Latest News

9.30 – Editted highlights of Time Flyers and discussion by Dave Macleod and Richard Maude, presenter and producer.
10.05 – Planning for Change – some current princeples and past lessons – George Lambrick Director of CBA
10.20 – A comparison with Stonehenge: linkages in the landscape – Mike Parker Pearson.
10.50 – The Neolithic in Yorkshire – Terry Manby
11.20 – The Neolithic and Bronze Age Complex of Thornborough – Dr Jan Harding
12.10 – panel discussion on conservation issues at Thornborough
12.40 lunch

2.00 – A community view on the archaeology of Thornborough – George Chaplin
2.30 – The Archaeology of the Nosterfiedl and Ladybridge Sites – Mike Griffiths Associates on behalf of Tarmac
3.00 – The NYCC’s role and consultation group – Simon Smales, NYCC head of Planning
3.30 – The English Heritage Position
4.00 – plenery discussion on policy implications

Location – Golden Lion, Northallerton. Saturday 27th March, price- £15.00 including lunch, £5.00 excluding lunch.

Bookings should be sent to John Sheehan, Hon. Secretary, CBA Yorkshire Group, 4 Arden Mews, Northallerton, DL6 1EN.

ALL the experts agree breast is best for baby – but it may be less traditional than we think. Yorkshire research suggests Iron Age infants were on the ancient equivalent of formula.

Molecular-level examinations of 2,000-year-old bones from the Wetwang burial site, near Driffield, East Yorkshire, have produced puzzling results, leading scientists to speculate that ancient people were even more concerned about food taboos than we are today.
Mandy Jay, of Bradford’s archaeology department, has examined the bones of more than 50 adults and 25 infants, analysing isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in the collagen to see what kind of proteins the Iron Age people ate.

All the adults, from wealthy warriors interred with chariots in burial mounds to paupers buried in ditches, seem to have eaten plenty of animal protein, which produces the same type of collagen, whether dairy or meat.

That should mean bones of breast-fed infants would have even higher protein levels, as they would be drinking milk from mothers who were themselves nourished with animal proteins.

But instead, babies’ bones have levels comparable with a diet of cows’ milk.

Ms Jay said: “It may be a society where they didn’t want to breastfeed too long because they wanted to toughen the children up.
“If they were trying to feed their children cows’ milk, the chances are they would have a higher mortality rate, which is something I would have to examine.”

Alternatively, the low levels could also be due to women becoming vegan when pregnant or breastfeeding. A temporary change in diet wouldn’t show up in the women’s bones, as adult collagen is laid down over several years.

“It’s very difficult to understand what a different society would think. To them, drinking milk while producing milk may have seemed strange. There are societies that do all kinds of things with pregnant and menstruating women,” she said.

They certainly seem to have imposed plenty of other dietary restrictions. Bones more than 6,000 years old show Stone Age man suddenly stopped eating fish and shellfish, possibly because of taboos about wild food as people became settled farmers.

Fish wasn’t back on the menu until the Romans arrived, 4,000 years later.
Perhaps the most intriguing finds are two human bones from Wetwang, whose owners appear to have been vegan, though Ms Jay is cautious as to what they mean.

She said: “They could have belonged to a class that was being fed differently, such as a slave class, or they could have had some kind of disease and had to become vegan. We can’t really say, but I’m very excited about it.”

yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticleMore2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=740506&Page=1&ReturnUrl=NewsFrontMore.aspx

DEXTER SNIFFS OUT AN ANCIENT RARITY

DEXTER the labrador proved he had a nose for history when he unwittingly helped his owner make a significant archaeological discovery dating back more than 3,000 years.

