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How discovery off the Norfolk coast holds the key to Norway's past
Lost land under the sea.....
It is just eight inches long, but its discovery changed what we know about prehistoric Europe and our ancestors.
The harpoon, which was found by a Lowestoft fishing trawler in 1931, was yesterday under the lens of a Norwegian television crew, who are making a documentary on the origins of Norway.
It is 14,000 years old, but in perfect condition, the points carved into it still sharp. It would have been used for hunting by modern man in late Paleolithic or early Mesolithic times; a time before written records when people lived in hunter-gatherer communities.
But it is where it was found, 25 miles off the coast of Cromer, that makes it important to history. When it was dredged off the sea bed in 1931, hidden inside a lump of peat, it was taken home by Pilgrim Lockwood, the skipper of the fishing boat Colinda. It later ended up in Norwich's Castle Museum, where it fascinated archaeologists. They thought it might have been dropped by hunters on a fishing expedition. But later tests showed that the freshwater peat it came from would have been on land thousands of years ago. They realised the existence of land in the North Sea, long since drowned, called Doggerland.
The harpoon is now on display in the Museum of Rural Life in Gressenhall, near Dereham, but was being filmed in the study centre at the Castle Museum yesterday.
Its significance to Norwegian history is that it shows how people from south-west Europe could have got to Norway. The theory is that in the last ice age, people from Iberia moved up into Britain, across Doggerland and into Scandinavia.
Producer Ole Egil Strkson said: "This particular object is the first clue that that happened."
The producers had been hoping to find relatives of Pilgrim Lockwood to tell the story of how he found the harpoon. What is known is that he returned to the site in 1932 to take the peat samples which were used for testing.
The television crew said they felt moved by the age and significance of the deer antler harpoon, known as the Leman and Ower harpoon after the sandbanks where it was found. Presenter Samina Bruket said: "I was allowed to hold it. To think it is 14,000 years old is just amazing. I had seen pictures of it but it is even more beautiful than I thought, it was so shiny and well preserved."
Mr Storkson said: "It has been carved, so you can see it really has been used by humans."
Alan West, a curator of archaeology with Norfolk museum service, said: "It was originally part of a pair. The barbs faced each other with a long shaft used to stab down, like the eel spears you see from the 19th century."
The programme, which will be called Norwegian Roots, is due to be shown in December on the biggest Norwegian television station in prime-time.
The film crew went on to visit Holme-next-the-sea, near Hunstanton, where they filmed peat and remains of tree roots visible at low tide, showing that there was once land which is now covered by sea.
They are also planning to visit Vince Gaffney, of Birmingham University and an expert in Doggerland. He says that: "a very real, human tragedy lies behind the loss of this immense landscape", and that with global warming and sea levels rising, it has relevance today.
About Doggerland
Doggerland, named after the Dogger Bank sandbank, is thought to have existed between 12,000 and 8,000 years ago.
During the last ice age, much more water was contained in the polar ice caps, and the North Sea included an area of land larger than England and Wales, linking East Anglia with Holland and Belgium, with a much narrower stretch of water cutting off Britain from Norway.
It is thought to have been a land of rivers and marshes, which offered good hunting grounds for people. As the earth warmed and sea levels rose 8,000 years ago, the land was covered by water. Sea levels rose at one or two metres per century, creating a loss of land which would have been noticeable to the residents but not enough to drown them overnight.
http://tinyurl.com/yhupq53
Europe's Lost World - Rediscovery of Doggerland..
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/books/Gaffney2009
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Although the Kenward stone is considered natural there is another story attributed to it that may give it a prehistoric link. John Chandler has written about it in this Wiltshire Council link....
http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getconcise.php?id=60
which states that the stone had been removed from a field in which other stones lay...
"about 1890, he reported, he had been told by two of Chute's oldest inhabitants that the stone had been moved there from a field where there were other big stones, some of which had been buried out of the way. But nobody by 1924 could remember where, and so part at least of the pseudo-Kenward stone's mystery remains."
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Bronze age remains block broadband plan
THE cyber age's bid to spread its message into a pristine landscape has perished between a rock and a hard place in a Bronze Age valley.
Age-old archaeological remains are standing in the way of plans to bring modern internet communications to a scenic area of Kerry.
A telecommunications mast which would provide broadband to the mid-Kerry area would be a "new alien intrusion" on a very beautiful and almost pristine landscape.
That's according to senior An Bord Pleanála inspector, Robert Ryan.
The area around the proposed location for a 12-metre mast at Coomasaharn, Glenbeigh, is "one of the most significant Bronze Age landscapes in the country," Kerry County Council also conceded.
The local authority noted the Glenbeigh area has the greatest concentration of ancient "rock art" in Ireland, with more than 100 recorded examples.
The Bronze Age dated from around 2200 BC to 500 BC.
Mr Ryan supported the council and upheld a decision to refuse Hutchinson 3G Ireland planning permission for the mast on archaeological grounds.
He also said the mast would damage the visual amenities of the area which is close to the popular Ring of Kerry tourist route.
Hutchinson 3G has the Government's national contract to roll out broadband to previously unserviced rural areas.
The company claims there is a strong demand for broadband in the Glenbeigh area and no other site options were available.
Glenbeigh is a hotbed of opposition to masts, with objections to five such proposals in the general area.
Hutchinson 3G said that, given there were 67 objections to the current proposal, the possibility of finding another site was limited.
Company spokesman Brian Phelan said they would continue to try to bring broadband to such areas.
"Broadband has the potential to create hundreds of jobs, especially in small to medium-sized businesses, and is probably the most important thing for rural Ireland since rural electrification," he added.
Normally, An Bord Pleanála overturns Kerry County Council's decisions in relation to masts because it does not agree with a controversial rule by the council which bans such masts on sites which are within a kilometre of houses, schools and other residential buildings.
On this occasion, however, Bord Pleanála – while still disagreeing with the one-kilometre rule – granted the appeal on grounds of protecting the sensitive landscape and local archaeology.
This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Monday, March 08, 2010
Read more:
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/bronze-age-remains-block-broadband-plan-113928.html
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Finding stones near Bristol a place in history
The exciting new find by 'amateur' archaeologists of the long barrow under The Cove, at Stanton Drew.
Ask anyone in Bristol to name an ancient stone circle, and 90 per cent of people will probably say Stonehenge. A few of the wider-read sorts might mention Avebury. But remarkably, few will say the words Stanton Drew.
While Wiltshire's two landmark sites are known worldwide, Bristol's own major neolithic stone circle goes largely unnoticed.
But all that might be about to change, thanks to a team of enthusiastic amateur archaeologists who have discovered some intriguing new evidence that suggests the Stanton Drew site, near Chew Magna, may actually be 1,000 years older than historians had previously thought.
The discovery has been made by geophysics enthusiast John Oswin and amateur archaeologist John Richards, both from the Bath and Camerton archaeological society, who have been working with a team of volunteers under the guidance of Richard Sermon, Bath and North-East Somerset Archaeological Officer.
The two Johns have spent the last six months studying the results of their survey of the site in the summer, and they believe that long before the mystical stone circles were erected on the site around 2,500BC, there was an impressive "long barrow" burial chamber on the land.
I find a windswept John Oswin wandering thoughtfully around the area of the ancient monument known as The Cove. Separated from the main circles by the village church, this set of three ancient standing stones is nestled at the back of a pub car park.
"This is where we believe the long barrow would have been," says John, a former defence industry sonar expert at Filton who has taken a fancy for geophysical archaeology as a retirement hobby.
"I use a machine called a resistance meter," he explains. "It looks like a walking frame with a small computer attached. But actually, it is using scanning technology to create a picture of any archaeology that might be beneath the surface. Unlike traditional digging, this allows us to see what's below the surface in a non-invasive manner. Most people know about geophysics these days from watching Time Team on the television.
"Many neolithic stone circles are built on or near the site of an even more ancient long barrow – a large burial chamber. There is one, for example, at Stonehenge.
"But nobody had realised there was one here before because, although geophysicists had used this kind of equipment to scan the ground beneath the main stone circles, nobody had ever thought to come and scan this area known as The Cove.
"I first discovered there was a very large structure buried beneath the ground here back in the summer," John recalls. "I had been scanning all day, and then moved next door into the Druid's Arms to download my material on to a computer over a pint.
"When I saw the shape of a long barrow appearing on the screen my mouth just dropped open. It was one of those eyes-on-stalks moments, because I knew the civilisation that built stone circles came a thousand years after the civilisation that built long barrows.
"This would probably mean the stone circles had been specially built on a site that was already of sacred significance – a resting place of their distant ancestors.
"The neolithic – stone age – people who would have built the long barrow would have left the bodies of their dead to decay on the surface, before moving the bones down into the chamber – but only when they had been picked clean by birds or the flesh had rotted away.
"We believe they would then have brought the bones of their forefathers out for sacred rituals on special occasions. It's not that different to modern day Catholics parading the bodies of saints through towns for feast days.
"But by the time people came to build the stone circles here a thousand years later, this would all have been distant folklore – as distant to them as the Norman Conquest is to us."
