The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

News Items by moss

Latest Posts
Showing 1-20 of 316 news posts. Most recent first | Next 20

Orkney

A Neolithic Feat of Engineering


The ruins of a 5,000-year-old tomb in a construction that reflects the pinnacle of neolithic engineering in northern Britain has been unearthed in Orkney.

Fourteen articulated skeletons of men, women and children – two positioned as if they were embracing – have been found inside one of six cells or side rooms.

The tomb measures more than 15m in diameter and contains a stone structure accessed through a long passage of around seven metres. The excavation was headed by Dr Hugo Anderson-Whymark, senior curator of prehistory (neolithic) at the National Museums Scotland, and Vicki Cummings, professor of neolithic archaeology at Cardiff University.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/21/a-neolithic-feat-of-engineering-orkney-dig-reveals-ruins-of-huge-tomb

Wiltshire

Wessex airscapes Exhibition


A collaborative exhibition between aerial photographer Hedley Thorne and landscape painter Anna Dillon, exploring aerial landscapes. Their respective art forms offer a complementary and contemporary take on the landscape of Wessex.





https://www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/?exhibition=wessex-airscapes-of-wiltshire

The Thornborough Henges

Yorkshire's 'Stonehenge of the North' gifted to the nation


Three huge Neolithic monuments in Yorkshire which have been described as "the Stonehenge of the North" have been gifted to the nation.

The Thornborough Henges complex, near Ripon, date back to around 3500BC to 2500BC and consist of three 656ft (200m) wide circular earthworks.

Two construction firms have donated the henges site to Historic England.

They will now be managed by English Heritage and will be opened free of charge to the public.

Historic England chief executive Duncan Wilson said the henges were probably the most important single ancient site between Stonehenge and the Orkney Islands in Scotland......

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-64499428

Arthur's Stone (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech)

‘Weird, wonderful’: rare dig at Arthur’s Stone writes new story of neolithic site


High above one of western Britain’s loveliest valleys, the silence is broken by the sound of gentle digging, scraping and brushing, along with bursts of excited chatter as another ancient feature is revealed or a curious visitor stops by to find out what is going on.

This summer archaeologists have been granted rare permission to excavate part of the Arthur’s Stone site, a neolithic burial plot with soaring views across the Golden Valley in Herefordshire and the Black Mountains of south-east Wales.


https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jul/22/weird-wonderful-rare-dig-at-arthurs-stone-writes-new-story-of-neolithic-site

Fyfield Down (Natural Rock Feature)

Fyfield Down in Wiltshire delisted as a nature reserve


One of Wiltshire’s most important wild landscapes has been delisted as a nature reserve. Fyfield Down, just east of the famous stone circle at Avebury, was leased to the Nature Conservancy (a predecessor of Natural England) in 1955 and declared an NNR in 1956. It has been described as the “best assemblage of sarsen stones in England”. The site lies within the Avebury World Heritage Site and the North Wessex Downs AONB.


https://tinyurl.com/mr2smb2

Machrie Moor (Stone Circle)

Archaeologists search for 'enormous' ancient ritual site on Scottish island


An excavation is now underway at Drumadoon on the Isle of Arran after the site of a possible Neolithic cursus monument was earlier detected by an aerial laser scan.

Cursus monuments were typically formed of a long avenue, formed by two parallel mounds of earth – or wooden posts in the earliest cases – which stretch for some 800 metres at Drumadoon.

https://www.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/heritage/archaeologists-search-for-enormous-ancient-ritual-site-on-scottish-island-3351332

The stone circle is about a mile away......

Dunchraigaig Cairn (Cairn(s))

Extremely rare prehistoric animal carvings found for first time in Scotland


Historic Environment Scotland (HES) said the carvings - thought to be between 4,000 and 5,000 years old - were discovered inside Dunchraigaig Cairn in Kilmartin Glen, Argyll.

They are thought to date to the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age, and include images of deer.

Hamish Fenton, who has an archaeology background, found them by chance.

Kilmartin Glen is viewed as one of the most important concentration of Neolithic and Bronze Age remains in mainland Scotland.