Harvey Jones, of Cranleigh Gardens, Northwood, was walking boisterous two-year-old Dexter on Bembridge Down when he ran off into a massive gorse bush, dragging Mr Jones along with him.
The Bronze Age artefact was lying on the top of a rabbit hole in the middle of the bush – catching the eye of Mr Jones, who said: “It was only thanks to Dexter that I actually saw it.
“The thing about National Trust land is that you have to keep your pets on a lead, so wherever your pet goes you go and that meant accompanying Dexter into the bushes.
“When I picked up the axe head it was in perfect condition and looked almost brand new, like someone had dropped it there yesterday.”
Curious to know more about the piece, Mr Jones dusted himself down and took his find to Frank Basford, of the IW Archaeology and Historic Environment Service.
He concluded the axe head was a looped palstave dating to the middle Bronze Age, from 1500BC to 1200BC and that it had an unusual design on the metal with four lines carved into the bronze, making it unlike any others found on the Island.
Mr Basford said: “Quite a number of looped palstaves have been found but this is the first of this particular type found here and it is in great condition.”
After conservation work has been done on the palstave, it will take pride of place at the Guildhall Museum in Newport.

A gold sword belt ornament encrusted with garnets which could have belonged to the bloodthirsty seventh century Saxon king Caedwalla – and has been described as the missing link in Island history – looks likely to be lost to the Island.
The item was found on the beach at Bembridge by shop manager Darren Trickey and later declared treasure trove but its £50,000 valuation is beyond the £3,000 a year new acquisitions budget of the Guildhall Museum and could instead be bought by the British Museum.
It is felt that the only way it might be retained on the Island would be if locals were to raise around a quarter of the price, then seek grant funding to make up the difference.

iwcp.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1252&ArticleID=743664

A team of Australian archaeologists have sparked an academic row by claiming to have solved the riddle of a missing 1,000 years in human prehistory.

The scientists from Melbourne’s La Trobe University have found remnants of grains on the shore of the Dead Sea in Jordan that they believe help fill the 1,000-year gap in our knowledge of man’s transition from nomad to farmer.

But not everyone agrees, and the Australian team is now muscling up for an academic arm wrestle next month with the exponents of different theories in France.

The debate is all about the period when man shifted from being a nomadic hunter-gatherer to settling down as a sedentary farmer.

Conventional wisdom is that the transitional period, known as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period, finished about 9,200 BC.

But La Trobe’s Archaeology Program Coordinator Dr Phillip Edwards says the university’s discovery of wild ancestors to domestic crops in Jordan now proves the PPNA in fact lasted until 8,300 BC.

This period saw “pre-domestication cultivation” of barley, wheat, pulses and pistachio nuts.

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“The theory holds that our forebears certainly began planting crops from about 9250 BC, but the grains they planted for around 1,000 years continued to be wild varieties, leading to the mistaken conclusion that they had been gathered in the wild during those 1,000 years and not cultivated,” he said.

This view remains a minority one, with most archaeologists still accepting that man had not begun farming cultivated crops at this time, so the stage is set for a good old academic stoush.

The arena for the bloodletting will be the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Workshop at Frejus, France next month.

Members of the La Trobe team will feature in a documentary on the origins of farming life, Stories from the Stone Age, which will screen on the ABC later in the year.

theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/19/1077072756313.html

Summarised from the This Is Devizes site:
thisiswiltshire.co.uk/wiltshire/devizes/news/DEVIZES_NEWS_LOCAL16.html

The finds from the Bush Barrow will be going to the museum in Halle, Germany, for an exhibition running from October to April.

The exhibition will centre around the recently uncovered Nebra Sky Disk, a Bronze Age disk embossed in gold leaf with the images of the sun, moon and 32 stars, and will bring together for the first time Bronze Age objects found all over Europe.

Dr Paul Robinson, curator at the Wiltshire Heritage Museum, said: “The participation of the Wiltshire Heritage Museum in the exhibition is an acknowledgement of the international importance of the Devizes collection which attracts visitors from all over the world.”

The latest set of geophysics scans on the Ness o’ Brodgar continue to shed light on the Ring o’ Brodgar and the landscape around it – in particular another massive settlement discovered immediately to the north of the stone circle.

Full story at: orkneyjar.com/archaeology/brodgargeophs2.htm

Proposed road cutting would dominate World Heritage Site, say Salisbury Greens. If the A303 proposals were approved, the new road cutting would become the most prominent monument within the Stonehenge World. Heritage Site: the 21st century monument to the car, a kind of inverted Cursus, rivalling the original Cursus in size.”

