The features so characteristic of the Fenland, its flatness, its flooding, its vast stretches of silt land and black peat, its drainage channels, meres, buried forests, abundant water fowl and aquatic plants, its special crops, all relate to the special conditions in which the Fenland was formed and ultimatelywas taken over by man. This is the story, by one of the active participants, of how the researches of natural scientists, biologists, geologists, geographers, historians and archaeologists, over the last fifty years have, by active co-operation and the use of modern techniques, reconstructed Fenland history through the last 10,000 years and have provided fresh understanding both of its ancient past and its uncertain future. It is the only such synthesis for either specialist or general reader in a hundred years and it is written in simple non-technical language and fully illustrated both by photographs and drawings. INDICE: Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction; 2. Ecological background; 3. Pollen analysis; 4. Bog oaks and buried forests; 5. Flandrian deposits and the Fenland Research Committee; 6. Shippea Hill and the natural bed of the River Little Ouse; 7. The Lower Peat and the Fen Clay; 8. The Upper Peat: hoards and trackways; 9. Iron Age hiatus, roddons and Romans; 10. Extinct meres and shell-marl; 11. Conspectus and historical framework; 12. Peat and its winning; 13. The loss of the peat: shrinkage and wastage; 14. Fenland drainage; 15. Ancient crops, natural and cultivated; 16. Lost and vanishing species: conservation; References; Index.
- ISBN: 978-0-521-10339-8
- Editorial: Cambridge University
- Encuadernacion: Rústica
- Páginas: 208
- Fecha Publicación: 19/03/2009
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés