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Methley: Aerial study unearths region's past
A newly identified Roman fort and villa and a vivid insight into life in Yorkshire more than 2,000 years ago have emerged.
The result of a five year study by Archaeological Services WYAS in collaboration with English Heritage, a fascinating publication has been made possible.
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The work probes human settlement over thousands of years along a 65km ribbon of land called the magnesian limestone ridge, which runs from Wetherby in the north to Dinnington in the south.
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Hundreds of prehistoric trackways were plotted along with scores of enclosures, some likely to have been used to corral cattle.
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The ridge is up to 30km wide and runs through West Yorkshire settlements like Collingham, Micklefield, Barwick in Elmet, Rothwell, Swillington, Castleford and Pontefract.
Aerial photo mapping was undertaken as part of a massive survey to achieve an unprecedented archaeological overview of the nation using aerial photography.
Ian Roberts, principal archaeologist with West Yorkshire Archaeology Services and one of the authors of the new report, said: "New and old aerial pictures were combined with the results of field walking, geophysics and archeological digs to shed new light on earthworks and cropmarks – the ghostly outline of long since vanished structures and settlements which still survive on the ground and were unguessed at before the age of flight."
Dave MacLeod, English Heritage Aerial Investigator, added: "This study really does open a window on our past."
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Saturday 19 May 2012
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