RECONSTRUCTING RATHLIN'S PAST ENVIRONMENT

A team of five physical geographers from the University of Southampton are coming to Rathlin as they are interested in understanding the history of the island. They will be looking at lake sediments because they contain within them (layer upon layer as time goes on) evidence of what the past was like.

The team will be using sediment cores, which will be photographed, described, and radiocarbon dated: "from this sediment core we will analyse fragments of DNA and microscopic remains of various plants, algae, and insects. These are usually well preserved over thousands of years and can tell us about the timing and impact of human settlements, effects of famines and land abandonment, etc. What we will be doing is often described as "environmental archaeology" as we'll be reconstructing what the environment was in the past, although we won't do any digging/excavating like archaeologists do."

Join the team as they give a special public presentation on their work.

8.30pm
Wednesday 19th October
Richard Branson Centre