Coming Soon !
Excavation at Whitehorse Hill
During the summer Dartmoor National Park Authority are excavating a kistvaen on Whitehorse Hill. The dig is expected to start on 8th August with an Open Day provisionally scheduled for Thursday 11th August. This excavation is being funded by several different agencies including the Dartmoor Preservation Association. There will be a limited amount of 4WD transportation available at the Open Day to enable those who are less mobile to reach the site. However, booking is essential.
The site was first discovered in 2001 by Joe Turner when the western edge of the cist was exposed as its end stone fell out of the peat hag;this most probably was caused by the weathering away of the peat. There was no previous record of it.
Apart from the recent loss of its end stone, the cist was apparently undisturbed. Acting on advice from Vanessa Straker of English Heritage, the decision was taken to cover up the exposed end. This was always seen to be a temporary measure and involved placing terram sheeting across the face to prevent contamination and securing this with a wooden screen. A stone wall measuring 3m in length and 0.9m high was built in front of the western edge of the cist and either side of it for extra protection. It was scheduled in 2003
Over the last nine years the island of peat around the cist has eroded away at an alarming rate. This has led to the collapse of the wall either side of the cist, and from the covering peat mound, which now measures less than 25cm in places, thus exposing what could be sensitive archaeological sasses. Under the Dartmoor MMS the section of collapse was rebuilt in 2010 and it was very apparent just how much the peat face had receded since the wall was first constructed.
At best the latest repair can only be a temporary measure and the peat will continue to erode away. Once the peat still overlying the top of the cist has gone there will be nothing to prevent the cover of the cist being removed. There is no obvious long term measure to put into place to ensure the survival of the archaeological information which the cist contains. Fencing the whole island of peat is not an option; this would require Secretary of State's permission as it is situated on Common Land. The monument is deemed to be at high risk under EH's Heritage at Risk scheme.
Controlled excavation to record the find offers the best options against the inevitable decline of this monument. The Scheduling already describes how important environmental information will survive both within and around the cist, as well as crucial evidence relating to its method of construction and its relationship to other features and possibly artefacts associated with it.
The Whitehorse Hill cist is particularly unusual because of its position standing at over 600mOD and its apparent isolated location. Its almost unique position in peat offers clear environmental potential which will help establish details of the contemporary surrounding landscape and land use at the time of its construction.
The small amount of palaeoenvironmental analysis already carried out has shown that further work could also provide information on climate change, the sequence of peat formation, anthropogenic burning, and help decide whether the establishment of grassland recorded relates to a hitherto unknown period of landscape transformation.
The kist is located at grid reference SX 6172 8547. The best place to wlak uyp from is probably the car park at Fernworthy Reservoir. Visitors are expected on site between between 2pm and 4pm.
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