LONDON: Scientists have uncovered a landscape of buried buildings and villages representing more than 6,000 years of British history. Anglo-Saxon settlements, Roman houses, Bronze Age graves and Iron Age homes — covered by thick layers of sand and loam — have been pinpointed using hi-tech magnetic sensors and air reconnaissance surveys.

The discovery, at West Heslerton in northern England, suggests the British countryside may have been far more intensively occupied and farmed than previously realized. The surveys have also directed archaeologists to make several significant finds, including a 1,300-year-old brooch scrawled with letters that are the oldest known form of writing in English.

Archaeologists believe the Heslerton Parish project could lead to a shake-up in our understanding of the nation’s history. “Take the Dark Ages,” said project leader Dominic Powlesland. “Our work shows they never really existed. Civilization didn’t disappear in Britain when the Romans left. Buildings were in continuous use and farms operated quite successfully between the Romans leaving and the Anglo-Saxons taking over.”

But the discovery — rated as one of the most important archaeological finds in Britain — is under threat. Farmers are being urged to start digging up land to plant potatoes for the nearby McCain French fries factory.

“This is the archaeological equivalent of finding the Domesday Book — then having it burned before your eyes before you get a chance to open it,” said David Miles, chief archaeologist of English Heritage. “This site is as important as Stonehenge or Avebury. The graves, burial mounds, and houses have been left untouched by mechanized farming which has wrecked so much of the rest of our archaeology. What they can tell us is of immeasurable importance.”

In an attempt to halt the site’s destruction, urgent talks have been set up between English Heritage and the UK Department for the Environment, while project leaders and local farmers have also begun discussions.

The remarkable secret was revealed after councillors gave the go-ahead for a mineral extraction scheme in the middle of the site. Archaeologists carried out a survey before quarrying began and discovered an entire early Anglo-Saxon village and cemetery, preserved by sands that had blown from dunes in nearby wetlands.

Archaeologists — backed by the state-funded conservation body English Heritage — mapped the area to try to discover other settlements. First they used aerial reconnaissance photographs, then moved on to exploit new techniques for measuring magnetic variation underground. “When you make bricks or pots or plates, you cause tiny magnetic particles in the clay to line up to the lines of Earth’s magnetic field,” said Powlesland. “You can then detect the magnetic anomalies they produce underground.”

After walking hundreds of kilometres with their instruments, archaeologists produced a map of buried roads, buildings and graves, and found that the 5 sq km site was criss-crossed with settlements and trackways. These were then dated by drilling to retrieve samples. From this, they created a map of the different settlements and discovered that the drifting sands had sometimes covered a site during the Roman era, Anglo-Saxon times or the Bronze Age.

“We are not dealing with a single site,” said Miles. “We are dealing with an entire three-dimensional landscape that covers 6,000 years of our history and prehistory. This place is unique.”

It is the preservation of the buildings that causes special scientific excitement, say researchers. “Most Bronze Age burial mounds in this country have been broken into or cut up,” said Powlesland. “In the past, it was assumed they were graves built only for important people and leaders. Our surveys of the intact ones down there suggest it is more likely they were burial places for extended families. This is a vast untapped resource. We have to ensure that its most important parts are saved so that we can excavate and study them carefully. It would be tragic if this place was wrecked for a few potatoes.”—Dawn/The Observer News Service.