A MULTIPROXY APPROACH TO THE FUNCTION OF POSTMEDIEVAL RIDGE-AND-FURROW CULTIVATION IN UPLAND NORTHERN BRITAIN

The remains of agricultural activity preserved beneath current rough p asture in the uplands of Tweeddale in southern Scotland are subjected to multidisciplinary analysis by archaeological survey, documentary re search, and palaeoecological reconstruction through pollen analysis, s upported by Pb-210 and other forms of dating. The survey showed the fe atures to represent grooved rig, a form of ploughing presumed to be re lated to cereal cultivation in the medieval and postmedieval periods. Documentary and pollen analyses suggest, however, that the ploughing i s very recent, of nineteenth-century date, and represents a form of pa sture improvement for sheep grazing. This conclusion demonstrates the value of multidisciplinary research based on this type of evidence, an d has implications for the interpretation of comparable forms of uplan d agriculture.