Thursday, December 6, 2018

And chalk it all up to the progress of man

Highways England engineers monitoring water levels dug the 3.5 metre deep bore hole through [a] prehistoric platform.

The Blick Mead site is about 1.5 miles (2.4km) from Stonehenge and believed to date from around 4,000 BC.

Lead archaeologist at the site David Jacques described it as "a travesty".

He said engineers did not consult him before carrying out the work.

  BBC
Because, no doubt, they knew you'd object to the project and tie it up in the courts.
Highways England said no archaeological damage had been caused and its engineers "adhered to guidelines".
No archeological damage. Says the road construction guy who knows more about it than the archeologist.
The proposed tunnel is part of a £1.6bn programme to upgrade the A303, which links the M3 from London to the M5 in the south west.

The government wants to build the 1.9-mile (3km) tunnel past Stonehenge to hide the busy A303, but campaigners claim it could destroy archaeological treasures.
Because, of course, there's just no other route for the A303 to take, I presume?

But the drilling is not the worst of it.
Construction on the tunnel and linking flyover would lower the water table, drying out the peat and silt conditions which preserve archaeological remains.

[...]

A Highways England spokesman said its water table monitoring scheme "will have no significant effects on the Blick Mead area".
Of course.

In the age of Trump, which is a global phenomenon, and not a local one, you would be well advised to visit all the natural wonders you can.  Take lots of pictures. 

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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