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Published on 27 March 2004
RELICS dating back 6,000 years to the Neolithic age are being uncovered by archaeologists working on the site of the Fordham bypass.

A team from Cambridgeshire County Council’s archaeology field unit are carrying out “digs” on the line of the road before the construction workers move in to build the new route.

Aileen Connor, project manager, said the Neolithic finds, close to the existing A142 road behind the massive Turners transport depot, had not been expected.

Trial digs carried out two years ago had indicated the presence of early Iron Age remains from about 2,500 years ago.

The finds have been found in what was probably a dumping ground for flint off-cuts and other rubbish from the nearby settlement.

Roman coins and other more recent remains have also been discovered.

Ms Connor said that the project, currently the largest archaeological investigation in Cambridgeshire, was expected to continue until the end of May.

An exhibition of the finds is due to be staged in the village this summer when work on the £12.5 million road begins.

From Online Cambridgeshire News

From the Scotsman:

Drivers of 4X4 vehicles are to be banned from using parts of Britain’s oldest known road this winter.

Quadbikes, trail bikes and off-road cars will face a seasonal ban from vulnerable sections of the ancient Ridgeway which runs from Wiltshire to Buckinghamshire.

The “mudlarks” have been blamed for causing ruts in the 85-mile route, which is thought to be at least 6,000-years-old and was used by prehistoric man.

The implementation follows meetings with rural affairs minister Alun Michael and campaigners who have sought a complete ban on vehicles since 1983.

Among those pressing for the ban have been mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington.

Thames Valley Police has been carrying out special patrols in Oxfordshire recently to catch irresponsible off-road thrill seekers tearing up the track.

But off-road enthusiasts such as the Land Access and Recreation Association say they are a small minority and have been victimised. They claim farmers and horses cause more damage.

Ian Ritchie, chairman of the Friends Of The Ridgeway, said: “A voluntary code of respect has been in operation on the Ridgeway for 10 years but has plainly not been working.

“This ban is excellent news for all walkers, horse riders and cyclists who wish to enjoy the Ridgeway in peace, free from the ruts and mud that make the trail hazardous and unpleasant.

“Although a seasonal ban falls short of the total ban that we have been advocating, it is a very big step in the right direction.”

Mr Michael said: “I am sure that this will help to make the difference we all want to see in order to protect the Ridgeway for all users.”

The Ridgeway runs from Overton Hill, near Avebury in the south, to Ivinghoe Beacon, north of Aylesbury, and includes numerous Stone Age and Iron Age hill forts and burial mounds.

All six councils along the route have agreed to the seasonal ban which will be imposed from October.

From the Salisbury Journal and Wiltshire Advertiser, 24 March 2004.

Decisions taken about the Stonehenge tunnel could have a knock-on effect at Avebury, the inquiry heard last week.

Following on from archaeologists’ concerns, expressed to the inquiry last week, that the proposed 2.1km tunnel, costing £200m, would be inadequate, representatives of the Avebury Society believe the existing scheme also overlooks a significant portion of the World Heritage site.

Ewart Holmes, representing the group, which formed in 1994, said: “Our interest in Stonehenge stems from the fact that it is the other half of a World Heritage site, and decisions taken in one half, at Stonehenge, can have a knock-on effect in Avebury.

“We note that the A303 scheme, which is part of the Stonehenge project, was announced in advance of the Stonehenge Management Plan, and fails to acknowledge the overriding primary emphasis of the latter on conservation, and management of the whole site and its archaeology as a cultural landscape.

Mr Holmes said the primary emphasis of the Stonehenge Management Plan included “improving the interpretation and understanding of the whole of the World Heritage site as a cultural landscape to visitors”.

He said: “This is going to be difficult to achieve if the present scheme is to go ahead, as much of the site is divided by the width of the dual carriageways.”

The society also believes the proposals for the visitor centre should be considered now, along with the road project.

Mr Holmes said: “I feel that, by just sticking with the road, as it were, a lot of what we have learned over the past 50 years about good planning, as accepted throughout the world, has really just been put to one side. continues...

From The Herald 22 March 2004.

A birdwatcher who unearthed the 4000-year-old cremated remains of a young man has given archaeologists fresh insight into the close, superstitious bonds between humans and animals in prehistoric society.
Experts have conducted a detailed analysis of the discovery of a Bronze Age burial urn which contained the remains of a male aged between 25 and 40, found within a boulder shelter at Glennan, Kilmartin, in Argyll.
After his demise, the man had been ritually burned alongside a goat or sheep. Their remains were deliberately mixed, giving evidence of a perceived bond between farmers and their animals which may have been thought to transcend death itself.
Dr Gavin MacGregor, of Glasgow University archaeological research division (Guard), explained the significance of the vessel and its contents.
He said: “Although the sample is small, the evidence suggests that, depending on the burial rite, some species of animals were considered more appropriate than others for inclusion. Pigs are associated with inhumation (burial) and goat or sheep are associated with cremation burials.
“The choice of a domesticated animal to accompany the mortuary rites may reflect the perceived inter-relationship between the cultural landscape of people and their livestock.
Dr MacGregor said the upland location of the Glennan find was also interesting.
“It indicates that, while many of the more visible ceremonial and funerary sites of the second millennium BC may focus on the floor of the glen, other parts of the landscape were also significant for such activities,” he said.
Analysis of the deposits found below the peak of Beinn Bhan, also revealed that the man had suffered from slight spinal joint disease and mild iron deficiency anaemia, though neither seems likely to have affected his general health.
He was cremated soon after death, together with a young sheep or goat, and their remains taken from the pyre and co-mingled before burial in the urn. An unburnt flint knife was also recovered.
Patrick Ashmore, principal inspector of ancient monuments at Historic Scotland, said the Glennan urn burial raised fascinating questions.
He speculated that the man was not buried in the burial cairns in nearby Kilmartin Valley because these were reserved for special people, or because he may have been an outsider.
He added: “But the most intriguing possibility is that the cairns were only part of a much wider sacred landscape, and that this spot on the far slope of Beinn Bhan from Glennan was selected as a special place.”
The burial was discovered during the exploration of a boulder shelter at Glennan. A local birdwatcher had begun to clear the area for use as a hide when burnt bones were noticed amongst debris from the interior of the site.
Radiocarbon dating, organised by the National Museum of Scotland, dated the remains at 2030-1910 BC.

