September 2011 © Ian D. Rotherham

New Insights into the

Ancient Woodland Paradigm

Ian D. Rotherham,Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UKi.d.rotherham@shu.ac.uk ; www.ukeconet.co.uk

Problems and possibilities on the border between historical ecology and environmental history and archaeology, Zurich, August – September, 2011

Issues of misunderstanding and lack of communication highlighted ….

Rotherham, I.D. (2007d) The implications of perceptions and cultural knowledge loss for the management of wooded landscapes: a UK case-study. Forest Ecology and Management, 249, 100-115.

Rotherham, I.D. & Ardron, P.A. (2006) The Archaeology of Woodland Landscapes: Issues for Managers based on the Case-study of Sheffield, England and four thousand years of human impact. Arboricultural Journal, 29 (4), 229-243.

Especially between – ECOLOGISTS, ARCHAEOLOGISTS, PLANNERS , FORESTERS & OTHER MANAGERS, and

HISTORIANS

A NATURAL / CULTURAL PARADIGM in dealing with wooded landscapes

The problem of ‘ancient woods’

Across Europe but especially in Great Britain - considerable demand to identify 'ancient woods'

To apply planning protection and conservation management

Complicated by a lack of awareness of the nature-culture complexity of woodland origins

Lack of over-arching cross-disciplinary approaches to wooded landscapes

Contemporary conservation management

Treats these areas as 'natural' when in fact they have been modified by human use for millennia

The systems developed for the Woodland Heritage Manual (Rotherham et al., 2008) provide a framework

For coherent application of ecological, historical, and archaeological evidence to ancient woods and other wooded landscapes

'Shadow Woods' research project& Ancient Woodland Indicators research

Further development

To identify and assess overlooked ancient wooded landscapes

In-depth research on 'Woodland Indicators' - provides a testable toolkit for evidencing ancient woodland status for planning authorities and others

The 2008 publication of the Woodland Heritage Manual (Rotherham et al., 2008)

Provided for the first time, a coherent guidance and approach to the assessment of ancient wooded landscapes

Methodology marries field ecology, archaeology, pedology, cartographic analysis, and historical and archival research

A wider application & relevance

Ideas from the Woodland Heritage Manual are tested in Poland with multi-disciplinary work led by Tomasz Samojlik and colleagues

Again taking a multi-disciplinary approach to examine the degree to which forest landscapes have been altered from the natural condition by human impacts

The study develops ideas first proposed by McIntyre & Hobbs (1999).

Since the publication, and in parallel to the woodland heritage project…….

1) Developing a critical analysis of the application of woodland botanical indicators

2) Re-assessment of the placement of ‘ancient woods’ within an historical timeline in England

The ideas of Frans Vera on woodland and parkland origins…..

Our current work sits alongside research into the historical ecology of medieval deer parks and their relationships to the great European savannah as proposed Vera

Attempts to place it within a cultural ecological and historical timeline – to link the conjectural Vera primeval landscape to the known medieval

Joining practitioner observation to history and historical ecology and informed by archaeology

The approach is based largely on work in the UK

But being tested and applied in other European countries

Research on indicators with the Woodland Trust and British Ecological Society

To inform and test the designation of ‘ancient woodland’ status in the UK

planning control process

Fresh insights into Historical Factors (Rotherham & Wright, 2008),

These methodological approaches help bring coherence to wooded landscapes studies

The work begins to place medieval ancient woods into a wider context of wooded landscapes

And beyond this, into the landscape of Vera’s claimed primeval savannah.

Some Key Steps in the Process….

Evidencing Ancient Woodlands and the Use of Indicators

Ancient Woodland Inventories

Robust Methodologies

Indicators and Their Use

The Importance of Ancient and Veteran Trees in Woodland

See Table1. Evidence-based Ancient Woodland Status Grid

Tested by means of Intelligent Interrogation

More detail in……..

Rotherham, I.D. (Ed.) (2007) The History, Ecology and Archaeology of Medieval Parks and Parklands. Wildtrack Publishing, Sheffield.

Rotherham, I.D. (2007d) The implications of perceptions and cultural knowledge loss for the management of wooded landscapes: a UK case-study. Forest Ecology and Management, 249, 100-115.

Rotherham, I.D. (2008) The Importance of Cultural Severance in Landscape Ecology Research. In: Dupont, A. & Jacobs, H. (Eds.) (2008) Landscape Ecology Research Trends. Nova Science Publishers Inc., New York, 71-87.

Rotherham, I.D. (2011a) A Landscape History Approach to the Assessment of Ancient Woodlands. In: Wallace, E.B. (Ed.) Woodlands: Ecology, Management and Conservation. Nova Science Publishers Inc., USA, 161-184.

Rotherham, I.D. (2011b) The implications of cultural severance in managing vegetation for conservation. Aspects of Applied Biology, 108, 95-104.

Rotherham, I.D. (2011c) Animals, Man & Treescapes – perceptions of the past in the present. Landscape Archaeology & Ecology, 9, (in press).

Rotherham, I.D. & Ardron, P.A. (2006) The Archaeology of Woodland Landscapes: Issues for Managers based on the Case-study of Sheffield, England and four thousand years of human impact. Arboricultural Journal, 29 (4), 229-243.

Rotherham, I.D., Jones, M., Smith, L. & Handley, C. (Eds.) (2008)

The Woodland Heritage Manual: A Guide to

Investigating Wooded Landscapes. Wildtrack Publishing, Sheffield

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