The discovery of the timber platform in fen peat poses a number of questions relating to the local ecology and environment in which the structure was constructed and the character of local land use and economic subsistence. Pollen and plant macro-fossil studies were initiated at the outset of discovery of the Flag Fen structure. Special attention has been paid to the changing fen flora reflecting local hydrological changes as well as evidence for the vegetation and land use on areas of nearby dry land. In addition to the evidence for temporal changes in the environment obtained from ‘long peat cores’, sampling on a grid-square basis is being carried out on sands thought to have been floor covering. It is hoped that these will yield information on the use of the platform. Pollen data are now available from Flag Fen and the nearby Power Station site at Fengate. This short contribution seeks to provide a general summary of the vegetation and environment of the fen and its near terrestrial environs with data coming largely from the analysis of the ‘Mere Section’ (see Introduction, FIGURE 6 for location) although some reference will be made to the Fengate site (see Introduction, FIGURE6 for location). Results ofthe completed study will be presented in a forthcoming monograph.

There are many ways to contrast the formation of the Spanish Empire with the disarticulation of the New World’s indigenous societies. In any perspective, it is vital to emphasize the resistance and adaptation of the native peoples, increasing the historical veracity of accounts. And our perception of the present would be false if we assumed that the historical interpenetration of the two systems had been concluded. The America nations of today are not simply the result of western occupation, but evince through their achievements, as well as their shortcomings, the continuing encounter. This construction through negation is also the source by which we explain the social behaviour and cultural products of the American peoples – especially its high cultures, whose populations resisted more successfully the violent wars of conquest and exploitation of resources.

Introduction

Brian Fagan’s declaration about the ‘clash of cultures’ applies to contemporary Mesoamericans and South Americans as it does to North Americans. We have passed beyond the age of the ‘Black Legend’, perhaps not entirely, but enough to regard the ‘Columbian exchange’ (Crosby 1973) as a massive confrontation of peoples, the emotional reverberations of which have not entirely disappeared, but whose effects a few of us can measure with scientific objectivity.

The study of insect remains, particularly Coleoptera (beetles), from archaeological deposits can give palaeoecological information on a wide range of aspects of site environment and human activity. Some of this supplements other lines of evidence, for example the results of pollen analysis and the identifications of macroscopic plant remains can be supported by the food plant requirements of the more host-specific phytophagous Coleoptera present in a sample. However, there are other aspects of site ecology for which insects provide the main evidence. In particular, there are distinct faunas associated with various categories of structural, stored and decaying organic material.

The Flag Fen excavations of 1984 revealed a large number of oak timbers and it was immediately apparent that there was potential for dendrochronology. It was suggested that the work should initially comprise a major element in the Ph.D research of Nigel Holman, at the University of Cambridge. The direction of that research, however, moved away from Flag Fen, and it was not until 1987 that the Trust became aware of the situation. It was then decided, after much urgent consultation, that the best approach to the Flag Fen tree-ring analysis would be to undertake the study in-house (Pryor 1991: 111). The intention has been to keep costs low and (in view of the accumulated backlog) to produce as many measured samples as was reasonably possible. The dendrometer and computer facilities were initially provided by the Trust and the full implementation of the scheme has been supervised by the author. This work has been carried out under the supervision of the English Heritage funded Sheffield Dendrochronology Laboratory – to whom special thanks are due.

The method of excavating the platform is ostensibly simple, but every stage must be completed to a consistently high standard, particularly the maintenance of records. The amount of data generated every season is vast. For every level the procedure is the same: the wood is exposed and the surrounding peat removed so that the individual pieces are as clearly defined as possibIe whilst still in situ. The cleaned level is photographed from fixed positions in the roof of the excavation shelter. A plan is drawn, partly using the vertical photographs, but it is finished in the excavation, and amended where necessary during the lifting process. The wood is then lifted using teams of two or three excavators, at least one of whom needs to be very experienced. The wood is either allocated a number as it is lifted, or is sampled by metre square and spot height (O.D.). Provenance data, including grid reference, height O.D., and provisional measurements and description are noted on the field sheets.

The bone assemblages from the Flag Fen platform itself and from the contemporary post alignment revealed at the Fengate Power Station site are small (respectively c. 150 and c. 600 identified pieces), but may nonetheless shed some light on the nature of human activity at the two sites. For obvious reasons, this study is principally directed towards understanding the circumstances of bone deposition rather than towards a reconstruction of local animal husbandry.