Further insights are being gained into the ancient past every year. The sites in this feature are arbitrarily chosen dipping into the evidence of the hand of man for over 9,000 years. They are the only evidence of our first settled farmers. It is thought that the growth of the peat that covered these walls was in many areas caused because land had been cleared of trees for pasture and cultivation. This may have led to soil degradation, which, combined with deteriorating climatic conditions, enabled peaty podzols, and then peat, to start to form.
Rock art is found on rock outcrops and boulders.
It has been suggested that it might be the marks of early metal workers. Or it might be maps of field systems and settlements. They might be fertility or astronomical symbols. The key to these cup and circle markings is yet to be discovered. At the beginning the Church was diocesan and territorial and led by bishops - like the church of that time in Britain and the rest of Europe.