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 Head To Head The Modern Antiquarian Stonehenge Car Park Post Holes Forum | Start a topic | Search |
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| " "....The contexts from which the microliths were recovered suggest that all these finds are residual." What does residual mean in this context?" Residual is being used in a technical sense, meaning that the Mesolithic material has been redeposited and it is not in its original context (posthole, pit fill etc). Essentially the context where they were found is later in date than the Mesolithic. That is the feature where the microliths were found contained material of post-Mesolithic date (e.g. Neolithic, Bronze Age etc). The most recent material in any context provides what is known as a "Terminus Post Quem" (a time after which this feature must have been dug/constructed/filled). Hence if a pit were found that contained both Mesolithic microliths and Neolithic pottery the fill must have been placed in the pit in either the Neolithic or a subsequent period. This means that any earlier material (i.e. the microliths) is "residual". Residual material from all periods is frequently found on archaeological sites. A good many microliths are found in this way, not least because they are so small and easy to include accidentally if they were knocking around in the soil or on the ground surface when a feature was backfilled (at the time by whoever). This is why its important to establish the difference between pits or postholes that contain Mesolithic material and pits or postholes that are of Mesolithic date. The Stonehenge postholes are Mesolithic in date (this was established by radio-carbon dating). They demonstrate intentional construction of a "non-utilitarian" monument in the Mesolithic. It sounds as though the Nosterfield/Thornborough pit alignments were later pits which contained residual Mesolithic material. But the Thornborough material does establish that people were using this landscape in the Mesolithic. This doesn't mean that the Thornborough landscape is any less significant than the Stonehenge landscape, but just that it has a different but equally unique story to tell. :-) Reply | with quote | Posted by smallblueplanet 27th December 2004ce 11:40 In reply to: Re: stonehenge mesolithic post holes (BrigantesNation) |
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