From – news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/3550105.stm

A group of potholers stopped from exploring because of the foot-and-mouth epidemic, found a network of caves under the car park of their local pub.

To stave off boredom, members of the Bristol Exploration Club volunteered to help clear out a drain at the Hunters Lodge Inn at Priddy in Somerset.

But instead of finding a blocked pipe, the group stumbled on a network of previously unexplored caves.

After two years digging and blasting, they have now opened up a 30-ft cavern.

Inside they found hundreds of bones of extinct animals – believed to have been washed into the cave nearly 10,000 years ago – and an underground world of stalagmites and stalactites.

Tony Jarrett, 54, team leader of the group which is based in the village, said: “We have been digging for years in the area trying to discover new caves and expand previously discovered ones.

“There was a two-inch natural fissure in the rock into which the rainwater from the pub roof and the car park used to drain.

“We suspected there was something down there as the water had to escape somewhere.

“So we went down and popped out into a cave of stalactites and stalagmites – we were amazed.”

The cavers have named the caverns the Pewter Pot, the Barmaids’ Bedrooms and Brown Ale Boulevard, in honour of the Hunters Lodge.

Experts at the British Museum have identified the discovered bones as belonging to animals which roamed Britain during the last Ice Age – many of the finds are on display at the nearby Wells Museum in Somerset.

The Mendips are home to some of Britain’s best-known caves, including Wookey Hole.

BBC news:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3520384.stm

Ancient Indians made ‘rock music’ (groan)

Archaeologists have rediscovered a huge rock art site in southern India where ancient people used boulders to make musical sounds in rituals.
The Kupgal Hill site includes rocks with unusual depressions that were designed to be struck with the purpose of making loud, musical ringing tones.

It was lost after its discovery in 1892, so this is the first fresh effort to describe the site in over a century. Details of the research are outlined in the archaeological journal Antiquity.

A dyke on Kupgal Hill contains hundreds and perhaps thousands of rock art engravings, or petroglyphs, a large quantity of which date to the Neolithic, or late Stone Age (several thousand years BC).

Researchers think shamen or young males came to the site to carry out rituals and to “tap into” the power of the site. However, some of it is now at threat from quarrying activities.

The boulders which have small, groove-like impressions are called “musical stones” by locals. When struck with small granite rocks, these impressions emit deep, “gong-like notes”. Some inscribed pictures date to Neolithic times
These boulders may have been an important part of formalised rituals by the people who came there.

In some cultures, percussion plays a role in rituals that are intended for shamen to communicate with the supernatural world. The Antiquity work’s author, Dr Nicole Boivin, of the University of Cambridge, UK, thinks this could be the purpose of the Kupgal stones.

The first report of the site was in 1892, in the Asiatic Quarterly Review. But subsequent explorers who tried to find it were unable to do so. Dr Boivin has been documenting the site. A few pictures of the site were taken in the 19th Century, but the originals were either lost, or allowed to fade.

Many of the motifs on the rocks are of cattle, in particular the long-horned humped-back type found in southern India (Bos indicus). However, some are of human-like figures, either on their own or with cattle. Some of these in chains, or holding bows and arrows. The typically masculine nature of the engravings leads Dr Boivin to suggest that the people who made the images were men and possibly those involved in herding cattle or stealing them.

The motifs themselves were made by bruising the rocks, presumably with a stone implement. She believes that the people who made the motifs and those who went to view them must have been physically fit and agile. Some of the images are in locations so difficult to reach that the artist must have suspended themselves – or got others to suspend them – from an overhang to make the images.

Modern-day commercial granite quarrying has already disturbed some sections of the hill. A rock shelter with even older rock art to the north of Kupgal Hill has been partially destroyed by quarrying. “It is clear government intervention will be required to elicit effective protection for the majority of the sites in the [area] if these are not to be erased completely over the course of future years,” writes Dr Boivin in Antiquity.

(originally posted by ironman feb 2003)

Norfolk schoolboy’s neolithic discovery

Story from EPD24 News

Schoolboy Craig’s voyage of discovery
February 7, 2003 05:30

When young Craig Barnard joined a wildlife and history group, he was hopeful of spotting a rare bird, digging up a few bits of old pottery or maybe even finding out how our ancestors made spears.

But deep in the woods on a field trip, the 11-year-old made a find that was to overturn one of the county’s historians’ most popular beliefs.

The ancient arrowhead unearthed by Craig and his friends led to the discovery of that a Neolithic and Iron Age site described by experts as “without question of the most important of its kind found in Norfolk”.

Historians had long believed that the site in Breckland had been covered in woodland for an aeon, but the discovery made by youngsters from the Watton-based Wayland RSPB Wildlife Explorers’ and Wildlife Group proves that more recently it was open land favoured by Neolithic and Iron Age settlers.

These important finds were put on public display for the first time at Watton Junior School yesterday alongside brooches, Roman coins, spearheads and even second world war shellcases– all found by the Wayland children’s group set up by keen historian Sean O’Reilly.

Mr O’Reilly, said the exhibition – during which he also gives practical demonstrations on how Iron Age man made his spears and lit fires with two sticks or Romans drilled holes – would now be taken to all schools in the Wayland area.

Craig, a pupil at the junior school, told the EDP yesterday that he had joined the wildlife group to find out more about birds and just liked finding things.

He made the discovery during a field-walking trip, led by Mr O’Reilly, of Watton.

“We were looking at trees and how old the moss was and I looked on the ground and saw a piece of arrowhead. Then we carried on looking and found all these flints. It was very exciting,” Craig said.

But when The Norfolk Archaeology Unit confirmed that the surface finds suggested that the site had been extensively used during the Neolithic and Iron Age period, that was even better, he added.

