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Dr J. Edward Schofield

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Dr J. Edward Schofield
Dr J. Edward Schofield
Dr J. Edward Schofield

BA, MSc, PhD, FSA Scot

Senior Lecturer

About
Email Address
j.e.schofield@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone Number
+44 (0)1224 273589
Office Address

G19 St Mary's Building, Department of Geography & Environment, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Elphinstone Road, Aberdeen AB24 3UF, UK.

School/Department
School of Geosciences

Biography

  • 2007-present: Lecturer in Geography, Department of Geography & Environment, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen; 2015-present, Adjunct Lecturer in Archaeology within the same School
  • 2004-07: PDRF, Department of Geography & Environment, University of Aberdeen
  • 2002-04: PDRA, School of Earth Sciences and Geography, Kingston University
  • 2002: RA, Wetland Archaeology and Environments Research Centre (WAERC), University of Hull
  • 1996-2001: PhD Vegetation Succession in the Humber Wetlands
  • 1995-1996: MSc Environmental Analysis & Dynamics, University of Hull
  • 1991-1994: BA (Hons) Geography, University of Hull

Memberships and Affiliations

Internal Memberships
  • Course co-ordinator for GG1510 (Global Worlds, Local Challenges)
  • Library Representative for Geography & Environment
  • Member of the Teaching Committee for Geography & Environment 
External Memberships
  • Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (FSA Scot).
  • Book review editor for the international journal Environmental Archaeology.
  • Scottish Archaeological Research Framework (ScARF): Science in Scottish Archaeology panel member 2010-12 (based at the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Edinburgh). Contribution to the Science Report on Pollen Analysis.
Research

Research Overview

  • Reconstructing past environments (specialising in palynology)
  • Viking settlement across the North Atlantic islands, with an emphasis on the Norse colonisation of Greenland
  • Human-environment relationships through prehistory and into the late Medieval period
  • Vegetation history and plant succession in British wetlands
  • Biogeography

Current Research

I am currently pursuing interests that connect directly with the University of Aberdeen's strategic theme of The North. In this respect, my core research activities continue to focus upon the impacts of Norse settlement on the vegetation and landscapes of southwest Greenland. The colonisation (landnám) of Greenland by people of Scandinavian origin - the Norse, or 'Vikings' of popular culture - took place around AD 985 following the arrival of settlers from Iceland led by Erik the Red. Settlement continued for a period of around 400 years before the colonies collapsed for various economic, social and climatic reasons which are still being debated. My research in this field is centred upon the characterisation of signatures for Norse activity in palaeoecological records from Greenland using pollen analysis and associated proxies (such as microscopic charcoal, fungal spores, radiocarbon dating, and peat geochemistry).

 

(Above) The ruins of Hvalsey church and farm, Eastern Settlement, Greenland (June 2011, photograph by J.E.Schofield). The last definite (written) record to emerge from Norse Greenland is a letter reporting a wedding at Hvalsey church in AD 1408.

 

Funding and Grants

  • Leverhulme Trust Standard Grant (2014-17) Calving glaciers: long-term validation and evidence (CALVE) (Co-investigator)
  • AHRC Standard Grant (2014) Bennachie landscapes: investigating communities past and present at the Colony site (Co-investigator)
  • SNH 'Year of Natural Scotland' (2013) A stratigraphic survey and pollen analysis of peat deposits at Bennachie, Aberdeenshire (in collabaration with the Scottish Sculpture Workshop)
  • Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland Research Grant (2010) The potential of the Norse Middle Settlement of Greenland for a major interdisciplinary research project (joint with Prof. K Edwards)
Teaching

Teaching Responsibilities

Course co-ordinator for Level 1 Geography (Semester 2)

  • GG1510 Global Worlds, Local Challenges

...with teaching contributions on the following Geography modules:

  • GG1008 Global Worlds, Global Challenges
  • GG2508 Skills & Techniques in Geosciences
  • GG3069 Remote sensing and GIS
  • GG3575 Techniques in Physical Geography
  • GG4571 Environmental Change

...plus guest lectures, lab practicals and seminars for various modules in Archaeology.

Publications

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  • Was Erik the Red's Brattahlið located at Qinngua?: a dissenting view

    Edwards, K. J., Schofield, J. E., Arneborg, J.
    Viking and Medieval Scandinavia, vol. 6, no. 6, pp. 83-99
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Palynology 'On The Edge' and the Archaeological Vindication of a Mesolithic Presence?: The case of Shetland

    Edwards, K. J., Schofield, J. E., Whittington, G., Melton, N. D.
    From Bann Flakes to Bushmills: papers in honour of Professor Peter Woodman. Finlay, N., McCartan, S., Milner, N., Wickham-Jones, C. (eds.). Oxbow Books, pp. 113-123, 11 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Geoarchaeological investigations at Sandhavn, south Greenland

    Golding, K. A., Simpson, I. A., Schofield, J. E., McMullen, J. A.
    Antiquity, vol. 83, no. 320
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Palaeoecological and historical evidence for manuring and irrigation at Garðar (Igaliku), Norse Eastern Settlement, Greenland

    Buckland, P. C., Edwards, K. J., Panagiotakopulu, E., Schofield, J. E.
    The Holocene, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 105-116
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Footprints on the edge of Thule: landscapes of Norse-indigenous interaction: A major new research programme

    Edwards, K. J., Dugmore, A. J., Panagiotakopulu, E., Simpson, I. A., Schofield, J. E., Golding, K. A., Casely, A. F.
    Journal of Northern Studies, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 117-122
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Environmental impacts around the time of Norse landnám in the Qorlortoq valley, Eastern Settlement, Greenland

    Schofield, J. E., Edwards, K. J., Christensen, C.
    Journal of Archaeological Science, vol. 35, no. 6, pp. 1643-1657
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Land management at the bishop's seat, Garðar, medieval Greenland

    Buckland, P., Edwards, K. J., Panagiotakopulu, E., Schofield, J. E.
    Antiquity, vol. 82, no. 315
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • High resolution paleoenvironmental and chronological investigations of Norse landnám at Tasiusaq, Eastern Settlement, Greenland

    Edwards, K. J., Schofield, J. E., Mauquoy, D.
    Quaternary Research, vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 1-15
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • The Rye area project: absolute dating radiocarbon results

    Hamilton, W. D., Schofield, J. E., Waller, M. P., Bronk Ramsey, C., van der Plicht, J.
    Dungeness and Romney Marsh: barrier dynamics and marshland evolution. Long, A. J., Waller, M. P., Plater, A. J. (eds.). Oxbow Books, pp. 215-225, 11 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • The Rye area: pre-inundation landscape and vegetation history

    Waller, M. P., Schofield, J. E.
    Dungeness and Romney Marsh: barrier dynamics and marshland evolution. Long, A. J., Waller, M. P., Plater, A. J. (eds.). Oxbow Books, pp. 10-73, 64 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
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