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Car Dyke – ABC News PodCast

Summary

The book ‘The Car Dyke LiDAR Atlas’ presents a thorough investigation of the Car Dyke, a large ancient waterway in Britain. Using LiDAR technology, the author argues that the Dyke is much older than previously thought, dating back to the Mesolithic/Neolithic periods, and was likely used for transportation and water management rather than simply as a Roman drainage channel or defensive barrier. The book features detailed maps and analysis of the Dyke’s construction and course, including insights into the surrounding landscape and archaeological finds, to support the author’s conclusions.

Car Dyke Transcript

Welcome in deep divers ready to get our hands dirty.

Always up for a challenge, especially if it involves rewriting history.

Today we’re diving headfirst into the heart of eastern England.

Sounds intriguing. What’s on the agenda? Roman ruins, hidden treasure.

Even better, we’re tackling a seemingly unassuming ditch known as Car Dyke

A ditch. You’ve piqued my curiosity. There’s got to be more to it than meets the eye.

Oh, absolutely. This isn’t just any ditch car. Dyke has been hiding in plain sight for centuries, mislabeled as just another Roman canal.

I’m sensing a butt coming,

But thanks to some seriously cool tech. Lidar, our car dyke secrets are finally coming to light

Lidar for our listeners who aren’t familiar, it’s like giving archaeologist X-ray vision, right? Seeing beneath the surface without even lifting a shovel.

You got it. And that’s where Robert John Langdon’s work comes in his Car Dyke Atlas uses lidar to paint a whole new picture of this ancient waterway.

Okay. I’m hooked. We’ve got cutting edge technology and a fresh perspective on what we thought we knew. Let’s dive in.

Let’s start with the biggest bombshell car Dyke’s actual length. We used to think it was around 85 miles long. Not too shabby, right?

Impressive for sure.

Hold on to your hats, because LiDAR revealed it’s actually a whopping 103 miles long.

Well, that’s longer than any other known dyke in Britain. Talk about a game changer.

Yeah,

Suddenly we’re not talking about a local project. This suggests a level of planning and coordination that makes you rethink everything.

And that’s just the beginning. Remember those assumptions about car dyke being Roman? Well, LiDAR revealed something interesting. Instead of those ruler straight lines. The Romans loved some sections. Let’s just say they get a little. Wiggly. Not exactly the precision engineering we associate with Rome.

So not just longer, but potentially much older. This is where things get really interesting.

These wiggly sections, what makes them so special?

They often line up perfectly with ancient shorelines and natural springs. Features you wouldn’t know about without Lidar’s ability to see underground. It suggests construction happened when the Fens were a much wetter, wilder place.

So instead of battling the landscape like the Romans might have, these early builders worked with nature using their knowledge of water flow and natural springs to their advantage. Talk about ingenuity. It really highlights their adaptability and deep understanding of the environment.

It’s like comparing two completely different engineering philosophies, reflecting not just changing needs, but how technology evolved over thousands of years.

Absolutely. And that contrast is crystal clear when you look at Langdon’s maps, the early sections hugging the high ground, ensuring that natural flow from the springs,

And then the later Roman sections just slicing straight through.

It’s like they said, we’re the Romans, we build in straight lines.

But what’s amazing is how those early sections might have worked, just like modern canals, but without using locks, they relied on those natural gradients and carefully chosen routes to manage the flow of water.

Now that’s some clever engineering. Speaking of which, how did LiDAR help uncover these subtle differences in construction?

Imagine looking at an aerial photo of a dense forest. You see trees, right? But not what’s below. LiDAR strips away that canopy. It revealed subtle changes in elevation and vegetation that hinted at these different construction phases.

So it’s like they left us a hidden message written in the very landscape itself, and we finally have the tools to decipher it.

We’ve got this massive waterway, potentially pre-Roman, showing a deep understanding of water management. This can’t just be about irrigation, right? What was its purpose?

That’s the million dollar question. And it forces us to rethink our assumptions about life in prehistoric Britain. If these early sections of Car Dyke really do predate the Romans,

Which the lidar suggests they do.

Exactly. Then we’re talking about a society far more advanced and interconnected than we ever imagined.

This wasn’t just a weekend project. It was a mammoth undertaking requiring incredible coordination and collaboration, and that just wasn’t thought possible for people of that era.

It really flips the script on how we view them, doesn’t it? They weren’t just surviving, they were thriving. And Car Dyke, that just might be the key to understanding how.

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Car Dyke - ABC News PodCast
(Car Dyke – ABC News PodCast)

We’re back. Deep divers. Did you catch your breath yet? After that last revelation?

Honestly, I’m still wrapping my head around it. It really makes you wonder what else we’ve missed when it comes to our ancient ancestors.

Right? And get this, the plot thickens. It turns out Car Dyke might challenge one of our biggest assumptions about ancient dykes in general.

Okay. I’m listening. What assumption are we shattering today?

Well, we usually think of these huge ditches as, you know, defensive barriers. Like drawing a line in the sand. You stay over there. We’ll stay over here.

Yeah, like a giant keep out sign. But Car Dyke doesn’t quite fit that mould, does it?

Not one bit. This network, especially with those older sections connecting to lost shorelines. And get this paleo channels, they’re basically ancient dried up riverbeds. Points to something way more interesting.

So instead of walls, we’re talking about prehistoric highways. Like a way to actually connect with other settlements.

Bingo. Think about it. Moving goods, sharing ideas, all made possible by an intricate network of waterways. Long before the Romans ever marched in with their straight roads, the Britons were cruising along these waterways. And speaking of moving things,

You’re thinking about Stonehenge, aren’t you?

Busted. But seriously, those massive stones, Avebury, all of that moving them has always been a logistical head scratcher. Could Car Dyke hold the answer?

