Current projects

The Parknabinna people project

Carleton Jones, Rick Schulting and Christophe Snoeck

The Parknabinnia people project – Excavation of the Parknabinnia court tomb (Cl. 153) produced the remains of at least twenty Neolithic people who were interred in the tomb between c. 3690-3375 BC and c. 2905-2620 BC. This project is using isotopic analyses to investigate the possible role that mobility may have played in the lives of these people.  

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Structured deposition of neolithic hare bones in parknabinna court tomb

Carleton Jones and Fiona Beglane

The faunal assemblage from the Parknabinnia court tomb was dominated by hares but hare ecology suggests that they would not willingly enter the tomb, and evidence for them being deposited by carnivores is slight.  The tomb contains two chambers, and while some of the skeletal elements were dispersed evenly, others were not. This suggests deliberate human deposition of partly dismembered and whole hares in the tomb, with different practices being undertaken in the two chambers. 

Two hare bones were dated, one from each chamber, in order to determine the date of these and to determine whether or not they are contemporary with each other and/or with the period of construction and use of the tomb.  Both bones are firmly Neolithic in date, supporting the hypothesis that they were deliberately deposited in the tomb as part of ritual activity. 

Work is currently progressing to determine the implications of these results for the interpretation of the use of the tomb. The research has been funded by the Royal Irish Academy and Queen's University Belfast radiocarbon grant scheme

Burren GeoparkLIFE Project
2013-2018

This project is aimed at protecting the heritage and landscape of the Burren while supporting local employment and economic activity. It will be developing and marketing the Burren as a genuine sustainable tourism destination with a €2.2 million EU grant. I am coordinating the NUIG contribution to this project through the Ryan Institute. http://www.burrengeopark.ie/what-we-do/geopark-life-project/

Investigations of a peat core from Ballinphuill Bog, north of Loughrea (M6)

Karen Molloy, Michael O’Connell and Ingo Feeser

A pollen diagram, elaborated by Karen Molloy with assistance from Ingo Feeser, provides evidence for farming and its impact on woodland cover and composition in the area adjoining Rahally hillfort. The profile has a well defined Elm Decline and a pronounced Neolithic Landnam that spanned the interval 3700–3400 BC. Beginning in the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age (2400 BC) there is evidence for renewed farming. In the early and mid Bronze Age, farming was most intensive in the intervals 2300–2050 and 1600–1250 BC. In the late Bronze Age (c. 1000 BC) farming activity again increased substantially and a high level of activity was maintained until the late Iron Age. A distinct Late Iron Age Lull was recorded (AD 200–400) which was followed by strong human impact, especially from c. AD 800 onwards. Cereal growing, which had already assumed importance by about AD 800, increased in importance at about AD 1200. Final woodland clearance and creation of an open landscape dates to about AD 1500.  (Funded by Galway County Council/National Roads Authority)

Publications 
Molloy, K., Feeser, I. and O’Connell, M. 2014. A pollen profile from Ballinpuill Bog: vegetation and land-use hitory. In McKeon, J. and O’Sullivan, J. (ed.), The quiet landscape: archaeological and palaeoecological investigations on the M6 Galway to Ballinasloe National Road Scheme. National Roads Authority Excavations Monograph 15, National Roads Authority, Dublin.

A. Map of western region of Ireland between Galway city and the river Shannon. Location of Ballinphuill Bog is indicated by a closed circle; also shown: Rahilly hillfort, Clonmacnoise, sites where pollen investigations have been recently carried out (open circles), centres of population and main road network (National and selected Regional routes prior to construction of M6 motorway).

B. A partly schematic sketch showing coring locations (recorded by Garmin GPSmap 60CSx), transects T1–T4, gouge cores numbered G1–G14 and location of the cores BPH2 and BPH3, that were used for detailed analyses. In the case of the gouge cores, depth (in cm) is indicated. Presence of marl (never >1 m thick) and Late-glacial sediments (including marl) are indicated by M and LG, respectively.

C. Aerial view of Ballinphuill Bog and surrounding field system including a small conifer plantation at the north-east end. (photograph © Ordnance Survey of Ireland. All rights reserved. Licence no. 2003/07CCMA/Galway County Council).

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Palaeoecological investigations associated with the construction of the Galway-Ballinasloe section of the M6 Motorway and the Crusheen-Ennis section of the M18 Motorway

Karen Molloy and Michael O’Connell

This involves pollen analytical investigations by Karen Molloy based on a sediment core taken from a small lake, Caheraphuca Lough.
The area harboured a particularly dense concentration of fulachta fia (burnt mounds). (Funded by Galway County Council/National Roads Authority)

Coring at the edge of Caheraphuca Lough, Co Clare (M18). The lake is fringed by trees and reeds. The Usinger piston corer used to core the lake is held by Ingo Feeser and Pat O’Rafferty. BTM: Lake sediment (marl) from Caheraphuca Lough partly extruded from the core tube.

