thanks for that. Yes, I thought it was a bit curious too - what came straight to my mind was the nature reserve at Wicken Fen. They made sure no more water was coming out of it - and now it's considerably higher than the surrounding farmland. But it was do-able, and that was hardly recent, and it is an important habitat preserved for the future, along with all its rare species. So you'd think there'd be a push to preserve Starr Carr for its wildlife, let alone the archaeology. As that other article says, once the place dries up, all the archaeological evidence (including all the tiny things like pollen etc) is ruined. If it's recognised as such an important site, and all that excavation has been going on over the years, how come it's being allowed to happen? weird.