Predicting and Protecting Lithic Landscapes

Working in partnership with Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA), this research will characterise the extent and significance of Dartmoor's prehistoric subsurface archaeology, to inform future land management practices and to raise local and national awareness about this valuable heritage. Dartmoor's buried prehistoric archaeology faces significant pressures from the growing scale and frequency of landscape-scale conservation initiatives e.g., afforestation, peatland-restoration, natural flood management, as well as environmental land-management schemes. From the first Homo sapiens hunter-gatherers, (~44,000 years ago), to the earliest agriculturalists, (~4500 years ago), stone tools, known as 'lithics', are the dominant source of archaeological evidence - and these are currently excluded from protection by existing policy and environmental land management schemes which focus on upstanding/visible archaeology. The transition from hunter-gatherer to farming lifeways has been identified by DNPA as a research priority because so little is known about this period on Dartmoor compared to later prehistoric archaeology. Methodologies employed include the use of GIS, predictive modelling, archaeological test pit excavation and lithic analysis. The research will also explore public engagement in prehistory and the archaeological fieldwork will involve the highly trained and enthusiastic bank of DNPA volunteers, many of whom live and work on the moor.