That’s the warning Salisbury Green Party will present to the public inquiry that begins on Tuesday (17th February).

Local spokesperson Hamish Soutar will tell the inquiry that the damage caused by the new road would far outweigh any benefits from closing the existing roads. He will call for a return to the consensus reached at the 1995 Red Lion Planning Conference. “The Conference agreed with the aim of removing the roads entirely, at least from the area known as the Stonehenge Bowl. There is no surface route for a new road that would meet either with that objective, or with the government’s international obligations to protect the World Heritage Site. English Heritage and the present government are betraying the public by backing the proposed road scheme.”

Local Greens say no new road should be built, leaving the current A303 where it is but implementing road safety measures such as closing the junction with the A344 (something first recommended nearly 70 years ago). But if the government is determined to press ahead with its road-building plans, they say the only solution is a long tunnel under the entire World Heritage Site, as originally proposed by the National Trust and English Heritage and backed by the 1995 Conference.

Hamish Soutar says: “We don’t really want the tunnel, but we are putting it forward because it is important that the Inquiry should consider it. We will argue that any tunnel design has to include every available safety feature, whatever the cost. We will also argue that there are benefits to be had from putting the whole project on hold for twenty years or so. Technology is changing, transport policy changes, and Stonehenge itself is old enough to wait.”

Finally, he adds: “The most important World Heritage Site that we need to protect is the world itself. Our uncertain future will not be helped by continuing to spend hundreds of millions of pounds on vast new roads. Our duty to conserve Stonehenge for future generations is pointless unless we ensure that they have a world fit to live in.

Green Party WebSite

All news filed 17 Feb 2004
From itv.com: itv.com/news/764237.html
From ananova.com: ananova.com/news/story/sm_866864.html?menu=
From ‘The Independent’: news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=492143
From ‘Leisure Opportunities’: leisureopportunities.co.uk/newsdetail.cfm?codeID=7002
From ‘Country Life’: countrylife.co.uk/countrysideconcerns/news/stonehengeenquiry.php
From ‘The Guardian’: guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1150112,00.html
From Aunty Beeb: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/3489985.stm
Two pieces from The Telegraph: news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&xml=/news/2004/02/18/nhenge18.xml and telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/02/17/ustone.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/02/17/ixportaltop.html

After continually reading about destruction of sacred landscapes around ancient sites and monuments The Noise Room (https://www.thenoiseroom.com) has set-up an online petition along with information pages on sites currently under threat in the UK.

The site intends to submit the petition to the UK government by the end of the year at the latest or earlier if we reach our initial target of 1500 signatures.

The site is currently highlighting the plight of the Thornborough Henges in Yorkshire, The Nine Ladies in the Peak District and The Orkney World Heritage Site.

Please follow this link and sign the petition to support this effort.
thenoiseroom.com/sos/sosIndex.html

At the risk of repeating...

“Plans to build a road tunnel under Stonehenge are to be examined at a public inquiry. The project’s aims have widespread support, but campaigning groups argue the proposed 2.1km (1.3 mile) tunnel is too short and will damage the site.

The government scheme will take the A303 under the World Heritage Site to reduce traffic congestion around the stones and improve visitor facilities.

The inquiry will begin in Salisbury, Wiltshire, on Tuesday.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) said the government’s plan did not go far enough.

The group said the road would have a “major impact” on the site, with tunnel portals degrading the landscape near the ancient stones and the road and associated earthworks affecting a large area.”

Continues here: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/3493649.stm

by John Vidal, environment editor of The Grauniad
14 February 2004

One of Britain’s most historic landscapes is about to become the scene of a passionate encounter between conservationists, local communities and industry as protesters start to flock to a small valley in the Peak District national park.

At stake are the long abandoned Endcliffe and Lees Cross quarries at Stanton Lees in Derbyshire. Overgrown with ash, birch and beech trees on steeply sloping land leading up to the bronze age Nine Sisters stone circle ancient monument on the moor above, they have been worked for many centuries on a small scale to provide local stone. But they are about to be massively expanded to provide 3.2m tonnes of some of the most sought-after sandstone in Britain.

