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Miss Helen Drinkall, BSc Archaeology, MA in Prehistoric Archaeology
(email at h.c.drinkall@durham.ac.uk)
Research Topic
Hominin Behaviour in a Landscape Perspective: upland home bases or lowland living sites?
Abstract
The majority of Lower Palaeolithic assemblages are recovered from lowland fluvial locations, and hence most interpretation is based around these. It is clear, however, that these represent only a small fraction of the hominin landscape and this bias is potentially limiting our understanding of hominin organisation to only a single facet of behaviour. While recent authors have recognised the importance of upland sites, and other non-fluvial contexts, research is currently limited to highly specific studies (such as Boxgrove), and often fail to extend the purview to a continental context. Consequently we are still a long way from answering basic questions such as: how and why were hominids utilising particular locations? How, if at all, does behaviour respond to landscape context? Is the same pattern seen in continental Europe?
Employing a landscape perspective and combining artefact, ecological and inter-site analysis, my research investigates behavioural variation, site choice, specialisation and provisioning across the landscape, specifically comparing the archaeological signatures at lowland riverine sites, lakes, ponded locations, upland sites, coastal areas and caves. The research focuses on a selection of British sites that provide a cross section of landscape contexts, supplemented by key locations in Europe. The artefact study will be combined with the application of a variety of GIS techniques to explore models of hominin landscape use. These will be targeted at key debates in the Palaeolithic, such as artefact variability, habitat preferences and landscape-use.
Research Groups
Department of Archaeology
Research Interests
- Lithic Analysis
- British Lower Palaeolithic
- Hominin Landscapes and Mobility
- GIS Analysis
- OSL dating