Latest News

The 400BC Ferrari

The Iron Age chariot unearthed at an Edinburgh building site has been proved the oldest in Britain.

Radiocarbon tests on the wheels of the chariot have proved it dates back to 400BC – 200 years earlier than the previous oldest British find.

Scientists have just finished studying the remains and it is now being prepared to go on public display, probably at the Museum of Scotland in Chambers Street.

The only other places in Western Europe where similar discoveries have been made are in East Yorkshire and France.

The discovery of the Iron Age chariot – hailed as one of the most important ever made in Scotland – was made near another historic city site.

The chariot is remarkably complete, with surviving parts including its base, two wheels and even the remains of a bridle.

The National Museums of Scotland is carrying out conservation work on the remains so they can go on public display.

link:
news.scotsman.com/archive.cfm?id=8102004

.o0O0o.

Experts have uncovered evidence of Iron Age houses and pottery dating from around 100 BC at a major Tyneside development.

Residents at the Newcastle Great Park (NGP) development are learning about their Iron Age counterparts after the latest archaeological work on the site uncovered evidence of an ancient settlement.

Artefacts, described as being of significant archaeological interest, have been found since the works began over two years ago.

However this latest area to be examined has caused the most excitement.

Senior keeper of field archaeology at Tyne & Wear Museums, Steve Speak, said: “This site, which is south of the new SAGE development, has produced not only pottery, but also so-called Quern Stones, which were used to grind wheat.

“The settlement shows three phases of occupation over a period of about 75 years.

“We know this because our calculations show that a house would last around 25 years before it started to deteriorate and needed to be built again.”

Drawings of the site show a large round house about 10 metres in diameter, surrounded by an enclosure which was likely to be used to keep in livestock.

Also featured are the remains of houses from previous phases of occupation along with ditches used for drainage and the disposal of waste.
Tyne and Wear’s county archaeologist is currently deciding on the scope of a full excavation of the site.

Mr Speak added: “The good thing about this area is that there has been little or no ploughing over the site which so often wipes out any archaeology under the soil.

“Any artefacts we uncover here should be of good quality and I feel we will get an informed idea of what life was like for the earliest inhabitants of Newcastle Great Park”.

link:

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/3374037.stm

For those who often travel up the A1 north of Gosforth, this is right next to the new mounds that look a bit like Silbury...

Perigueux, France – Looking to buy in southwest France? A retired farmer in the Dordogne region is selling his prehistoric cave adorned with drawings for just one million euros ($1.3m).

“I’m 76 years old and I can’t show people around anymore. I can’t go up and down the steps,” Ernest Paluzzano, who has shown his “Grotte du Sorcier” to thousands of tourists over the years, told AFP on Monday.

In 1969, Paluzzano, a farmer of Italian descent, bought the site in the town of Saint-Cirq, which owes its name – “the sorcerer’s cave” – to a drawing of a human figure detailing the face, back and limbs.

The cave, discovered in 1952 by a dentist and amateur archaeologist, is home to drawings dating back to the Magdalenian period, or between 22 000 and 15 000 years BC, according to French experts.

Paluzzano told AFP he had received a barrage of telephone calls from interested buyers since he posted a “for sale” sign near the entrance to his cave a few days ago.

Link: news24.com

Leominster’s biggest-ever archaeological excavation uncovered important clues about the town’s long history.

The extensive dig, covering half an acre of the Focus DIY development site at Mill Street, revealed that Leominster was a hive of industry from a very early period.

A large volume of iron working slag found below ground could date from pre-Roman times. Blacksmiths may have toiled in forges at the site for centuries.

Before the dig began underground scanning equipment revealed `hot spots’.

“We were very excited by what we saw,” said archaeology team leader Huw Sherlock. “The slag really stood out in red on the screen. When we excavated the area we found the huge dump of iron waste which must be the remains of a very large-scale iron working enterprise.

“We are awaiting the results of dating tests and, for the time being, our best guess that it could be pre Roman. The area seems to have been the focus of an iron-working industry for many centuries.”

A number of other trades, including flax processing and tanning, were known to have been carried on in ancient times in the area which may have been the town’s first `industrial estate’.

The major dig provided a “fascinating glimpse” into Leominster’s past, said Huw of Westhope, the director of Archenfield Archaeology.