Valuable as sources of meat, hides, and with bones and antlers used for a variety of tools, HES said deer would have been very important to local communities at the time.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-57304921

Cerne Abbas Giant (Hill Figure)

Cerne Abbas Giant: Why the Anglo-Saxons created England’s most macho hillside chalk figure


Until now archaeologists and historians had thought that a 55-metre tall figure, cut into a hillside in Dorset, the so-called Cerne Abbas Giant, was prehistoric or Roman – or that, alternatively, it had been created in the 17th century,



https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/cerne-abbas-giant-anglo-saxon-b1845636.html

Must Farm Logboats

Peterborough: Bronze Age boats conservation gets funding


Eight "internationally significant" Bronze Age wooden boats found in a quarry have been awarded funding for ongoing conservation work.

The vessels were discovered by archaeologists as they excavated land at Must Farm near Peterborough in 2011.

Historic England has awarded £73,261 to preserve the log boats as part of a three-year project.

Tony Calladine, from the heritage organisation, said the boats were "incredibly rare".

https://tinyurl.com/4xnd65fd

Stonehenge (Circle henge)

Stonehenge: Did the stone circle originally stand in Wales?


One of Britain's biggest and oldest stone circles has been found in Wales - and could be the original building blocks of Stonehenge.

Archaeologists uncovered the remains of the Waun Mawn site in Pembrokeshire's Preseli Hills.

They believe the stones could have been dismantled and rebuilt 150 miles (240 km) away on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.

The discovery was made during filming for BBC Two's Stonehenge: The Lost Circle Revealed.

The Welsh circle, believed to be the third biggest in Britain, has a diameter of 360ft (110m), the same as the ditch that encloses Stonehenge, and both are aligned on the midsummer solstice sunrise.



And one of the bluestones at Stonehenge has an unusual cross-section which matches one of the holes left at Waun Mawn, suggesting the monolith began its life as part of the stone circle in the Preseli Hills before being moved.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-56029203

And was Kammer the first to recognise this?

https://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/3992/waun_mawn_row_circle.html

Stony Littleton (Long Barrow)

Damage to Neolithic monument under investigation


English Heritage and Avon and Somerset Police are seeking witnesses after vandals daubed graffiti at Stoney Littleton Long Barrow, a 5,000 year old Neolithic chambered tomb at Wellow near Bath.

Stoney Littleton Long Barrow is a Scheduled Ancient Monument in the care of English Heritage. It is one of the country’s finest accessible examples of a Neolithic chambered tomb dating from about 3500 BC.




https://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/news/2020/12/neolithic-monument-vandalism-under-investigation/

Also; https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-55148335

Vandals who daubed red handprints on a Neolithic monument may have damaged it permanently, heritage experts fear.

Coolnagarrane (Standing Stone / Menhir)

Investigation launched after Cork standing stone reinstated by farmer and druids


An investigation has begun into a west Cork farmer who reinstated a fallen Bronze Age standing stone on his land with the help of two druids.

The stone had been knocked over more than a decade ago by a bull who was using it as a scratching post.

The National Monuments Service confirmed it had begun an investigation into the actions of Donal Bohane on land rented from his cousin at Coolnagarrane, Skibbereen.




https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/investigation-launched-after-cork-standing-stone-reinstated-by-farmer-and-druids-1.4406418

Stonehenge and its Environs

Druids face defeat as bulldozers get set for Stonehenge bypass


It has been bitterly debated for the past three decades, but the latest plans to partly bury the A303 in a tunnel beside Stonehenge may this week finally get approval from transport secretary Grant Shapps.

The £2.4bn scheme – which will see the traffic-choked road to the west country widened into a dual carriageway near the ancient site before shooting down a two-mile tunnel – has pitted archaeologists, local campaigners and even the nation’s druids against the combined might of Highways England, English Heritage and the National Trust.


https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/07/druids-face-defeat-as-bulldozers-get-set-for-stonehenge-bypass

Spot the howler in the headline!

Star Carr (Mesolithic site)

Star Carr: North Yorkshire's archaeological 'Tardis' 10 years on


The archaeologist who helped lead the dig that found Britain's oldest house said the site was still giving up its secrets 10 years on.

Star Carr hit the headlines in 2010 when a circular Stone Age structure found was dated to about 8,500 BC.

Archaeologist Nicky Milner said working on the site was akin to time-travel.

"It's as close as you can get to being in a Tardis. It was an absolute dream, it took up 15 years of my life," Dr Milner said.

