Fenscapes Project awarded HSDS funding to create Online Atlas of Past Animals and Plants in the Fens

Fenscapes are delighted and honoured to have been awarded two grants from the first round of the Heritage Science Data Service (HSDS) Small Grants Programme, ensuring that the data generated by their synthetic research into past environments and landscapes in the Fens of Eastern England will be fully open-access, FAIR (Findable Accessible Interoperable and Re-usable) and permanently hosted via the HSDS.

The two newly-funded projects will create innovative online resources.

The Online Atlas of Past Animals and Plants in the Fens will be led by Dr Rachel Ballantyne, in collaboration with Poppy Szaybo from the Centre for Landscape Regeneration. The atlas will draw upon a new database of over 1.2 million ancient plant and animal remains.

The FAIR Fenland Deposit-modelling Dataset will be led by Dr Phil Stastney. The dataset will support 3D modelling of past landscapes, including an open-access database of over 15,000 trenches, test pits and boreholes.

As well as broadening public access to specialist environmental archaeological data and supporting future research by enabling easy re-use of information, these new resources are also aimed at supporting conservation efforts and managing land-use change in the Fens.

Basal wood peat | Credit: Phil Stastney

Ely medieval animal remains | Credit: Rachel Balantyne

The HSDS have announced today that they are funding 27 projects, totalling over £550,000, to support researchers, organisations, and community partners in advancing heritage science capabilities through the HSDS Small Grants Programme. The HSDS is funded through the AHRC’s RICHeS programme.

Prof. Julian Richards, Director of the HSDS, said:

"We're delighted by the excellent quality and broad range of the applications we've received for our small grants programme, covering the full breadth of Heritage Science and Conservation research. They reinforce the number of important data sets that are at risk but which will now be made widely available, as well as the potential of advanced computing facilities to re-use them".

Fenscapes Team | Credit: Department of Archaeology

Fenscapes Team | Credit: Department of Archaeology

Fenscapes is a 4-year project that aims to synthesise and explore the environmental and landscape archaeology of the Fens of Eastern England.

The overall aim of the project is to investigate trajectories of landscape, habitat and species change in the Fens over the last 5,000 years, from the Neolithic to the present day.

The Fenscapes team is co-led by Rachel Ballantyne and Phil Stastney, working with a multi-disciplinary team based at Cambridge comprising Neal Payne, Josh Harry, Matt Brudenell, Matt Davies and Vida Rajkovača, alongside collaborations with archaeological units, charities and conservation organisations operating in the region. The team also had support from Archaeology student Libby Stone who collected a large amount of deposit model data during a summer placement last summer.

The project is hosted and funded by the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

Wicken Fen | Image Credit: Fenscapes

Wicken Fen | Image Credit: Fenscapes

The Fenscapes Project's first publication was published in Antiquity last autumn.

Read Fenscapes: Archaeology, natural heritage, and environmental change in the Fens here.

Published 5 March 2026

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