“We found the remains of substantial medieval buildings close to the River Kenwater and just outside the limits of the Priory precinct,” said Huw.

“A series of large ditches were found to contain well-preserved stakes and a fence line consisting of wattle hurdles carefully placed in the base of the ditch. It is thought the ditches may have been part of a fish-farming or fish-trapping system.

“We found a causeway made of large pieces of slag and unglazed medieval floor tiles bisected the site from north to south. Tantalisingly, the causeway was heading in the direction of the recently discovered possible `rotunda’ on the north side of the Priory.”

Footings of the rotunda, or round church, thought to date from Saxon times, were shown to exist beneath a car park during another project, a ground penetrating radar scan carried out for the Friends of Leominster Priory. The major find was exclusively reported by the Hereford Times earlier this month.

The Mill Street diggers also uncovered a large quantity of glazed medieval roof tile, a medieval coin, pieces of lead flashing and several large iron keys .

The finds are now being analysed by experts but there is no doubt in Huw Sherlock’s mind that the dig uncovered some important pieces of Leominster’s historical `jigsaw’.

The positive attitude of the landowner/developer was crucial, said Huw. “Frank H Dale Ltd recognised the sensitive archaeological background of the site and was co-operative in ensuring the area affected by the new development was fully recorded,” he said.

Link: thisishereforshire.co.uk

HEFEI, Jan. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- White lime used by prehistoric humans 5,000 years ago to bedeck their houses and their handprints on thewalls were discovered in the Yuchi Temple prehistoric site in eastChina’s Anhui province.

Located in Mengcheng county, Yuchi Temple site belongs to the later period of the Dawenkou Culture (approximately 5000 B.C.- 2600 B.C.), a culture of the late New Stone Age.

The white lime was spotted among the relics of red-earth houses.

“As no white lime was found on the wall, we can tell that the lime had been decorated on the ceiling, just like today’s suspended ceiling,” said a local archaeologist.

Handprints of prehistoric humans were also available on part ofthe wall of a southeast-northwestern row of houses, only part of which were excavated and the number of the houses remain unknown.

“Those marks were left precisely when the prehistoric humans plastered mud on the wall,” noted the archaeologist.

Moreover, a few utensils used to store food grains were unearthed at this site. Enditem

Link: xinhuanet.com

Archaeologists were left red-faced when an excavation site they believed was a Norse settlement of “national significance” was actually a sunken patio. Experts rushed to the site when amateur archaeologists unearthed a meshwork of massive stones while exploring the ground in their garden.

Officials from Fife Council suspected the slabs had been ferried from a nearby beach about 1000 years ago to the homes of Viking settlers. The archaeologists hoped the tiny back garden in Buckhaven would provide the first evidence of Viking homes built on mainland Scotland. The team sealed off the area but after several days of painstaking excavation, they found the massive rocks were simply part of a sunken patio built in the 1940s.

Chief archaeologist Douglas Speirs, 34, admitted his team had been made to look “very stupid”. He said: “We looked at the slabs and guessed they could’ve been part of a Viking settlement considering the area has strong links to Norse culture. It had all the hallmarks of ancient building techniques with the types of stones used and the layout. After all our efforts, you can imagine how silly we felt in the end.”

Link: scotsman.com

From English Heritage website -

“Sutton Bank is well known as the home of Kilburn White Horse, created in 1857, and of the Yorkshire Glider Club, founded in 1933. But very few people are aware that the promontory is also the site of one of the most important prehistoric monuments in the region: a giant hillfort built in the Iron Age, around 400 BC. The guided tour will be on Saturday 22nd May 2004. Please note that places on this tour are reserved for English Heritage Members only.

For further information about the tour, contact Jonathan Hogan in English Heritage’s York office on 01904 601 971 901 or e-mail [email protected] ”

From English Heritage website.

Guided tour: Grime’s Graves Neolithic flint mines
Grime’s Graves is one of only handful of Neolithic flint mines in Britain, and the only one where you can actually go down into one of the 5,000 year old mine shafts. The guided tour will be on Sunday 27th June 2004 and will include a spot of DIY fieldwork! Please note that places on this tour are reserved for English Heritage Members only. For further information about the tour, contact Pete Topping in English Heritage’s York office on 01223 582 700 or e-mail [email protected].

