Caroline Wickham-Jones is nearing half way through her Leverhulme Research Fellowship to look at the drowned landscape of Orkney and her results to date have attracted some local interest.
The use of visualisations relating to Orkney some 10,000 years ago when Mesolithic settlers were first exploring the islands allows her to consider not just the scale of landscape change that has taken place over the years, but also the emotional response that the discovery of a dramatic landscape such as this would provoke.
In contrast to the open waters of today, when people first came to Orkney Scapa Flow comprised a land-locked bay with numerous small islands. To enter one had to pass through a narrow sound flanked by steep cliffs and the way ahead was seemingly blocked by further land. It would have been an impressive experience for people using small skin boats.
Over the next year she plans to take her research further to investigate the human use of the landscape and the ways in which it has changed through prehistory.
To see recent media coverage of Caroline's work, please click here.