To find out more about the significance of the find, I meet up with the project leader, John Richards, at his office at Bristol University – where he works as an IT manager.
"For me, archaeology is a hobby, but it's something I'm passionate about," he says, as he brings up the scan images on his computer screen.
"We were lucky to be given the chance to scan the ground at Stanton Drew, because access is often restricted by English Heritage, which maintains the monument.
"But we were approached as a society last year by Richard Sermon, the archaeological officer for the council. He wondered if we could give a demonstration of our geo-phys equipment to the public as part of a Festival of British Archaeology event.
"We said, yes we'd love to do it, but if we do, perhaps you could arrange something for us? Within a few weeks Richard had managed to get permission for us to survey the Stanton Drew site.
"It was exciting to get the chance to do the survey, so you can imagine how thrilled we were to find something as significant as a long barrow."
Since unveiling their find in archaeological publications recently, the two Johns have received congratulations from professional archaeologists all over the country, many of whom were keen to find out more about their data.
"We're hoping that this will be just the start of the story," John Richards says.
"We're hoping to get permission to go back on the site to do some more survey work this summer, and if we can get permission from the church and the pub landlord, we would like to scan the churchyard and the pub garden too, because we suspect the long barrow might extend on to their land – which would make this more than 20 metres in length.
"In other words, this would have been a very distinctive sacred landmark in the area 5,000 years ago."
For more information, visit the Bath and Camerton Archaeological Society website at www.bacas.org.uk.
Read more about it at
Stanton Drew,Bristol university,Stonehenge,Bristol University,Bath,Archaeology
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Finding-stones-near-Bristol-place-history/article-1871522-detail/article.html
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New deepwater port may be moved north to avoid tombs
A change of mind, a change of politics or maybe a devilish plot.......
Port developers anxious to avoid 'very significant'
neolithic complex, writes FRANK MACDONALD , Environment Editor
A PROPOSED deepwater container port at Bremore in north Co Dublin may be moved farther north to Gormanston, Co Meath, to avoid encroaching on a neolithic complex of passage tombs.
A spokesman for Treasury Holdings, which is planning to develop the new facility in partnership with Drogheda Port, confirmed yesterday that one of the options now being considered was to "shift it off Bremore headland" for archaeological reasons.
He said it had become clear at an early stage that the neolithic complex at Bremore was "very significant", and the developers would be anxious to avoid it by examining alternative locations, such as Gormanston.
However, no final decision has been taken.
One of the constraints is that the Gormanston site is partly covered by an EU-designated special protection area (SPA) for wild birds.
It is also believed to contain another archaeological complex, though this is not thought to be as significant as the one located at Bremore.
"We've done a significant amount of preliminary work, including archaeological investigations by Margaret Gowen and Company," the spokesman said, adding that Treasury would now be taking on an environmental specialist to assess the Gormanston option.
Treasury acquired options to purchase several landholdings at Bremore before entering into partnership with Drogheda Port, but it is understood the company holds none for Gormanston.
Land in the area would be cheaper to acquire now due to the property crash.
"We now have to work through the environmental issues as well as the cultural heritage and archaeological issues," the spokesman said.
He added that Treasury and its partners would be consulting with "all the various interests", such as An Taisce, which it has met already.
It is likely to be autumn before a firmer proposal will be put out for consultation.
"Ireland needs a deepwater port; the IDA (Industrial Development Authority) is conscious that we are losing projects because we don't have one," according to the spokesman.
An Taisce's monuments and antiquities committee has warned that any port development at Bremore would "completely obliterate a passage tomb cemetery of neolithic date with affinities to Newgrange and a mid-16th century historic harbour site".
Commenting on the possibility that it could be relocated to Gormanston, committee chairman Dr Mark Clinton said it would be likely to affect a sandy beach "most beloved in the locality" and shoreline that forms part of the river Nanny SPA.
Any such plan would require a full assessment of its environmental effects to be prepared and placed before the public prior to being approved.
"It would appear that the exact opposite of these legal requirements is in motion," Dr Clinton said.
He also queried the need for a new port, noting that throughput at Drogheda Port had fallen by 50 per cent in 2008, according to its most recent set of accounts, while business at Dublin Port was down by 10 per cent.
"There is no need for a new deepwater port," he said.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0223/1224265036102.html
Gordon Kingston on The Heritage Journal
Bremore: Proposed Port Site to change to Gormanston?
http://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/bremore-proposed-port-site-to-change-to-gormanston/
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Bronze Age shipwreck found off Devon coast
One of the world's oldest shipwrecks has been discovered off the coast of Devon after lying on the seabed for almost 3,000 years.
The trading vessel was carrying an extremely valuable cargo of tin and hundreds of copper ingots from the Continent when it sank
Experts say the "incredibly exciting" discovery provides new evidence about the extent and sophistication of Britain's links with Europe in the Bronze Age as well as the remarkable seafaring abilities of the people during the period.
Archaeologists have described the vessel, which is thought to date back to around 900BC, as being a "bulk carrier" of its age.
The copper and tin would have been used for making bronze – the primary product of the period which was used in the manufacture of not only weapons, but also tools, jewellery, ornaments and other items.
Archaeologists believe the copper – and possibly the tin – was being imported into Britain and originated in a number of different countries throughout Europe, rather than from a single source, demonstrating the existence of a complex network of trade routes across the Continent.
Academics at the University of Oxford are carrying out further analysis of the cargo in order to establish its exact origins.
However, it is thought the copper would have come from the Iberian peninsular, Alpine Europe, especially modern day Switzerland, and possibly other locations in France, such as the Massif Central, and even as far as Austria.
It is first time tin ingots from this period have ever been found in Britain, a discovery which may support theories that the metal was being mined in the south west at this time.
If the tin was not produced in Britain, it is likely it would have also come from the Iberian peninsular or from eastern Germany.
The wreck has been found in just eight to ten metres of water in a bay near Salcombe, south Devon, by a team of amateur marine archaeologists from the South West Maritime Archaeological Group.
In total, 295 artefacts have so far been recovered, weighing a total of more than 84kg.
The cargo recovered includes 259 copper ingots and 27 tin ingots. Also found was a bronze leaf sword, two stone artefacts that could have been sling shots, and three gold wrist torcs – or bracelets.
The team have yet to uncover any of the vessel's structure, which is likely to have eroded away.
However, experts believe it would have been up to 40ft long and up to 6ft wide, and have been constructed of planks of timber, or a wooden frame with a hide hull. It would have had a crew of around 15 and been powered by paddles.
Archaeologists believe it would have been able to cross the Channel directly between Devon and France to link into European trade networks, rather than having to travel along the coast to the narrower crossing between modern day Dover and Calais.
Although the vessel's cargo came from as far afield as southern Europe, it is unlikely it would have been carried all the way in the same craft, but in a series of boats, undertaking short coastal journeys.
The wreck site is on part of the seabed called Wash Gully, which is around 300 yards from the shore.
There is evidence of prehistoric field systems and Bronze Age roundhouses on the coast nearby and it is thought the vessel could have sunk while attempting to land, or could have been passing along the coast.
The coastline is notoriously treacherous and there is a reef close by which could have claimed the vessel.
The recovery work took place between February and November last year but the discovery was not announced until this month's International Shipwreck Conference, in Plymouth.
The finds have been reported to both English Heritage and the Receiver of Wreck, which administers all shipwrecks. The artefacts are due to be handed over to the British Museum next week.
They will be independently valued and the museum will pay the team for the items.
Mick Palmer, chairman of the South West Maritime Archaeological Group, said: "For the British Isles, this is extremely important. This was a cargo trading vessel on a big scale.
"There is more down there and we will carry on searching for it. We anticipate a lot more will be found."
Dave Parham, senior lecturer in marine archaeology at Bournemouth University and a member of the team, said: "What we are seeing is trade in action.
"We are not stuck with trying to work out trade based on a few deposits across a broader landscape. We are looking at the stuff actually on the boat being moved.
"Everything that is in the ship sinks with it and is on the seabed somewhere. What you would call this today is a bulk carrier. It was carrying what was for the time a large consignment of raw materials."
Dr Peter Northover, a scientist at the University of Oxford who has been analysing the find, said: "These are the produce of a multitude of countries, scattered right around Europe, up and down the Atlantic coast and inland.
"It came from a combination of places. It is showing the diversity of the trade.
"Metal traders and workers would have traded parcels of metal with each other. The metal would have moved in steps, along networks of contacts exchanging metal as and when they need it."
Dr Stuart Needham, a Bronze Age archaeologist, said: "This is genuinely exciting.
"Everyone knows that man has been walking around on land since time immemorial, but I think people now will be surprised to know how much they were plying the seaways at this time, up and down the Atlantic seaboard and across the Channel.
"There's a complex lattice of interactions across Europe happening throughout this period.
"A lot of stuff may have moved across land, but it is eminently possible at this stage that there were quite sophisticated maritime networks with specialist mariners – people who know how to read the tides and the stars and who are not just casually going out on the sea to do some deep sea fishing.
"If you have got specialist mariners plying the Atlantic seaways, there is every possibility they could be picking up material in different locations and stockpiling it.
