconstruction: The Bronze Age Sewn Plank Boats from North Ferriby, River Humber, England, UK and their context. Journal of Wetland Archaeology 5: 107-19.

Caldwell, I. and M. Lillie. 2004. Manuel Pinto's inland sea: Using palaeoenvironmental techniques to assess historical evidence from southwest Sulawesi. in Susan G. Keates and Juliette M. Pasveer (eds), Quaternary Research in Indonesia, pp. 259-72. Modern Quaternary Research in Southeast Asia 18. Leiden: A.A. Balkema Publishers.

Chapman, H.P. and M.C. Lillie. 2004. Investigating 'Doggerland' through analogy: the example of Holderness, East Yorkshire (UK). in N.C. Fleming (ed.) Submarine Prehistory archaeology of the North Sea: research priorities and collaboration with industry. CBA Research Report 141 [English Heritage/CBA]. pp. 65-9.

Research projects and papers (associates)

• Quantitative reconstruction of landscape mosaics at Coigach

Some past research projects and papers

• The Sutton Common Project
• Scottish Wetland Archaeology Research Project (Historic Scotland funded) - Monitoring of in situ burial environments and preservation status of southwest Scottish crannogs