Dr Andrew Rogerson, from Norfolk Landscape Archaeology based at Gressenhall, said it was a major find.

“The exciting thing about it is that it was found in what was thought to have been an ancient wood.

“We normally find a settlement site would have been situated by open land.
“This find was in a wood thought to have been there since year dot, challenging long-held ideas.
“It is just conceivable it is not a normal settlement site and if so, it would be the first ever wooded site, although that is unlikely.”

He said all the finds would be documented on the Heritage Environment Record, a database at Gressenhall, thanks to the group’s careful cataloguing of the finds.

“The beauty of this is not the finding of it, but the plotting and placing of it and most importantly, the recording of it in a place appreciated by all now and in the future.”

The driving force behind the youngsters was Irish-born Mr O’Reilly, who used his skill at making things and through his artistic talents brought the ancient world to life.

Mr O’Reilly said: “My father always used to show us countryside crafts in Ireland and old skills that have disappeared.

“When I moved to Wayland I fell in love with the landscape and I thought it would be fantastic to bring wildlife and the old crafts together.

“We were out field-walking when we found the Iron Age site. We came across a tree stump in this wood and Craig spotted this flint. We quickly realised how important it was.”
Yesterday he was at the launch of the new exhibition and after its local tour, Mr O’Reilly hoped to find funding to set up a roadshow to take it to a wider audience.

From the Forres Gazette, 18 March 2004

JUST a few months after neolithic round houses were found on the site of a housing development on the outskirts of Forres, a man living on the other side of town has unearthed more evidence of the area’s historic past.

Retired farmer Alec Mackenzie (76), who lives at Karora, Mill of Grange, with his wife, Margaret, was trying to remove a large tree root from his garden when he struck a big rock.

Little did he know he had uncovered evidence of a Bronze Age settlement and that nine years later it would be on display in a local museum – along with an Iron Age artefact that he found stuck in his garden wall.

He told the “Gazette” how, on moving into the house about nine years ago, he tried to dislodge a large stone which was preventing him from digging up the root in the garden.

“When I finally managed to get it, I found a large flat stone and a smaller rock buried together, ” he said.

The large stone was shaped like a saddle with an indention in the middle, and Mr Mackenzie left it in his garden, using it as an ornamental birdbath, where it has been for the past nine years, alongside the other smaller stone.

“The birds absolutely love it, ” he said.

“It’s just the right shape for them as it fills with water. I thought it was quite an unusual shape and have been meaning to bring it into the museum for ages.”

When he finally did bring the object into the Falconer Museum in Forres, museums officer Anne Bennet said she was extremely excited about what she saw.

“I thought straightaway that this was a saddle quern because it was so easily identifiable, ” said Miss Bennet.

“It is in good condition and dated somewhere between 500BC and 4500BC, so it could be more than 5,000 years old.

“I phoned the regional archaeologist to come and have a look at it.”

Regional archaeologist Ian Shepherd, who is based in Aberdeen, confirmed that the piece was a saddle quern which would have been used for grinding oats into flour, and dated it from the Bronze Age.

“It is not a unique find, but it is very unusual and an important find, ” he said.

This is not the first time that Forres has hit the historical headlines. Last August, architects doing a pre-site survey of a housing development at Grantown Road for Springfield Properties unearthed evidence of round houses dating from about 3000BC.

A further examination of the site uncovered two neolithic round houses, primitive dwellings which housed people and animals, and buildings which the archaeologists thought might be Pictish.

At the time, Mr Shepherd said the area would have to be properly researched and documented before being returned to the developers.

Meanwhile, Mr and Mrs Mackenzie said although they suspected the stone from their garden was “old” they were unaware it would be historically important, but thought it might have been used for grinding flour as the other stone found with it appeared to fit into it.

“I thought the stone I dug up with it was probably used for grinding down the oats on the top of the quern and milling it into flour, but apparently it was just coincidental that the two stones were dug up together, ” said Mr Mackenzie.

Mr Mackenzie has now donated the quern to the Falconer Museum, where it will be on display along with another large flat stone which he dug out of his garden wall two weeks ago.

This time Miss Bennet was able to say that the item was an Iron Age piece and had probably been used as the top half of a rotary quern, which would also have been used for grinding oats into flour. She said this was a more common find, often uncovered throughout Scotland.

“It was stuck in an old rough dyke, ” said Mr Mackenzie.

“My wife didn’t know what it was either but I think you used to put a stick in a hole in this one and spin it to grind the oats.”

“It’s just amazing, ” said Miss Bennet.

“I don’t know what’s going to turn up next, and I have contacted the regional archaeologist again.”

5th March 2004

The National Trust today finished presenting its evidence to the Stonehenge Roads Improvement Scheme Inquiry.

The Trust has objected to the proposed 2.1km road tunnel scheme on landscape, archaeological and ecological grounds. During its evidence, the Trust highlighted that four key modifications – including lengthening the tunnel by 800m – would appear to offer significant advantages over the existing scheme in terms of landscape character, noise and visual impact.

The Trust’s evidence emphasised that the Stonehenge World Heritage Site and its setting comprise a landscape of extraordinarily high significance for its archaeology and its spirit of place. However, during the past century, human activity and intervention have gravely damaged the prehistoric landscape, and the spirit of place has been spoiled by roads, dismal visitor facilities and the cultivation of crops.

While applauding the government for its desire to pursue a scheme that would rescue Stonehenge from its present predicament, the Trust does not believe that the current scheme proposed by the Highways Agency is the right solution for Stonehenge or delivers the objectives of the Stonehenge Management Plan. The Trust’s objection relates principally to the failure of the proposed scheme to reunite the stone circle and its associated monuments with the rich historic landscape surrounding it.

However, the Trust highlighted that four modifications to the proposed scheme would do much to reduce or avoid the adverse impacts on the site and would have material advantages over the existing scheme in terms of landscape character, noise and visual impact. These modifications are:

- Moving the proposed western portal approximately 200 metres westwards.

