An Aerial Investigation and Mapping Project in Southern Holderness: An Evolving Wetland Landscape

In 2025, over 100 new archaeological sites were identified through targeted aerial reconnaissance in Holderness, East Yorkshire. The aerial reconnaissance flights were conducted by the author of this project, who works in the Aerial Survey team at Historic England. The new archaeological sites were identified as cropmarks, with many previously recorded sites also revealing additional features. The Holderness region is predominantly underlain by heavy boulder clay, a soil type generally unfavourable for cropmark formation due to poor drainage. Consequently, the region has attracted limited systematic cropmark reconnaissance in previous years due to limited returns. The unexpectedly high number of discoveries made in 2025 has highlighted the need for a dedicated aerial mapping project to assess the significance of these sites within their broader archaeological and topographical landscape context. For this project, a 25km² area, incorporating a 1km buffer, was defined in southern Holderness for a programme of aerial investigation and mapping. The extent of the study area was selected to encompass a notably dense concentration of archaeological sites, newly recorded during the 2025 aerial reconnaissance season. This project employed the Historic England Aerial Investigation and Mapping Standards developed and used by the Aerial Survey team at Historic England, which enables spatial and characteristic analysis of archaeological features at a landscape scale. The landscape of Holderness has been shaped by substantial changes, driven by both natural processes and human activity, since it was first inhabited. Much of the landscape was once covered by wetlands, influenced by the tidal patterns of the River Humber. It is essential to understand how the wetland landscape has evolved over time to understand how it was experienced and exploited throughout history. The project aimed to improve the understanding of human activity in an evolving wetland environment from the Neolithic period up to the 20th century.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

ma

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Andrews, Robyn

• CC Archaeoleg

Dc Identifier Grantnumber

UWTSD

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:4211