The Later Mesolithic Period (6000-5000bp) on Glaisdale Moor, North Yorkshire.

This paper aims to chronicle the impact of human groups on the ecology of an upland area in N. E. Yorkshire during the last thousand years or so of the Atlantic period (Flandrian II of the UK chronozone system) and the transition into the succeeding Sub-Boreal (Flandrian III) at the decline of Ulmus pollen which is prevalent throughout western Europe at c. 5000 B.P. This investigation differs from many predecessors because it includes a detailed examination of the stratigraphy of the relevant sediments and has many more analysed profiles within a small area than is customary. The conclusions drawn about the vegetation and its dynamics are more firmly grounded spatially than some earlier work. Comments are made on the nature of the closed canopy forest, the likely whereabouts of at least one burn, the mosaic of vegetation types after several fire episodes, and the environment into which agriculture appears to have been introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]