Hi Anne-Marie

The site sounds fascinating and a good opportunity to undertake both pollen and macrofossil analyses, not to mention invertebrates (or other bits of animal but this is an archaeobot list!!). The key thing is to focus on questions that you feel could be answered and are of use in the interpretation of the site in the 17th/18th centuries. Try to tie them with questions being asked by the archaeologists - perhaps status of the site, who was there eating what, trading and agriculture. Don't be too hamstrung by the archaeologists though - environmental material can answer other questions too.

Rivers are not good for pollen in terms of interpretation - either the stuff has washed away completely or you can have a very mixed assemblage including material growing on the side of the river that dropped in and material washed in from maybe many miles upstream. You might have side streams or old channel/oxbows that would re-pay a visit and core. The lake now dry - are there damp or wet deposits beneath the dry bed or is it also built over? If you can core and find out you might get well preserved pollen in old silts/organic deposits as well as macros. These sediments will probably have been lain down sequentially so could give a good picture of changing vegetation through time. Key thing if these are present would be dating them - excellent if contemporary with what I'm assuming is an old settlement but still interesting if earlier.

Privies - most people on this list will be drooling!! Pollen perhaps not so useful although might give an indication of vegetation growing around the immediate site, what is accumulating in rubbish around/dumped into privies as well as evidence for food - cereal bran - and parasite loads. Taphonomy an issue and interpretation needs to be cautious. Pollen from straw can help identify the cereal to a greater extent than the straw itself if ears are absent. Macros obviously essential from privies.

The York fascicles are excellent examples of what can be achieved from urban sites even if older than your site. People have always eaten, defaecated and thrown rubbish away so what's a few centuries here and there? Also Vegetation History and Archaeobotany and Environmental Archaeology journals have lots of case studies.

Good to see that you're keeping busy,
all the best
Jacqui
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From: The archaeobotany mailing list [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Anne-Marie Faucher [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 23 October 2015 14:50
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Help pollen in urban sites

Hello all,

I am dealing with a very complex case here in Québec and I would appreciate your help since it involves pollen analysis from an archaeological site (17th-18th centuries) and I am not a specialist.

I was ask to provide methodological references on how to study paleoenvironment in urban sites because there is a site being excavated and the city and government are asking the archaeologist to provide paleoenvironment analysis on the site and environmental reconstruction during the occupation as well. It is a urban site very much disturbed as they are building a highway on it and the construction has begun. They are asking for pollen analysis from the small river that used to be there during the occupation of the site (17th-18th century) and before, on the lake right next to it (dry now), and in privies. I find this much disturbing and very improbable that this is the good methodology and the right choice of analysis, and that it will provide valid results. Are there any articles that can help me demonstrate to the archaeologist on the site that this is not the best analysis that can be performed? What are your thoughts about it?

I know the ideal contexts that pollen should be taken from, but this is not the case so I just want to give the right information to the archaeologist in charge.

Thank you for your help,

Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie Faucher
Archaeobotanist
GAIA, coopérative de travail en archéologie
www.gaia-arch.com
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