"The mainstay of this exchange network might have been a number of vessels undertaking short journeys. It doesn't mean there weren't occasional vessels and people going longer distances."
One other Bronze Age vessel has previously been found near Salcombe, where just 53 artefacts were recovered. Another eight Bronze Age items have also been found at a third nearby spot, indicating another possible wreck.
The only other Bronze Age wrecks found in the UK have been located on land, or on the foreshore, at Dover and North Ferriby, on the Humber.
Ben Roberts, Bronze Age specialist at the British Museum, said: "It is an incredibly exciting find. What we have here is really, really good evidence of trade. We don't get many shipwreck sites.
"It is very rare to get a snapshot of this level of activity. It is very possible there were also animals and people going across the Channel too.
"We hardly ever get to see evidence of this cross Channel trade in action. It is a huge amount of cargo."
Article by Jasper Copping; Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/archeology/7228108/Bronze-Age-shipwreck-found-off-Devon-coast.html
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Discover the Orkney Dream.
A surprisingly good article from Countryfile on the Orkneys...
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An Taisce is The National Trust of Ireland, a map outlining the proposed port shows the importance of this threatened landscape, and how the development will destroy both archaeological sites and a fragile habitat.
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Motorway 'may cost ancient site World Heritage status'
The battle begins.....
The ancient Bru na Boinne site around Newgrange may lose its World Heritage status if the proposed M2 motorway goes ahead, it was claimed today.
The National Monuments Forum warned if changes are not made to the new motorway plans, the area near the Boyne in Co Meath is likely to lose recognition from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
Dr George Eogan, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at University College Dublin (UCD), said the new motorway is too close to the monuments and will have a considerable impact on the surrounding landscape.
"Five hundred metres is simply too close, and it is conceivable that Newgrange could lose its World Heritage Status," he said.
The site can be saved if Environment Minister John Gormley fast-tracks the new National Monuments Bill 2009 according to the National Monuments Forum.
Vincent Salafia, National Monuments Forum spokesman, claimed the minister created unnecessary delays which place Ireland's heritage at risk.
"We urge Minister Gormley to deliver this long overdue legislation and to ensure it is strong enough to protect Newgrange from this outlandish proposal," Mr Salafia said.
Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/motorway-may-cost-ancient-site-world-heritage-status-443046.html#ixzz0dQVSkddA
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Proposed Slane Bypass will skim the Edge of Brú na Bóinne!
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Slane bypass to be 500m from Newgrange
The National Roads Authority has given details of plans for the new Slane bypass, which would be built 500m from the World Heritage Site at Newgrange.
While the plan has been welcomed locally, it is expected that there will be controversy.
The bridge and the road through the village of Slane, Co Meath, is one of the most dangerous stretches of roads in Ireland.
Over 20 people have been killed in accidents and locals have long campaigned for a bypass around the village.
The NRA is proposing to build the route down river of the present bridge and to the east of the village.
The proposed bypass will be 500m away from the buffer-zone around the World Heritage Site at Brú na Bóinne, which comprises the ancient megalithic tombs at Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth.
It will also impact on the museum dedicated to Ireland's most famous World War I poet, Francis Ledwidge, who came from Slane.
The Environmental Impact Statement for the project acknowledges that 44 archaeological sites will be within 500m of the roadway and that the potential to uncover much more during work is high.
While there will be a visual impact from the river, the Environmental Impact Statement says there will be negligible impact on the Site.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0121/slane.html
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Damage at Midmill, Aberdeenshire
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Stanton Drew 'older' than thought
The Cove that turned into a longbarrow.....
Archaeologists have discovered the collection of prehistoric standing stones at Stanton Drew is older than originally thought.
During geophysical surveys last summer, they found the outline of a burial mound dated from nearly 1000 years before the stone circles.
The surveys were carried out by Bath and Camerton Archaeological Society and the council's Archaeological Officer.
It is hoped the discovery will raise Stanton Drew's profile with scholars.
Their work has brought new light on the origins of the Cove - the three large stones in the beer garden of the Druid's Arms.
Stone circles such as those at Stanton Drew are known to date broadly to the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, about 3000 to 2000 BC.
Given the new dating, by John Oswin, the upright stones of the Cove might be better explained as the portals or facade of a chambered tomb, similar to the Stoney Littleton long barrow near Wellow.
Bath and North East Somerset Council's Archaeological Officer, Richard Sermon, said: "Stanton Drew has been much neglected compared to Avebury and Stonehenge.
"This will raise its profile with the scholars and it [Stanton Drew] will be recognised as one of the major prehistoric sites in England."
Chance put up this news in December, but the full 50 page geophysical report seems to be online permanently and this rather extraordinary discovery in the news now!
The report;
http://server14.web-mania.com/users/bacaYLaw/geophysics/StantonDrewScreen.pdf
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/bristol/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8454000/8454448.stm
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Norfolk museum to install ancient timber
A Norfolk museum is to close to the public for about four months while the central stump of a Bronze Age oak circle known as Seahenge is installed.
The Lynn Museum in King's Lynn has recorded a large increase in visitors since opening a gallery in 2008 devoted to the 55 outer timbers of the circle.
Work is now taking place to create a mount for the 4,000-year-old stump which weighs more than one tonne.
Seahenge was discovered emerging from a beach at Holme-next-the-Sea in 1998.
Its 55 oak posts in a circle with a central stump sat unnoticed and undisturbed off the Norfolk coast for almost 4,000 years, but became exposed at low tides after the peat dune covering it was swept away by storms.
Archaeologists believe between 50 and 80 people may have helped build the circle, possibly to mark the death of an important individual.
The Seahenge gallery at the museum is drawing thousands of visitors
The timbers were excavated in 1999 and went to the Bronze Age Centre at Flag Fen near Peterborough to be studied and the preservation programme begun.
To finish the conservation programme they then went to the Mary Rose Trust in Portsmouth.
But at 8ft (2.5m) in height the preservation process for the central stump has taken longer.
Derrick Murphy, from Norfolk County Council, said: "Why our ancestors built Seahenge remains a mystery, yet we can state categorically that it is one of the most significant historical discoveries ever to be found in Britain.
"The installation of the central stump within the gallery at the Lynn Museum marks a fitting end to this chapter of the story of Seahenge."
The museum will close at the end of January.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/8453606.stm
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South-West World Heritage Sites join forces for interactive sustainable transport map
For those who enjoy playing with maps and sustainable transport.......
Four of the South-West's most breathtaking nature areas, including the famous Jurrasic Coast, are hoping to make travel to the heritage sites easier than ever with a new website.
World Heritage Sites the City of Bath, the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, the Jurassic Coast of Dorset and East Devon and Stonehenge and Avebury will be positioned on an interactive map highlighting ways to circumnavigate them on sustainable transport.
Sally King, Manager of the 95-mile Jurassic Coast trail which is home to relics from 185 million years of evolution, said she was "delighted" to have led the South West World Heritage Sites project, which took three years to complete.
"We hope to make it easy for people to discover ways of visiting and exploring our unique natural and cultural heritage in the South West without travelling by car," she explained.
"This will help them to protect our environment and enjoy themselves in the process."
Under the terms of a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation convention, the UK is obliged to safeguard World Heritage Sites for future generations.
Visit the trail here;
http://www.worldheritagesouthwest.org.uk/
http://www.culture24.org.uk/science+%2526+nature/art74728
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North York Moors blaze uncovers mystery monument near Goathland
A FIRE which swept across a large area of North Yorkshire moorland has revealed a mysterious monument which could date back to Neolithic times.
This aerial picture from English Heritage shows a stone enclosure and a number of stone cairns on a 62-acre site near the village of Goathland.
David MacLeod, senior investigator with English Heritage's aerial survey team, said: "We were called in by the North York Moors National Park Authority to capture aerial views before the site is recovered by vegetation.
"We saw at least 20 cairns of varying size, taking pictures from various angles, allowing us to set the site in a wider landscape context." He said the site could have once been a pen for agricultural use or perhaps a graveyard.
"Whatever its origins, it stands as reminder that the history of North Yorkshire is far from done and dusted, but is still being written," he added.
An archaeological report is expected on the site next year.
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/4821294.North_York_Moors_blaze_uncovers_mystery_monument/
Note; No aerial photo shown!
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Stonehenge bones may be evidence of winter solstice feasts
Maeve Kennedy in the Guardian ruminating on pork roast feasting on Solstice day at Stonehenge.....
Some 4,500 years ago, as the solstice sun rose on Stonehenge, it is very likely that a midwinter feast would already have been roasting on the cooking fires.
Experts believe that huge midwinter feasts were held in that period at the site and a startling picture is now emerging of just how far cattle were moved for the banquet. Recent analysis of the cattle and pig bones from the era found in the area suggests the cattle used were walked hundreds of miles to be slaughtered for the solstice celebrations – from the west country or west Wales.
Professor Mike Parker Pearson of the University of Sheffield and his team have just won a grant of £800,000 from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, to answer some of the riddles about the enigmatic prehistoric monument.
