AN ARCHAEOLOGIST has come under fire for comments he made about discoveries in the quarrying area around three scheduled ancient monuments in North Yorkshire.

Mike Griffiths, who acts as a consultant to Tarmac Northern, claimed at a public meeting that the biggest threat to archaeology around the Neolithic henges at Thornborough, near Bedale, was not a proposed extension of sand and gravel quarrying but the ploughing of land by farmers.

The former North Yorkshire County Council archaeologist said most of what had been in the area had been destroyed by ploughing, leaving only isolated pockets where pottery, hard-wearing flints and evidence of a small number of human burials had been found.

He added: "I am reading things that suggest archaeology is screaming out of the ground. It is not."

His comments brought a strong reaction from a leading member of the campaign group, the Friends of Thornborough, who said Mr Griffiths had a duty not to mislead the public and claimed to have found significant discrepancies between his presentation and what appeared on his own web site.

The meeting organised by the Friends was also attended by representatives of Tarmac Northern, Dr Keith Emmerich, inspector of ancient monuments in North Yorkshire for English Heritage, and county council chief planner Simon Smales. It was the first time all sides had publicly debated the issue.

Concern has been growing for the landscape around the henges since Tarmac Northern announced in 2002 that it wanted to extend its operations at Nosterfield quarry, where reserves are expected to be exhausted within three years.

The company is expected to submit a planning application later this year for an extension at Ladybridge Farm, north of the existing quarry, but has confirmed that it will defer any attempt to move on to Thornborough Moor, which contains the earthwork henges, until the recommendations of a conservation and management strategy are known.

Dr Emmerich said one way forward could be a conservation plan giving a say to all stakeholders, including the Friends. Talks were also taking place with the Department for the Environment about the possibility of paying farmers a realistic sum not to plough around the henges.

Another option to protect the setting of the monuments was for English Heritage to acquire the land, if it became available.

Mr Smales said the county council was committed to the henges, but had a statutory duty to process any mineral applications it received.

Friends' member George Chaplin consulted Mr Griffiths' web site and claimed to have found discrepancies with the presentation.

Mr Chaplin said: "I found that Thornborough was not such an archaeological desert as he had indicated. The web site claims that what has been found constitutes the largest group of Neolithic features of this type so far found in the North and that the henges themselves represent the most extensive of this type monitored in the British Isles."

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