Publication

Molloy, K. and O’Connell, M. 2012. Prehistoric farming in western Ireland: pollen analysis at Caheraphuca, Co. Clare. In: Delaney, S., Bayley, D., Lyne, E. McNamara, S., Nunan, J. and Molloy, K. (eds). Borderlands. Archaeological investigations along the route of the M18 Gort to Crusheen road scheme. NRA Scheme Monographs 9. National Roads Authority, Dublin, pp. 109–122.

Cereal cultivation on the Aran Islands

Karen Molloy and Michael O’Connell

A project entitled Traditional farming on the Aran Islands: focus on cereal fields includes a survey to determine the extend of cereal cultivation at present.
Surface pollen samples collected in the 1980s/90s and during this survey, mainly in the vicinity of rye fields, are being analysed with a view to investigating the expression of cereal growing in fossil pollen records. The project is funded by the Heritage Council (2010; ref no. R00577.

Photos from Inis Meáin (16/06/2010). LHS: relatively large field with rye and potatoes. RHS: aerial view of same part of Inis Meáin

Modern influences on chironomid distribution in western Ireland lakes

A.P. Potito, C.A. Woodward, D.W. Beilman, M.McKeown

In order to further develop chironomid-based palaeolimnological investigations in Ireland, a calibration set was constructed to determine the dominant environmental controls on modern chironomids in western Ireland. Chironomid subfossils were collected from surface sediments of 50 lakes. The lakes were characterised with 36 environmental variables, including physical attributes, lake water characteristics, lake sediment characteristics and land cover within each catchment. In this exploratory study, no specific environmental variable was targeted and lakes were chosen to span gradients of latitude, elevation, depth and trophic status. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that six environmental variables – mean July air temperature, lake depth, dissolved organic carbon, and percentage catchment land cover of agriculture, peat bog and scrubland – captured a large and statistically significant portion of the variance in the chironomid data. July temperature and agricultural land cover were the most dominant environmental variables, with July temperature proving the most suitable for inference model development. A classical weighted-averaging model was developed to estimate July air temperature, with a coefficient of determination (r2jack) of 0.60 and root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) of 0.57°C. Results suggest that summer temperature is the dominant influence on chironomid distribution across a wide variety of lake types, and the relatively small RMSEP should allow for more accurate reconstructions of Ireland’s relatively subdued Holocene temperature fluctuations. This project was funded through NUI Galway Millennium Fund.

Woodward, C.A., A.P. Potito, and D.W. Beilman (2012) Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios in surface sediments from lakes of western Ireland: implications for inferring past lake productivity and nitrogen loading. Journal of Paleolimnology 47: 167-184.

Potito, A.P., C.A. Woodward, M. McKeown, and D.W. Beilman (2014) Modern influences on chironomid distribution in western Ireland lakes: potential for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Journal of Paleolimnology.

  FIGURES: 1) Training set lakes                             2) Knockalla Lake

Regional cooling and East Greenland Ice Sheet changes during the demise of the last interglacial

Nil Irvalıa,b,*; Ulysses S. Ninnemannc,a; Helga F. Kleivenc,a; Eirik V. Galaasen, c; Audrey Morley, d; and Yair Rosenthal, e.

a. Uni Bjerknes Centre, Uni Research, Allégaten 55, 5007 Bergen, Norway
b. Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen, Allégaten 55, 5007 Bergen, Norway
c. Department of Earth Science and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen, Allégaten 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway
d. School of Geography and Archaeology, National University of Ireland Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland
e. Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences and Department of Geology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 71 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA

In this project we analyze high-resolution lithic and sea surface climate records to portray the progression of North Atlantic climate and the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) through the peak of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e into the last glacial inception. We investigate Eirik Drift sediment core MD03-2664 (57°26.34’N, 48°36.35’W), recovered off the southern tip of Greenland, strategically located to monitor small fluctuations in GIS extent and iceberg calving events. Our preliminary results show that significant amount of ice-rafted debris (IRD) was present during the early MIS 5e, until gradually tapering off by 122 kyr BP due to a diminishing smaller GIS. Our sea surface temperature (SST) estimates suggest that regional cooling leading to the demise of the last interglacial started prior to the end of the MIS 5e benthic d18O plateau, at approximately 119 kyr BP, as Northern Hemisphere insolation waned. This gradual cooling trend is interrupted by an abrupt but brief cooling episode at ~117 kyr BP. Considerable IRD abundance during the 117 kyr BP cooling event suggests the onset of regional ice sheet growth before the end of the MIS 5e benthic d18O plateau, and the major glacial inception. SSTs south of Greenland followed a two-step cooling during the glacial inception similar to the pattern observed across much of the North Atlantic and Europe.  Benthic d18O increases in parallel, suggesting that this two-step cooling is linked to a two-phased intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation.

