NEW and long-forgotten historic sites have been emerging across Wales due to the recent dry conditions.

According to the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW), the scorching weather has provided the perfect conditions for dozens of ancient sites to become visible from the air.

Widespread cropmarks of Bronze Age barrows, prehistoric settlements, Roman villas and medieval sites have all come to light in the past few weeks and the race is now on to log them before it rains.

Attempting to survey and photograph all the different regions of Wales requires long hours in the cockpit for RCAHMW senior aerial investigator Toby Driver from his Haverfordwest base in Pembrokeshire.

But it is very much a race against time as early crops of wheat are just about fully ripened meaning archaeological marks seen a week ago have nearly vanished.

Elsewhere later crops still have a couple of weeks to ripen but are already showing cropmarks of prehistoric settlements.

An Iron Age settlement has been discovered on the Ceredigion coastline, with further images captured in Ceredigion at Nant-y-Moch reservoir and the Gaer Fawr hillfort, near Llanilar.

Dr Driver said: “I’ve not seen conditions like this since I took over the archaeological flying at the Royal Commission in 1997. There has been such an extreme drought we’ve got sites of national significance emerging.

“So much new archaeology is showing it is incredible; the urgent work in the air now will lead to months of research in the office in the winter months to map and record all the sites which have been seen, and reveal their true significance.”