The grant is to fund Feeding Stonehenge, his follow-up research on the wealth of material, including animal bones, pottery and plant remains, which they found in recent excavations at Durrington Walls, a few miles from the stone circle – a site which Parker Pearson believes key to understanding why Stonehenge was built and how it was used.
His team fully excavated some huts but located the foundations of scores more, the largest neolothic settlement in Britain. To his joy it was a prehistoric tip, "the filthiest site known in Britain", as he dubbed it.
"I've always thought when we admire monuments like Stonehenge, not enough attention has been given to who made the sandwiches and the cups of tea for the builders," said Parker Pearson.
"The logistics of the operation were extraordinary. Not just food for hundreds of people but antler picks, hide ropes, all the infrastructure needed to supply the materials and supplies needed. Where did they get all this food from? This is what we hope to discover."
Stonehenge was begun almost 5,000 years ago with a ditch and earth bank, and developed over 1,000 years, with the circle of bluestones brought from the Preseli hills in west Wales, and the double decker bus sized sarsen stones.
It was too early for the Phoenicians, the Romans or the largely mythical Celtic druids. The Anglo Saxons believed Stonehenge was the work of a race of lost giants, and a 12th-century historian explained that Merlin flew the huge stones from Ireland.
It has been explained as a place of druidic sacrifice, a stone computer, a place of witchcraft and magic, a tomb, a temple or a solar calendar. It is aligned on both the summer and winter solstice, crucial dates which told prehistoric farmers that the time of harvest was coming, or the shortest day of winter past.
Although not all archaeologists agree – Geoff Wainwright and Tim Darvill have dubbed Stonehenge the stone age Lourdes, a place of healing by the magic bluestones – Parker Pearson believes it was a place of the dead, while Durrington Walls, with its wooden henge, was the place of its living builders, and the generations who came to feast, and carry out rituals for their dead, moving from Durrington to the nearby river and on by the great processional avenue to Stonehenge.
He found no evidence that Durrington was permanently inhabited or farmed, and the first tests on the pig and cattle bones support his theory that it was a place where people gathered for short periods on special occasions.
The pigs were evidently slaughtered at mid-winter, and he expects the cattle bones to back this. What the sample already tested shows is that they were slaughtered immediately after arrival, after travelling immense distances.
"We are going to know so much about the lives of the people who built Stonehenge," Parker Pearson said, "how they lived, what they ate, where they came from."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/dec/20/stonehenge-animal-bones-solstice-feast
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Bremore group says area could be as important as Tara
A CAMPAIGN to Save Bremore claims the coastal strip on the Meath/Dublin border may be one of the richest archaeological areas in Ireland, with aspects comparable to the Hill of Tara.
Among the heritage sites in locality is the Bremore passage tomb complex – a designated national monument – a series of several unclassified monuments in the Knocknagin townland and the mid-16th-century Newhaven Bay.
Drogheda Port and companies associated with Treasury Holdings have earmarked the area for the development of a deepwater port, industrial units, a motorway link to the M1 and a new rail link to the main Dublin-Belfast railway.
According to archaeologist Prof George Eogan: "Bremore may have been the first point of entry for the settlements of what is now known as Fingal/east Meath and the Boyne Valley area."
Save Bremore claims the Bremore passage tomb and adjacent Gormanston passage tomb should be considered within the greater context of passage tombs nearby at Knowth, Dowth and Newgrange.
The group quoted from archaeologist Dr Mark Clinton of An Taisce's national monuments and antiquities committee, who has said that one mound at the tomb complex had an entrance orientation indicating the possibility that it was aligned with the summer solstice.
"In this regard, and given their morphology and geographical location, there's every possibility the builders were the near ancestors of those that built the nearby world-acclaimed tombs of Brú na Bóinne [the Boyne Valley tombs]."
Dr Clinton said archaeologically, Bremore was comparable with Tara. "Tara started with a passage tomb known as the Mound of the Hostages and developed over different periods: likewise the Bremore tombs would appear to be the start of Brú na Bóinne.
"The parallel is clear – no Mound of the Hostages, no Tara; no Bremore, no Newgrange."
Attempts to contact the developers of the proposed deep sea port were unsuccessful yesterday.
The Treasury Holdings website quotes managing director John Bruder as saying Bremore had enormous development potential and is one of the most exciting real estate developments available.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1221/1224261043449.html
More information here;
http://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2009/12/20/save-bremore-campaign/
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Tide turns on Iron Age midden treasure trove
AN ANCIENT rubbish tip – inhabited nearly 2,000 years ago – is disappearing into the sea, archeologists have warned.
The Iron Age midden on Skye's west coast has so far yielded bone fragments, stone tools, a button manufactured from horn and the top of a human skull.
But experts are battling the elements in a race to save the 1,900-year-old treasure trove from the elements.
The manmade tools and fragments are already under attack from lashing waves and strong winds, with significant amounts of material already lost to the sea. A report published by Highland Council's Historic Environment Record said that at the current rate of erosion, the site will not last beyond 2010.
The settlement is thought to have been inhabited from 80AD, about the time the Colosseum was built in Rome.
It was discovered by local archeologists Martin Wildgoose and Steven Birch in 2005.
Excavations last year and this year have uncovered a number of fascinating objects. Among the tools and animal bones, archeologists found the remains of a human skull with a small hole drilled into the top.
Experts have speculated that the hole could have been made while the victim was still alive as a primitive form of surgery. Known as trepanation, the procedure was a common remedy in many cultures thought to cure seizures and mental ailments.
The rock shelter and midden, known as Uamh an Eich Bhric, or Cave of the Speckled Horse, is about 3km south-west of the village of Fiskavaig.
It is extremely difficult to get to the site by land, with excavators having to negotiate a steep 100 metre descent of high grass and heather to the shore below.
Access by sea is only possible in calm conditions, due to the hazardous landing on a boulder and pebble beach.
The site was uncovered when a huge talus, or pile of broken rock, that had protected the cave from the sea was partially breached during the winter storms of 2005.
Since then, the tides have exposed the site and continue to wash out new material on a regular basis.
When it became clear that time was against the archeologists, Historic Scotland sponsored the excavations to recover as many artefacts as possible before the site was destroyed. A spokeswoman for Historic Scotland said: "From the evidence gathered it was clear that an important and unusual site was at severe risk from continuing erosion.
"A campaign of excavation was quickly organised, with funding from Historic Scotland and others.
"The excavations have revealed that during the Iron Age, people used this location as a temporary home."
Details of those who lived in the cave were yet to emerge, she said, adding that from ongoing analysis there was strong evidence of metal-working.
She said it was hoped the discoveries would allow archaeologists to further explore the history of the inhabitants, with important implications for the understanding of Scotland's west coast during the Iron Age.
She added: "Although the site will continue to be eroded by the sea, the archaeologists have rescued an enormous amount of data and the gains in knowledge are likely to be very significant."
Skye, known for its abundant historical finds, has had several important discoveries in the past few months.
Last Thursday, 47-year-old Graeme Mackenzie discovered a Viking anchor while digging near his home in Sleat.
The find was hailed as further evidence that Norse raiders never returned to their native land, choosing instead to settle on Skye and many other places along Scotland's north-western seaboard.
And in November, house builders near Armadale pier uncovered six richly decorated prehistoric graves, one of the most significant archaeological finds yet made in the Highlands.
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Tide-turns-on-Iron-Age.5903400.jp
More information and the subsequent later archaeological excavations are here, with lots of interesting photos...
http://www.high-pasture-cave.org/index.php/news/comments/151/
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Protest over hill fort land sale
Hundreds of people have staged a protest on land near an Iron Age hill fort in a bid to stop it being sold and keep it in public ownership.
Worthing Council has already said it has suspended the sale and will also review the decision to sell farmland near Cissbury Ring, in West Sussex.
The council said the review was because of public concern about the site.
The South Downs Society said it was a famous archaeological site that needed to remain in public ownership.
The group, Stop the Cissbury Sell-Off (SCSO), said about 400 people gathered for the rally and walked across the land in question, letting off flares.
SCSO spokesman Trevor Hodgson said there was strong feeling and a "massive turnout" by people who had vowed to fight on until the land was fully protected for generations to come.
Worthing Council said the decision to sell two parcels of agricultural land, 57 and 132 acres in size, was taken following the death of the former tenant farmer.
The council said the review would consider fresh options and talks would be held with the South Downs Joint Committee and the National Trust.
Mr Waight said: "Because the decision was made a year ago and because of public concern, we feel it right to review the decision made over a year ago in order to make sure we take everything into account before a final decision is made."
Spokesman for the South Downs Society, Steve Ankers, welcomed the move but called for a permanent halt to the sale.
He said: "It is essential that this important site remains in public ownership. Cissbury Ring cannot survive properly on its own."
He added: "If it was sold, it could end up being fenced off into unsightly paddocks with no access for the public."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/8360572.stm
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England's Ancient Ridgeway Trail
An interesting article in The New York Times....
THE Ridgeway is the oldest continuously used road in Europe, dating back to the Stone Age. Situated in southern England, built by our Neolithic ancestors, it's at least 5,000 years old, and may even have existed when England was still connected to continental Europe, and the Thames was a tributary of the Rhine.
