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Theme 1: People and the Land

1. People and the Land

Who were the people of the Wolds and what can archaeology tell us about their origins, relationships and mobility during their lives? How did they live in this chalk landscape and what traces did they leave behind, in terms of settlements, earthworks and field systems, that allow us to explore their lifeways, as they moved from hunter-gatherer-fisher to farming communities?

Below are set out a number of research questions and strategies that are associated with the theme People and the Land

Palaeolithic c.1,000,000Ma – 10,000BC

1.1 What is the extent of the Palaeolithic evidence from the Yorkshire Wolds: palaeoenvironmental, faunal and material? What do the soils, geological deposits and hydrological features tell us about the last glaciation and permafrost conditions, and its impact on the Wolds?

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Categories:
Palaeolithic
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Conduct a survey of Palaeolithic evidence from the Yorkshire Wolds, drawing together geological, hydrological, palaeoenvironmental, faunal and material culture evidence. Include PAS data, grey literature and soils, hydrology and geological data, working with GeoPark initiatives, Ordnance Survey, British Geological Society, HER data and PAS reports etc. Conduct systematic non-intrusive surveys, such as geophysical survey, LIDAR, aerial photography and targeted geoarchaeological deep sampling in order to clarify the nature of the Palaeolithic resource, particularly in areas which are at risk of coastal erosion. further investigation of the proto-foulness river which has a source on the Wolds and its relation to sites such as North Cliffe, Bielsbeck and Elloughton.
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022
Status:
Active

1.2 Do any in-situ Palaeolithic deposits survive within the Yorkshire Wolds? If so, where?

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Categories:
Palaeolithic
More information:
Systematic bore hole/auger survey of chalk valley deposits and dating programme to determine depths and states of soil preservation and Wolds palaeosols. Survey of glacial deposits under erosion on coastline.
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022
Status:
Active

1.3 How does this relate to near ‘off Wolds’ Palaeolithic data, including evidence for glacial impact on surrounding landscape character, sea-level change etc.? How did these geological, topographic, hydrological and climatic events set the scene for human inhabitation post-glaciation (e.g. creation of distinctive landscape features, water bodies on the Wolds, loess-based soils etc.)

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Categories:
Palaeolithic
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Situate survey and research data in relation to North/East Yorkshire and North Sea data: What are the particular characteristic features, constraints and affordances of this landscape which give the Wolds its distinctive character and potential for the hunter-gatherer communities who colonised the area after the last glaciation?
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022
Status:
Active

Mesolithic c.10000 – 4000BC

1.4 What is the evidence for Mesolithic inhabitation patterns (people and animals), environmental change and use of habitats on the Wolds? Are particular locales (such as springs, dolines, sinkholes, flint outcrops or glacial material on the coast etc.) associated with concentrations of activity? If so, what is the character of that activity and how does it contrast with or complement other off-Wolds sites?

More information on this question
Categories:
Mesolithic
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022
More information:
Conduct a survey of Mesolithic evidence from the Yorkshire Wolds, drawing together existing dating, palaeoenvironmental and material culture evidence from published reports/grey literature, museum collections, PAS and private/research collections. Synthesise patterns of distribution mapped against fieldwork collecting zones, to help identify ‘real’ areas of concentrated Mesolithic activity, beyond research foci. Fieldwalking particularly on the edges of streams and meres to look for flints of Market Weighton bypass survey where monitoring of roadworks resulted in discovery of naturally felled oak dog and deer bones.

1.5 Do in-situ Mesolithic deposits survive within the chalk valleys of the Yorkshire Wolds?

More information on this question
Categories:
Mesolithic
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022
More information:
Systematic bore hole/auger survey of chalk valley deposits and dating programme to determine depths and states of soil preservation to bring focus to where there may be the potential for Mesolithic deposit survival.

Neolithic c.4000 – 2200BC

1.6 What evidence do we have for transitions in lifeways (from hunter-gatherer to farming modes of life) on the Wolds? To what extent do we see evidence for significant human impact on the environment at this stage? Can we see changes in relations with wild versus domesticate species, and wild foodstuffs versus domesticated plants, emerging and transforming life in the Wolds? What is the significance of the distribution of stone and flint axeheads from the Wolds?

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Categories:
Neolithic
More information:
Systematic bore hole/auger survey of chalk valley deposits and dating programme to determine depths and states of soil preservation to bring focus to where there may be the potential for Neolithic deposit survival. Greater focus on environmental sampling and analyses from Neolithic features (both archaeologically and naturally derived) will help provide a greater understanding of environmental change across this period. Well-preserved palaeobotanical, pollen and faunal remains should be targeted for in-depth study. This can be actioned through new archaeological work, with targeted geoarchaeological sampling strategies and analysis of contexts suitable for c14 dating, and reappraisal of archive data and archived samples. Continue work of implement petrology group and study of distribution of axe heads and relationship to reconstructed Neolithic landscape.
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022

1.7 Do in-situ Neolithic deposits survive within the chalk valleys of the Yorkshire Wolds?

More information on this question
Categories:
Neolithic
More information:
Systematic bore hole/auger survey of chalk valley deposits and dating programme to determine depths and states of soil preservation to bring focus to where there may be the potential for Neolithic deposit survival.
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022

Bronze Age c.2200 – 800BC

1.8 Was there continuity or change in the character of landscape use and inhabitation in the Bronze Age? What evidence do we have for farming practices (i.e. mixed agriculture or pastoralism) and do the presence of linear earthworks and dyke systems suggest a focus of pastoral land-use at this time? Is there any evidence of Celtic field systems analogous to other areas of Britain, indicative of changes in these lifeways and landscape management practices during the Middle to Later Bronze Age period?

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Categories:
Bronze age
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Landscape-level survey using a mixture of aerial photographic, LiDAR, non-invasive remote survey methods as well as palaeoenvironmental sampling should be used to create a broad understanding of farming in the Wolds and its transformation during the later third-early first millennium BC.
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022

1.9 The linear earthworks and dyke systems of the Wolds are one of its most iconic archaeological features: what is the earliest date range of these large-scale constructions (e.g. Danes Dyke?), and can we better understand how they functioned in relation to the control, movement and management of stock and people in the Late Bronze Age? How do they relate to earlier features and what does this tell us about the lasting significance of ancestral monuments? Do they demarcate exclusive, territorial zones or are they more complex, tenurial systems and what can this tell us about the nature of Later Bronze Age society and its relations with land? Reassessment of the hillforts of the Wolds – were they all abandoned before the arras culture starts?

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Categories:
Bronze age
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Synthesis of antiquarian records, map data, aerial photography, LiDAR and excavation data will help identify key junctions and inter-relationships which might yield early dating material and will help elucidate Late Bronze Age understandings and uses of earlier natural or anthropogenic features. The excavation of lengths of earthwork will better aid an understanding of the character and scale of labour involved, as well as the chronology and architectural design of such features. Landscape context (in relation to valley systems, watersheds, water courses, low and high pasture etc.) should enrich understanding of their pastoral and territorial versus tenurial purpose. It is recommended that targeted sampling and dating of earthworks and dyke systems be undertaken in order to clarify the date of their construction, and the nature and function of these landscape features, particularly in relation to other monuments (such as hillforts or barrows). Collation of what has already been done by groups such as FFWAP and university students.
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022

1.10 What can the human remains from the exceptional mortuary archaeology of the Wolds dating to the Early Bronze Age tell us about contemporary society: aspects of age, gender, status, lifeways, diet, health and disease, mobility and sedentism, violence and medical treatment? How do these compare with the faunal remains from this period, in terms of contrasts in origin, diet and mobility?

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Categories:
Bronze age
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The funerary record of this period is one of the richest and best excavated in the country, with some recent scientific analysis that showcases its potential in terms of insights into population mobility, diet, health and illness, trauma and violence. Support for research-led invasive and non-invasive study of these human and faunal remains will help realise the research value of antiquarian and more modern excavation data-sets. New research data is of exceptional value given the limitations of some of the contextual data from antiquarian and twentieth century discoveries: this should be prioritised for analytical research, especially where this has cost implications e.g. isotopes, aDNA and dating. Smaller-scale analysis of particular aspects of this data-set can also add to our appreciation of nuance within the wider patterns).
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022

Iron Age c.800BC – AD43

1.11 What was the changing nature of settlement during the Iron Age, from open to enclosed sites, including the dates of the emergence of the ladder and droveway settlements? Can the form and character of roundhouse data shed light on internal settlement patterns, the make-up of households and relations with near-neighbours, and the changing scale of community? How might fluctuation in water supply have affected these developing settlement patterns? How did the agricultural systems actually work? How do faunal/botanical remains link to archaeological features such as ladder settlements?

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Categories:
Iron age
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Evidence for Early-Middle Iron Age settlement is slight: priority should be given to dating any roundhouses, particularly from unenclosed settlements, in order to evaluate the patterns of occupation in this period, and associated activity in order to clarify the nature of occupation (or lack thereof) in the Wolds during the Iron Age. Understanding the temporal sequence of enclosures, particularly the beginning of the ladder/droveway phenomenon is also key, as is an understanding of the contrastive use of activity zones, whether for settlement, craftwork, crop cultivation or stock paddocks. This should inform sampling methods across these ubiquitous Later Iron Age and Early Roman sites, to better understand both their temporal sequence and inhabitation patterns.
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022

1.12 What can the human remains found in La Tène ‘Arras’ square barrow cemeteries and burials tell us about the contemporary population in terms of gender, age, diet, origin (particularly the traditional model of invasion from or extensive contact with the Continent), mobility, disease and violence? Are there palpable differences in life-courses suggestive of status, class and social complexity or other attributes (such as life-events or skills) which help us understand intersectional aspects of identity in the Iron Age?

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Categories:
Iron age
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The origin of the ‘Arras culture’ burial rite has been much debated and has still to be satisfactorily resolved through close-grained aDNA, isotope and dating evidence (e.g. the COMMIOS project). Though expensive and invasive, this funerary data set represents the largest Iron Age population of Britain and intensive research on all aspects of the life-course will further enhance the usefulness of this dataset. It is therefore important to sample not merely the perception of ‘high status’ or iconic burials (such as those with chariots, weapons or mirrors) but a range across the full spectrum of the population. Even small-scale additional studies will add to this important dataset and should be encouraged for future projects.
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022

Romano-British AD43 – c.410

1.13 What were the major routeways and road networks of Roman date across the Wolds? Did they make use of pre-existing networks or forge new ones based on different priorities? If so, how did the imposition of this new infrastructure alter the strategic importance of certain locales? Are there more signal stations, tower-bases or temporary camps, indicative of the military infrastructure and occupation of the Wolds? The Cambridge university Thwing project provided evidence for major landscape change on the Wolds during the roman period. To what extent is this typical? How did the farming system change? Why and how did “villas” such as Brantingham, Rudston, Harpham develop and who lived in them? How long were roman systems of land division and land use maintained?

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Categories:
Roman
More information:
Landscape-level survey using a mixture of aerial photographic, LIDAR, non-invasive remote survey methods as well as map regression could be used to refine understanding of the Roman infrastructure: what was built upon from the Late Iron Age and what was novel to the Roman occupation. Whilst some ‘road-side’ settlements (e.g. Hayton, Shiptonthorpe) have been well investigated, contemporary road-widening or drainage schemes should be mindful of the potentially early date of such sites and their potential to address the rapidly changing population, cultural traditions and functions of such sites, in this peri-Conquest period. Large scale community-based geophysics and fieldwalking focussed on stoertz cropmark sites has proved very productive when combined with PAS data.
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022

1.14 What can human remains, artefact styles and cultural habits tell us about changing populations on the Wolds? How did the Roman period change life expectancies of different groups? Did it result in marked differences in class (elite versus slave for example) and if so, are these visible in the funerary record? Are differential lifeways (military, civilian) evident in aspects of age, gender, diet, disease, violence and treatment in death, visible through mortuary evidence?

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Categories:
Roman
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What did Romans do with their dead on the Wolds? Infant and animal ‘cemeteries’ are known as well as small round-barrow cremation cemeteries, thought to date to this period: closer dating, strategic investigation of funerary sites (isolated burials and cemeteries), and close analysis of the information obtainable from this rite, as well as grave goods are key to understanding how beliefs changed in relation to the afterlife. Human remains from all classes will complement the rich datasets from York: did rural populations have different life expectancies, risks or benefits, compared with their urban or military counterparts?
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022

Early Medieval c.410 – 1066

1.15 How did the nature of settlement change in the Early Medieval period? To what extent were there surviving “British” populations? What are its key architectural signatures and how do these relate to post-Roman forms of community? What is the evidence for nucleated or planned villages and how did these relate to changes in the Anglian and Anglo-Scandinavian population and political power bases? Can we identify those sites associated with particular groups e.g. Viking Army, Scandinavian settler communities, Early Christian monastic or religious groups (sacred and lay)? How did rural sites interact with growing urban centres (e.g. Driffield, Pickering, Malton)? At the elite level, how were new kinds of architecture used to structure and reflect new concepts of royal authority, changing dynamics in rule and peripatetic visitations to extract food surplus, tribute and labour etc. from this region? How can we ‘read’ power in the landscape during this period (e.g. Londesborough – supposed ‘summer seat’ of the Edwin, King of Northumbria) and wider medieval territorial organisation (e.g. re-use or monumentalisation of earthwork boundaries)?

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Categories:
Early medieval
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The Roman etymology of Bridlington (‘safe harbour bay’) suggests significant use of the east coast ports and Humber landing sites for maritime trade and travel. The Roman component of these settlements, harbour and port infrastructure (particularly those at risk of costal erosion), should be investigated in a more rigorous manner: desk-based assessment of grey literature, allied to Roman texts, place-name evidence, and imported material culture, will produce a more fulsome understanding of relations between the Wolds and the sea. Targeted investigations of non-navigable waterways and use of standing bodies of water such as the meres will also help us better understand if and how the Roman were able to overcome some of the prehistoric constraints of water on the Wolds (e.g. bridges, fords, drainage, and portability of water). Depictions of marine or aqueous themes in material culture (e.g. mosaics, intaglios) or presence of marine/freshwater fish and mollusc species as foodstuffs will also help chart changing cultural dynamics with the sea and river throughout the Roman period. Careful study of pas data to detect cultural change as per the work done at Cottam and elsewhere on strap ends and other dress fittings. Reassessment of Anglo-Saxon cemetery data e.g. Sancton, Kilham Pocklington, in the light of aDNA.
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022

1.16 What can the human remains found in Early Medieval cremation and inhumation cemeteries tell us about the contemporary population in terms of gender, age, diet, origin, mobility, disease and violence? Are there palpable differences in life-courses suggestive of status, class and ethnic attributes or roles (martial, ecclesiastical etc.) which help us understand intersectional aspects of identity in this period? Is the impact of historically attested conflicts felt on the Wolds and if so, where and what form does this take?

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Categories:
Early medieval
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This period is only beginning to benefit from recent advances in aDNA and isotope studies and further research is required to identify the complex patterns which span the period. The small-scale nature of some of these cemeteries and contrastive locales (re-use of prehistoric monuments versus roadside or trackway linear cemeteries for example) should be used strategically to compare and contrast mortuary data of different groups and dates preceding the development of larger-scale, church or monastic cemeteries. Relating this to mobility, diet and disease should be a strategic priority for rural sites, to compare with early urban datasets off Wolds (e.g. Driffield, Pocklington).
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022

High Medieval c.1066 – 1540

1.17 Rural settlement organisation: the Yorkshire Wolds landscape is internationally renowned for the in-depth excavation and longitudinal study of the Deserted Medieval Village of Wharram Percy. How typical is the origin, development, plan and decline of this site? Are different or similar chronologies suggested at other DMVs and what are the factors that favoured the survival of small Shrunken Medieval Villages rather than complete abandonment (e.g. Cottam or Hanging Grimston)? Which sites develop as major manorial centres or landed estates and why? Was this an uninterrupted occupation or re-occupation (e.g. of later, planned Historic farmsteads)?

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Categories:
Medieval
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Since the upstanding archaeology of the Later Medieval period is so well-preserved in the region, further non-destructive survey of DMVs and SMVs will help enrich the heritage asset records and provide ideal projects for small research studies. Detailed aerial photographic mapping, combined with geophysics, LIDAR and topographic survey, alongside full analytical earthwork studies of all upstanding medieval earthwork remains should be considered a priority, and are strongly recommended as community or student projects, though the scheduled status of such sites needs careful consideration and appropriate permission. Priority should be given also to undesignated sites, wherein designation or scheduling should be considered. Surviving elements of foundations or architectural elements and village layout (cobbled trackways, bridges, yards, etc.) would make excellent testing grounds for experimentation with, for example, GPR. Where under the plough, these methods combined with targeted excavation for dating material will enrich the historic models of such sites. All modes of survey should be allied to surviving documentary work, place-name evidence and oral history/folklore records, to help refine models of rural upland development or abandonment and the complex range of factors (major historical events such as the ‘Harrying of the North’), epidemics, depopulation, changes in farming methods (e.g. shifts from sheep pasture to arable), enclosure and improvement, etc. which affect such sites.
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022

1.18 What can Medieval burials tell us about the demographic population of the Wolds in the Medieval period, in terms of origin and mobility, life course histories, gender, age and status, skills and roles, violence and trauma, diet, disease and well-being, medicine and surgical practice? Can we identify major changes in population such as the Norman Conquest in the burial dataset, or evidence of those who have experienced disproportionate trauma (e.g. domestic, agricultural or maritime accidents, conflict at home or abroad, indicative of mercenary or crusader activity?)

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Categories:
Medieval
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The Medieval period is one in which we should see the whole of the rural population buried together at religious foci, making any such study a rewarding insight into class, social inequality and the life-course of rural Wolds inhabitants. Whilst the Wharram Percy cemetery has provided a nationally significant case study, it is important to add other sites to this dataset to compare and contrast different type of communities (not least those attached to monastic cemeteries) so that they can be compared with off-Wold populations from Hull, Beverley and York. Major differences in disease and diet in particular, can shed important light on living conditions and consumption patterns, which should be related wherever possible to the settlement record and local economy (e.g. near coastal maritime communities or rural inland village populations with terrestrial diets).
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022

Post-Medieval c.1540 – 1901

1.19 Estate landscapes on the Wolds (e.g. Sledmere, Londesborough, Birdsall, Burton Agnes) are one of the rare but important features of the Wolds. How and when did they emerge as elite landholdings (e.g. Early or Later Medieval, Early Modern or Historic), and what is the history of their occupants (elite families, estate workers at all levels and tenant famers)? How did elite family interests (national/international e.g. estates elsewhere, production and trade, relations with royalty, major political or religious beliefs), ideologies of improvement and cultural design (seen in the ‘house’ and its collections, gardens, parkland and wider farmed estate), as well as the major business of the estate (pasture, stock, arable, light industrial, hunting/shooting) shape the Wolds landscape and its architecture in this period? Can we see evidence for forced removal and eviction or relocation in surviving earthworks and ruins as well as documentary sources as a consequence of estate growth and development? At the other end of the social scale, where did the marginalised communities or itinerant communities of the Wolds dwell as the Commons disappeared, and can we trace the archaeological signature of rural depopulation from this time in the surviving landscape?

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Categories:
Post medieval
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Research projects that bring landscape and buildings archaeological approaches to the history of an estate have much to contribute to what can be a documentary-driven account of this period. Focused studies of the changing design of the house or the estate village, stable blocks or designed farm-steads, should be prioritised wherever modern use threatens the survival and character of these historic buildings. Rich archival materials, libraries and collections of these estates should be prioritised for cataloguing and (where possible) digitisation. Maps and paintings are particularly valuable to capturing both the physical transformations and their dates, as well as the changing perception of the Wolds, whilst personal correspondence, family biographies and art can help given detail and colour to the heritage still visible in these estate landscapes, whether open to the public or in private hands. The unique character and identity of these estates can then be contrasted with those in neighbouring regions. At the other end of the scale, archaeology can make a vital contribution to understanding the landscape signature of rural dispossession, depopulation and emigration, combined with early village maps, buildings and place-name studies, church registers and census records.
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022

1.20 As the impact of the Enlightenment was felt, which authors wrote about, painted or analysed the Wolds landscape and its inhabitants (e.g. Leland, Defoe, Fiennes, Stirckland, Marshall)? Which key works (texts, diaries, letters, poems, paintings) best encapsulate the Historic period on the Wolds and where are they now kept? Which cultural, political and religious or social figureheads came from the Wolds and how did it shape their ideology or approach to their life and work? Why was the Wolds one of the strongest centres for antiquarian collecting and early archaeological research, and how did its leading figures (e.g. the Mortimer brothers, Greenwell, Stillingfleet etc.) shape the modern discipline of archaeology (e.g. through publications, museums, collections)? When and how did the Education movement gain traction on the Wolds and how was this delivered (e.g. early hedgerow or chapel rooms, reading rooms, schools)?

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Categories:
Post medieval
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Surveys of collections (private and public) could greatly enhance our knowledge of the Historic cultural legacy of work on the Wolds, enabling all researchers to benefit from written, illustrative and analytical material on the landscape during this period. Public dissemination of such collections, and their digitisation or dissemination will enhance the reputation of the Wolds in the popular and cultural imagination. This will enable small and large-scale programmes of research to tap into the wider cultural significance of the Wolds in Historic thought and practice.
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022

Modern 1901 – Present

1.21 How has the population of the Wolds changed over the course of the 20th-21st centuries? What was the short and long-term impact of the First and Second World War, in terms of both loss (through death or relocation for work) and growth (e.g. evacuees, temporary or permanent military communities, for training or stationing)? Where were the military infrastructures related to the war positioned and why (e.g. Staxton Wold radar/listening post, aerodromes, training bases for tanks and troops, air raid shelters, nuclear bunkers and coastal defence systems, hospitals or recuperative bases) and what was their impact on the local agricultural and heritage landscape (e.g. occupation of county houses and estate landscapes)? How was the farming system changed in terms of class, gender and age by the impact of these events (e.g. presence of Land Army women, temporary use of troops to assist harvesting, loss of main ‘horse-lad’ generation and greater reliance on old/young men)? How were wider estate and village populations changed not just by the two world wars but the transformations in farming methods (e.g. from small-community ‘High Wolds’ farms to single-household farmers managing the same terrain)? How have the populations of the Wolds villages compared with nearby towns fared during this period, and what have been the long-term impact of major city growth, education and aspiration, small and large regional employers etc.? What was the impact of the closure of the rural rail network? How has the ethnic diversity and major sources of income on the Wolds changed over this period? Have the new methods of remote working begun to reverse some of these trends and if so, how?

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Categories:
20th century
More information:
Census records, village plans, records of the war dead, aerial photographic records and oral histories as well as studies of the more ephemeral structures associated with both wars should be used to give voice to the continuity and change of inhabitants of the Wolds during this period, not just human but animal (e.g. loss of working horses for agriculture, growth of personal or racing horse culture, decline in hunting hounds, changes in stock breeds, growth of ‘pet’ culture). Changes in house and land ownership, records of employment/unemployment, local newspaper reports and recording of deserted or abandoned farming complexes can complement photographic, oral and written narratives of changes to place, people and animals (domesticated and wildlife) during this period. The ‘modern’ archaeology of satellite/digital telecommunications, electricity/gas, water mains etc. should not be neglected: the infrastructure of modern life has its own distinct heritage signature and impact upon the landscape, whilst also becoming the medium through which ‘corridor’ studies of the past have transformed knowledge of the archaeology of the Wolds
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework
Date accepted:
04/09/2022

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