Before work can start, however, a battle of the intensity of the road protests at Twyford Down and Newbury in the 1990s looks inevitable. The 32-acre site has been occupied for four years by protesters who have already built more than 25 tree houses and dug a com plex of deep tunnels and defences in stone cavities. After a high court case last week, which gave the Stancliffe Stone company permission to evict them, they expect hundreds of people to join them. ...continues here...

By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News

Walking in the Western Desert

Feb. 12, 2004 — Tourists traversing Egypt’s desert may solve a mystery that has puzzled archaeologists for centuries: what happened to the 50,000-man Persian army of King Cambyses.

Set up by tourist operator Aqua Sun Desert, the Cambyses project will comb the desert sands using four-wheel-drive vehicles packed with paying tourists eager to find the remains of the lost army swallowed in a sandstorm in 524 B.C., according to the account of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus.

“The project is approved by the Ministry of Tourism after the agreement of Ministry of Antiquities. Any evidence will have to be reported to the authorities,” Hisham Nessim, manager of Aqua Sun Desert, told Discovery News.

Running between 10 and 22 days, the desert safari expeditions will follow a special route in the Western Desert, one of the world’s most beautiful and inhospitable deserts.

Particular attention will be given to an area not far from the Siwa oasis near the Libyan boarder, where four years ago a team of Egyptian geologists stumbled on bits of metal resembling weapons, as well as fragments of human bones.

First thrilled by the news, scholars then reacted with skepticism.

“As nothing was published and no pictures released it is hard to tell whether those were the remains of the lost army. Skeletons can belong to anyone, and without a thorough anthropological study, or any accompanying artifacts, it is hard to judge these allegations,” Egyptologist Salima Ikram of the American University in Cairo told Discovery News.

Herodotus reported that after the Persian occupation of Egypt in 525 B.C., Cambyses, the son of Cyrus the Great, sent 50,000 soldiers west from Thebes to attack the Oasis of Siwa and destroy the oracle at the Temple of Amun, who, according to legend, would have predicted his death.

After walking for seven days in the desert, the army got to El-Khargeh, presumably intending to follow the caravan route via the Dakhla Oasis and Farafra Oasis to Siwa.

But after they left El-Khargeh, they were never seen again.

“As they were at their midday meal, a wind arose from the south, strong and deadly, bringing with it vast columns of whirling sand, which entirely covered up the troops and caused them wholly to disappear,” Herodotus wrote.

The sandstorm was probably caused by the khamsin — the hot, strong, unpredictable southeasterly wind that blows from the Sahara desert over Egypt.

Nessim will continue the Cambyses expeditions for the next five years.

“If we discover anything about the lost army, it will be the discovery of the century,” he said.

According to Ikram, there might be a chance that tourists find something in the desert.

“There is a lot there. Whether or not it has anything to do with the Persians in Egypt is unpredictable. More likely not, but who knows,” Ikram said.

dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20040209/cambyses.html

reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=4332908&section=news

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s ancient pyramids are probably a byproduct of a decision to build walls around the tombs of kings, a leading expert on early Egyptian royal burials said Wednesday.

Guenter Dreyer, director of the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo, said he based his theory on similarities between Egypt’s first pyramid, built at Saqqara south of Cairo for the Pharaoh Zozer in about 2650 BC, and the structure of the tomb of one of his immediate predecessors.

The Saqqara pyramid, known as the Step Pyramid because of its unique shape, began as a flat mound about eight meters (25 feet) high built over the burial chamber of the pharaoh.

At the slightly earlier tomb of the Pharaoh Khasekhemwy, at the old royal cemetery at Abydos in southern Egypt, German excavators found evidence of a similar flat mound covering the central part of the underground burial complex.

The walls in the central part of the tomb were compacted to about twice the thickness and half the height of the walls to the sides, suggesting a heavy weight had once stood on top, Dreyer told Reuters in an interview.