- Moving the proposed eastern portal 600 metres eastwards

- Using a tunnel boring machine for the construction of the tunnel instead of the presently proposed sprayed concrete lining method. This would significantly ameliorate the potential impacts at Stonehenge Bottom.

- Creating a bridleway instead of a byway along the course of the former A303.

Locating the proposed tunnel portal further out at either end of the tunnel would produce significant benefits for six archaeological sites, five of which are scheduled and four of which are acknowledged on behalf of the Highways Agency to be important. One of these four sites is part of the Normanton Down Barrow Group and two of the others are adjacent to it.

The relocation of the proposed eastern portal would also enable the reconnection of the Avenue. The Avenue constitutes a ceremonial monument of great fame and rarity but it is currently severed by the A303 and would remain so under the proposed scheme. In presenting its evidence, the Trust points out that this treatment is inconsistent with the objective of the Stonehenge Management Plan to enhance the features of degraded archaeological features where appropriate. Furthermore, the Highway’s Agency’s own longer tunnels report recognises that real landscape and cultural heritage benefits would flow from a longer tunnel.

The modifications suggested by the Trust might result in some delay to the construction period. But the Trust believes that in the circumstances pertaining to this uniquely important site, delay would be amply justified.

The Trust’s remit does not extend to assessing the relative economics of one scheme against another. In its curatorial remit, the Trust remains focused on doing what it can to ensure that the chance is not lost to reunite the stone circle with the rich historic landscape surrounding it. In the end, the issue of cost must be a matter for government, having regard to its responsibilities under the World Heritage Convention.

More via – nationaltrust.org.uk/webpack/bin/webpack.exe/livebase?object=LiveBase1&itemurn=1506&mode=wbFullItem

Hot on the heels of this: themodernantiquarian.com/post/24862
comes this:
tavistock-today.co.uk/news/newsdetail.cfm?id=74945
Huzzah!

A BRONZE age burial chamber has found a new place of rest after almost two years in limbo.

The 4,000-year-old grave or cist, which weighs well over a tonne, was moved to its new home at the High Moorland Centre in Princetown last week.

The granite slabs that make up the cist were transported by truck from Torquay Museum and lifted into position using a crane.

Its reconstruction is as close to the original as possible, aligned in a south easterly direction and covered by the ancient capstone for protection from Dartmoor?s fiercest weather.

It is the second time the cist has been relocated ? after its discovery on Thornworthy Tor in 1880 it was transported to Torquay Museum and spent the next 120 years embedded in the entrance hall floor.

Having removed the cist during refurbishment two years ago the curators could find no alternative site for it within the museum so offered it to Dartmoor National Park Authority.

They arranged for the grave to be reconstructed in the Jack Wigmore garden at the High Moorland Centre where it is now on permanent public display.

The cist will soon be accompanied by an information point describing its fascinating and eventful history.

Copyright: Tindle Newspapers Ltd 18 March 04

Letters to the Darlington and Stockton Times by DST readers – 12/03/04

Sir, – I am an employee at Nosterfield quarry, where the extraction of sand and gravel has been conducted for 50 years.

I have been reading and listening to reports by a small minority of people in the villages surrounding Nosterfield quarry who have set up a campaign and called themselves the Friends of Thornborough.

This group is campaigning to save the henges located on Thornborough moor. It accuses Tarmac (Nosterfield quarry’s owners) of planning to destroy the henges and their settings. As an employee I know for a fact that the henges are protected and cannot be interfered with by anybody whatsoever.

I attended a meeting held by the Friends of Thornborough on March 4 to listen to their points of view. They know that Tarmac will not be quarrying the henges and for some reason they are hell-bent on trying to close down Nosterfield quarry and put myself and my colleagues out of work, using the henges as an excuse.

The majority of this group moved into the surrounding areas of Nosterfield quarry long after quarrying started. If they are against Nosterfield quarry operating why did they move here at all?

My colleagues and I are proud of the work we do at Nosterfield quarry, supplying one fifth of Yorkshire’s sand and gravel. Why should we feel that our job security is being threatened by a group of fanatics out to spoil a tradition going back 50 years. Today’s construction industry relies heavily on sand and gravel produced at Nosterfield quarry.

CHRIS COLE
Bullamoor Road,
Northallerton.

Sir, – At the Friends of Thornborough meeting at West Tanfield last Thursday, Simon Smales (head of planning, North Yorkshire County Council) said that he had been disturbed by misleading statements which had been made concerning the council’s involvement with mineral extraction and archaeology around Thornborough and Nosterfield.

I trust that he was referring to the county council’s senior archaeologist’s attempt to mislead another senior archaeologist by stating that there was no threat to the landscape around our henge complex from quarrying and that this “red herring” was the construct of a few individuals opposed to wetland restorations.

This was clearly aimed at people who are not opposed to well planned restorations, but who are strongly opposed to the county council-backed blue print for quarry restorations, spearheaded by the Lower Ure Conservation Trust on Nosterfield Nature Reserve.

The LUCT, which was set up in the Nineties with the prime objective to acquire quarried sites, has three trustees; one of whom is the county council’s chief rural conservation officer. Part of his remit is to comment on the impact of quarry applications and after-use restoration plans.

This blueprint for the after-use strategy will be a supplement to the county’s new minerals plan, which is heavily influenced by the Hambleton Biodiversity Action Plan – collated and launched by the LUCT.

Our national BAP was agreed following the 1992 Earth Summit, which says that one state must not cause environmental damage to another, and that food for an expanding world population must be provided by maintaining and improving existing agricultural land.

By quarrying and creating massive lakes, we are permanently removing some of the best agricultural land from use; thus placing the same pressures which previously destroyed much of our biodiversity on other areas of the world.

The county council has created an organisation which sucks in public money to purchase and restore quarry sites, and to publicise and promote the benefits of quarrying. This enables quarry companies to work in areas hitherto closed to them.

The whole issue is summed up by a Yorkshire Post article (Feb 11) headlined “Winning quarry wants to expand” which features a photograph of quarry chiefs standing in the Nosterfield Nature Reserve, pointing at plans for our henge complex surrounded by lakes.