Ridgeway Trail; Once it probably ran all the way from Dorset in the southwest to Lincolnshire in the northeast, following the line of an escarpment — a chalk ridge rising from the land — that diagonally bisects southern England. Long ago it wasn't just a road, following the high ground, away from the woods and swamps lower down, but a defensive barrier, a bulwark against marauders from the north, whomever they may have been. At some point in the Bronze Age (perhaps around 2,500 B.C.), a series of forts were built — ringed dikes protecting villages — so the whole thing became a kind of prototype of Hadrian's Wall in the north of England.
The land here is downland, somewhere between moorland and farmland, hill after hill curving to the horizon in chalk slopes (the word down is related to dune). Here on these pale rolling hills, the plowed fields, littered with white hunks of rock, sweep away in gradations of color, from creamy white to dark chocolate. The grassland becomes silvery as it arches into the distance. The wind always seems to be blowing. The landscape is elemental, austere, with a kind of monumental elegance. The formal lines of the fields and hills not only speak of the severity of life in the prehistoric past, but would also match some well-tended parkland belonging to an earl......
three pages read on....
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/travel/01ridgeway.html
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Bremore - New port threat still there
Bremore. Quo Vadis
By Gordon Kingston, Heritage Action
By 2007 Ireland's booming economy and growth in demand for construction materials, was causing increased capacity pressure at the ten ports along its Eastern seaboard. One obvious consequence of this was the "Port Tunnel", a new access to the largest port, in Dublin, which was constructed at enormous public expense, €752 million, to ease the traffic congestion caused by heavy goods vehicles in the city. A further modification proposed to address the capacity problem was an expansion of the port, a concept requiring the infilling of 52 acres of Dublin Bay. This idea, initially suggested in 1988, is currently under consideration by An Bord Pleanala.
In the meantime Drogheda Port Company came up with its own proposal, a new large-capacity, deep water port at Bremore and entered into a government-approved joint venture for the project with Castle Market Holdings Ltd.. Castle Market Holdings is owned, via Real Estate Opportunities Ltd., by Richard Barrett and Johnny Ronan's Treasury Holdings, one of the largest developers in Ireland and a company with a long track record of "unwillingness to back down in the face of legal threats.....
read on.......
http://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/bremore-quo-vadis/
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'Atlantis' is Discovered in Devon
An ancient British inland Atlantis dating back millennia has been discovered on a remote moor.
The remains - including a mini-Stonehenge - were found when an old reservoir was drained in Dartmoor, Devon.
The find includes remains of ancient walled buildings, burial mounds and a stone circle 27m (89ft) across.
'Most of the stones we found would have been put in place around 4,000 years ago but some of the flint is much earlier, going right back to the Mesolithic period around 7,000 to 8,000 years ago,' said Dartmoor National park authority archaeologist Jane Marchand.
From The Metro, no other information or news elsewhere but be wary of news items carrying 'Atlantis' and 'Stonehenge' in their words!....
http://tinyurl.com/ykn5mls
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Stanton Drew and folklore
The following which is taken from John Wood's book A Description of Bath of 1765 describes the superstition that lay round the Wedding stones of Stanton Drew as seen by the local people. People being turned to stone, and also drinking from the stones, which is a slightly different aspect of the story.
John Wood had a weird and wonderful theory about Stanton Drew and Druids, that belongs elsewhere, but in writing his book he gave valuable information as to the the existence of the two Tyning stones, and another folklore story about Hakill the Giant who in good giant tradition threw The Coit from Maes Knoll, a hill situated west from Stanton Drew, which also encompasses Maes Knoll Hillfort and the great Wansdyke barrier which either divided two kingdoms in the late British Iron Age or was some form of defense. The work of giants perhaps recognised by our 18th century inhabitants but not rationalised as they are today!
Stanton Drew in the County of Somerset
That's where the Devil played at Sue's request,
They paid the price for dancing on a Sunday.
Now they are standing evermore at rest.
The Wedding Stones
"The remains of this model bear the name of The Wedding, from a tradition that as a woman was going to be married, she and the rest of the company were changed into the stones of which they consist "No one," says the Country People about Stantondrue, was ever able to reckon the "number of these metamorphosed Stones", or to take "a draught of them" or tho' several have attempted to do both, and proceeded till they were either struck dead upon the spot, or with such an illness as soon carried them off.
This was seriously told to me when I began to a Plan of them (the stones) on the 12th August 1740 to deter me from proceeding: And as a storm accidentally arose just after, and blew down part of a Great Tree near the body of the work, the people were then thoroughly satisfied that I had disturbed the Guardian Spirits of the metamorphosed Stones, and from thence great pains were taken to convince me of the Impiety of intent I was about.
Hakim's Quoit
Large flat stone called Hakill on the north-east side of the river by which Stantondrue is situated: And this stone tho' greatly delapidated is till ten feet long, six feet broad, near two feet thick, and lies about 1860 feet from the centre of the circle.
....Now if we draw a line from the centre of the Circle D, to the centre of the Circle B and produce it westward 992 feet, it will terminate on three stones in a garden (Druid Arms now) by the parish church of Stantondrue: two of which stones are erect, and the other lies flat on the ground............. it will terminate on two stone lying flat on the ground in a field call the Lower-Tining (stones now vanished).
In plowing the ground of Maes Knoll as well as that of Solsbury Hill, the people frequently turned up burnt stones, and often find other Marks to prove each Place to have been long inhabited: the former, according to a Tradition among the people of the Country thereabouts, was the Residence of one Hakill, a Giant, who is reported to have toss'd the Coit that make part of the works of Stantondrue from the Top of that Hill to the place where it now lies: He is also reported to have made Maes-Knoll Tump with one spadeful of Earth, and to had the village underneath that Hill given him......
The 'wedding stones' story is found at other stone circles, the wedding taking place on a Saturday and lasting through the night into Sunday, when they were all turned to stone by the piper/harper, or in this case the 'devil'. The christian church again concocting a story to stop people enjoying themselves, one wonders where this story originally came into the history timeline.
Funnily in these tales caught from the past about Stanton Drew there is no 'drinking stone' myth whereby they would have gone down to the river Chew and refreshed themselves.
The 'Song of Stanton Drew' can be found here...
http://www.twistedtree.org.uk/stanton_drew.htm
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Equinox at La Hougue Bie
News from BBC Jersey
The 6,000 year-old burial site at La Hougue Bie is one of the best preserved remnants of the Neolithic period in Western Europe.
Every spring and autumn crowds of people gather to watch the equinox from inside the chamber.
Archaeologists can make educated guesses about what went on there, but much is shrouded in mystery.
The name is Norse in origin, coming from hougue meaning man made and bie meaning Homestead.
Archaeologist Olga Finch is the curator at La Hougue Bie, and explained this in more detail.
"Hougue and Bie are Norse words. Hougue was a term the Vikings used for man—made mounds, and Bie means homestead. So it could mean the homestead near the mound," said Olga.
Despite being best known as a burial ground Olga says that this was just one, albeit important, aspect of what went on.
"It was almost like a cross between a modern-day church and a community hall.
"We know there were rituals associated with seasonal activities because the Neolithic people were the first farmers," she explained.
Therefore the cycles of nature were crucial to the survival of the indigenous population. The discovery of the equinox alignment brought home how important this time of year was to the farming community.
It is one of Western Europe's best preserved mounds
The Equinox alignment happens twice a year. La Hougue Bie's entrance points directly east, which enables a beam of sunlight to travel up the passageway to illuminate the chamber deep in the mound.
Today, this natural phenomenon inspires awe, not just among the community at large, but with archaeologists like Olga.
"We are talking about 6,000 years ago. The window into the tomb was set up perfectly, so that the rising sun penetrates not just the front, but all the way back into the terminal cell," she said.
Olga believes the terminal cell at the foremost part of the mound would have been the focal point for any rituals which took place.
Entering the mound is a mildly uncomfortable experience, requiring visitors to crouch, chimp-like, to negotiate the nine metre passageway leading to the chamber.
Olga says this was probably to conceal the main area for ritual from uninvited eyes.
The passage opens up into the main chamber, which takes a cruciform shape. Two side chambers to the north and south were the burial plots for the dead.
Every spring and autumn crowd gather to watch the equinox
The large flat rock at the back of the passage is raised up from the floor denoting a more sacred area.
"It is almost like a modern day church. The further back you go the more sacred and spiritual it gets and less people have access to it."
"There is a little terminal cell at the back, which may have housed an important object or person.
"The equinox sunrise concentrates initially in that area. This shaft of light perhaps symbolises bringing in new energy. It is all about rebirth and contact with the dead."
"Anyone who experiences it knows they have witnessed something really special. To think 6000 years ago there would have been people in here experiencing the same thing," Olga explained.
Again Olga can only hazard an educated guess as to the meaning of the rituals that went on all those thousands of years ago.
"We know there were little seeds placed on the cairn stones, so it may have been a plea to the gods for a good harvest," she said.
The mound may have been used in a similar way to a modern day church
The human remains of about eight people - male and female adults - were found at the site. The items they were buried with are strong evidence in a belief in the afterlife.
"There were bones of cattle, which may have been left as food for the afterlife. There were also flint tools that show people believed they would need these things in the next world," Olga said.
Despite significant digs in the '90s, much of the site remains unexcavated. La Hougue Bie may reveal more of its secrets for future generations to wonder about.
"It is one of the best preserved and one of the largest Neolithic sites in western Europe, so Jersey is very lucky in that respect.
"It has almost cathedral status compared to other sites in the island. A lot of sites have been robbed or destroyed. We are very lucky to have it here in Jersey," Olga concluded.
Photos of site on the link.....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/jersey/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8196000/8196305.stm
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Fascinating account of its restoration.
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Neolithic carving raises eyebrows
A remote Neolithic burial mound on an Orkney island may contain carvings of human eyes and eyebrows, it has been revealed.
The stone is inside the Holm of Papa Westray tomb.
Historic Scotland believes it is linked to the find of a carving believed to be Scotland's earliest human face, dating back thousands of years.
That small Neolithic sandstone human figurine at Links of Noltland was believed to be up to 5,000 years old.
Richard Strachan, senior archaeologist with the Historic Scotland cultural resources team, said: "Initial comparisons do show a similarity in use of this eyebrow motif and may point to the possibility that the markings in the cairn are meant to show human eyebrows and eyes, as the style is very similar to the figurine.
The previous carving find was said to be of great importance
"Alternatively, we may be seeing the re-use of a motif familiar to the carver and applied to different contexts with different meaning.
"This is highly intriguing and raises yet more questions about Neolithic people's attitudes to artistic representations of human beings."
He added: "Images of people are very rare indeed, which some people believe suggests that it was considered taboo.
"But the discovery of the figurine shows there were some exceptions, and the lintel in the tomb may suggest that there were situations where particular features could be shown."
The Holm of Papa Westray tomb's remote location can only be reached by private boat hire.
Experts described the previous find of the figurine as one of "astonishing rarity".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/8260611.stm
Fascinating photo.....
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Ancient site could be fenced off
An ancient monument in Guernsey could be fenced off because of repeated anti-social behaviour.
The Culture and Leisure Department has applied for planning permission to put up a fence around the Cists in Circle at Sandy Hook in St Sampson.
It said fly-tipping, littering, fires and moving the stones had all been problems at the site for years, and were the reason for the application.
The site, which was excavated in 1912, dates from about 2,500 to 1,800 BC.
The plans include a gate which would allow access to the site, but only with the use of a key held by Guernsey Museum.
The museum operates a similar system for several other sites, including Victoria Tower in St Peter Port.
If the plans are approved, archaeologists and historical sites staff will work to restore the ancient monument.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/guernsey/8244230.stm
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Denbighshire Hill fort 'far older than first thought'
ARCHEOLOGISTS have unearthed evidence that a hill fort in Denbighshire is more than 3,000 years old.
An excavation of Moel y Gaer in Llanbedr, which sits on a spur off the Clwydian Range, has uncovered Iron Age remains.
But experts say parts of the site could be older than first thought after samples of metal slag and dry stone facing suggest they may date back to the Bronze Age (2,300 BC to 700 BC).
The investigation is being jointly carried out by Bangor University and Denbighshire's Heather and Hillforts Project and new evidence indicates the possibility of earlier entrance at the hillfort.
Professor Raimund Karl, the university's head of school and professor of archaeology and heritage, said: "We have recovered some quite substantial charcoal samples so we can try to arrange carbon dating, which should hopefully narrow down our dating range for the construction of the rampart.
"I consider the dig to have been a great success."
Taken from The Daily Post....
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/new[...]-first-thought-55578-24585279/
[Moss, I have attached your news to this particular Moel Y Gaer as the grid reference seems to match the one you provided. If it's still incorrect please say.
TMA Ed.]
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Unearthing bronze-age Dartmoor
The Guardian has gone absolutely mad on archaeology articles this morning........
A dig in Devon reveals how life was lived 3,500 years ago: from cookery to DIY
The nearest proper road is a couple of miles away. The toilet is an energetic yomp down a steep slope and through the conifers. When it rains – and here on Dartmoor it really does pelt down – the only shelter is project supervisor Simon Hughes's old VW Golf. "It's started to smell like a dead dog," he says with a big grin.
Despite the tough conditions, Hughes and his team are relishing working on the Bellever roundhouse. "It's a great project for us," he says. "It's a chance to really try to find out what was going on here 3,500 years ago."
There are lots of roundhouses on Dartmoor (5,000 stone ones and more wooden ones that have rotted away without leaving any trace), but most were studied a century or more ago. They used to dig one a day then, rather than taking weeks over it as they do now.
So when two years ago a great storm felled a plantation of conifers at Bellever, disturbing the roundhouse's granite structure, archaeologists argued that they ought to have another look. It is an exciting project: only the second roundhouse to be excavated in the area in the last 20 years and a chance to learn more about the people who, at a time when the climate was much more clement than it is now, were able to live and work here.
By the time the bronze-age people arrived on Dartmoor, the slopes had been cleared of trees so that crops could be grown and animals – cattle and sheep – grazed. Blocks of land may have been controlled by groupings of people or tribes. Some of the roundhouses have porches, protection against the weather, others seem to have been divided into rooms. Roofs built from timber may have been covered in turf, heather, gorse or thatch.
In October last year, the Dartmoor National Park Authority commissioned a small excavation here by a professional firm of consultants, AC Archaeology. Just under a quarter of the house, which has a diameter of 8m, was dug but many interesting and well-preserved features, including a mysterious nearby cairn and well-preserved paved flooring made up of granite slabs, were found.
More than 30 fragments of bronze-age pottery were recovered. Another intriguing find was a piece of worked timber, which may have formed part of the original structure.
"It blew us away," says Andy Crabb, an archaeologist who works for the national park and for English Heritage. "Dartmoor is very wet, very acidic, so bone, ceramics, organic material gets eaten away, but here we found a whole sequence of occupation and abandonment." In other words, evidence that people had lived there, moved on, been replaced by others. Clearly the site warranted further exploration.
Financing such a project is key. It was decided that volunteers would be used to clear the vegetation, topsoil and peat. AC Archaeology won the contract for the next stage, funded by the national park and other bodies at a cost of £7,500.
July's nasty weather has made it a tough dig. Which is why Hughes's car is so smelly. It's his call when rain stops play and he admits that they tend to keep going until the point where the roundhouse is flooded and the site could get damaged. He jokes that the state of his and his co-workers' joints is secondary.
The team, usually three or four strong, remains cheerful. "We're like a little archaeological family," says Kerry Dean, 24. "The banter is good and we bring cakes up sometimes to share and keep us going."
Hughes produces a chunky piece of pottery from an old ice-cream tub. At first it looks like the kind of thing you might come across in the garden while you're harvesting the potatoes. But, like just about everything here, it gives an intriguing glimpse into bronze-age life.
Its thickness shows it must have been part of a large bowl, and was almost certainly used for cooking. Analysis of the fragment has revealed that it is made of gabbroic clay from the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall – 100 miles away.
"We took it and showed it to a local potter," says Crabb. "She was amazed at the quality of it. Remember they wouldn't have had wheels. They were throwing these very large and heavy pots by hand."
These sort of details have brought the site to life for local people. Around 600 traipsed up the rough track to the spot for an open day and, almost every day, hikers stop to look and wonder at what life was like here 3,500 years ago.
This summer's dig has raised many more questions about how this roundhouse was used. The pottery (there are up to 69 pieces now) has been found only in one half of the structure – the half that would have enjoyed more of the sunlight. One theory is that the people spent the day in this half and slept in the other. Frustratingly, they have found no evidence of a cooking area. It may be that a smaller roundhouse nearby was the kitchen.
As they have probed further down, gone back further in time, they have found that the roundhouse was used over a period of roughly 200 years. The post holes suggest that the living space was re-ordered – ancient DIY.
The cairn remains a mystery. It seems to have been built on top of "tumble" from the wall, indicating that it was built after the roundhouse was abandoned. In Ireland, evidence of cremation or burial has been found under such structures, but not here. Clearly it was important – but the reason remains unknown.
Soon Hughes and his team will pack up their tools and head off to another site in his smelly car. The conifers will start growing again. "They're like triffids," says Crabb. The information they have collected will be stored away and the Bellever roundhouse and its mysteries will be left alone again.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/aug/28/archaeology-bellever-dartmoor-bronze-age
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This really is miscellaneous, but today someone sent me a photograph of a stone circle on the cliff top at Trefin Cove. It is probably a fairly modern one (though it looks real) but there is no literature for it. But some weeks ago, someone mentioned a circle in this area, so if you're on your way to Carreg Samson, stop off at Trefin Cove and look up to the cliffs, some information would be interesting as well.
a photo; http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1332814
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Scotland's 'earliest face' found
A carving believed to be Scotland's earlist human face, dating back thousands of years, has been found on the Orkney island of Westray.
The small Neolithic sandstone human figurine is believed to be up to 5,000 years old.
Experts have described the find as one of "astonishing rarity".