Ray Mears, bushcraft expert and TV presenter, was one of those who helped unlock the purpose of wood found at the site.

Star Carr is a Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age, site near Scarborough in North Yorkshire dating to almost 11,000 years ago.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-53765350

Southern England

Iron Age hillfort found in Chiltern Hills with help of 'citizen scientists'


An Iron Age hillfort hidden under trees and foliage has been discovered with the help of "citizen scientists".

Members of the Beacons of the Past group identified the site, in the Chiltern Hills, from digital survey images last year and the hillfort was verified on 6 August.

It is thought the circular site dates from the early Iron Age in England, between 800BC and 500BC.

Work will take place to preserve the site.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-53741441

Northern Ireland

Sligo’s Neolithic tombs are being vandalised ‘on scale never seen before’


Five-thousand-year-old Neolithic tombs in Co Sligo are suffering damage and vandalism “on a scale never seen before” and will not survive unless action is taken immediately, archaeological experts have warned.

There are 75 passage tombs in Co Sligo, almost one-third of the estimated 240 in the State, according to the Sligo Neolithic Landscapes Group, which is pressing for the county’s Neolithic heritage to be deemed a World Heritage Site by Unesco.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/sligo-s-neolithic-tombs-are-being-vandalised-on-scale-never-seen-before-1.4310914

Stonehenge and its Environs

Stonehenge: Neolithic monument found near sacred site


Archaeologists have discovered a ring of prehistoric shafts, dug thousands of years ago near Stonehenge.

Fieldwork has revealed evidence of a 1.2 mile (2km) wide circle of large shafts measuring more than 10m in diameter and 5m in depth.

They surround the ancient settlement of Durrington Walls, two miles (3km) from Stonehenge.

Tests suggest the ground works are Neolithic and were excavated more than 4,500 years ago.

Experts believe the 20 or more shafts may have served as a boundary to a sacred area connected to the henge.

A team of academics from the universities of St Andrews, Birmingham, Warwick, Glasgow and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David worked on the project

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-53132567

https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue55/4/index.html

Doll Tor (Stone Circle)

Ancient Peak District stone circle damaged by campfires


"Serious" damage to a scheduled ancient monument in Derbyshire is being investigated by police.

The prehistoric Doll Tor stone circle, near Birchover in the Peak District, was targeted some time in the past few days.

Sam Grimshaw, who discovered the damage, said he was "very angry" when he found some smaller stones had been moved and several fires had been set.

Historic England has appealed to anyone with information to contact police.

Mr Grimshaw said he found stones had been moved to build a fire pit and for a seat, while other fires had been set.............

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-52853799

Gloucestershire

Unearthed Ancient British chieftain and probable shaman reveal secrets about old burial rituals


The once monumental final resting place of a probable prehistoric chieftain and, potentially, his shaman has been discovered in southwest England.

It’s one of the most fascinating archaeological discoveries in southern Britain in recent years. Significantly, the duo formed part of a remarkable social and political process which changed human history – and still shapes our world today.

The probable chieftain or prestigious leader – a man in his thirties or forties – had been interred underneath the centre of a large funerary mound which had been constructed specifically for him inside his own personal 20m diameter ditched enclosure.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/archaeology-anicent-british-chieftain-shaman-burial-ritual-a9480321.html

Note: It would be interesting to pinpoint this site near a confluence of four rivers..

Airigh Na Beinne Bige (Stone Circle)

Lewis stone circle has star-shaped lightning strike


Evidence of a "massive" lightning strike has been found at the centre of a stone circle in the Western Isles.

A single large strike, or many smaller ones on the same spot, left a star-shaped magnetic anomaly at the 4,000-year-old site in Lewis.

Scientists made the discovery at Site XI or Airigh na Beinne Bige, a hillside stone circle now consisting of a single standing stone.

The site is at the famous Calanais Standing Stones.

Scientists said the lightning strike, which was indentified in a geophysics survey, could show a potential link between the construction of ancient stone circles and the forces of nature.

They said the lightning struck some time before peat enveloped the stone circle at Site XI 3,000 years ago. The discovery is detailed in new research published online.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-50891787
Showing 1-20 of 316 news posts. Most recent first | Next 20
http://northstoke.blogspot.co.uk/

My TMA Content: