The Threats To Our Heritage

Blackface Sheep Galloway Cattle

The majority of archaeological sites are to be found on agricultural land; unfortunately, across the whole country it has been estimated that since the 1940s, approximately one site is being lost every day, largely as a result of the demands of modern intensive farming practices.

Past generations of farmers were largely responsible for the creation of most of our ancient monuments and landscapes, and archaeologists are well aware that farming technology will continue to develop in the future with resulting changes in the landscape.

However, as highlighted above, the potentially rapid rate and scale of change nowadays can destroy large numbers of archaeological sites in a very short period of time. It is usually possible, however, to combine archaeological conservation with good agricultural practice, and an effective management plan for an area can often be drawn up to cause a minimum of disruption to the everyday running of a farm.

Ancient monuments can be inadvertently damaged or destroyed in a number of different ways:

• Trees cause damage through root disturbance and sites can be destroyed when mature trees are blown over or badly felled
• Ploughing, and especially deep ploughing, can destroy fragile archaeological remains
• Ground disturbance of any kind (for example, the digging of foundation trenches, pits or drainage channels) can damage or destroy buried deposits
• Overstocking can cause earthworks to be trampled, especially on steep slopes in wet weather. Similarly the placing of feeding stations on sensitive sites can result in serious damage
• Rabbits can cause havoc on archaeological sites they may require controlling for archaeological as well as agricultural reasons.