Archaeologists made the discovery - measuring just 3.5cm by 3cm - at Historic Scotland's excavation at the Links of Noltland.
It is believed to be the only Neolithic carving of a human form to have been discovered in Scotland - with only two others said to have been found elsewhere in the UK.
The carving is flat with a round head on top of a lozenge-shaped body. The face has heavy brows, two dots for eyes and an oblong for a nose. It is thought other scratches on top of the skull could be hair.
A pair of circles on the chest are being interpreted as representing breasts, and arms have been etched at either side.
It is believed a regular pattern of crossed markings on the reverse could suggest the fabric of the woman's clothing.
The discovery of the carving is said to be of great importance
Richard Strachan, project manager and senior archaeologist with the Historic Scotland cultural resources team, said: "The find was made by archaeologist Jakob Kainz.
"It looked like the stone had been carved. As some of the mud crumbled off he saw an eye, then another and a nose, then a whole face staring back.
"It was one of those Eureka moments, none of the archaeology team have seen anything like it before, it's incredibly exciting. The discovery of a Neolithic carving of a human was quite a moment for everyone to share in."
Culture Minister Mike Russell said: "This is a find of tremendous importance - representations of people from this period are incredibly unusual in Britain.
"What we are seeing here is the earliest known human face in Scotland. It once again emphasises the tremendous importance of Orkney's archaeology and also of the Links of Noltland site."
The building being excavated was once a farmhouse, standing in a network of fields.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/8212074.stm
More news here as the dig has been extended, interestingly 10 pairs of ox horns found imbedded in a Neolithic house wall ...
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Dig-extended-after-ancient-figurine.5612733.jp
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Prehistoric artwork has been discovered by an amateur archaeologist at a Perthshire mountain range.
The ancient carvings were discovered by rock art enthusiast George Currie at Ben Lawers, near Loch Tay.
Mr Currie discovered a piece of rock which has more than 90 cup marks, which are circular depressions in the stone.
Some of the cups have rings around them and a number of linear grooves can also be seen, with some still showing the individual blows of craftsmens' tools.
Similar discoveries have been made in the area, but it is unusual to find so many markings on the one stone.
The purpose of the artworks are still unknown.
Derek Alexander, archaeologist for the National Trust for Scotland, said: "This is an exciting find as it shows that there remains undiscovered prehistoric rock art to be found in the Scottish hills.
"More surprising are the quantity and variety of the symbols displayed on this boulder.
"Through both targeted research by professional archaeologists and the work of dedicated amateurs like George Currie we now know that Ben Lawers forms one of the major concentrations of cup and ring marks in the Highlands, which suggests it was a very significant landscape in prehistory."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sco[...]ayside_and_central/8205035.stm
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Well as people find it difficult to get to, some information from Jody Lewis's 'The Neolithic of Northern Somerset'
She says that when she surveyed it in 1998 that they found over 30 stones, some standing, some recumbent, the stone following the long axis e/w.
Stones remaining seem to be a section of passage at the east end, a chamber opening off and a chamber at the end, and that around the end chamber, are many stones that have the appearance of fallen capstones. It looks like she is saying that quarrying took place as well, and stones put back in are field clearance......
four chestnut trees on the mound and a lot scrub around, so unfriendly farmers, and large trees on top!
There is a whole cluster of longbarrows in this area, ruined by farming mostly...
Big Tree; Orchardleigh; Giants Grave; Barrow Hill; Fromefield, and slightly further afield Brays Down, and Stoney Littleton which of course is the best preserved of the whole group here.
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Several years later and wandering through the Welsh saint book, and my stone just might be part of a stone circle and not disputed ;)...
The church was named after Rhian - 5th or 6th century, a follower of St.David. He founded a church here, "probably a wattle and daub building behind an earth wall" Breverton goes on to say.."In Llanrian parish, not far from Tregynon, is Llain y Sibedau (Place of Whispers) a ruined stone circle"
The Book of Welsh Saints.
1849 - Llanrian
"Near the church are some Druidical remains, consisting of many large stones, most of them now broken: they were formerly erect, and, in their arrangement and general appearance, formed in miniature, according to Mr. Fenton, a tolerably correct representation of Stonehenge".
From: 'Llanrhychwyn - Llansawel', A Topographical Dictionary of Wales (1849), pp. 85-98. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=47856
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Caithness broch centre opened
Archaeological Trust initiative aims to capitalise on area's ancient treasures;
A new centre focusing on the brochs of the far north opened at the weekend.
Caithness Archaeological Trust has spearheaded the transformation of the former Northlands Viking Centre, at Auckengill.
It is the latest initiative to showcase the area's ancient treasures and help secure visitor spin-offs similar to those enjoyed across the water in Orkney.
Saturday's opening of the Caithness Broch Centre marked the completion of a £185,000 project the trust has carried out in liaison with Highland Council, which owns the building.
The focus is firmly on brochs – mysterious Iron Age stone towers whose exact purpose has still to be established conclusively.
Caithness, and the area around Sinclair Bay in particular, has one of the largest concentrations of brochs in Scotland. One of the goals for the centre is to attract more visitors to see them.
The centre has sections on the people who built and lived beside the brochs more than 2,000 years ago and the 19th-century archaeologists who first excavated the structures.
The revamp has been led by the trust, which has arranged to display a large collection from the National Museums Scotland in the centre. The 150 items include gaming pieces, painted pebbles, spindle whorls, stone balls, rings, combs and Roman pottery.
The opening included a tour of the centre and the nearby broch at Nybster led by former trust project officer Andy Heald. A treasure hunt and other children's activities were also run.
The project has been funded by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Heritage Lottery Fund, Highland 2007, Highland Leader and Highland Council.
Bill Fernie, chairman of the council's education, culture and sport committee, said: "I am very pleased that we are now able to present an important element of the history and archaeology of the north in a great new setting.
"The new visitor centre will add to the growing list of places of interest for both local people and visitors to find out about the area and its past.
"Caithness has been called Broch Central due to the many brochs and standing stones to be found – one of the largest concentrations in Scotland – and now will be able to really let people know about them."
The Earl of Caithness, Malcolm Sinclair, who is chairman of the trust, said the project was a great example of community working.
"It is highly appropriate that Caithness should have such a high-quality attraction, given it is the broch centre of the UK," he said.
http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1325136?UserKey=
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Clynnog Fawr and the church with its presumed stone circle underneath;
Reading around the history of Beuno in T.D. Breverton (The Book of Welsh Saints) there comes up the story of bull sacrifice that carried on until the late 19th century.
Half of the bull going to god the other half to St.Beuno. This story was told by John Ansters in 1589 'as the people are of the opinion that Beuno his cattell will prosper marvellous well'
Breverton says that the cattle cult came down through the Northern celtic tradition, here the animal changes sex and becomes a cow, 'Audhumula' the primeval cow who suckled the great giant Ymir. So 'sacred beasts' with the mark of St.Beuno (a slit in the ear) were given to the churchwardens and the sale proceeds put in the ancient oak chest in the church.
He also goes on to say, 'that the church and shrine stand on ancient megaliths, one of which can be seen in the nave floor, and others of which are in the foundations'
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Gristhorpe Man slowly gives up his secrets
TOMORROW marks the 175th anniversary of the discovery of Scarborough's bronze age ancestor, Gristhorpe Man.
Now residing in the Rotunda Museum, Gristhorpe Man, the tallest prehistoric skeleton measured to date, was found by William Beswick and members of the Scarborough Philosophical Society on Thursday July 10 1834.
The museum is holding a special event next month to commemorate the finding of Gristhorpe Man, which is back in its original resting place following a move to the Department of Archaeological Sciences at Bradford University in 2005 for a series of scientific tests.
Found in a large oak coffin after workmen dug into a tumulus on a burial ground on Gristhorpe cliffs, the skeleton was found wrapped in a hide cloak. It is regarded as the best example of an oak tree trunk burial.
Blackened by a reaction between the iron in the water and the tannin in the bark of the coffin, the bones were placed in a laundry copper and simmered in a thin solution of glue made from horse bones before being air-dried for several days.
A monograph on the discovery was written by William Crawford Williamson, the son of John Williamson, the first keeper of the Rotunda Museum, and included exquisite drawings of the skull and grave goods, with details of the method of preservation and the coffin dimensions.
The coffin was displayed outside the museum until 1853, when it was moved inside after decaying.
Karen Snowden, head of collections for the Scarborough Museums Trust, said the discovery was made more remarkable by its condition. "His find was unusual for two reasons.
''Firstly, most oak coffins tend to have no remains, with the bones dissolving, and secondly, all the little bones on his fingers and toes are still intact."
She said although he may not have been the bronze age warrior chief some perceived him to be, he was still a well-respected figure at the time of his death.
"When they found him they thought he was less than 500 years old. They couldn't conceive he was more than 3,000 years old.
"He was someone of importance and definitely over 45. Unfortunately, the test only goes up to that age, so we can't get a definite age. But he was a big man and well nourished, who led a reasonably easy life and there was no indication of suffering from his bones. He is the tallest prehistoric skeleton which has been measured known to date.
