6,000-year-old monument offers a glimpse of Britain’s neolithic Game of Thrones
This summer, the University of Reading Archaeology Field School excavated one of the most extraordinary sites we have ever had the pleasure of investigating. The site is an Early Neolithic long barrow known as “Cat’s Brain” and is likely to date to around 3,800BC. It lies in the heart of the lush Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, UK, halfway between the iconic monuments of Stonehenge and Avebury.
https://theconversation.com/6-000-year-old-monument-offers-a-glimpse-of-britains-neolithic-game-of-thrones-87730
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'The Making of Prehistoric Wiltshire' book published.
Well-known for its World Heritage Sites of Stonehenge and Avebury, the prehistoric monuments of Wiltshire have long provided a focus of attention for archaeologists and visitors alike. Today the Wiltshire sites are perceived as an important focal point in British prehistory.
Yet there is much more to the prehistory of Wiltshire than Stonehenge, Avebury and Silbury Hill. The latter sites are of course all here, and discussed with personal insight, but so too are the widespread fields and enclosures of the Bronze Age that established a template across the countryside for later generations to follow, and the enormous hillforts of the Iron Age that stand sentinel-like overlooking the chalkland river valleys. Interesting sites abound, particularly on the wide expanses of uncultivated downland, and these provide a remarkable insight into past societies, economy and settlement. Prehistoric impact on the landscape was huge and the archaeology reveals the nature of development and changes across the countryside.
This volume provides an up-to-date account of the prehistory of Wiltshire from the earliest evidence for human occupation to the influence on the Romano-British countryside; it outlines the effect of past climate change on the topography and how animals and people established the landscape that we know today. The story is one of exuberant but excessive monument building, of innovation potentially fuelled by competition to impress, and of the struggle to subsist.
- See more at: https://www.amberley-books.com/prehistoric-landscapes-of-wiltshire.html
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Archaeologists Unearth Trove of 2,000 Mysterious Gold Spirals in Denmark
A team of archaeologists working in Boeslunde, Denmark recently stumbled onto an intriguing mystery: nearly 2,000 tightly-wound golden spirals dating back to the Bronze Age. The discovery of gold in Boeslunde isn’t uncommon, as numerous gold objects have been unearthed in the region over the last few years. But the purpose of these coils has stumped archaeologists who refer to the find as the “golden enigma.”
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/07/archaeologists-unearth-trove-of-2000-mysterious-gold-spirals-in-denmark/
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Chichester skeleton: Racton Man 'was warrior chief killed in battle'
A 4,000-year-old skeleton found on farmland in West Sussex was probably a warrior chief who was killed in battle, scientists have revealed.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-30478544
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'World's oldest calendar' in field
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-23316621
Archaeologists believe they have discovered the world's oldest lunar "calendar" in an Aberdeenshire field.
Excavations of a field at Crathes Castle found a series of 12 pits which appear to mimic the phases of the moon and track lunar months.
A team led by the University of Birmingham suggests the ancient monument was created by hunter-gatherers about 10,000 years ago.
An artist's impression of the site shows burning material in one of the "calendar's" pits.
The BBC's Huw Edwards spoke with Professor Vince Gaffney, an expert in landscape archaeology.
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Stone Age flints found under Bexhill-to-Hastings link road
Prehistoric flints and evidence of early Iron Age industry have been found along the Hastings-to-Bexhill link road under construction in East Sussex.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-25787343
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I'm a professional photographer living in West Sussex and have been interested in ancient sites since childhood. I was brought up near Barbury Castle in Wiltshire so visits to hill forts, stone circles and various lumps and bumps were routine. The grip of these fantastic places still has a hold on me and I still get a feeling of total wellbeing whenever I come across a new place or revisit familiar places. Much of that is to do with the magnificent or interesting locations in which they're found and equally the mystery attached to them - we know so little and can imagine so much.
http://www.landtraces.com
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