York Historic Environment Record

A series of cores, covering a total depth of 2380 mm, were extracted from a swampy area of Fulford Ings, a floodplain of the River Ouse just south of York, UK. The stratigraphy consisted mainly of clay with sand, lake mud, and organic matter, and distinct fine bands of charcoal at the base of the profile. A chronological model developed, by relating volume magnetic susceptibility and heavy metal measurements to the documented mining history of the Yorkshire Dales, dated the base of the profile to 1050 A.D. This model also showed that charcoal was increasingly abundant pre-1780 A.D. It is suggested that this reflects the history of smelting in the area, which relied on charcoal as a fuel prior to this date, later replaced by coal. Pollen grains were generally poorly preserved in the profile, and many grains were unidentifiable. However, the pollen grains present and the respective percentage assemblages suggested little change in vegetation between 1720-1860 A.D. and 1060-1080 A.D., at which time the Battle of Fulford took place on the site. The landscape, in both cases, was dominated by Gramineae (grasses), Cyperaceae (sedges) and Typha latifolia (bulrush), with relatively little tree pollen, similar to present day cover.