SCIENTISTS are planning a project to help them understand the region's landscapes.

During the next 15 months they plan to investigate the gravels, silts and peats of the river valleys in the Swale and Ure washlands.

They hope to produce a picture of how the plants, animals and human activity in the area have varied over the past 15,000 years.

The team, from Durham University, will be concentrating on quarry sites at Marfield, near Masham, at Scorton, west of Catterick, and at Ripon. The quarry operators are giving their full co-operation.

One of the project managers, Dr Antony Long, said: "We know very little about the post Ice Age landscape of the area but the river corridors and their associated sediments hold a rich archive of environmental history.

"It includes information about climate change, flood frequency and size, as well as human activity and their impact on the land."

Experts will use the findings not only to discover how prehistoric people used the area, but also to guide the restoration of former sand and gravel workings.

Swale and Washlands project spokesman Siobhan Walker said: "Although there is some evidence, such as the Neolithic burials at Catterick racecourse, late prehistoric field systems and a farmstead, there are huge gaps in our knowledge.

"This study will fill in some of the gaps. It is an exciting opportunity to rediscover the post Ice Age landscape of the river vales."