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Thorne and Hatfield Moors Conservation Forum |
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Thorne and Hatfield Moors Conservation Forum |
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Peat bogs contain an unparalleled record of our past. A rich archive of information lies preserved in bogs. Much of this is organic, and has a capacity to expand our understanding of people, culture, economy and climate far back into prehistory. Pollen, plants, evidence for the use of wood and woodland management, boats, weapons, lines of communication and indications of human impact on surrounding landscape and ecology all contribute to modern knowledge in ways which are seldom approached on dry land. Peat bogs have produced some of the most spectacular finds of British archaeology, including remarkably well-preserved bodies of some of our ancestors. Peat extraction on an industrial scale -as opposed to more modest, non-mechanical methods ot former times -is a crude and destructive method of discovering theses treasures.
The Hatfield Trackway
Natural England are now actively engaged in the regeneration of both Thorne and Hatfield Moors, and have already been rewarded with the first regrowth of cotton grass and spagnum. However it will take decades, if not centuries, for the full community of flora and fauna to take shape - if indeed the conditions will ever again be favourable for such a development. But whatever the outcome of the attempt at regeneration the archaeological evidence does not regenerate.
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