Leading British archaeologists and palaeontologists have expressed worry that one of the nation’s most significant palaeolithic sites is under threat because there is not enough legislation to protect it.
According to reports, they are calling for changes to the law amid fears that crucial evidence at a site in the Cotswolds could be lost to the UK for ever. It was there that ice-age mammoths in an extraordinary state of preservation were discovered, sparking excitement in 2021 from Sir David Attenborough and other experts.
The remains of at least one juvenile, two young adult and six fully grown adult mammoths that roamed 200,000 years ago were unearthed at Cerney Wick, near Swindon, along with tools used by Neanderthals, who probably hunted these enormous beasts.
Much more was expected to be found in further excavations because only a fraction of the vast site, a gravel quarry, had been explored.
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Now, as the foremost specialists from universities and national museums were preparing to return – having pursued necessary grants – they have found themselves barred by the quarry owner.
A team of archaeologists- known as DigVentures- who give the public opportunities to participate in excavations, dug the site and coordinated the analysis and research with leading experts in 2021. At the time co-founder Lisa Westcott Wilkins praised quarry owners Hills Quarry Products for allowing them as long as they needed, while the company itself said: “We will continue to support future investigations.”
Now the Observer has seen an 18 July email sent by Hills Quarry Products to DigVentures telling them that access to the site “will no longer be available” and that they are “formally requesting” the return of finds.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