It’s a mind blowing thought, isn’t it? Imagine, instead of back breakingly dragging those stones over land, they were floating them along this intricate waterway system. So much more efficient and less disruptive. Picture a flotilla of prehistoric boats navigating these channels, those iconic stones on board not just cargo, but symbols of shared beliefs, maybe even religious ideas. It’s a completely different picture of prehistoric Britain, isn’t it?

Completely. It makes you realise how much we may have underestimated them. But okay, before we get too carried away, let’s bring it back to the data. Langdon doesn’t just stop it, at Lidar. He goes full on detective, analysing the objects found along car dyke. What he find.

This is where the statistical analysis comes in. Langdon looked at how likely it was to find such a large cluster of artefacts from specific eras. The Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age all along the Dyke.

Don’t keep us in suspense.

Let’s just say the results were, statistically speaking, through the roof. Way too many artifacts to be some happy coincidence.

So not just a few random things people dropped, but evidence of something much bigger going on.

Precisely. It strongly indicates that stretches of car dyke were hives of activity long before the Romans showed up.

Okay, so now we have this picture. A huge ancient network of waterways possibly used for trade transportation. Who knows what else. Then enter the Romans, Masters of engineering and straight lines. What did they make of this already existing infrastructure?

That’s the fascinating part. As ingenious as the Romans were, they were also incredibly practical. They saw the brilliance in those wiggly, meandering waterways, how they follow the natural lay of the land. And they rolled with it.

So a bit of where the Romans, we do things our way, but also a touch of, hmm, these prehistoric folks were on to something.

Exactly. They incorporated the preexisting knowledge into their own plans. You can actually see this in Car Dyke today. Some sections are those laser street Roman roads bear hair waterways, while others wiggle and wind following those ancient, more organic roots.

Talk about a fusion of styles. It speaks to Roman ingenuity, but also a respect for the people who came before. But this begs the question why were the Romans so drawn to Car Dyke  in the first place? Was it just strategic, or was there more to it? Langdon suggests this waterway may have been a key factor in the economy back then. Could we go as far as to call it a prehistoric economic engine?

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(Car Dyke - ABC News PodCast)

So we’re back. Last we left off, we were trying to wrap our heads around car dyke being this, well, prehistoric economic powerhouse, a bit of a bold statement that you think maybe, but think about it. What are the key ingredients for a thriving economy? You need resources, sure, but also the means to move them around, to connect, to exchange. Not just goods, but ideas. And that’s where car dyke comes in.

So it wasn’t just about moving stuff from point A to point B, but actually creating a system for growth and innovation.

Exactly. Car Dyke wasn’t just a ditch. It was an artery, a network of waterways breathing life into these settlements that might have otherwise been isolated. Imagine the possibilities. Suddenly you have specialized skills. Trade routes, a breeding ground for new ideas. All thanks to this intricate water system.

Okay, I’m starting to see the bigger picture, but what evidence did Langdon find that really supports this prehistoric Silicon Valley theory?

Well, he points to the clusters of specific artifacts found along car dyke tools, pottery, remnants of early metalworking, all concentrated in ways that suggest something beyond just your average everyday life.

More like specialized workshops, right? Taking advantage of the waterway, both to get their raw materials and then ship out whatever they created.

Precisely. And it makes you look at those wiggly sections, those seemingly less efficient paths in a whole new light.

They weren’t just following the terrain, they were strategically connecting these hubs of activity.

Exactly. Plus, we can’t forget the sheer scale of this thing. Building and maintaining 103 mile waterway, even with prehistoric tools, would have taken massive coordination and organization.

We’re talking next level project management, leadership, planning, resource allocation. It boggles the mind, not to mention the exchange of knowledge that must have happened along the way.

Right? Think about all those different groups coming together, each with their own skills and knowledge. That kind of collaboration, that cross-pollination of ideas, it’s the perfect recipe for innovation.

So not just an economic engine, but a melting pot of ideas and innovation. It’s amazing to think that this simple ditch might hold the key to understanding how complex societies developed in prehistoric Britain.

It really makes you wonder what else is still out there, hidden just beneath the surface, waiting for us to uncover it,

And to think all it took was a fresh perspective, a healthy dose of curiosity, and of course, the magic of Lidar.

Who knows what other mysteries are waiting to be revealed

To all you deep divers tuning in. If this exploration of Car Dyke has taught us anything, it’s that history is full of surprises. So keep questioning, keep exploring. And who knows, maybe you’ll make the next big discovery. Until next time, happy digging.

Car Dyke the eBook with be available from www,prehistoric-britain.co.uk website from 1st November 2024 price £4.95.

(Car Dyke – ABC News PodCast)

Further Reading

For information about British Prehistory, visit www.prehistoric-britain.co.uk for the most extensive archaeology blogs and investigations collection, including modern LiDAR reports.  This site also includes extracts and articles from the Robert John Langdon Trilogy about Britain in the Prehistoric period, including titles such as The Stonehenge Enigma, Dawn of the Lost Civilisation and the ultimate proof of Post Glacial Flooding and the landscape we see today.

Robert John Langdon has also created a YouTube web channel with over 100 investigations and video documentaries to support his classic trilogy (Prehistoric Britain). He has also released a collection of strange coincidences that he calls ‘13 Things that Don’t Make Sense in History’ and his recent discovery of a lost Stone Avenue at Avebury in Wiltshire called ‘Silbury Avenue – the Lost Stone Avenue’.

Langdon has also produced a series of ‘shorts’, which are extracts from his main body of books:

The Ancient Mariners

Stonehenge Built 8300 BCE

Old Sarum

Prehistoric Rivers

Dykes ditches and Earthworks

Echoes of Atlantis

Homo Superior

Other Blogs

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