Latest News

Detailed mapping of the sea bed beneath the Channel and North Sea should reveal signs of human habitation when the land bridge to Europe was intact. Go to: observer.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,1596,1046445,00.html

The landscape around Stonehenge and Avebury has yielded more of its secrets during a new investigation. Archaeologists have spent the last three weeks walking 90 hectares (222 acres) of private land around the monuments to look for prehistoric flint.

A polished stone axe head from the Neolithic period, dating to around 3,000BC-2,500BC, and a leaf shaped arrowhead from the same period have been found near Stonehenge. This type of axe, which usually had a wooden shaft, would have been used to cut down trees, though this axe head has not been used. The stone it was made from is not local.
Read Wessex Archaeology’s press release

Read 24 Hour museum’s story

Archaeologists have discovered a significant Romano-British shrine in Hertfordshire to a goddess whose name has not been heard before: Senua. The similarities between this shrine to that of Sulis at Bath, the fact that Senua, like Sulis, is identified with Minerva and also the resemblance of the Sen sound to our word Sun makes me suspect that this goddess could be a descendant of the ancient Indo-European Sun & eye goddess Suil, though I must also add that my interpretation is to some extent speculative.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS exploring Avebury’s prehistoric past showed off their findings during an open day yesterday.

The experts, who are halfway through the month-long Negotiating Avebury Project, thrilled crowds with a guided tour.

One of the key tasks of the team is to learn more about Beckhampton Avenue ­a form of prehistoric hallway ­which leads to the world-famous stone circle.

Melanie Pomeroy-Kellinger, Avebury World Heritage site officer, is delighted with the progress so far.

“This project is about transforming our understanding of the prehistoric landscape relating to Avebury,” she said.

“It is the final part of a five-year archeological research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board.”

The team have unearthed several pieces of Neolithic and Roman pottery as well as mysterious large stones.

From www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk

A public inquiry will decide the fate of controversial road plans for Stonehenge, it was confirmed this week.

An inquiry had been on the cards since the £193m scheme for ridding the world heritage site of traffic and returning the stones to an ancient setting was first announced.

Now transport minister Alistair Darling has announced that, because of the barrage of objections to the project, there will definitely be a public hearing, and that it will begin on February 17 next year.

thisiswiltshire.co.uk/wiltshire/amesbury/news/AMES_NEWS1.html

from BBCi
Plea to walkers over relics

A Cumbrian museum has urged hill walkers to leave Neolithic relics where they find them on the fells. Stone axes are often found on Lake District scree slopes, and the Tullie House Museum in Carlisle is showing people how to recognise them, enjoy them but not to take them home.
Whole story here

The latest four week archaeological excavation at Minehowe in Tankerness came to an end last week – but although it confirmed the extent and importance of metalworking around the enigmatic Iron Age site, it has again left the experts with as many questions as answers.

orkneyjar.com/archaeology/minehowe2003.htm

According to the East Lothian Courier, the grassland on top of Traprain Law was ablaze last weekend. The fire was believed to have been started by a dropped cigarette end. Archaeologists are apparently currently excavating the site, and were this week trying to decide how much damage had been caused to the hill fort. One hopes that the fire and the presence of archaeologists who smoke are unconnected.

More at
news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1014022003

From BBCi
An investigation has been launched into concerns that increased visitor numbers may be damaging the Stone Age village of Skara Brae on Orkney.
The heritage agency, Historic Scotland, has brought in state-of-the-art technology to determine whether stones are moving or developing cracks.
Read full article

It is claimed that Britain’s first underwater “Stoneage” site has been discovered. Go to: asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=3425828

He comes from Des Moines, Iowa. Somebody had to. You can’t blame him for wanting to be here.

Mr Bryson has been a resident of the country, on and off, for the past two decades. He said: “I am taking this very seriously and I am honoured to be appointed. It’s not every day that an immigrant more or less fresh off the boat gets invited to help run a national institution.”

Read whole story here

Archaeology of social inter-reaction etc. New study.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3095018.stm

Looks Egyptian to me! Not a British find but worth a look.
Go to nature.com/nsu/030901/030901-6.html

Its published!
Here’s what the book reviewer of ‘The Independent’ thought of it.

Archaeologists from the University of Manchester have excavated a new stone circle in Callanish, Lewis, that is already widely acknowledged as being second only to Stonehenge. Although a destroyed circle was reported as far back as 1928, a team of eight archaeologists only recently excavated the site and have already uncovered 12 new stones. The stone circle, which is thought to be more than 3,000 years old — older than Stonehenge — has been discovered in close proximity to the four other existing stone circles at the famous standing stones of Callanish.

The new circle, called Na Dromannan (’The Ridges’), is around 30 metres in diameter — larger than the existing ones — and is situated on the crofters’ common grazings. It includes a regular outer circle and various stones irregularly placed in an inner ring. Each stone measures between 2.5 to four metres long and is made of Lewissian gneiss — a metamorphic rock containing feldspar, quartz and mica, which give it its sheen. The archaeologists excavating the site have been particularly intrigued by one of the stones exposed, which is covered by a complete layer of quartz.

The stones are of particular interest because of their unusual construction. Instead of being bedded in earth, they are situated on a rocky outcrop and were originally propped up by stones encircling their bases. As such, they were less stable and were found lying in the positions they fell in — some of them broken.

