Dartmoor archaeology threatened by bracken
The archaeological record of 10,000 years of human habitation on Dartmoor (England) is under serious threat from bracken invasion. Spreading at a rate of more than 2 per cent a year and overpowering heather and unimproved grazing grounds, this coarse plant has root systems powerful enough to eat into the granite bedrock of the heathland and can have a devastating effect on underground structures and artefacts.
The rapid spread is attributed to changes in farming practices on the high moor. Grants have encouraged the reduction of sheep flocks and cattle herds. Economies have pushed farmers towards more sheltered grazing in winter and early spring. The closure of the tin industry and a ban on live exports to France has reduced the value of the famous Dartmoor ponies to the extent that owners can no longer afford to keep them. The population of these grazing animals has been reduced from 30,000 to 3,000. The traditional use of bracken for bedding and fodder has been discontinued since the discovery of carcinogens in summer spores. Without livestock to trample it or people to pick it the bracken invasion is likely to continue. And as the bracken spreads, tourists and the remaining livestock are being forced onto fewer paths, causing more erosion.
The Dartmoor Preservation Association is organising ‘stomping’ and strimming parties to try and eliminate the problem, but the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is urging more drastic action. The Environmentally Sensitive Area scheme offers grants for the control of bracken with tractors or chemicals. But Andy Guy, regional development officer for DEFRA, says that few farmers are taking up the scheme because it is felt that insufficient funding is on offer and because many sites are too remote. Mr. Guy is worried that parts of the moors are already beyond saving.
This part of Devon has been home to dinosaurs and giant redwoods, has seen earthquakes, volcanic activity and ice ages, and has been flooded by the sea at least twice.
Source: Observer (7 September 2003)
Prehistoric agriculture in Wisconsin
Archaeologists have discovered the first hard evidence of organised prehistoric farming in Wisconsin (USA). The site, near Fabry Creek in the town of Union on the Door County peninsula, shows multiple layers of occupation over thousands of years and is almost unique in Wisconsin archaeology. The earliest layer could date back 12,000 years.
A team from Marquette University’s Centre for Archaeology Research has been conducting a rapid investigation alongside Wisconsin 57, prior to the expansion of the highway. Initial finds of a milling stone and kernels of burnt corn have been identified as belonging to Native Americans of the Oneota period. Chipped stone, broken pots, arrowheads and spear points, burnt wood and bone fragments, trash pits and indications of at least one wigwam structure suggest that the site was once occupied by a semi-permanent village in about 1200 AD. But beneath the Oneota stratum the team discovered several layers of more ancient artefacts, each representing a different period of occupation. If stylistic analysis of spear points is confirmed the oldest layer could date back to 9,600 BCe.
Marquette’s James Clarke Jnr says that the excavation may also yield information on glaciation in the region. The lake shoreline rose and fell over hundreds of years, depending on the melting and freezing of the glaciers: “Archaeologists have been digging through almost 5 feet of pure sand, indicating a prehistoric beach. And a thick layer of decayed plants may help determine the last ice age retreat.”
Source: Pioneer Press Wisconsin (3 April 2003)