R J LONSDALE
Nosterfield,
Bedale.

Sir, – On the face of it many people would welcome Tarmac’s statement that it does not intend to proceed with a planning application for Thornborough Moor until after English Heritage completes its conservation plan for the area surrounding the henges. However, Tarmac has confirmed that it intends to proceed with the application for Ladybridge – this site is also covered by the conservation plan!

So what’s the difference between the two areas? Many people have heard that more archaeology is likely to be discovered at Ladybridge and Tarmac’s own web site seems to confirm this. So what is the difference between Thornborough Moor and Ladybridge?

Timing, it appears is the important factor. The fact is that the conservation plan is due out later this year, and that Tarmac have never intended to apply for planning permission for Thornborough Moor before 2006 at the earliest. The statement was therefore no more than corporate spin.

So, rather than a change of position, Tarmac’s press release is actually a confirmation that they intend to continue with their plans unchanged – this was put across in a way that was likely to mislead members of the public and the press.

As your own headlines and the local people have confirmed, Tarmac’s press release did fool a lot of people into thinking Tarmac had made a complete u-turn.

I suggest in future when Tarmac issue a press release we all take a far more sceptical and informed view of it. Let’s make sure local people are presented the facts, not corporate spin.

GEORGE CHAPLIN
Brompton Road,
Newton le Willows.

thisisdarlington.co.uk/the_north_east/opinion/OPINION4.html

A PREHISTORIC site at risk from quarrying appears to have found a new ally, with North Yorkshire County Council acknowledging its national importance.

Following growing concerns about the threat to the unique triple henge complex at Thornborough, near West Tanfield, the council has formed a special consultation group in a bid to help safeguard its future.
The site – said to be one of most important Neolithic remains in the country – lies next to the massive Nosterfield Quarry which is is feared will encroach even closer to the 5,000 year old henges.
The new consultation group includes representatives from the county council, who are responsible for giving planning permission to quarry at the site, as well as English Heritage, English Nature, Hambleton District Council and local action group The Friends of Thornborough, who last year stepped up their campaign to stop quarrying on the site.
Meetings will be held every six weeks, providing a forum for the exchange of information and views.
The move by the county council highlights the growing interest in the site, which is beginning to be recognised as being of national archaeological importance, and has even had questions about it raised in the House of Commons by MP for the area, Anne MacIntosh.
Coun Peter Sowray, the county council’s executive member for environmental services who will chair the consultation group, said this week: “The county council recognises the importance of Thornborough Henges both locally and nationally. The group has been set up to reflect the county council’s role in dealing with the henges.
“Further mineral working in the area of Thornborough Henges would have major implications, not only for the henges and the surrounding archaeological landscape, but also in terms of the impact it would have on local communities at Thornborough and Nosterfield.
“The current planning permission for sand and gravel extraction at Nosterfield Quarry was granted in 1994 subject to a detailed schedule of conditions, including restoration and archaeology. Proposals for site restoration are being progressed on a phased basis and in accordance with an agreed management plan. Setting up this consultation group will give us the opportunity to discuss all these issues with interested parties.”
Chairman of the Friends, Jon Lowry, who will sit on the consultation group, said: “We are hopefully all working together towards a common end and I think the council is taking the issue seriously. Its rather good that at least now we can find somebody to talk to.”
But he added: “Some of us may be a little wary because we have been trying to talk to these people for ages and all of a sudden the door’s open. The timing of the consultation group coincided with the questions in the House of Commons.
“I have questions as to whether a meeting every six weeks will be enough and if anything will be done in between. But I’m hoping things will happen.”
A large turnout was expected last night for a public meeting called by the Friends to canvas views from English Heritage, the county council and quarry company Tarmac Northern Limited.
A conference is due to take place in Northallerton at the end of the month to consider the archaeological consequences of continued quarrying at Thornborough. Run by the Yorkshire Group of the Council for British Archaeology and open to members of the public, it will feature presentations by eminent archaeologists and the main stakeholders in the dispute.
Mr Lowry said such events were indicative of the way recognition of the site’s importance had snowballed in the last year.
He added: “I think we are finding doors are opening. People were a bit wary of us at first but now we have the support of some serious and well-respected archaeologists and that shows that our cause is at least legitimate.”
l The CBA conference takes place at the Golden Lion Hotel, Northallerton on Saturday, March 27. Tickets cost £5 (£15 with buffet lunch) and are available on 01609 771878.

ripontoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=18&ArticleID=751734

A 5,000-year-old flint axe head has been found in a garden in Somerset (England). Andrew Witts made the rare prehistoric discovery while landscaping his garden at Creech St Michael near Taunton. Mr Witts said: “I knew I had found something unusual when I noticed the object had a polished surface, but I never thought it would be that.” The Somerset County Museum which identified the object said it was a fine example of a highly polished, flint Neolithic axe. Mr Witts plans to donate the axe to the museum, where it will be put on display as part of the Taunton 1100 exhibition.

Source: BBC News (13 March 2004)

From the BBC Scotland News site;
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3503804.stm

Sparks fly over rare axe head


The axe head was found in a field last year
A Fife man who discovered a rare Neolithic axe head while out walking near his home is facing prosecution for refusing to hand it over.
Under Scots Law such finds are Crown property but until now it is not thought anyone has faced court action.

Michael Kelly discovered the 6,500-year-old axe head, one of only 30 in the UK, in a field last year.

Mr Kelly, from Leslie, has been told that court proceedings will follow if he does not hand over the artefact.

The former film stunt man said he discovered the axe head while scouting locations for a movie script he is working on.

“I didn’t know it was an axe to start with, I just thought it was a fancy stone,” he said.

“I picked it up and took it to the archaeologist and he told me it was 6,500 years old.”

‘Extremely exciting‘

Mr Kelly initially thought his discovery would help him fund his film project – but he was wrong.

Fife Council’s archaeologist Douglas Speirs said that under Scots law such finds were claimed by the Crown.

