Ancient Welsh Archaeological Sites Revealed by Drought

Lost archaeological sites have emerged in grasslands across Wales after a prolonged spell of hot and dry weather. Wales has seen about 5% of the average rainfall for July, after a series of back-to-back heatwaves and a drier than usual April to June. A drought has also been triggered in parts of Wales. Experts said these dry conditions have brought to light a range of hidden archaeological remains, including Roman buildings and practice trenches from World War One. Many are only visible from the air as distinctive marks in crops and grass, with some not being seen for "two or three decades", according to the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW). The crop marks are made by vegetation drawing on better nutrients and water supplies trapped in long-gone fortification ditches - leading to green growth that stands out. But they can disappear as quickly as they emerge once the weather conditions change. Archaeologist Dr Toby Driver has been racing against the heat to record and study the monuments. He said they would normally have to wait every five to seven years for "a record heatwave summer for aerial archaeology", but now they come "every year". In Welshpool, Powys, cropmarks of a rectangular Neolithic long barrow has been seen that dates back around 5,000 years, while in Conwy new details have been collected of buried Roman buildings at Caerhun Roman fort. Dramatic parchmarks of First World War practice trenches beneath a golf course were also seen at Deganwy, Conwy, while a previously unrecorded Iron Age or Romano-British double-ditched farmstead was revealed in ripening cropmarks near Llandysul, south Ceredigion.