Khasekhemwy’s complex also had one of the niched enclosure walls which later became a distinctive feature of the dozens of pyramids built along the western edge of the Nile Valley for hundreds of years to come, he said.

MOUND OF CREATION

But in the Abydos example, the enclosure wall was much further from the tomb than in the case of Saqqara.

“My theory is that...these two elements (the mound and the wall) were united at Saqqara by his successor Zozer and then something happened. The mound on top of the tomb was hidden by the large surrounding wall -- it was not visible.

“This was a problem, because this mound I think represented the primeval mound of creation and guaranteed the resurrection of the king,” said Dreyer.

The architects of the Saqqara complex solved the problem by building another smaller flat mound on top of the first and then decided to extend it upwards by adding more mounds.

The Sakkara pyramid is an intermediate stage between the flat mounds, known as mastabas, of the earlier period and the smooth-sided classical pyramids of the type found at Giza, just outside the modern city of Cairo.

Archaeologists have long speculated that the pyramids are an extension of the mastaba concept but Dreyer’s theory adds the enclosure wall as an explanation for the transition.

Dreyer, who has spent the last decade studying the kings who ruled in southern Egypt in what was called the pre-dynastic period, before about 3100 BC, said he now believed he had identified another king from the period, known by the name of Horus or Hor, the same as that as the falcon god.

He is basing his theory on a close analysis of two ancient palettes, flat ceremonial stone plates on which early Egyptians appear to have recorded historical and mythological events.

Two palettes show a Horus falcon in a context which Dreyer interprets as the place where the name of a king should appear.

Several palettes have been interpreted as commemorating the conquest of Nile Delta towns by the kings from the south, a process which later led to the political unification of Egypt.

The conquest has traditionally been attributed to either King Narmer or King Aha, who lived about 200 years later.

“He (King Horus) started the whole thing, conquering the Delta, several generations before Narmer. Why? He wanted to safeguard trade routes to Palestine which ran along the Delta, where the Egyptians brought all the wine in,” Dreyer said.

An Ancient burial site, which was unearthed by workers preparing land for a massive gas pipeline, has proved to be a mine of information about Scottish people of the Bronze Age. Archaeologists at the 3,500-year-old cemetery, found in a field near Auchnagatt (Aberdeenshire), say the discovery also reveals important clues about ancient burial rituals in the north-east. They are analysing pottery urns, containing cremated human remains.

The Bronze Age graveyard was found in the summer of 2001 on the route of a major Transco pipeline development from St Fergus to near Aberdeen. The find was the first of its kind in Aberdeenshire for more than 30 years.

Melanie Johnson, field officer at CFA Archaeology, said: “The cemetery consisted of almost 40 pits containing cremations, 11 of which were contained inside pottery urns,” she said. “The site was unusually well-preserved.” A number of cremations have now been dated, using the latest advances in radiocarbon dating of human bones. Ms Johnson said: “This shows the cemetery was in use from about 1900 BCE to 1600 BCE. “The urns are currently being conserved at Aberdeen’s Marischal Museum, while analysis of the cremated human bones will reveal all sorts about the person who died, including their sex, age and whether they were in good health.”

Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal (15 January 2004)

The CAPE (Culture, Archaeology, Prehistory Experience) Project comprises the construction of a visitor centre highlighting the Bronze Age and Celtic culture of north east Wales that could attract up to 150,000 tourists a year. At the core of the new visitor attraction, drawing on Arthurian connections, would be the famous gold Bronze Age Mold Cape, currently held in the British Museum.

Experts have drawn up a study and believe that such a centre is feasible, probably on land next to Clwyd Theatr Cymru. To get the project going, the report will suggest trying to establish an academic centre first which could be a base for archaeological dig teams. “We urge local people to take an interest and get involved. It is vital we now widen the debate and engage local people at the earliest opportunity in the future planning of the project in the hope that they will get behind it, ” said Project chairman Adrian Barsby.

The whole idea was sparked by a drive in the town for the return of its famous Bronze Age cape. It was discovered by labourers in pieces at Bryn yr Ellyllon (Hill of Elves) just off Chester Road, Mold, in 1833 along with the bones of a man. It is dated between 1900 and 1600 BCE and is made from the equivalent of 23-carat Irish gold.