The items were usually then given to a local museum or, in the case of finds of high importance, to the national museums.

“This is a system which benefits everybody,” said Mr Speirs.

I didn’t ask to find it, I didn’t steal it from anybody

“It enables the shared cultural importance of Scotland to be shared and enjoyed by everybody.”

The axe head is known to have been made at Killin on Loch Tay.

Mr Speirs said it was an “extremely exciting” find and that its real value was in its story.

“It adds to our knowledge of the number of axes produced at that site and it adds to our knowledge of how widely these things were circulated.

“In archaeological terms this is a significant find,” he said.

The Crown has told Mr Kelly that he must hand over the axe head or face prosecution.

The deadline has now passed, but he said he would not budge.

He usually keeps the axe buried in a secret location and warned that he may even leave it there.

“At the end of the day I didn’t ask to find it, I didn’t steal it from anybody,” he said.

From an article in Yorkshire Post Today by Brian Dooks:

Thornborough is the only triple henge complex in the world and the only one to share the same astronomical alignment as the pyramids at Giza in Egypt.

A recent theory is that the henges’ alignment may follow that of Orion’s Belt in the constellation of Orion.

The site, which may have been chosen because of its proximity to the River Ure, was first used about 3500BC and it continued to be a centre for religious ritual worship, drawing pilgrims from across the North, at least until 2500BC.

The henges are one of the largest earthmoving projects undertaken by Neolithic man. Together with other henges at Nunwick, Hutton Moor and Cana Barn, near Ripon, plus the Devil’s Arrows at Roecliffe, near Boroughbridge, they form one of Britain’s premier sacred sites.

Superficial investigations of the site took place in the late 19th century but the henges were largely ignored by archaeologists until 1994, when a team from Newcastle University launched an intensive research project, which still continues under senior lecturer Jan Harding.

Worked flints from the Pennines and the Yorkshire coast have been discovered there along with axeheads from Langdale in Cumbria.

Dr Harding says the henges are a mirror image of Orion in its highest position with the southern entrances framing Sirius as it appeared over the horizon.

If the banks were covered in gypsum, as some excavations suggest, they would have appeared silvery white in the moonlight.

The Friends of Thornborough – www.friendsofthornborough.org – say that after years of neglect, including the use of the central henge as an ammunition store in the Second World War, their setting is now threatened by an extension to Nosterfield sand and gravel quarry.

Dreghorn in Ayrshire, Scotland, has been revealed as Britain’s oldest continuously inhabited village after the remains of an ancient settlement were uncovered by builders.
North Ayrshire Council granted permission for a development of 53 new houses at Dreghorn on the condition that tests were carried out on land next to Dreghorn cemetery. Developers spotted suspicious-looking lumps and bumps on aerial photographs, and when a 5,500-year-old well was found in November, archaeologists were called in. The team of archaeologists is being led by Tom Wilson.
“This is only one of five to be discovered in Scotland and we think it dates back to around 3500 BCE” he said. “It would be a farming community with around eight huts taking pride of place in the site. We have also found pits with pottery and a giant fence that must have circled the village. Although other neolithic villages have been found in Scotland, this is the only one I believe has been permanently lived in. We can see where the huts and kiln would have been. The residents moved further up the hill in the winter as the land was prone to flooding. We’re really like detectives and so far we have found some important artifacts including grooved-ware pottery and a kiln that we think is the oldest found in Scotland.”
Pitchstone cooking pots from Arran have been found, along with animal remains. Also found were some much later mediaeval artefacts. Many of the artefacts will be put on display at the National Museums of Scotland.
The archaeologists have until the end of March to complete their investigations before the building work goes ahead.

Source: icAyrshire (4 March 2004)

Edited from BBC News, North East Wales
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/3532395.stm

An “exceptional” hoard of buried treasure has been found in Wrexham just two years after another major find of Bronze Age treasure there. The 14 pieces of priceless gold and bronze jewellery and pottery, dating back more than 3,000 years, were found by three metal detector enthusiasts in the last few weeks.

Archaeologists are excited about the latest discovery in the area which is also home to the 4,000 year-old gold Mold cape. They believe this latest group of artefacts were buried between 1300 and 1100 BC as a gift to the gods by a well-connected and wealthy farming community.

The hoard is currently with the National Museum & Galleries of Wales in Cardiff where a report is being prepared for a coroner’s inquest to consider whether it should be declared treasure trove.

This hearing will be held within the next couple of months and until then pictures of the artefacts are not being released.

“This hoard includes a torc (bangle) and bracelet, a necklace pendant and a collection of beads and rings, all of gold,” said a museum spokeswoman. “It was buried alongside two palstaves and a chisel, within a small pot, fragments of which were found in the ground alongside. The twisted gold wire bracelet and the pendant, made of spiralled gold wire and forming a long bead shape, are unique within Britain. One or two similar objects have been found in north-western France.”

*

In January 2002, two metal detector enthusiasts found gold bracelet fragments, a bronze axe and a dagger in the same area near Rossett, in Wrexham. The dagger was the first of its kind to be discovered in Wales.

Sunday Tribune 29 February 2004

Diarmuid Doyle

There is no such thing as compromise once local authorities and the Department of the Environment decide a road should be built. They announce their plans, local residents come up with alternatives, these are ignored and An Bord Pleanala passes the original plans.

-

I’m the man on the Navan bus. Every day, morning and evening you’ll see me huddled in a seat, wrapped in headphones and listening to Morning Ireland or the Last Word. I’ve been doing it for years. I know the N3 intimately now, every bump in the road, every signpost and pothole. I know all the sheep in the fields by their first names. I know where all the traffic snarls are, and the feeling of frustration that comes with being caught in them. I know how badly congested Dunsaughlin can get, and I really want to meet the genius who decided that three lanes of traffic should merge into one near Clonee. I know, too, the feeling of gratitude when the bus driver takes the short cut there and we can leave all the madness behind.

