Papers by Ingelise Stuijts
STAR: Science & Technology of Archaeological Research
Groningen: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Faculteit der Letteren, Centrum voor Archeologische Research & Consultancy ARC, 1999
Earth-Science Reviews, 1994
ABSTRACTShotgun metagenomics applied to archaeological feces (paleofeces) can bring new insights ... more ABSTRACTShotgun metagenomics applied to archaeological feces (paleofeces) can bring new insights into the composition and functions of human and animal gut microbiota from the past. However, paleofeces often undergo physical distortions in archaeological sediments, making their source species difficult to identify on the basis of fecal morphology or microscopic features alone. Here we present a reproducible and scalable pipeline using both host and microbial DNA to infer the host source of fecal material. We apply this pipeline to newly sequenced archaeological specimens and show that we are able to distinguish morphologically similar human and canine paleofeces, as well as non-fecal sediments, from a range of archaeological contexts.
Objects, Environment, and Everyday Life in Medieval Europe, 2016
The arrival of the Vikings had a lasting influence on the development of towns in Ireland. How th... more The arrival of the Vikings had a lasting influence on the development of towns in Ireland. How these towns interacted with their hinterland, in particular, and how and where they procured wood for house building and household goods manufacture is the subject of much speculation. One route into this debate is through the examination of environmental, structural and artefactual evidence uncovered during archaeological excavations. Wood species, artefact and insect analyses are presented in this paper from excavations in Dublin and Waterford with particular attention drawn to the low levels of oak used in house building during the Viking Age in Dublin compared to Waterford. Reasons for this difference are discussed in the context of early medieval woodland history, house-building styles, shipbuilding and other specialized activities of the town residents.
for recent reviews of species profile differentiation at urban, rural, and elite sites in Medi ev... more for recent reviews of species profile differentiation at urban, rural, and elite sites in Medi eval Britain, and Minniti in this volume for another example from Italy. 7 Wandering pigs formed a major part of the mayor's annual tourn in Medi eval Exeter, for example (Kowaleski, Local Markets and Regional Trade, p. 297).
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 2005
A high-resolution pollen record for the Holocene has been obtained from Derragh Bog, a small rais... more A high-resolution pollen record for the Holocene has been obtained from Derragh Bog, a small raised mire located on a peninsula in Lough Kinale-Derragh Lough, in Central Ireland as part of the Discovery Programme (Ireland) Lake Settlements Project. The data are compared with two lower resolution diagrams, one obtained from Derragh Lough and one from adjacent to a crannog in Lough Kinale. The general trends of vegetation change are similar and indicate that landscape-scale clearance did not occur until the Medieval period (ca. a.d. 800-900). There are, however, significant differences between the diagrams due primarily to core location and taphonomy, including pollen source area. Only the pollen profile from Derragh Bog reveals an unusually well represented multi-phase primary decline in Ulmus ca. 3500-3100 b.c. (4800-4750 14 C b.p.) which is associated with the first arable farming in the area. The pollen diagram indicates a rapid, and almost complete, clearance of a stand of Ulmus with some Quercus on the Derragh peninsula, arable cultivation in the clearing and then abandonment by mobile/shifting late Neolithic farmers. Subsequently there are a number of clearance phases which allow the colonisation of the area by Fraxinus and are probably associated with pastoral activity. The pollen sequence from adjacent to a crannog in Lough Kinale shows clear evidence of the construction and use of the crannog for the storage of crops (Hordeum and Avena) whereas the Derragh Bog diagram and the diagram from Derragh Lough reflect the growth of the mire. This study reveals that in this landscape the record from a small mire shows changes in prehistoric vegetation caused by human agriculture that are not detectable in the lake sequences. Although in part this is due to the higher temporal resolution and more consistent and complete chronology for the mire, the most important factor is the closer proximity of the raised mire sequence to the dry land. However, the pollen sequence from adjacent to a crannog does provide detailed evidence of the construction and function of the site. It is concluded that in order to ascertain a complete picture of vegetation changes in a lowland shallow lakedominated landscape, cores from both the lake and surrounding small mires should be analysed.
The Holocene, 2005
A multiproxy study of Ballywillin Crannog, Lough Kinale, central Ireland is presented. The method... more A multiproxy study of Ballywillin Crannog, Lough Kinale, central Ireland is presented. The methodology used reveals the wealth of information that a multiproxy approach can contribute in lake settlement studies. Plant macrofossils, pollen and spores, diatoms, chironomids and Coleoptera from a lake core are used to reconstruct local and regional vegetation change and lake history to establish the age and function of the crannog. The palaeoecological evidence suggests that Ballywillin Crannog was constructed around AD 620, with its most intensive period of occupation after AD 11 50. Cereals and a range of gathered fruits and nuts were brought onto and cooked on the crannog, and cereal grains were possibly stored there.
Page 116. De veenweg van Nieuw-Dordrecht-onvoltooid en niet gebruikt WA CASPARIE, B. VAN GEEL, AE... more Page 116. De veenweg van Nieuw-Dordrecht-onvoltooid en niet gebruikt WA CASPARIE, B. VAN GEEL, AEM HANRAETS, E. JANSMA EN ILM STUIJTS In 1955 groeven Prof. Tjalling Waterbolk en Dr. Wim van Zeist van het ...
Scientific Reports, 2021
This paper presents the earliest evidence for the exploitation of lignite (brown coal) in Europe ... more This paper presents the earliest evidence for the exploitation of lignite (brown coal) in Europe and sheds new light on the use of combustion fuel sources in the 2nd millennium BCE Eastern Mediterranean. We applied Thermal Desorption/Pyrolysis–Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry and Polarizing Microscopy to the dental calculus of 67 individuals and we identified clear evidence for combustion markers embedded within this calculus. In contrast to the scant evidence for combustion markers within the calculus samples from Egypt, all other individuals show the inhalation of smoke from fires burning wood identified as Pinaceae, in addition to hardwood, such as oak and olive, and/or dung. Importantly, individuals from the Palatial Period at the Mycenaean citadel of Tiryns and the Cretan harbour site of Chania also show the inhalation of fire-smoke from lignite, consistent with the chemical signature of sources in the northwestern Peloponnese and Western Crete respectively. This first evid...
Archaeology Ireland, 2010
The WODAN charcoal and wood database was launched in 2011. It aims to establish an online databas... more The WODAN charcoal and wood database was launched in 2011. It aims to establish an online database for wood and charcoal from archaeological sites and to store published and unpublished literature. The database itself may serve a multitude of purposes but first and foremost it is a digital archive. The data sets can facilitate scientific research as well as optimise future sampling strategies. WODAN helps to identify key research agendas for environmental archaeology. This will feed back to other aspects of archaeology, thus facilitating more fully integrated archaeological reports and unlocking data for interdisciplinary research. Another key aim is the national and international standardisation of archaeological wood and charcoal data.
Rivers, lakes, bogs, mires, estuaries and flooded areas all offered opportunities for people in t... more Rivers, lakes, bogs, mires, estuaries and flooded areas all offered opportunities for people in the past to move, explore, exchange, and to exploit. Wetlands were geographical and mental spaces that offered many opportunities for the use of natural resources (marine saltworks, peatlands, river estuaries etc.) the social and economic advantages (trade and transport benefits offered by areas where water and land meet) and the political and mental boundaries/barriers that wetlands can become. People often constructed wooden and stone trackways and platforms to enable activities at the edge of wetlands; to cross these watery obstacles and barriers in space and to enter into the wetlands themselves, to inhabit, use and dwell amidst them or even to deposit things and objects in liminal spaces. The archaeological investigation of wetlands across the world has led to the discovery of well-preserved trackways and platforms that were both practical constructions, monuments to communal endeavo...
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Papers by Ingelise Stuijts