Sources: Daily Post, icNorthWales, North Wales Weekly News (6 February 2004)

Report filed Feb 11 2004 by Robin Turner, The Western Mail

A pair of psychic investigators looking at the healing properties of an ancient stone circle claim it has made them seriously ill.

Brian Perinton and mother-of-two Claire Williams visited Carn Llechart stone circle in the Swansea Valley three months ago. They planned to investigate the healing properties and positive energy which standing in the centre of circle, said to have been constructed in around 2,000BC, was reputed to give to people.

Mr Perinton said yesterday, “I have never seen anything like it. Claire was bodily thrown from the centre of the circle by some kind of force. I felt it too. It was like being punched in the stomach.”

“Since our visit we suffered severe headaches, stomach problems, lethargy and general illness. It was almost as if our energy was completely sapped by whatever was in the centre of those stones.”

“We are starting to recover now but we want to find out if anyone else has had similar experiences. We would love to speak to them to find out if the illnesses and general feeling of weakness are the same.”

“Then we can start some kind of scientific investigation into what could be causing this.”

Mr Perinton, 65, and Ms Williams, 32, run a ghost detective agency in Swansea and have been called to offices, houses and other buildings in which owners or occupants claim to be troubled by spirits or apparitions.

In a recent mission they helped a pub in Neath to rid itself of an angry spirit, said to have been the ghost of a former regular who did not want to leave.

Carn Llechart stone circle, high above Pontardawe, is said to be one of the finest examples of a stone ring cairn or burial chamber in Wales.

The unusual circle is 40ft across and consists of 25 stones leaning slightly outwards giving a crown of thorns effect.

No one is entirely certain why the stone circles were created but they are a Celtic phenomenon. Archaeologists believe they could be giant calendars with stone shadows tracing the alignment of the moon and sun.

It could be the stones are tributes to the dead buried in the circle and some have even speculated they could be used to harness the energy of ley lines, thought to be lines of magnetic energy running across the earth.

Professor Clive Ruggles, of the University of Leicester, says great care is needed in interpreting them.

He said, “Just because a monument is aligned in a certain direction we might be tempted to interpret it as astronomically significant.”

“But the Bronze Age people were not astronomers as we know the term today. However, celestial cycles and objects were extremely important to them.”

Certain circular tombs in Britain have been found to point towards the rising sun and winter solstices.

Many believe stone circles have magic or healing powers, so much so that English Heritage was forced many years ago to fence off the country’s best known stone circle, Stonehenge.

Scientists have carried out experiments at a variety of stone circles finding that the huge rocks tend to generate their own weak magnetic fields. But whether these can combine at certain times of the year as some pagans claim, so as to concentrate energy at a central point, has never been proved.

Mr Perinton said, “We would like anyone who has had a similar experience to contact our agency so we can build up a picture of what is happening.”

The agency’s number is 01792 417693.

Road plan would make Stonehenge site “a monument to the car”

From the Green Party’s website
The proposed road cutting would dominate the World Heritage Site, say Salisbury Greens. If the A303 proposals were approved, the new road cutting would become the most prominent monument within the Stonehenge World Heritage Site: the 21st century monument to the car, a kind of inverted Cursus, rivalling the original Cursus in size.”

That’s the warning Salisbury Green Party will present to the public inquiry that begins on Tuesday (17th February).

Local spokesperson Hamish Soutar will tell the inquiry that the damage caused by the new road would far outweigh any benefits from closing the existing roads. He will call for a return to the consensus reached at the 1995 Red Lion Planning Conference. “The Conference agreed with the aim of removing the roads entirely, at least from the area known as the Stonehenge Bowl. There is no surface route for a new road that would meet either with that objective, or with the government’s international obligations to protect the World Heritage Site. English Heritage and the present government are betraying the public by backing the proposed road scheme.”

