Revealing the invisible floor: integrated geoarchaeological analysis of early medieval structures in Scotland

When stratigraphy is unclear or lacking, geoarchaeological methods such as soil chemistry and micromorphology can provide information on site preservation and use of space. However, they have only rarely been applied in such cases. Vanessa Reid used these methods to examine structures from 7th to 9th century AD Scotland.

Vanessa will be discussing her use of principal component analysis and k-means clustering to identify maintenance practices, use of space and post-depositional processes. Overall, she displayed how ephemeral occupation surfaces leave an identifiable record, even when floors cannot be observed in the stratigraphy.