He might not be the tallest because there are many skeletons in museums, but he's the tallest that has been measured and recorded.
"He also had a complete set of teeth, which was not uncommon, because there was no sugar."
Buried in a big, lavish ceremony, the Gristhorpe Man had some very expensive goods with him in the coffin, including a dagger with a whale bone pommel and copper blade.
Karen said further investigations had now revealed more about his life, and tests had dispelled some theories about what he was buried with.
She said: "The horn ring they found with him now looks likely to be part of Gristhorpe Man himself as a piece of cartilage from his throat, and what was first thought to be mistletoe berries are now thought to be something more unwelcome for him, such as kidney stones, which would have been very uncomfortable."
After being moved for seven years at the time of the Second World War, Gristhorpe Man was returned to the museum.
The story will soon hit the small screen in more ways than one.
Karen said: "Filmmakers will be here in late July and early August looking at the Gristhorpe Man and the work carried out in Bradford, and while there has been a digital reconstruction of his face, Dr Alan Ogden has produced a reconstruction that speaks in English but also in bronze age language."
The Rotunda Museum is holding the drop-in event on Saturday August 1, from 11am to 4pm.
Scarborough News http://tinyurl.com/mh8axo
Bronze Age language!!
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Taken from the Cornish Ancient Site....
This is a reconstructed barrow in a class of monuments called entrance graves or chambered tombs. It consists of a circular kerb of stones with an entrance; Brane barrow is similar.
Approximate Neolithic dating 3000-2500 bc and has a diameter of 4.95 m and a height of 1.5.m approximately. It was excavated in 1984, when a primary deposit in a pot was discovered, it also had, interestingly enough, turf and topsoil in the chamber - ritual deposits?
Entrance passage was deliberately positioned to face the midwinter solstice sunrise (same as Brane Barrow).
http://www.cornishancientsites.com/Lanyon%20Quoit.pdf
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Stone circle in East Anglian village?
Is it or is'nt it? but one thing is interesting in this new items is that Mr.Daw wants to have a Stone Circle Museum - not quite sure how that would work....
"A QUALIFIED surveyor claims a picturesque village on the Essex/Suffolk border might boast the only proper stone circle outside the west of England.
For generations the sarcen stones at Alphamstone near Sudbury have been at the centre of hot debate as to whether they were ever part of a stone circle.
There are two stones marking the entrance to St Barnabas Church and a number of others further back near - and in - the church, but they form neither a circle nor part of a circle.
But Paul Daw, a surveyor who has visited more than 300 of the 400 or so stone circles, timber circles and henge sites in England, believes he might have found the original location of a stone circle in the churchyard using the ancient technique of dowsing.
He believes the stones which visitors to the church can see have been moved away from a once-standing circle in a corner of the churchyard.
His claims have been questioned by Suffolk County Council's archaeology team, which said whenever it has investigated the claims of dowsers they have never found archaeological remains.
But Mr Daw said he has had successes in the past and claimed he has had positive readings at Alphamstone suggesting a near-perfect circle of 10 stones.
"The find of a stone circle in East Anglia is unique, as all of England's other stone circles, of which there were nearly 400, all occur in the West Country, the area once known as Wessex, the Pennines and in Cumbria.
"On the eastern side of England, circular earth monuments such as henges and causewayed enclosures, and the occasional timber circle, were built during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age periods."
Mr Daw, who is looking for funding to continue with his work and who wants to open a national museum devoted to stone circles, said he hoped there may be a possibility that part of the site which sits just outside the area of consecrated ground might be excavated in the future to see whether his findings using divining rods stands up.
Nobody from the church was available for comment at the time of going to press, but Edward Martin from Suffolk County Council's archaeology service said while he had an open mind about dowsing's ability to find water he had not experienced a positive result for stones or archaeological remains.
"Finding archaeological remains with dowsing doesn't seem to work," he said. "I would have great doubt about this being real. In south Suffolk you do get boulders which are very often used in foundations. But they would not make much of a monument because they are not huge stones. If we do get anything like that, we would have a timber circle rather than a stone circle."
Divining rods used for dowsing have been used in various forms for thousands of years.
Scientific Dowsing has its supporters and its sceptics and research into the use of divining rods have not tended to prove it works.
During the 1960s some US Marines used dowsing to try and locate weapon stores beneath the ground."
http://tinyurl.com/mlos9q
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A study of landscape round the ancient monuments of the Preseli Mountains.
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Rising seas could spell doom for Orkney islands
By David Leask
ITS beaches are as stunning as any in the Maldives – even if its weather isn't.
Yet if the Orkney island of Sanday is very far from the Indian Ocean idyll, it looks set to share the same fate, as sea levels rise and storms become fiercer and more frequent.
Sanday, like the Maldives, may be "uninhabitable" by the end of the century, a leading climate scientist warned last night. More dramatically, some experts fear the long, low-lying spit of land could split into two or more islands within the lifetimes of its 500 residents.
Sanday, and neighbouring North Ronaldsay, are now seen as so-called bellwether islands. Their low elevation and exposed positions mean they will be among the first places in the western world to face the brunt of global warming, even if the most optimistic predictions come true.
Kevin Anderson, climate change expert and professor at Manchester University, said: "These islands are barometers of the changes we are all going to see if we don't get our carbon emissions under control. What threatens them is a mix of quite small rises in sea level and a jump in the frequency and severity of storms. Storms that used to only occur occasionally will make some of these areas uninhabitable. People on these islands are vulnerable, but they will no doubt get help to relocate. Think, however, of more vulnerable people in poorer parts of the world with nowhere else to go".
Sanday and North Ronaldsay – whose famous seaweed-eating sheep are under threat – have always suffered from the weather. Their sea defences have been breached many times. But storms, locals acknowledge, have been getting tougher and more regular. Sanday has suffered several bouts of flooding that has split one side of the island from another, albeit temporarily. "One day the waters will just stay and there will be more than one Sanday," said one islander.
Liam McArthur, the Liberal Democrat who represents Orkney in the Scottish Parliament, was brought up on Sanday. He admits the island's position is now "precarious".
"There has always been a bit of gallows humour in Sanday," he said. "My parents live in the north end of the island and I have joked we'll need to get two ferries to see them, one to Sanday and another to the new island they will live on. The north end was cut off just two years ago.
"Obviously, we want to be hesitant about apocalyptic forecasts. But there is no doubt that, in a Scottish context, the first impact of climate change is in places like Orkney."
McArthur, however, believes the north isles face more immediate challenges, including depopulation. The numbers on the islands north of the Orkney mainland have held steady for more than two decades, but only thanks to new migrants, many from mainland Scotland and England. New jobs can be hard to come by, he said.
Some islanders are now talking of giving land to newcomers in exchange for helping with engineering work to stave off the effects of climate change.
In North Ronaldsay – which has around 60 inhabitants, down from 500 a century ago – the stone dyke that surrounds the island could be an early victim of global warming. It was built in the 1830s to keep the island's unique seaweed-eating sheep on shore; without it, the sheep would be lost. "It has already been replaced in parts by fencing," said Sam Harcus, who represents the North Isles on Orkney's council. "I think we are eventually going to have to offer people a croft and land in exchange for them giving up a day or two a week to maintain the dyke."
Orkney's internationally important neolithic sites are also at risk, with archaeologists now openly debating how and when they will abandon Skara Brae, the stone age village unearthed, ironically, by huge storms and now precariously nestled behind an eroding sandy beach.
Orkney's council leader, Stephen Hagan, last night described changes in the islands's climate so far as subtle. But he added: "There is nothing we can physically do to stop rising sea levels."
http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Rising-seas-could-spell-doom.5319340.jp
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The king of Stonehenge; Were ancient artefacts the first crown jewels?
He was a giant of a man, a chieftain who ruled with a royal sceptre and a warrior's axe.
When they laid him to rest they dressed him in his finest regalia and placed his weapons at his side. Then they turned his face towards the setting sun and sealed him in a burial mound that would keep him safe for the next 4,000 years.
In his grave were some of the most exquisitely fashioned artefacts of the Bronze Age, intricately crafted to honour the status of a figure who bore them in life in death.
For this may have been the last resting place of the King of Stonehenge - and the treasures that are effectively Britain's first Crown Jewels.
Now the entire hoard, recovered from the richest and most important Bronze Age grave on Salisbury Plain, is set to go on permanent display.
But 21st-century Britain has thrown up a problem that never troubled ancient man. The artefacts are so rare that they have been kept in a bank vault for the past three decades because they are too precious to put on show without extensive security.
So today the Wiltshire Heritage Museum at Devizes is announcing a £500,000 appeal to fund a secure gallery. It will allow the treasures to be displayed alongside some of the many other wonders of Stonehenge, giving a fascinating glimpse of what life was like some 1,800 years BC. .....
read on;-
http://tinyurl.com/r5v4ch
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About me... female, 2 children, 4 gorgeous grandchildren, present abode Essex....
Loves; megalithic sites, Wales, animals, (especially Moss my dog) cheese and chocolate...
Bonded for life to a most gentle and caring person called Littlestone.
blogspot;
http://northstoke.blogspot.com/
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