ABSTRACT
Open-air ancient stone monuments, including standing stones and carved rock-art panels, exemplify Britain’s rich prehistory and provide a visual link to our ancestors. These nonrenewable heritage resources have great cultural, aesthetic, and tourism value and are frequently designated as Scheduled Monuments; some are also inscribed as World Heritage Sites. Often, these monuments provide an important testimony to a time without written records and are irreplaceable. Despite their perceived immutability, open-air ancient stone monuments are under mounting pressure because of increasing population densities associated with urban expansion, pollution, agricultural activity, and climate change (Brimblecombe et al. 2011). As a result, a proportion of open-air ancient stone monuments is falling into disrepair and may ultimately vanish from the countryside.
