Digging up Memories – Making a Digital Exhibit

Published on by Rhys

You may remember a previous blog post when we set out 3D scanning a whole range of different wooden artefacts for the Digging up Memories – Making Connections online exhibit with Vindolanda Museum. Well here we are, looking back at all the successes and improvements after the exhibit was released to the world! We’ve recently written about online exhibits in the book Hadrian’s Wall: Exploring Its Past to Protect Its Future, but here we’re going to review through our recently published paper on the Digging up Memories exhibit.

This exhibit focused on the precious objects that comprise the Wooden Underworld collection at Vindolanda. Objects were selected by museum workers, volunteers and contributors to ensure co-curation in the exhibit, branching the breadth of roles at Vindolanda Museum. The exhibit was held on the Vindolanda website to help ongoing public engagement during limited visitation times and beyond, still remaining accessible today.

The Digging up Memories landing page – a whole range of different themes and objects to explore!

Our early priority was multimedia excitement. Yes that sounds like a bit of a buzzy phrase but essentially, we want several types of media to engage the different preferences and interests of our audience. This meant not just 3D models but also photos, sound bites, video interviews, voice recordings of contributors, lectures, creative writing, published reports, all sorts! Clearly this had some attentive impact, achieving an average 1 minute 35 seconds spent viewing per page (compared to the “typical” museum exhibit times of half a minute).

Now you may be wondering, which objects were the most popular? First, why not take a look at the exhibit yourself and pick out which one is your favourite!

Had a look? Great! The Things We Share page was the most visited, with the Toy Sword achieving the most views overall. Personally, we love the toy sword – Rhys even gave an interview about it in the exhibit!

A key question was “so… was it worthwhile?”. Yes! We had so much valuable feedback but the most valuable measure for us was that 88% of respondents felt encouraged to look further into Vindolanda and Roman history. Now that is a clear success for museums hosting online exhibits! If you’re interested in setting up your own online exhibit, check out the publication which goes into more detail, and offers suggestions and recommendations for future projects.

Isn’t technology great?

Tenerife – An Island Under Pressure

Published on by Gillian

Tenerife is certainly an island under many different types of pressure and this was evident in many forms during our week long field trip there. We experienced it’s vulnerability in the climate system first hand, as the intense sunlight and unseasonal heat (>30 C) reminded us that it is on the same latitude as the Sahara. Thankfully trade winds and cooler ocean currents from the North East usually keep the island relatively cool, whilst bringing much needed moisture to the north side. This supports the amazing laurel, brezal and pine forests, we enjoyed exploring these great habitats and also appreciating their importance in the hydrological system. Particularly with the desert conditions on the south side of the island!

Water management is one of the largest challenges that the island faces and we were expertly guided through one of the water galleria mines by our GeoTenerife expert (Heimaey). He explained how passages dug into the central mountain extracted water with minimal carbon footprint, after the footsteps of many hard working miners! The geological structure of the island dominates every day life there in many ways. Thankfully Rebecca Winstanley skillfully taught us about the many lava fields, volcanic deposits, associated hazards and more with her extensive knowledge of the island. Sadly many of the millions of tourists that visit Tenerife each year do not get the same opportunity to delve into the rich geography of such a varied island. We were lucky enough to enjoy the perspective of long term residents Ignacio, Alexi and Heimaey, who have seen the island change and evolve. There are many developments towards a more sustainable future here and we look forward to enjoy exploring more in the excellent company and hospitality of all those at GeoTenerife!

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Looking for stalagmites

Published on by Gillian

Recently, one of our PhD students – Fatai Ilesanmi has been on field trip.. Nigeria Field Expedition in the month of March and April 2023 

Nigeria National Geographic expedition phase 1. This is a caving expedition to identify and map stalagmite-bearing caves in Nigeria (initial reconnaissance expedition). 

The photograph shows Fatai exploring Itankpini cave and looking for stalagmites in hiding entrances

 

Climate change monitoring

Published on by Gillian

One year has now past since Dr Gillian Taylor was involved in the installation of a weather station at Fort Magna. It is not just a weather station but also monitors ground chemistry to help us understand seasonal changes. The data has been fascinating and watch this space for updates on conference presentations later in the year..

https://www.vanwalt.com/projects/soil-research-equipment-for-the-vindolanda-trust/

Not content with one weather stations, in April 2023, the team also installed a similar system, provided by Van Walt across the Vindolanda site, monitoring more chemistry, more conditions and importantly watching those anaerobic areas very carefully, as we all know by now, the anaerobic conditions are important for the preservation of artefacts.

There are two other blogs posts, whom have written about the adventures of putting in the new system, so enjoy the link

https://www.vindolanda.com/blog/monitoring-the-buried-archaeology-of-vindolanda

https://www.vanwalt.com/dubois/2023/04/17/whisky-and-paracetamol-when-the-customer-assists-in-a-multi-sensor-network-installation/

https://www.vanwalt.com/dubois/2023/04/23/whisky-and-paracetamolepilogue/

External Speaker: Professor Mike Rogerson – When and Why does it rain in the Sahara?

Published on by Gillian

On Monday, 24th April 2023, our TU Earth & Environment Group welcomed guest speaker, Professor Mike Rogerson of Northumbria University whose talk entitled ‘When and Why does it rain in the Sahara? (on orbital timescales)’ addressed his ongoing NERC-funded stalagmite palaeoclimate research in Tunisia and Libya.

According to Mike, the Greening of the Sahara which entails conversion of large, currently hyperarid areas into grassland during warm phases of the northern hemisphere, is one of the most spectacular examples of past climate change we have. Previous studies have revealed that the Sahara was not always the sun soaked hyperarid landscape with iconic rolling sand dunes that much of it is today. Instead, there is evidence that it was once much greener.

Future changes in Earth’s hydroclimate under greenhouse gas forcing are notoriously difficult to predict yet people living in global drylands such as along the desert margins of the Sahara,  are incredibly vulnerable to changing water availability and at risk of acute humanitarian crises under human caused climate change.

Climate models used to predict future change over large parts of African and West Asian dryzones tend not to ‘converge’ which means that different climate models subject to the same climate forcings will give different answers as to whether the region will be wetter or drier in the future. Globally, models seem to predict that wet regions will get wetter and dry regions will get drier but how accurate is this? Also, according to Mike, this pattern does not match our understanding of the Sahara under previous warm periods such as the mid-Holocene around 5000 years ago when a greener Sahara prevailed.

Mike is leading a large team of researchers from the UK, Tunisia, Libya, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria, to achieve a step-change in the confidence of climate forecasts for the northern margin of the Sahara by examining the representation of rainfall in Tunisia and Libya general circulation models, and testing how consistent this representation is with new records of rainfall built from stalagmites from Tunisian and Libyan caves. Cave stalagmites preserve a record of past temperature and rainfall in their mineral chemistry as they grow. Depending on their size and growth rate, they have the potential to give us insight into seasonal scale climate variability many thousands of years into the past.

Mike gave an interesting and engaging talk that explained why this is such a difficult – and important – bit of climate science to solve, and provided us with an update on the team’s progress so far.

Mike directs research in Northumbria’s Geography and Environmental Sciences Department and has a wide range of research interests himself with a particular love for karst processes and landscapes. Mike and I have worked closely on several projects over recent years including my National Geographic Explorer project seeking to reconstruct West African Palaeoclimate and as founding members of ‘Karstaways’, a North England research collective of karst and cave researchers. You can learn more about Mike and his work here https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/our-staff/r/michael-rogerson/.

written by Dr Lisa Baldini

What came after the Woolly Mammoth

Published on by Gillian

On the 26th April, Dr Ambroise Baker gave a fascinating talk about ‘What came after the Woolly mammoth’

The talk introduced some of the questions surrounding the late-Quaternary extinctions and their relevance when considering ecosystem management today. There was a focus on the consequence of this wave of megafauna extinction. Importantly, studying these consequences furthers our understanding of the ecosystem function that megafauna preformed before extinction. Understanding the loss of this function is increasingly relevant when managing ecosystems, especially when considering megafauna introduction as is the case with rewilding strategies. However, there remains many unknowns regarding the lost megafauna functions, how to re-introduce them and the benefits that can be achieved with re-introduction, pointing to the need for a thorough monitoring of current rewilding projects.

Call for Expressions of Interest in Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships

Published on by AmbroiseLeave a comment

Teesside University, the School of Health and Life Science, and the Earth, Ecology and Environment research collective are welcoming expressions of interest in Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships.

