Prehistoric Farming Impacts and Erosion Revealed Through a Palaeolimnological Investigation of Lough Inchiquin, Co. Clare, Western Ireland

• Published in: Environmental archaeology : the journal of human palaeoecology Vol. 28; no. 3; pp. 150 - 165
• Main Authors: Spencer, Daisy Eleanor, Potito, Aaron, Molloy, Karen, Martini, Anna, Frentzel, Henry, Jones, Carleton
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 04.05.2023
• Subjects: chironomid; Ireland; palaeoenvironment; Palaeolimnology; pollen; prehistory
• ISSN: 1461-4103; 1749-6314
• DOI: 10.1080/14614103.2021.1888847

This paper presents the results of a multi-proxy, palaeolimnological investigation of Lough Inchiquin, a large lake located immediately south of the Burren, a distinctive karst landscape in Co Clare, western Ireland which has been exploited since the Neolithic period. Chironomid sub-fossil analysis and lake sediment geochemistry provides an opportunity to infer lake response to prehistoric farming activity. The results of these new analyses are contextualised by pollen and loss-on-ignition evidence from the same lake catchment. The combined data of chironomid, loss-on-ignition (LOI 550 , LOI 950 and non-combustible fraction (NCF)), organic geochemistry (δ 13 C org , δ 15 N, C org :N ratio), inorganic geochemistry (Ti, Fe, Mn, S and δ 18 O) and fossil pollen has allowed for an in-depth understanding of the palaeolimnological and palaeoenvironmental changes from the Mesolithic to the Late Bronze Age (c. 4590-660 BC) in the catchment of Lough Inchiquin. The data highlight the increasing ecological impact of anthropogenic activity through time and provide well-dated evidence for the initiation of Holocene soil erosion from the Burren.