Scott Timpany

My research interests lie in palaeoeocology and the adoption of these techniques to inform on the interactions of past communities and their environment, together with utilising these methods to investigate the impact of large-scale environmental change on communities in particular focussing on their resilience and adaptation to such changes.

I have a strong interest in submerged landscapes and have investigated intertidal peat and submerged forest sites in the Severn Estuary, Bristol Channel, Sussex, Orkney and the Western Isles. Within these now maritime settings I am interested in the rate and scale of environmental change triggered by rising relative sea-level and the reconstruction of former woodland and physiognomy gained through the study of submerged forest woodland remnants - a direct link back to the past. Paleoecological investigation of these settings also allows for the understaning of how communities utilised these environments in the past and how peoples activities changed as the landscape changed around them.

A further area of recent research has been the palaeoenvironmental investigation of burnt mound sites in order to see what impact the use of hot-stone technology from such sites had on the local environment, whether there is evidence for woodland management and/or deliberate selection of certain tree types for fuel wood and the construction of troughs. I have investigated such sites in Ireland, Northern Ireland and in the Northern Isles. The use of anthracological (charcoal) analysis in archaeology is widely over-looked and together with using this technique in the study of burnt mounds I am currently applying it to investigate wood fuel selection for cremation pyres in the Bronze Age and the cultural values placed on trees (and woodland) by past communities.

My current research interests includes the investigation of former lochs in the Northern Isles and Scotland in order to provide past evidence for changing water quality (e.g. euotophication) and how this may have impacted upon communities, together with their use as a source for past palaeopollution records (e.g. heavy metals) and landscape change. A recent project on these themes has looked at the impact of later prehistoric and Norse communities on the landscape of the Northern Isles through activities such as metalworking and agriculture from sediments taken from a former loch (now drained).

Currently supervising the following PhD projects:

Currently supervising the following Mres projects: