Predicting and Protecting Lithic Landscapes

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Working in partnership with Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA), my research will characterise the significance and extent of Dartmoor's prehistoric subsurface archaeology, to inform future landscape management practices and to raise local and national awareness about this valuable heritage.Dartmoor's buried prehistoric archaeology faces significant pressures from the growing scale and frequency of landscape-scale conservation initiatives e.g., afforestation, peatland-restoration, natural flood management, as well as post-Brexit land-management schemes. From the first Homo sapiens hunter-gatherers, (~44,000 years ago), to the earliest agriculturalists, (~4500 years ago), stone tools, (lithics), are the dominant source of archaeological evidence - and these are currently excluded from protection by existing agri-environment schemes which focus on upstanding/visible archaeology. The transition from hunter-gatherer to farming lifeways has been identified by DNPA as a research priority because so little is known about this period on Dartmoor compared to later prehistoric archaeology. In addition to informing land management practices on Dartmoor, my thesis will also explore public engagement in prehistory and fieldwork will involve the highly trained and enthusiastic bank of DNPA volunteers, many of whom live and work on the moor.