Blurs

For thousands of years, fields across Britain have been hiding the remains of settlements, burial monuments, ancient boundaries and ceremonial landscapes. Most of the time, they are almost impossible to see. Then the weather changes. During prolonged periods of hot, dry weather, crops growing above buried archaeology can behave differently from plants growing over undisturbed ground. What appears to be an ordinary field from ground level can suddenly develop strange lines, circles, rectangles and geometric patterns when viewed from the air. In 2018, an exceptionally dry summer produced some of the clearest archaeological cropmarks seen in years. Historic England's aerial archaeologists took to the skies — and discovered that parts of England's prehistoric landscape were far richer than previously realised. When the landscape gives itself away The principle behind these discoveries is surprisingly simple. Archaeological remains buried beneath a field can alter the soil above the...

Deep inside a limestone gorge on the border between Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, the walls of several caves carry a strange record of fear. They are covered with hundreds of symbols. Some are simple crossed lines. Others resemble letters, initials, circles, boxes and intricate mazes. Many were scratched directly into the limestone around dark openings, cracks and hollows. For years, some of these markings were dismissed as little more than old graffiti. Then archaeologists and heritage specialists realised they were looking at something very different. These were apotropaic marks — symbols intended to turn away evil, misfortune or supernatural forces. The discovery at Creswell Crags revealed what is believed to be the largest concentration of protective marks ever found in British caves. And their location makes the discovery particularly intriguing. The same caves that contain some of Britain's oldest known prehistoric artwork were later revisited by people who apparently feare...