Partial Solutions to Partially Understood Problems — The Experience of In Situ Monitoring and Preservation in Somerset’s Peatlands

At the heart of Somerset is an extensive fl oodplain containing deep Holocene deposits. The area can be broadly divided between the clay dominated ‘levels’, found mainly along the coast, and the peat-dominated ‘moors’ further inland. Only the peat areas are considered in this paper because they contain a particular wealth of waterlogged archaeology and are vulnerable to particular agencies of destruction.