The Humber wetlands

the long version

"The lowlands of the Humber Basin form one of Britain's most extensive wetland areas. Since waterlogging inhibits the decomposition of organic remains, they also form a rich archaeological resource. This book reveals for the first time the buried ancient landscapes which lie under the peat. It is the result of a ten-year English Heritage funded project, which aimed to identify and explore this archaeology before it was damaged by peat extraction, development and drainage." "Robert Van de Noort's principal theme is how people have perceived the wetlands in the Humber lowlands over the last 10,000 years, and how they have separated places of economic and spiritual importance. He describes the use of natural resources in prehistory, first by fishers, hunters and gatherers, and then by farmers. He explores the evidence for prehistoric wetland settlements, such as the famous lake-dwellings at Holderness. The wetlands were important prehistoric waterways: finds have included unparalleled maritime structures such as the Ferriby boats. As elsewhere in northern Europe, there were also places where valuables were deposited: perhaps 'natural places' linked to ancestor cults. The Romans settled in new places in the region, revealing much about their own economy and about the dynamics of regional sea-level change. Sea-level rise at the end of the Roman period heralded new patterns of resource exploitation in the Middle Ages, whilst drainage, driven in more recent times by forces outside the region, has largely shaped the landscape we see today." "This book draws the themes from the layers of complex evidence to reveal the archaeology under the flat and featureless fields: the hidden world under the peat."--BOOK JACKET.