Local Greens say no new road should be built, leaving the current A303 where it is but implementing road safety measures such as closing the junction with the A344 (something first recommended nearly 70 years ago). But if the government is determined to press ahead with its road-building plans, they say the only solution is a long tunnel under the entire World Heritage Site, as originally proposed by the National Trust and English Heritage and backed by the 1995 Conference.

Hamish Soutar says: “We don’t really want the tunnel, but we are putting it forward because it is important that the Inquiry should consider it. We will argue that any tunnel design has to include every available safety feature, whatever the cost. We will also argue that there are benefits to be had from putting the whole project on hold for twenty years or so. Technology is changing, transport policy changes, and Stonehenge itself is old enough to wait.”

Finally, he adds: “The most important World Heritage Site that we need to protect is the world itself. Our uncertain future will not be helped by continuing to spend hundreds of millions of pounds on vast new roads. Our duty to conserve Stonehenge for future generations is pointless unless we ensure that they have a world fit to live in.

SHARJAH – An Australian-American archaeological team hosted by the Antiquities Directorate of the Sharjah Department of Culture and Information from December 2003 till last month, conducted detailed inspections of the Iron Age site found earlier in Muweileh in Sharjah.

The site, located 15km west of Sharjah city, has already revealed substantial evidence for a 3000-year old settlement which is one of the largest sites dating back to that age discovered so far in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Previous finds included the oldest writing found in the UAE, the oldest Iron-Age artifacts and many buildings including a columned hall that must have functioned as the centre of an economic and political power within the settlement.This season’s excavations, the eighth at the same site, revealed several buildings inside the fortification wall, said a spokesperson of the department. “Previously, we had assumed that the central area of the site consisted of an open courtyard, but it appears that it is not the case,” the spokesperson said, adding that the recent excavations also revealed a new gateway in the eastern side of the settlement. “

This was constructed from stone and had a hardened plaster floor and had evidence for holes for large wooden doors. Several complete painted vessels and some iron artifacts were found associated with this gateway. To the south, a new building adjoining the fortification was also unearthed. This house is larger than most at the site and had plastered floors. A stone incense burner was found on the floor of one of the rooms of this building,” he said.

He said the joint team found evidence throughout all these buildings of a fiery destruction that brought the settlement to an end around 750BC. “This conclusion was drawn from the fact that a lot of archaeological materials have been discovered including pots, clay ovens, animal bones, burnt dates and date-seeds and shells that would have been obtained by the old inhabitants from the coast for eating,” the spokesperson observed, revealing that continued analysis of these finds will provide unparalleled data on how people lived 3000 years ago in Sharjah.

“It is now clear that the ancient settlement of Muweileh was larger and more complicated than we originally thought. We look forward to continued research at the site with the support and collaboration of Sharjah Archaeological Museum,” said a spokesperson for the Australian-American team.

Meanwhile, a Spanish Archaeological expedition from Otonoma University arrived in Sharjah last week to conduct excavations at Ak Thaquiba site in Al Madam Plain.

The Spanish team will focus on resuming excavations of ancient canals of water springs discovered last season in addition to digging other parts of this agricultural settlement which dates back to the first millennium B.C.

khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2004/February/theuae_February114.xml&section=theuae

A village from the Copper Age was found in northern Bulgaria. The village is situated just 800 metes away from the place where the bridge Vidin -Kalafat is to be built.

The archaeological treasure was found near the Antimovo village when a study in connection to the Danube Bridge 2 construction was made.

The ancient village is not within the road-bed of the bridge, but all necessary measures for its preservation will be taken, engineer Kostantin Zhiponov, one of the people dealing with the construction of the bridge said, cited by the local radio Gama.

Some of the finds will be transported to the archeological museum in the town. More researches will be launched in the spring of 2004.

novinite.com/view_news.php?id=30841

A decision on the application to extend works at the Heddle Quarry in Firth has been deferred.

Members at this morning’s Orkney Islands Council planning committee meeting agreed to defer the decision for more detailed geological and environmental reports.

By Carl Butler (from IC Northwales)

A visitor centre to highlight the Bronze Age and Celtic culture of north east Wales is planned and could attract up to 150,000 tourists a year.

At its core would be the famous gold Bronze Age Mold Cape, currently held in the British Museum.

