Cropmarks 2018
The unprecedented spell of hot, dry weather across Wales has provided perfect conditions for archaeological aerial photography.
As the drought has persisted across Wales, scores of long-buried archaeological sites have been revealed once again as ‘cropmarks’, or patterns of growth in ripening crops and parched grasslands.
The Royal Commission’s aerial investigator Dr Toby Driver has been busy in the skies across mid and south Wales over the last week documenting known sites in the dry conditions, but also discovering hitherto lost monuments.
With the drought expected to last at least another two weeks Toby will be surveying right across north and south Wales in a light aircraft to permanently record these discoveries for the National Monuments Record of Wales, before thunderstorms and rain wash away the markings until the next dry summer.
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How Cropmarks Form In Summer
Cropmarks Gallery
http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/303579/details/gaer-fawrgaer-fawr-hillfort
http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/92323/details/pen-llwyn-roman-fort
http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/302142/details/trewen-caerwent-enclosed-settlement
http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/142947/details/cross-oak-hillfort
http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/303560/details/castell-llwyn-gwinau
morrisons opening times
06/07/2018
lovely pictures, so green and so beautiful places!
[…] RCAHMW | Cropmarks 2018. (2018). Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. Retrieved from https://rcahmw.gov.uk/cropmarks-2018/ […]
Amazing pictures, I wish to everyone happy and healthy NEW YEAR 2021!
Simply fascinating. There were people here who lived, raised children and died on these very spots. Touchstones in time.
Never knew about this until hear the interview on bbc today. It is very interesting!
Absolutely fascinating. We have land on Anglesey and are regularly approached by various groups wanting to explore a certain part of the land, Im excited to see if these photos will show us something we haven’t seen before!!
Does anyone know where on the llyn peninsula these ancient monuments ,prehistoric monuments.. have been seen please
30 miles into the Irish Sea from north west Wales, south west of the Isle of Anglesey.
Just think of all the people over the generations who called those places home.
Very interesting and cool! As a teenager I always wanted to be a Luftbildarchäologe and tried to find / see something when my father flew a Cessna (as a hobby).
Sadly, Luftbildarchäologe isn’t’ an English word. But it should be. (We have to make do with “aerial archeologist”.
Luftbildarchäologe in German language mean “Aerial archaeologist” balloon explorer.
Molto interessante, in attesa di eventuali scavi è importante essere rapidi nel fotografare accuratemente in modo da avere i dati anche dopo che le condizioni climatiche saranno variate
Very interesting, while waiting for any excavations it is important to be quick to photograph carefully so as to have the data even after the weather conditions have changed.
[…] July 9, 2018 at 08:54PM via Digg […]
Does the photography this year include any of the early medieval religious sites? So that we can better understand the morphology of the pre-conquest monasteries please RCAHMW?
Thank you for making me remember my time at Cambridge, many years ago, with the late Professor JKS Sain Josehh
Was It was also this change in weather that led to the discovery of many more monuments and burial sites surrounding Stonehenge, helping to explain it’s construction and significance to past generations?
From what I understand it was a little bit less discovery of sites and more ground penetrating scanning of something people already knew a little bit about.
This is a great opportunity to teach an AI engine to map such sites.
Thanks David – we’re very interested in exploring this kind of work, especially now we have such a large number of sites to investigate.
This is fascinating! Will there be any excavation of the newly discovered sites?
Thanks Nicole, we don’t have any plans to excavate. Our next job will be to map the sites accurately so we can understand them as much as possible.
Fascinating. Thank you for this.