Warp Abstract

LECTURE PROPOSAL WARP/SWAP/SAS CONFERENCE, EDINBURGH, 21-23 SEPT 2005 ALLUVIAL AND ESTURINE WETLAND ARCHAEOLOGY Brendon Wilkins Headland Archaeology Ltd. This lecture presents the preliminary results of archaeological investigations carried out on behalf of Waterford City Council as part of Contract 3 Archaeological Investigations prior to construction of the N25 Waterford Bypass. The site was located on the eastern edge of an area of deep Holocene sediments that accumulated in response to progressive rise in relative sea level. The archaeological deposits were located in an area where these sediments were no more than 2-3m deep, on a probable shelving terrace now covered by estuarine deposits. They were grouped into three main phases of activity: later Mesolithic flint scatters on a dry land surface predating the accumulation of organic peat deposits; later prehistoric toghers/ trackways and informal brushwood platforms accessing the main river channel from the dryland margin; and later prehistoric fulacht fiadh on the eastern shore of the wetland area. This lecture will discuss the methodologies employed in response to this archaeology whilst working within a developer funded framework. It will set the interpretation of distinct cultural events, like the construction of a trackway, alongside an understanding of the natural changes in depositional record. It will also incorporate any available specialist results and preliminary dating framework.