Uplands Peats, Project Design for a North West Pilot Study

Following the submission of a proposal for a pilot study to investigate the archaeology of upland peatlands by Oxford Archaeology North, English Heritage commissioned the development of the following project design. It is recognised that the upland peats potentially incorporate an enormous archaeological resource and that this resource is susceptible to threats, particularly at the peat edges, from changes to the agricultural regime, mineral extraction, forestry, and the growing pressures of tourism; however, these impacts are set within the backdrop effects of climatic change and atmospheric pollution. The main aim of this pilot study is to investigate methodologies that can address the major issue of site visibility within peatland landscapes; this could potentially lead in the longer term to an extensive survey programme that would result in the creation of predictive modelling as a tool for the management of the upland archaeological resource on a national scale.
The pilot study will examine four areas of North West England (West Cumbria, Great Langdale, Central Cumbria, Forest of Bowland and the Anglezarke / Rivington Massif, both in Lancashire) which provide a diverse range of landscapes. These will act as a varied test bed for the proposed methodologies. The methodological study will use deskbased studies, remote sensing techniques, ground survey, infra-red aerial photography, testpitting / probing, and palaeoecological studies, the results all being integrated within a GIS system for cross-analysis, as a means of identifying and assessing the archaeological activity within and beneath the upland peats. The results of the project will be subject to a broader outreach in order to highlight to the general public the significance of the archaeological resource and the associated threats. The results of the programme will be presented as an assessment report with a revised project design, as defined by MAP 2.