A symposium organised by the British Academy in association with the Royal Swedish Academy of letters History and Antiquities.
Venue
The Royal Academy
Date
15-16 April 2004

More info

from the Salisbury Journal and Avon Advertiser, 5th Jan 04
Full article (thisiswiltshire.co.uk)

Residents living on the edge of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site have accused heritage bosses of placing more importance on life 4,000 years ago than the quality of life of today’s inhabitants who live close to the ancient stones.

People living in Fargo Road and Strangways, near Larkhill, say English Heritage and the National Trust plan to remove “20th century clutter” from the site but will be replacing them with “21st century clutter”.

The accusations were made at a public meeting in Figheldean last week, when English Heritage and the National Trust revealed their plans for the multi-million-pound Stonehenge visitor centre and the revolutionary land trains that will ferry tourists to and from the stones.

Residents living in Fargo Road and Strangways were notified just before Christmas that English Heritage and the National Trust had chosen their preferred route.

Drop-off points containing just a shelter will be at strategic points along the route and, once at the terminal, visitors will have a ten-minute walk along a bridleway to the stones. The bridleway will be upgraded, so that it can be used by disabled visitors and people in wheelchairs.

The route the land trains will travel goes within 50m of the backs of houses in Fargo Road and Strangways but tree-screening and fencing will help obscure the trains from the houses, said Mr Maloney.

Jane Danser, of English Heritage who is based in Salisbury, assured those present they would meet residents in the New Year individually or as a group, to talk over concerns.

Penny Worboys, who lives in Fargo Road, said the plans for Stonehenge only replaced 20th century clutter with 21st century clutter.
She said: “There are no land trains or tracks there now, no visitor centre. They are being introduced. You are putting something at the back of our houses that is not there now.”

Residents were told that, on peak days, up to six land trains an hour would operate. On other days, there were likely to be between two or three an hour but during the winter months perhaps only one an hour.

Residents suggested that the land train route be sunk into the ground slightly, to reduce the impact, and they asked that any screening be as close to the route as possible, to maximise its effect.

Mr Maloney promised that all suggestions made at the meeting would be looked at and discussed further with local people in the new year, prior to the planning application.

The ministry has not yet agreed to sell the land it owns near Larkhill which is needed for the land train route.

Ramblers have held a mass trespass on one of Dartmoor’s most popular landmarks to protest over its closure. Vixen Tor at Merrivale (Cornwall, England) was shut to the public when a new landowner bought it earlier last year. Mary Alford closed the tor after the insurers said she could be liable if someone injured themselves in the area, which includes several ancient monuments.

Rambler Richard Doswell, who was one of about 20 ramblers at the tor, said: “We are not causing any damage, we are simply exerting our rights to walk on part of Dartmoor National Park.” Following the closure, a walker reported Mrs Alford to the Department for Rural Affairs (Defra), alleging that fertiliser had been spread on the moorland around the tor. Defra investigated and Mrs Alford has now been charged with carrying out land improvements without an environmental impact assessment. The assessments are required by law so that rare plants, wildlife and archaeology can be protected from potential damage caused by any working of land.

Source: BBC News (1 January 2004)

From ‘The Grauniad’, January 2004

The secrets of how the ancient ancestors of modern Britons lived and died could be lost forever because the evidence is being destroyed by badgers.

Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire has harboured the mysteries of civilisations for more than 5,500 years, making it one of Europe’s most treasured archaeological sites.

Just beneath the surface are the remains of Bronze Age burials, Iron Age enclosures, Roman villages, Saxon and Medieval settlements and the Second World War.

Yet a fast growing population of badgers, attracted to easy digging conditions, is building networks of tunnels that threaten to wreck Britain’s historical treasure trove.
Read whole story here

Traces of a Retsina type wine have been identified in ceramic vessels. The added resin would have preserved the wine better.

Full article from The Independent, 28 Dec. 03

news.independent.co.uk/world/science_medical/story.jsp?story=476468

30,000 years ago the Siberian Arctic was cool and dry and the abundant game was hunted by the early settlers.

guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1114908,00.html

The Doctor Little Heritage Group is behind a bid to preserve the Panorama Stones, a group of rocks with ancient cup and ring markings, located in Ilkley (England). The group has got the green light to prepare a plan to move them from the overgrown and neglected St Margaret’s Park, Queen’s Road, to the Manor House Museum.