But I believe that the new motorway planned for the route, which would cut thirty minutes off a journey from Dublin to Cavan, is as unnecessary a road as has ever been built in this country, an act of infrastructural vandalism of a kind not seen since Dublin Corporation rogered Wood Quay senseless back in the 1970s and 1980s.

Almost 700 million euro is to be spent on saving those 1,800 seconds, and the road is to be directed right through the middle of the Tara / Skryne valley, a site that is “one of the most culturally and archaeologically significant places in the world”, according to an impressive list of academics and campaigners from all over the globe.

According to these people, who hail from Ireland, England, Wales, Belgium, Australia and the United States, and who wrote to newspapers last week, “many monuments [there] predate the Egyptian pyramids. The chamber within Tara’s Mound of the Hostages is perfectly aligned with the full moon of Lughnasa and the rising sun of Samhain and Imbolg.”

“The Hill of Tara has been a sanctuary for every generation since. It is precisely because it has remained intact, unlike many comparable European sites, that it holds a special key to understanding the continuous progression of European civilization. We are only just beginning to understand and appreciate how the Mound relates to the hundreds of other monuments in the archaeological complex, many of which will be destroyed if the valley is sliced in two.”

No doubt this will seem a bit limpwristed and weak-kneed to those who believe that the requirement to get home before the end of the Six One news justifies the introduction of diggers to such an historical site. And there are many such people. The row over the Carrickmines Castle site recently highlighted the huge gulf between environmentalists and commuters, whose lives are being daily frustrated by weaknesses in what passes for transport policy in this country. It is a tension that can only increase.

There should be no such tensions over the N3/M3 however, for the very simple reason that the traffic problems on the route are simply not bad enough to justify the destruction that will be caused. The N3, as currently laid out, is a relatively untroubled route in terms of traffic chaos. Certainly, there are some blackspots, but not many, and these can be dealt with locally. A small bypass around Dunsaughlin, for example, would solve the traffic problem there for a fraction of the cost of the proposed new motorway. Likewise in Navan and Kells.

The plan to build the M3, which will also require the destruction of acres of woodland in Dalgan Park near Navan, one of the few areas around the town where people can go for a walk, highlights the extent to which the road lobby has taken over the asylum. There is now no such thing as compromise once local authorities and the Department of the Environment decide that a road should be built. They announce their plans, local residents come up with alternatives, these are ignored and An Bord Pleanala passes the original plans without any serious consideration of whether they are actually needed.

The proposed new M9 from Kilcullen to Waterford, expected to cost one billion euros (which means, of course, much more) is another example of the madness of the roads lobby. It is already a decent enough road, and such traffic congestion as there is can be dealt with locally.

The M3 is a worse insult, however, and not just because of the damage that will be done to the Hill of Tara area, once described as “our ceremonial and mythical capital”. Local residents, far removed from the Nimby stereotype that attaches to some protestors, have come up with a series of alternative plans that would allow the authorities to achieve their aims while leaving the Tara / Skryne area unaffected. Last week’s letter from all those luminaries also contained some good suggestions: improve the existing N3, which seems the most sensible plan given that the road is already in good enough shape; re-open the Navan-Dublin rail line; or simply build the new road in an alternative location. (A local group, Bellinter Residents’ Association, has actually drawn up decent plans for such a route, which would be located between the N2 and N3).

The decision on the M3 will reveal a lot about the kind of county that Meath is to become over the next few years. Is it to be little more than a dormitory town for Dublin, a kind of park-and-sleep suburb where people’s journeys from the capital are facilitated by long and expensive toll-roads. Or is it to be allowed to continue as a county in its own right, and retain the rights of its history, its archaeology, its identity and its pride? Having lived in the county for almost a quarter of my life, I know which answer I’d give.

-----

Save Tara! hilloftara.info / tarawatch.org

From the Meath Chronicle today:

Two researchers have claimed that a huge, human-like depiction present in the road system straddling Meath and Louth could be the world’s largest ground-based representation of the constellation of Orion.

They say that there is “tantalising evidence” that the vast `High
Man’ figure may have been set down in prehistory and a five-year project of research into ancient myths and stories has revealed a significant astronomical knowledge among our ancient ancestors.

More: mythicalireland.com/highman

A scientist from Douglas (Isle of Man) who is helping explore and visualise the underwater landscape of the Southern North Sea is hoping that the same technology could help historians firm up dates when the island was populated. Simon Fitch is in the second year of a PhD in geoarchaeology at Birmingham University. He is part of a team of archaeologists, geologists and engineers investigating the large plain where hunter-gatherers roamed up to 10,000 years ago, before the inundation by rising ocean levels in the last post-glacial period. With a first degree in geology and a master’s in landscape archaeology, Simon has played a pivotal role in the North Sea exploration, reviewing and analysing key data. He hopes that the same techniques could be used to discover how his home island first became inhabited.

Source: Isle of Man Online (23 February 2004)

From This is Bristol.

Druid leaders yesterday called for the creation of a sacred site at Stonehenge for the re-burial of human remains unearthed during a unique road project in the area. They want a parcel of land near the “powerful temple of our heritage” to be set aside as a ceremonial shrine for the Pagan and Druid communities. They also hope to carry out important rituals at key stages of the proposed Stonehenge Tunnel construction, such as the first ground breaking “to ease ancestral spirits”. And they want to be informed of any archaeological discoveries during the £193million A303 road scheme in the World Heritage Site.

The Druid Network told a public inquiry they were in favour of the 4,500-year-old stone circle being returned to its natural setting without nearby roads and visitor centre. But they are concerned about various aspects of the proposed project, which is the subject of a 10-week public inquiry in Salisbury. Giving evidence for the network, Emma Restall Orr said the scheme “lacks any acknowledgement of this ancient site’s significance as a working temple for existing spiritual and religious communities”.

She said: “A major concern is the potential lack of respect given to our ancestors and their physical remains.” Such problems could be diverted if “the sanctity of the temple” was acknowledged and respected throughout the work.

