Many thanks to Pete G for a new photo of the site at West Kennet. As he suggests, this shows the "stripes" far better. On the basis of this visual evidence, I'm prepared to accept that they MIGHT be periglacial in origin. The high concentrations of flints are striking -- something that doesn't occur in the ridges in the Stonehenge Avenue? One question -- do they run straight downslope? If not, there may be a problem with this interpretation.
Are they ploughing marks, as one contributor has suggested?
As I said in reply to Pete's comment, they may also be hollows and ridges attributable to solutional activity on the bedrock surface beneath the regolith -- or they could be the outcropping strike planes of flint-rich layers in the chalk -- and therefore structurtally controlled bedrock features rather than down to any unique cold-climate environment.
Hopefully more evidence will be forthcoming.
Ploughing marks: Seriously?
ReplyDeletethey run down hill from Waden hill across the avenue at an angle.
ReplyDeleteThe field was ploughed along the line of the avenue.
PeteG
http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-395-1/dissemination/png/underhill29.png