Experts have drawn up a study and believe a centre is feasible, probably on land next to Clwyd Theatr Cymru.

The CAPE (Culture, Archaeology, Prehistory Experience) Project chairman is Adrian Barsby, of Mold’s Beaufort Park Hotel. He said: “Early indications from the report suggest the project is viable, there are a number of possible sites available and it has the potential to fill a tourism gap in the region.

“We urge local people to take an interest and get involved. It is vital we now widen the debate and engage local people at the earliest opportunity in the future planning of the project in the hope that they will get behind it.

“Early reactions from people consulted have been positive.”

To get the project going, the report will suggest trying to establish an academic centre first which could be a base for archaeological dig teams.

With its proximity to the major towns and cities of the North West, a new visitor attraction could attract anything between 50,000 and 150,000 a year, say the consultants.

The team behind CAPE includes representatives of the area’s tourism organisations as well as local businesses, Flintshire County Council, Mold 2000, Mold Town Partnership and the Welsh Development Agency.

The whole idea was sparked by a drive in the town for the return of its famous Bronze Age cape.

* The report will be presented to the public on Monday, February 16 in Clwyd Theatr Cymru Mold at 7pm. Copies of the study report will be available to view in Mold Library.

by Paula Tegerdine of ‘This is Purbeck’ online
Wednesday 04 February 2004

Quietly hidden among the rolling hills of Purbeck is a unique and important archaeological landscape.

A report just published by English Heritage reveals the extent of earthworks, medieval field patterns and trackways at Corfe Common, near Corfe Castle.

The area has attracted the interest of antiquarians for centuries because of its eight Bronze Age barrows (burial mounds).

English Heritage’s latest research has revealed another two barrows on East Common and identified other features showing how the land has been used for farming over the centuries.

An impressive prehistoric or Romano-British field system known as `Celtic fields’ were identified on the southern flank of the common. Read on here...

by Richard Sadler of The Guardian
Wednesday February 4, 2004

A public inquiry into plans for a dual carriageway under Stonehenge will stoke the fierce debate on how best to protect a site on a par with the Taj Mahal and the pyramids.

Six years ago, when the new Labour government was seeking to justify spending £758m on the Millennium Dome, ministers were finalising plans involving another national monument, but it, unlike the dome, had been built to last – about five millennia at the last count.

Stonehenge, one of the world’s most famous landmarks and Europe’s most sensitive archaeological site, is on a par with the Taj Mahal and the Pyramid Fields of Giza on the UN’s list of world heritage sites. But the prehistoric monument was due for a makeover – at least, that is how the plans were sold by the government. Complete story here....

Interim website for the ‘Northumberland Rock Art. Web Access to the Beckensall Archive’ project containing information on the project, nice photo gallery and list of sources for more info. Main website to go live later this year. Enjoy. rockart.ncl.ac.uk

The Migdale Hoard has been returned to the Highlands of Scotland for an exhibition at Inverness Museum. A priceless collection of Bronze Age jewellery – including a bronze axe head, bronze hair ornaments, sets of bronze bangles and anklets, and several carved jet and shale buttons – it was found in May 1900 in a rock crevice above Loch Migdale, Sutherland.
Although kept in Edinburgh at the National Museums of Scotland, the artefacts are being lent to Inverness Museum for an exhibition lasting until mid-June. Local Highland councillor Alison Magee said “I’m delighted that these highly important artefacts will be on display in the Highlands close to where they were found. I hope as many people as possible from the Kyle of Sutherland and the wider Highlands will be able to visit the museum and see for themselves this stunning example of our local Bronze Age history.”
However, the collection may be incomplete, as Inverness Museum archaeologist Patricia Weeks explained “Intriguingly, some of the pieces found with the hoard never made it to the National Museum.” Smaller artefacts were apparently picked up at the time of discovery by local children, and it’s possible some of the missing pieces may still be in the area.
Later this year, Dr Alison Sheridan of the National Museums of Scotland will give a talk in the Highlands on the Migdale Hoard, but the time and place have still to be confirmed.