Ms Restall Orr said the Druids wanted to carry out their rituals at important stages of the three-year construction programme. These include the first sod-cutting and when the work nears sensitive sites such as Longbarrow Crossroads, the Avenue and the Heel Stone.
Rituals were also required at times of significant archaeological finds during tunnelling at the heritage site, especially the uncovering of human remains.

She said: “Of particular concern are human remains. “We seek assurances that any Pagan human remains found during the work are treated with appropriate respect. While we do not wish to stop the archaeologists from gaining knowledge, removing human remains to store in museums is no longer acceptable within international Pagan communities. All human remains must be reburied with the appropriate Pagan ritual as close to the site of discovery as possible, together with their grave goods – or appropriate facsimiles. We would support the setting aside of a piece of land within the World Heritage Site that could act as a ceremonial funerary shrine for the Pagan and Druid communities. This could be used not only for the reburial of the ancient dead, but also as a place of honouring the dead within many modern spiritual communities.”

Quarry sites begin to give up secrets – Cat Bell, The Hunts Post huntspost.co.uk/man/news/

A major awareness campaign, aimed at highlighting the vast wealth of archaeology found in quarry workings in the Lower Ouse Valley is launched this week.

Leading the initiative is Cambridge Archaeological Unit and building materials company Hanson Aggregates, backed with a £50,000 grant by English Heritage from the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund. It is based principally on investigations at Hanson sites at Needingworth, Earith and Whittlesey.

Focal point of the launch will be the start of restoration work of a Bronze Age ring ditch, dating back to 1200BC. It is sited near a cluster of five Neolithic or early Bronze Age burial barrows, known as the Over Monument Group, regarded by English Heritage as one of the most important sites in the Fens.

Chris Evans of Cambridge Archaeological Unit, said: “The site is designated as an ancient moment and is of huge significance. We propose to subtly re-instate the earthwork. This will involve scooping out its profile to a depth of just over a metre, creating a bank-like effect about four metres wide around the enclosure.”

Brian Chapman, Hanson’s Anglia unit manager, added: “Quarrying and archaeological investigations have made a major contribution to our understanding of early life in the Fens. It is vital we share this information with the local people.”

The campaign has five key components:

A website based on information gathered from Hanson’s sites at Needingworth, Earith and Whittlesey;

Schools material, relevant to Key Stage 2 and available through Hanson’s own education initiative – Material World and its website.

Handling collections for schools and quarry visits based on local finds and dovetailing with the schools’ material. The collections will relate to Roman and earlier Prehistoric finds.

Two exhibitions will be available for use in libraries and schools. One will exclusively concern the ‘Romans at Earith’ and the other will largely focus on results from Hanson’s flagship quarry at Needingworth.

The restoration of the ring ditch at the Over barrow cemetery and the erection of information boards.

Lip service?
A new group has been set up to look at the future of one of Britain’s most important archaeological areas. Thornborough Henges near Ripon in North Yorkshire is a concentration of late Neolithic and Bronze Age sites.

But there are fears it could be under threat if an application is made to extend sand and gravel quarrying.

Now the county council has set up a consultation group including local people and representatives of English Heritage and English Nature.

The members will meet about every six weeks to exchange information and views on the future of the henges.

County Councillor Peter Sowray, who chairs the group, said: “The county council recognises the importance of Thornborough Henges both locally and nationally.

“The group has been set up to reflect the county council’s role in dealing with the henges.

“Further mineral working would have major implications not only for the henges and surrounding archaeological landscape but also in terms of the impact on local communities at Thornbrough and Nosterfield.”

In October 2003, North Yorkshire County Council was criticised by Dr Mark Horton from the University of Bristol for not doing enough to protect the site against damage from quarrying.

Construction company Tarmac currently extracts more than 500,000 tonnes of sand and gravel each year from Nosterfield Quarry.

Tarmac says nothing it is planning would damage the henges.

Story from BBCi, 02/03/04
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/3524055.stm

“King” of Stonehenge may have been Swiss – Swissinfo – February 11, 2003 8:08 PM

Stonehenge, the 4,000-year-old mysterious ring of ancient stones, which is one of Britain’s most famous landmarks, may have a Swiss connection.

Archaeologists say that the remains of a wealthy archer – dubbed the King of Stonehenge – found near the site were from the Alps region.

Tony Trueman, a Wessex Archaeology spokesman, said tests on the chemical components of the archer’s tooth enamel confirmed that he had come from an area which is most probably modern-day Switzerland.

He said that it was clear that the man had been important from the sheer volume and value of the finds in his grave and this had resulted in his nickname, the King of Stonehenge.

Important finds

Among the objects were gold hair ornaments and copper knives, making it one of the richest and earliest Bronze Age sites in Britain. The gold is some of the earliest found in the country.

But how much of a link the archer, found just three miles away from Stonehenge at Amesbury, had to the ancient stone ring is open to speculation.

Archaeologists think that the man, who was skilled in metalwork, might have played an important part in the construction of the site and helped to introduce new skills in the area.

“What we do know is that Stonehenge was built about 3000 BC and sometime around 2400-2200 BC people began to put the stones up and right in the middle of that period the archer came over”, Trueman told swissinfo.

“We know that he was an immensely important and influential person and he so must have visited Stonehenge and he must have visited it because he was buried within a short walk of it”, he said.

Sophisticated society

Trueman said that the Swiss would not have had any problems communicating with the Britons as they all spoke a form of Celtic at that time.

He added that there was a lot of international trade and that cultural links with the continent were strong during the period that Stonehenge was built.

“Look at this man, he was from Switzerland or thereabouts, the copper knives were from Spain and France and he came over to Britain and died there”, explained Trueman.

“We’re looking at an immense movement of people, which we don’t expect when we think of the Stone Age or the Bronze Age. We think of people with clubs living in caves and grunting, but this is much more sophisticated society than people think of”.

Stonehenge is a ring of 20-ton stones on the Salisbury Plain and is a world heritage site. The reason why it was built continues to baffle archaeologists, with some suggesting that it was used as a giant astronomical observatory.

swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=105&sid=1626144