After a meeting with English Heritage, the group wanted to gauge local opinion. At a follow-up open meeting, no voices of dissent were raised against the plan to make replicas of the stones and move them. Parish councillor Brian Mann, the group’s treasurer, said that everyone involved with the project had been astounded to learn that the prehistoric carvings, which could be 5,000 years old, were viewed as one of the most significant European examples of rock art.

The cup and ring markings, made during the Neolithic or Bronze Age, are in serious danger of wearing away from natural erosion. In 1890, Dr Fletcher Little, medical officer at Ben Rhydding Hydro, bought the stones for £10 from the owner of the land at Panorama Rocks where they were situated, because the area was due for development. To preserve them for posterity, he arranged to have them moved to St Margaret’s Park, surrounded by iron railings. While being moved the largest stone, known as the Panorama Stone, broke and had to be repaired.

The plan is to make replicas of the stones to leave in St Margaret’s Park while the actual stones themselves will be transported to a protective enclosure at the Manor House Castle Yard. This would allow the carvings on the replica stones to be recreated in their original glory while preserving what little is left of the originals.
If a grant is awarded the money will go towards research and a feasibility study for the larger project of copying and moving the stones. Coun Mann is confident that the whole project can be completed with the help of the Countryside Agency after officials expressed support for the project in principle. But if the replica stones are not constructed the scheme to move the originals will not be followed through. A less ambitious plan will be substituted to leave the stones where they are with some sort of protective cover constructed to preserve them.

Source: The Ilkley Gazette (19 December 2003)

Revised proposals have been submitted to the Peak District National Park Authority for the reopening of the controversial quarries at Stanton Lees near Matlock (England). Stancliffe Stone Ltd is seeking to commence work at the quarries, which have been dormant for several decades.

The National Park Authority has previously stated that it does not want the quarries to be reopened due to their proximity to Stanton Lees and the scheduled ancient monuments on Stanton Moor. However, the Authority will now examine the company’s proposals and a consultation process will get underway.

John Bull, Chair of the Authority’s Planning Control Committee, said: “This is a very sensitive site and the proposal to reopen the quarries will be controversial. After several years of uncertainty we hope to move ahead and bring the matter to a conclusion by next April. However, people need to be aware that it is not within our power to refuse permission for the quarries to re-open – the site already has permission. The Authority’s role will be to approve a set of modified conditions for working the site in an appropriate way.”

Interested parties will have around two months to lodge their comments, which should be made in writing to the Planning Service, Peak District National Park Authority, Aldern House, Baslow Road, Bakewell DE45 1AE.

Source: The Megalithic Portal (21 December 2003)

From the BBC-

Neanderthals were shedding their sturdy physique and evolving in the direction of modern humans just before they disappeared from the fossil record.

Newly-identified remains from Vindija in Croatia, which date to between 42,000 and 28,000 years ago, are more delicate than “classic” Neanderthals.

One controversial explanation is that these Neanderthals were interbreeding with modern humans in the region.

Full story at -

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3346455.stm

The origins of human artistry are being pushed even further into the past.

sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=00083C99-D691-1FE0-969183414B7F0000

Carving out a safe future for nation’s most precious stones by Stephen Stewart of ‘The Herald’, December 22 2003

ONE of Scotland’s most valuable historic resources could be safeguarded for future generations by a consultation document published today.

Carved stones, from prehistoric rock art to gravestones, will be the focus of a three-month investigation involving owners, local authorities, special interest groups and the wider public.
Frank McAveety, minister for tourism, culture and sport, launched the consultation, due to finish at the end of March, which is designed to protect carved stones such as the Pictish cross-slabs at Glamis, Aberlemno and Eassie.

Other significant carved stones include the eagle from the Broch of Burrian in Orkney and the boar on the roadside stone at Knocknagael, near Inverness.

Whole story here

From BBCi, 22 Dec 2003
A cross-border heritage group has been protesting against plans to build a rubbish incinerator near the site of Newgrange and the Battle of the Boyne in County Louth.

The demonstrators called on the Irish Government to stop what they described as “cultural vandalism”.

Whole story here

A 5,000-year-old symbol from the Neolithic village of Skara Brae has been singled out by researchers as a potent symbol of arousal in men.
According to an article in The Scotsman newspaper, following random testing of males in different parts of the country, galvanic skin responses showed arousal when they saw designs based on ancient fertility symbols. Skara Brae’s “lozenge” symbol was singled out by the researchers as the most potent of all the designs used.
The symbol is found scratched close to where female bones were found buried under the doorway of one of the huts.
The survey has led to a reappraisal of jewellery market research, with new pieces now being designed in response to the unconscious signals being transmitted by the test subjects.

Source: The Scotsman

From an article on BBC News web site:

A Bronze Age gold disc used as an item of adornment at a burial 4,000 years ago has been declared treasure trove by a coroner at Aberystwyth.

The disc dating back 4,000 years was discovered at Cwmystwyth Mines near Aberystwyth – and is only the third known piece of gold from the Bronze Age discovered in Wales.

In November, the inquest had to be adjourned because the disk was not presented in court by representatives of the National Museum of Wales.

The find – roughly the size of a milk bottle top – is said to be as significant as the famous Mold cape – thought to have been worn as a garment for religious ceremonies by a great authority.

More ...

The site of archaeological remains which are thought to date back thousands of years has been saved from development. An area occupied by a Scheduled Ancient Monument was at risk of being turned into a small housing estate on the edge of Highbridge and West Huntspill in Somerset.

Land owners Alexander Holderness and Joan Dowling applied to Sedgemoor District Council for planning permission to build about 30 homes on land between Alstone Road and Alstone Lane. But members of the authority’s development control committee decided to preserve the site.

About 80 residents wrote to the authority saying they were against the proposal.

West Huntspill Parish Council also registered an objection as did Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society.

Among the objectors was Alistair Murray. He said: “I live on the boundary of the site and have been doing archaeological digs in my back garden for years.

“The area has been found to have been in occupation from the late Neolithic, through the bronze and iron ages, medieval times up to the present day. It’s an important site, there’s no doubt about it.

“There are other problems, like difficulties with the road access and the land is prone to flooding.”

But Mr Holderness told the Mercury: “We plan to appeal against the decision. We have been working with English Heritage and the Environment Agency and paid for a geophysical survey.

“We have also had specifications drawn up for archaeological digs which we would have paid for had we been given outline planning permission. It would have cost us up to £20,000.

“We have touched nothing so far and done everything by the book. But people in the village are jumping to conclusions and formed an action committee.

“Eventually we will get permission to build houses on at least part of the land.”

Source: megalithic.co.uk > Weston & Somerset Mercury 15/12/2003

Volunteers from Tavistock Conservation Project have been helping to restore the setting of an ancient Scheduled Monument on Dartmoor, almost totally obscured by vegetation.

The Pound at Deeper Marsh on Spitchwick Common, an earthwork enclosure and ditch, was covered by thick scrub and gorse bushes until the volunteers, under close supervision by archaeologists, cleared the area.

A survey is now planned of the site to discover its original function. Over the years it has been described as a Neolithic henge, a Bronze Age burial mound or an Iron Age hill slope enclosure.

It is thought the Iron Age suggestion is most likely, as it would tie in other sites in the area. This would date the pound between 700BC and 43AD.

Other conservation measures to archaeological sites on Dartmoor have also been carried out recently by Dartmoor National Park Authority.

They include repairs to the Yellowmead stone circle and row on Cosdon Hill and damage to the Langstone Moor stone circle on Merrivale firing range, where visitors to the site have built two crude stone walls between the stones.

A DNPA spokesman said: ‘The material used in the construction was derived from inside the circle and consists of the shattered remains of former standing stones, destroyed by American military during the second world war.‘

(c)Tindle Newspapers Ltd 18 December 03

from the Tavistock Times Gazette

Experts believe important prehistoric remains could lie under a proposed international sheepdog centre near Bala, in North Wales. Gwynedd Archaeological Planning Service stepped in after realising there is a prehistoric and Roman site close by.

“Our concern is that there might be similar remains at this site at Ysgubor Isaf,” said archaeologist Emily La Trobe-Bateman. “There is a very important prehistoric and Roman site in a nearby field, as well as similar sites further away, which did come to light in 1997,” she explained.

The scientists plan to use trace changes in the soil which would indicate remains, although there are no plans for a dig. “There may be nothing there, but bearing in mind the closeness to a known prehistoric site then we feel that a survey is necessary,” she added “We are in effect playing safe and the development will depend on what is found below ground.”

Source: icNorthWales (11 December 2003)