Roman Sites Under Threat From Legions Of Rabbits

[Viggen]

MARAUDING rabbits are threatening to destroy important Roman fortifications constructed by the invading legions as they advanced into northern Britain more 2,000 years ago, a leading archaeologist has claimed.

 

Dr David Woolliscroft, an archaeologist at the University of Liverpool, has identified four important Roman sites in Scotland and the north of England which he says are under imminent threat from "undermining" caused by rabbits. As well as sections of Hadrian's Wall, other endangered sites include Ardoch, an ancient Roman fortress constructed around 80AD near Braco in Perthshire, and Gask Ridge, also in Perthshire, which has been identified as Britain's earliest Roman frontier.

 

full article at The Scotsman

[longbow]

I just seen this on the tv,i think the idea of re introducing myxomatosis is bloody stupid!there only rabbits they dont deserve to have a plague unleashed on them.I much more like the idea of re introducing the natural predators of the rabbit,like the stoats and weasels,if the gamekeepers will agree not to trap the weasels (they do kill game birds too,but tuff s**t) then the predators would keep the rabbit numbers down to a managable level.

 

Bloody game keepers,if it was up to me they get a dose of the myxomatosy!

[Spurius]

A sidenote: I remember watching Michael Wood in "In Search of the Trojan War" talking to an older woman archeologist about the dating of various Mycenean sites and digs in that part of the world in general. The dialogue, paraphrased because my memory is fuzzed a bit, goes something like this:

 

Wood: "So, vital information about soil composition and texture as well as the depth of the artifacts help determine age?

 

Lady: "As well as the artifacts found around them."

 

Wood: " Erosion is a big problem on hill sides, as well as agriculture?"

 

Lady: "Yes they are and the big thing that causes layer shifting problems in the Agean..."

 

Wood: "Earthquakes."

 

Lady: " Moles."

 

Wood: (Looks let-down, like a boy told he didn't get what he wanted for christmas)

 

Lady: "They dig underneath and things sink down through their tunnels. Sometimes more than three feet in a heavily populated area."