A multiproxy approach to the function of postmedieval ridge-and-furrow cultivation in upland northern Britain

Abstract

The remains of agricultural activity preserved beneath current rough pasture in the uplands of Tweed dale in southern Scotland are subjected to multidisciplinary analysis by archaeological survey, documentary research, and palaeoecological reconstruction through pollen analysis, supported by 210Pb and other forms of dating. The survey showed the features to represent grooved rig, a form of ploughing presumed to be related to cereal cultivation in the medieval and postmedieval periods. Documentary and pollen analyses suggest, however, that the ploughing is very recent, of nineteenth-century date, and represents a form of pasture improve ment for sheep grazing. This conclusion demonstrates the value of multidisciplinary research based on this type of evidence, and has implications for the interpretation of comparable forms of upland agriculture.