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Hunting for Doggerland

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A modern marshland: On the edge of the North Sea

A modern marshland: On the edge of the North Sea

UWTSD’S Dr Martin Bates is a part of a team of university archaeologists working on a £2 million research project to reconstruct an ancient landscape beneath the North Sea.

The archaeologists will use the grant to study the huge area of land called Doggerland, almost the size of Ireland, which was covered by the rising sea levels following the last Ice Age.

Dr Bates, Pleistocene Geoarchaeologist at UWTSD’s Faculty of Archaeology, History and Anthropology, based in Lampeter, said: “Our role in the project is to undertake the recording and sampling of the cores. In order to do this, we have set up a new core storage facility at Lampeter that allows us to store a large number of samples at low temperatures. Storing them in these conditions prevents the decay of material such as plant remains and insects, which are vital to our studies.”

Dr Bates said the project provides a superb opportunity to expand the investigation of submerged landscapes being undertaking elsewhere around the UK. He added: “In this project, we are going to be able not only to model these submerged landscapes remotely but also examine the sediments themselves. This will provide us with information allowing us to recreate the environments in which humans lived immediately before the sea flooded Doggerland.”

The team is being led by Professor Vince Gaffney, anniversary chairman in Landscape Archaeology at Bradford University, who has previously carried out similar work in the English Channel.

The Advanced Research Grant comes from the European Research Council, and could lead to new discoveries about how humans lived in that area from 10,000BC until it was flooded about 7,500 years ago.

Archaeologists, molecular biologists and computer scientists will work together on the new project to digitally reconstruct the area.

Using modern genetics and computing technologies, the researchers will digitally repopulate Doggerland, and monitor its development over 5,000 years to reveal clues about how our ancestors made the critical move from hunter-gathering into farming.

Last February, Professor Gaffney’s team revealed their research into the lost land beneath the water at Bouldner Cliff in The Solent, between the Isle of Wight and England, where they found remains of wheat dating back more than 1,800 years, before history records farming as starting in the area.

On the new grant, Professor Gaffney said: “The only populated lands on earth that have not yet been explored in any depth are those which have been lost underneath the sea.

“Although archaeologists have known for a long time that ancient climatic change and sea level rise must mean that Doggerland holds unique and important information about early human life in Europe, until now we have lacked the tools to investigate this area properly.”

The team will be using the vast remote sensing data sets generated by energy companies to reconstruct the past landscape now covered by the sea. The 3D map this produces will show rivers, lakes, hills and coastlines in a country which had previously been a heartland of human occupation in Europe.

Alongside the work, specialist survey ships will recover core sediment samples from selected areas of the landscape, using them to extract millions of fragments of ancient DNA from plants and animals that occupied Europe’s ancient coastal plains.

Professor Gaffney added: “This project will develop technologies and methodologies that archaeologists around the world can use to explore similar landscapes including those around the Americas and in South East Asia.”

The research team also includes Professor Robin Allaby of the University of Warwick, Dr Richard Bates of the University of St Andrews, Dr Eugene Ch’ng of the University of Nottingham, Dr David Smith of the University of Birmingham, and independent researcher Dr Simon Fitch.

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Education

Haverfordwest school wins fight to keep mobile classroom

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A CALL to allow a Pembrokeshire school to keep a mobile classroom in use for nearly 16 years, as there is no money for a replacement facility, has been approved by county planners.

Pembrokeshire County Council, in an application to county planners, sought a renewal of permission for the mobile classroom at Fenton Community Primary School, Jury Lane, Haverfordwest.

The mobile classroom has been in use since the start of 2009.

A statement in support of the application said: “This application seeks retrospective planning consent for the continued retention of the existing mobile classroom.  Access and parking arrangements would remain as existing.

“The mobile classroom is used on a daily basis, and provides a vital facility for the children who use it. This application is for the retention of the existing mobile classroom to ensure the children can continue to benefit from its use.

“There is currently no budget available to provide a more permanent solution.”

