TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Britain's dry summer reveals ancient sites

News Desk (Agence France-Presse)
Londres, United Kingdom
Thu, August 16, 2018

Share This Article

Change Size

Britain's dry summer reveals ancient sites Lanyon Quoit, an ancient burial mound in West Cornwall, United Kingdom. (Shutterstock/File)

P

reviously hidden archaeological sites have emerged in fields across Britain after the hot, dry summer exposed new cropmarks, the Historic England agency said Wednesday.

Aerial photographs have exposed patterns which reveal the sites of prehistoric settlements, burial mounds and Iron Age, Bronze Age and Roman farms.

Among the new discoveries are two Neolithic monuments near Milton Keynes in central England.

These are rectangular-shaped constructions believed to have been enclosed paths or processional ways, usually dating from between 3,600 and 3,000 BC.

One monument was recently mapped, but until this year another one next to it was hidden beneath a bank of earth that is being gradually ploughed away.

Several of the finds are in the south-west region of Cornwall, including an Iron Age round -- a settlement surrounded by a circular ditch -- in St Ives.

Crops planted above ancient ditches or other earthworks often flourish because the disturbed ground retains more moisture than undisturbed soil. As a result, in drought conditions, they stay green longer.

In contrast, crops planted above the remnants of ancient stone walls grow less well, and after a dry spell are often more bleached in color.

When viewed from above, both can give a clear outline of what lies beneath.

Read also: Exploring Jordan's cultural fusion

"This spell of very hot weather has provided the perfect conditions for our aerial archaeologists to 'see beneath the soil' as cropmarks are much better defined," said Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England. 

"The discovery of ancient farms, settlements and Neolithic cursus monuments is exciting.

"The exceptional weather has opened up whole areas at once rather than just one or two fields and it has been fascinating to see so many traces of our past graphically revealed."

Historic England also discovered an Iron Age burial site in Yorkshire, northern England, with cropmarks representing square ditches surrounding a burial mound.

Further details have also emerged of existing sites, including lost Elizabethan buildings and gardens associated with Tixall Hall in Staffordshire.

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.