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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Sophie Kevany

Prehistoric peatland plants and bugs found in UK ‘time capsule’

Ed Treasure, from Wessex Archaeology, holding an ancient willow segment found in peatland at Alderman’s Barrow, Holnicote Estate, Somerset.
Ed Treasure, from Wessex Archaeology, holding an ancient willow segment found in peatland at Alderman’s Barrow, Holnicote Estate, Somerset. Photograph: Steve Haywood/National Trust/PA

Archaeologists have uncovered a prehistoric woodland “time capsule” buried in Exmoor’s ancient peatlands. The finding, filled with beetles and plant fragments, gives a time-frozen snapshot of the creatures that lived there – and could help restore the area to the richly boggy, carbon-sequestering, tree-filled landscape it once was.

The discovery was made during a peatland restoration project at the Holnicote Estate in England’s West Somerset.

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