Global access to satellite imagery, through Google Earth, has connected a Radio 4 listener in Turkey; past human uses of Ashdown Forest; modern "LiDAR" survey techniques; and the High Weald Unit's Weald Forest Ridge Landscape Partnership Scheme in a fascinating item on Radio 4's Making History programme.
Part of Making History's role is to answer listeners' questions, and someone in Turkey asked them to investigate two enigmatic circular features visible at Pippingford Park - the army training land within the wider Ashdown Forest. The BBC contacted East Sussex County Archaeologist Casper Johnson, who immediately made the link to ESCC's Historic Environment Awareness Project.
Presenter Helen Castor visited the High Weald in November to talk to landscape archaeologist Vivienne Blandford. Using LiDAR - alongside historic mapping and data on the County Historic Environment Record (HER) – Vivienne explained how this can help us understand the past and proposed some possible origins of the 40m diameter features. Listen to the programme at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qxrc : the High Weald item starts after approx. 6 minutes.
To find out more about LiDAR, and download LiDAR images, go to http://www.highweald.org/look-after/archaeology.html .
The LiDAR survey of the Weald Forest Ridge was undertaken by ESCC's Historic Environment Awareness Project as part of the Weald Forest Ridge Landscape Partnership Scheme with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage.
Images - Lidar "© Forest Research based on data collected by The Cambridge Unit For Landscape Modelling for ESCC HER "
Aerial "© East Sussex County Council (100019601)"