The research areas of existing strength are as follows:

  • Climate change Impacts and palaeoclimate reconstruction
  • Archaeological advances in preservation and outreach
  • Sustainable agriculture and aquaculture
  • Rewilding for ecological recovery and sustainability
  • Sustainable food supply chain and environmental impact
  • Microbial biotechnology and bioremediation

Contact point for inquiries: Dr Ambroise Baker (A.Baker@tees.ac.uk)

Two PhD Opportunities

Published on by AmbroiseLeave a comment

Our environmental group is delighted to announce 1 fully funded and 1 fees-only funded PhD opportunities. See below and follow the links provided for further information.

Investigation of moorland management practices and carbon dynamics for climate change mitigation (fully-funded)

Peatlands are increasingly being seen as part of nature’s solutions to deal with the environmental challenges of today, from tackling climate change through to flood protection and enhancing biodiversity. However, while all peatlands provide these services, research and conservation efforts have focused largely on deep peats (>40cm depth). Therefore this project will investigate the impact of different management practices on shallow peatland carbon balances. A field campaign will enable multiple sites across the North York Moors to be surveyed and monitored for peat and pore water chemistry, microbial communities and carbon dynamics.

Above and below ground carbon stocks and biotic changes during rewilding

This project will quantify changes in biodiversity, ecosystem function, carbon stocks and their interactions during the initial phases of rewilding. At the primary field site, some 66 experimental fixed plots are set up within formerly agricultural land comprising a variety of arable, improved, and natural grasslands. Rewilding was initiated in 2022, with the cessation of agricultural activities which will be followed by large herbivore re-introduction (eg hardy free-ranging cattle and pigs). The analysis will quantify ecosystem changes in time, against baseline data collected in 2021-2022, and enable an assessment of rewilding contribution notably to net-zero and nature recovery policies.

We anticipate the project to be a unique opportunity to work with a range of collaborators inside and outside academia. We are looking for candidates with a strong interest in combining biodiversity, microbiological and environmental science, to develop novel evidence contributing to the UN decade of ecosystem restoration.

Tees Seal Photo ID Project

Published on by AmbroiseLeave a comment

As part of ongoing work to better understand and monitor seal populations in the Tees and surrounding areas, the Tees Seal Photo ID Project (TSPIP) is a new citizen science initiative giving members of the public (that’s you!) the opportunity to get involved in conservation research. Photo ID involves taking photographs of seals to capture the unique patterns on each seal’s fur. These patterns can be used to identify individual animals and monitor them over time. We can then get a clearer idea on population numbers, see which sites seals prefer and whether this changes over time, learn how far they travel and which other populations they interact with, and even see which seals here in the Tees like to hang out together. The non-invasive nature of photo ID means it’s possible to get all this information without ever having to touch or disturb a seal.

Some of the seals who call the Tees home. THg007, also known as Puzzle, is very much a regular sight and was seen at Greatham Creek every month over summer 2022. Photos; F. Pellie.
Some of the seals who call the Tees home. THg007, also known as Puzzle, is very much a regular sight and was seen at Greatham Creek every month over summer 2022. Photos; F. Pellie.

Students at Teesside University are already at work photographing seals and compiling catalogues of individuals which show their markings from different angles, allowing us to efficiently compare new photographs to animals we’ve seen before. There’s only so many places we can be at once though so we’re reaching out to the community to ask you to consider taking photographs of the seals you see and sending these to us. In doing so, you’ll be helping us to expand our catalogues and build upon our understanding of the seals we’ve already logged. At the time of writing, our catalogues contain 132 local seals.

Catalogue pages for a harbour seal (TPv073, “Moose”) and a grey seal (THg004, “Bea”). Photos; F. Pellie.
Catalogue pages for a harbour seal (TPv073, “Moose”) and a grey seal (THg004, “Bea”). Photos; F. Pellie.

Any picture of a seal could potentially be useful, but the easiest photographs for us to match show the whole left or right side of the animal. If the seal is swimming and you just capture the side of its head, don’t worry – we can use those images too! Photos of seals’ undersides are also helpful as they can allow us to record the sex of the animal.

Want to get involved? Simply send your seal photos to F.Pellie@tees.ac.uk. Please include the date and location the photos were taken in the email.

Want to learn more about the project? This project is coordinated by Freya Pellie, an environmental science PhD student at Teesside University; feel free to drop Freya an email with any queries you may have: F.Pellie@tees.ac.uk.

For information on how we’ll process your personal data if you participate in the project, please click HERE to view our privacy notice.

TSPIP is part of a wider PhD study of the Tees seals, made possible by a studentship funded by Graham Construction and Teesside University.