The heatwave is uncovering new ancient archaeological sites in the UK and Ireland

Lonely Planet News ^ | Andrea Smith

[edwinland]

The recent heatwave in the UK and Ireland has uncovered ancient archaeological sites that, in some cases, have never been seen before. One such discovery is a henge, or circular enclosure, located 1km from the famous Irish megalithic passage tomb, Newgrange. The henge was discovered by historian Anthony Murphy of Mythical Ireland, who was flying his drone over the Boyne Valley when he spotted a circular shape in the field. It is estimated that this henge was built some 5000 years ago.

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These new discoveries include a Roman fortlet near Magor, which emerged in ripening crops, and cropmarks of a prehistoric or Roman farm near Langstone in Newport. So why does this phenomenon occur during long, hot spells? According to Irish historian Anthony Murphy, when drought conditions occur, whatever residual moisture is in the soil tends to gather in archaeological features, such as those discovered.

“The crop that grows in the archaeological features is getting a tiny bit more moisture than the surrounding crop so it looks greener and more vibrant,” he explains. “The result is that you see an imprint or a “footprint” of the monument on the top of the crops.

[edwinland]

Very cool stuff. Worth looking at the photos. Multiple interesting examples.

[dinodino]

That’s very cool indeed—thank you for posting it.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

A European drought about forty or fifty years ago led to the discovery of 200,000 ancient medieval town sites. Yes, Two Hundred Thousand, pre-plague towns.

[Tax-chick]

Extremely cool! Er, hot and dry, for which the technical term is “torrid.”

[Tax-chick]

Wow.

[Ciexyz]

Informative article.

[frank ballenger]

I think these were areas discussed on Ancient Aliens DVD I have. Not sure. Year 10 or 11.

[Tax-chick]

I wouldn’t know. I find the “medieval humans” hypothesis entirely plausible. Some areas of Europe had an 80% death rate in the Great Mortality. It was unimaginable for us.

[acapesket]

New England experiencing very hot weather. It is July. Shocking! Not!
Love it! Late 2010’s’ were like this. Another awesome summer so far!

[Darksheare]

New England?
Show me where that is in this article and what sites in New England the article is about please?

[Tennessee Nana]

PING

[lurk]

Then let us be glad for heat waves.

[BBell]

I made some gifs from a different article I posted on the same subject a bit back.

[BBell]

[BBell]

[minnesota_bound]

Those are clearly landing pads for the alien spacecraft.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks edwinland.

[BBell]

The one even has a smiley face! Must be for the welcoming committee!

[lepton]

Nice. The detail on the second one is amazing.

[CJ Wolf]

I took it as a signal that Q will be posting soon.