| Reconstructing the environment ... continued |
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Pine |
Hazel |
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The Mesolithic pollen samples (at the base of the cores) were dominated by Hazel and Pine with evidence of ferns and aquatic plants but these were soon joined by more warmer loving trees such as oak and elm as the climate improved. |
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The sediments also contained the shells of small gastropods (snails), ostracods (very small crustacea) and foraminifera (single-celled organisms). All of these creatures lived in water, some of them in sea water, some in brackish and some in fresh water. |
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An ostrocod |
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From the changing abundance of different species through the core we know that at the time the Mesolithic site was occupied, the valley contained a freshwater environment but that soon after, as sea-level rose following the complete melting of all the glaciers from the last ice-age, the river became brackish (a mix of sea and freshwater) and so would have been unsuitable as a source of drinking water. |
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A foraminifer |