North Atlantic climate and deep water variability since ~700 AD

Synnøve Kolstøa, b; Helga F. Kleivena, a; Yair Rosenthal, c; and Audrey Morley,d.

a. Uni Bjerknes Centre, Uni Research, Allégaten 55, 5007 Bergen, Norway

b. Department of Earth Science and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen, Allégaten 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway

c. Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences and Department of Geology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 71 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA

d. School of Geography and Archaeology, National University of Ireland Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland

The Little Ice Age (LIA) is the most recent in a long series of centennial scale climate oscillations of the Holocene. Resolving the scale and origin of climate variations, such as the LIA is crucial for predicting how natural variability will interact with anthropogenic forcing in the future. Both the North Atlantic subpolar gyre and deep ocean circulation are hypothesized to be important mechanisms providing inertia to the climate system and driving changes on multi-decadal to centennial timescales. Reconstructing these processes requires records from unique settings capable of resolving both deep and surface ocean variability on centennial timescales. In this project, a 37.5 cm long well dated (AMS 14C), high-resolution sediment core (multicore GS06-144-05MC-A, 60°24’N, 23°38’W, 1983 m) from the Gardar sediment drift south of Iceland is used to infer the timing, amplitude and nature of surface climate and deep water variability since ~700 AD. The Gardar drift is accumulating on the eastern flank of the Reykjanes Ridge, and sediments are being supplied from the Iceland Scotland Overflow Water (ISOW), which is an important component of the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). The location of the sediment core is thus well situated to monitor changes in NADW circulation strength, climate, and sea surface temperature over the past ~1300 years. Oxygen and carbon isotope records of benthic foraminifer C. wuellerstorfi are used to reconstruct the physical and chemical properties of NADW properties. Near surface water variability is inferred from stable oxygen isotope measurements on N. pachyderma (d) and G. bulloides as well as sea surface temperature and salinity by Mg/Ca paleothermometry. The near surface water records are combined with the carbon isotope measurements from benthic foraminifera to assess the link between AMOC and climate.

Project Title: Hydrographic changes in the Iceland Basin during the past 600 years and its relationship to regional climate

Tor Mjella,b; Ulysses S. Ninnemannc, a; Helga F. Kleivenc,;a; Eirik V. Galaasen, c; Audrey Morley, d; and Yair Rosenthal, e.

a. Uni Bjerknes Centre, Uni Research, Allégaten 55, 5007 Bergen, Norway

b. Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen, Allégaten 55, 5007 Bergen, Norway

c. Department of Earth Science and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen, Allégaten 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway

d. School of Geography and Archaeology, National University of Ireland Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland

e. Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences and Department of Geology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 71 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA

The goal of this project is to reconstruct and understand how the hydrography of the Iceland Basin has changed during the past 600 years. Of particular interests is to investigate how the extent and strength of the subpolar gyre influences the hydrographic conditions in the Iceland Basin. For instance, would reconstructions of temperature and salinity in the Iceland Basin give information about the climatic conditions in the subpolar gyre, the Atlantic inflow to the Arctic, or a combination of both? Will movement of the subpolar front affect the hydrographic history of the Iceland Basin?

In order to answer these questions we reconstruct the Mg/Ca and δ18O of planktic foraminifers using a sub–decadally resolved multicore (GS06-144 09MC-D) taken from the northern Gardar Drift in the Iceland Basin. From this core we have reconstructed the paleo-hydrographic conditions in the Iceland Basin using the Mg/Ca paleothermometry proxy on samples of the planktic species N. incompta, in addition to reconstructions of the δ18O from the planktic species N. incompta, G. bulloides, and G. inflata (Fig. 1). We find a relatively high correlation between the Mg/Ca of N. incompta and the three δ18O records from N. incompta, G. bulloides, and G. inflata (Fig. 1 E), indicating that the foraminifer species calcify in the same watermass during the greater part of the past ~600 years. Periods when the records are out of phase may illustrate either vertically migrations in the water column, variations in the season the foraminifers calcify, or a combination of both.

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