Materials examined at Wessex Archaeology’s lab in Salisbury have helped reveal what the woodland of Exmoor would have looked like thousands of years ago.

The specimens were unearthed during a year-long peatland restoration project operated by the South West Peatland Partnership at the National Trust’s Holnicote Estate in Somerset. The work included constructing leaky log dams to help slow the flow of water through the valley and to improve water quality.

The higher, more stable water table within the peat will also help to reduce carbon emissions and increase the resilience of the landscape to climate change as well as preserving archaeology.

The woodland and insect remains, dating between the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, were found preserved in the peatland “time capsule” taken from an area on the estate called Alderman’s Barrow Allotment. They provide a snapshot of when and how the peat formed, as well as the kinds of species of plants and insects which lived in the landscape, many of which survive in similar wet woodland areas today.

Samples were taken at 5cm intervals to create a 1.5m deep sequence of peat, which were taken to the specialist lab at Wessex Archaeology to be analysed.

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Dr Ed Treasure of Wessex Archaeology said: “What’s deeply unique about this site was just how well preserved some of the wood remains were. It’s quite rare that you actually get an opportunity to look at peat in the way that we did, because what you’re interested in might be buried meters below the ground. So in this case it was really nice to see remains of actual fallen trees and branches and really visible and tangible stuff. The level of preservation was astounding. Some of the wood remains- they look like they could be from yesterday they’re so well preserved.”

Research such as that carried out on the samples from Exmoor can be used to determine how human activity and climate change have changed landscapes. Research has revealed, for example, that the very open landscape of Exmoor today was once woodland.

Ed said: “This is quite an important them in archaeology generally now- understanding that role that humans have had in shaping past landscapes. So, if we were to look at the Salisbury region, humans have had a profound influence on the landscape around the whole area for thousands of years and archaeology is a very good way of examining how it’s changed and why it’s changed.”