It added: “The mobile is located at the rear of the school, adjacent to the rear fenced boundary and generally out of public view.  The mobile is in close proximity to the main school building to provide ease of use.”

The application has now been conditionally approved by Pembrokeshire County Council planners.

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Education

Bid for pupils to access free school transport turned down

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A CALL to review school catchment areas, allowing school pupils from Johnston, Tiers Cross and Neyland access to free school transport to the nearby Haverfordwest high school has been turned down by senior councillors.

Due to a change in catchment areas the pupils are no longer able to access free transport to Haverfordwest, instead coming under the Milford Haven catchment area.

Two petitions calling for the reinstatement of the former catchment areas to access free transport for pupils to Haverfordwest were started in the county last year, effectively reverting to the position that was in place prior to the reorganisation of secondary education provision in Haverfordwest in 2018.

Johnston/Tiers Cross was considered by Pembrokeshire County Council’s Schools and Learning Overview and Scrutiny Committee last November and the Neyland petition by full council last December, with both referred to the council’s Cabinet, in this case the February meeting, where it was recommended the situation remained unchanged.

A report for members said: “Revisions of school catchment areas are normally considered and decided by Cabinet, but in the case of the changes to the Johnston, Tiers Cross and Neyland areas, these were considered as part of the wider complex process of reorganisation of secondary education in mid and north west Pembrokeshire during the period 2014 – 2018, i.e. by full council.

“The petitions specifically relate to the closure of Sir Thomas Picton and Tasker Milward schools prior to the formation of Haverfordwest High VC School in September 2018. Prior to this reorganisation of schools, pupils living in the Neyland CP School catchment area fed into Sir Thomas Picton School, and those living in the Johnston / Tiers Cross area fed into Tasker Milward School.”

It stressed: “Whilst parents/carers may exercise their preference for any school of their choice from an admissions perspective, their entitlement to free home to school transport is determined by their home location.”

The report, presented to members by Cabinet Member for Education and Welsh Language Cllr Guy Woodham, concluded: “It is considered that the justification for the change in catchment areas as part of secondary school reorganisation in Haverfordwest and Milford Haven in 2017/18 remains valid.

“Retaining the geographical areas of Johnston, Tiers Cross and Neyland as part of the Milford Haven School catchment area continues to provide the greatest opportunity to equalise pupil numbers across our schools, particularly given the significant housing developments likely to be delivered during Local Development Plan 2.

“The potential pupil yield arising from the Slade Lane [Haverfordwest] development alone is significant, and it is logical that they should attend secondary provision in Haverfordwest.  This is an important point given the responsibility of the council to plan provision to meet demand for school places.”

“Officers are currently preparing the Strategic Outline Case in relation to the redevelopment of primary and secondary education provision in Milford Haven.  Any significant change in the pupil population, e.g. arising as a result of a change in catchment is likely to add further delay, given the need to amend the project brief.”

Members voted seven to two in favour of the recommendation; councillors Paul Miller and Tessa Hodgson voting against.

Commenting after the decision, Johnston county councillor Aled Thomas said: “Deeply disappointed that Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet [that morning] voted against calls to return Johnston CP school to the Haverfordwest catchment, despite the overwhelming support from the majority of Johnston residents and indeed schoolchildren attending Haverfordwest High School after leaving Johnston Primary.”

Neyland county councillor Simon Hancock said: “I am really disappointed the cabinet did not agree to change the catchment area for Neyland children back to Haverfordwest.  The cabinet papers were substantial, but I believe some of the data was incomplete or out of date.  The very least the authority should do is to support those Neyland parents who send their children to Haverfordwest High VC School with the provision of transport.  I believe there is capacity.”

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Education

Gas leak forces partial closure of school in Milford Haven

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MILFORD HAVEN Community Primary School’s Prioryville site was forced to close on Monday morning (Feb 17) following a gas leak.

The junior section of the school shut down at 10:15am due to a strong smell of gas in the main corridors. As a precaution, all gas to the site was turned off, leaving the building without heating or hot water.

Pupils were sent home for the remainder of the day while the issue was assessed. It is not yet clear when the site will reopen.

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