Shaugh Moor Bronze Age Track Way Cast, Dartmoor National Visitor…

Shaugh Moor Bronze Age Track Way Cast, Dartmoor National Visitor Centre, 27.12.17.

This cast was taken from a prehistoric track way covered with animal footprints. It was found during an excavation beside a reave (a prehistoric field boundary).

The nature of the soil in Dartmoor means that few bones survive. This cast forms rare evidence of farm animals, such as cattle and sheep. The radiocarbon dating of the ditch bottom provided a date of around 1500 BCE.

It is known that the people who made the track way placed stones along the wetter parts of the route, creating a cobbled drove way. The footprints show movement in both directions and also include those of wild animals such as badgers. These horse hoof prints are also amongst the earliest evidence for the introduction of horses to Britain in the Bronze Age.