The team of Manchester undergraduate and postgraduate archaeology students on Lewis are being led by Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University, Dr Colin Richards, who has been working on a project for the last two years on the construction of stone circles in North West Britain, including Orkney and Arran. Dr Richards stressed that the discovery of the ancient stone circle was very exciting, particularly because the circle was built on the site of a quarry from which the stones probably came, and where the team has found a large monolith. Although archaeologists have geologically located the mountains which the stones to build Stonehenge would have come from, no evidence of the quarry has ever been found.

Dr Richards said: “We have uncovered 12 stones already. Some are rectangular and thick and some are smaller, thin stones. When we started taking the peat off, we realised how big these stones were. Some are up to four metres long.” Dr Richards acknowledged that a ‘destroyed circle’ was recorded in 1928 by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.
“It was long thought that there may be a further stone circle on the site but, until now, it has lain undiscovered, buried in the peat,” he said. “When I came here last year, I could see the ends of stones poking up above the peat. We came up here again in late July and did two weeks. I then came up about a week ago. This is the result of around three weeks’ work. People have always assumed that the stone circles were built for a purpose, but I wondered whether these things were actually considered greatly. It could have just been the case of gathering people together socially to move the stones.”

Dr Richards added: “Why they chose this area and not somewhere else is very interesting. The site may have been special because the stones were sacred. I would date them around 3000BC.” He continued: “This site is kind of nice because you see sites like the main circle and it’s very manufactured and precise. This is good because it shows what happens when things go wrong. Because the stones are irregular, we don’t know how many we expect to find. It is very difficult to say, but perhaps 16 or 17 in the outer circle.”

The archaeologists are planning to leave Lewis on Saturday. The uncovered stones will be covered with plastic, until the team return next year to continue work at the site.

stornowaygazette.co.uk/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Newspaper/Article&pid=1034254631790&cid=1060350159439

Archaeologists from the University of Manchester have excavated a new stone circle in Callanish, Lewis, that is already widely acknowledged as being second only to Stonehenge.
Although a destroyed circle was reported as far back as 1928, a team of eight archaeologists only recently excavated the site and have already uncovered 12 new stones.
The stone circle, which is thought to be more than 3,000 years old — older than Stonehenge — has been discovered in close proximity to the four other existing stone circles at the famous standing stones of Callanish.
The new circle, called Na Dromannan (‘The Ridges’), is around 30 metres in diameter — larger than the existing ones — and is situated on the crofters’ common grazings. It includes a regular outer circle and various stones irregularly placed in an inner ring. Each stone measures between 2.5 to four metres long and is made of Lewissian gneiss — a metamorphic rock containing feldspar, quartz and mica, which give it its sheen.
The archaeologists excavating the site have been particularly intrigued by one of the stones exposed, which is covered by a complete layer
of quartz.
The stones are of particular interest because of their unusual construction. Instead of being bedded in earth, they are situated on a rocky outcrop and were originally propped up by stones encircling their bases. As such, they were less stable and were found lying in the positions they fell in — some of them broken.
The team of Manchester undergraduate and postgraduate archaeology students on Lewis are being led by Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University, Dr Colin Richards, who has been working on a project for the last two years on the construction of stone circles in North West Britain, including Orkney and Arran.
Dr Richards stressed that the discovery of the ancient stone circle was very exciting, particularly because the circle was built on the site of a quarry from which the stones probably came, and where the team has found a large monolith.
Although archaeologists have geologically located the mountains which the stones to build Stonehenge would have come from, no evidence of the quarry has ever been found.
Dr Richards said: “We have uncovered 12 stones already. Some are rectangular and thick and some are smaller, thin stones. When we started taking the peat off, we realised how big these stones were. Some are up to four metres long.”
Dr Richards acknowledged that a ‘destroyed circle’ was recorded in 1928 by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.
“It was long thought that there may be a further stone circle on the site but, until now, it has lain undiscovered, buried in the peat,” he said.
“When I came here last year, I could see the ends of stones poking up above the peat. We came up here again in late July and did two weeks. I then came up about a week ago. This is the result of around three weeks’ work.
“People have always assumed that the stone circles were built for a purpose, but I wondered whether these things were actually considered greatly. It could have just been the case of gathering people together socially to move
the stones.”
Dr Richards added: “Why they chose this area and not somewhere else is very interesting. The site may have been special because the stones were sacred. I would date them around 3000BC.”
He continued: “This site is kind of nice because you see sites like the main circle and it’s very manufactured and precise. This is good because it shows what happens when things go wrong.
“Because the stones are irregular, we don’t know how many we expect to find. It is very difficult to say, but perhaps 16 or 17 in the outer circle.”
The archaeologists are planning to leave Lewis on Saturday. The uncovered stones will be covered with plastic, until the team return next year to continue work at the site.

https://212.137.46.186/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Newspaper/Article&pid=1034254631790&cid=1060350159439
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From the Evening Chronicle.

Iron Age skull unearthed in a back garden in North Tyneside.

Full story here

thisislancashire.co.uk/lancashire/lancaster/news/LANCNEWS8.html

THE Storey Gallery in Lancaster is hosting an exciting exhibition of archaeological sculpture, photography and paintings from Saturday.

The display – entitled the Segsbury Project – is a result of artist Simon Calleryís experiences of an archaeological dig at Segsbury Camp, an Iron Age hill fort in Oxfordshire.

It includes a sculpture entitled Trench 10 made by pouring plaster directly on to the surface of a 20-metre Bronze Age ditch.

The exhibition will run until November 15

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/3081532.stm

Thursday is the deadline for people to express their views over a proposed £193m road development around Stonehenge. It is hoped that the re-routing of the A303 road, and a £57m visitor centre, will rescue the World Heritage site from its label as “a national disgrace”. More than 1,000 people have already made their views known and a public inquiry is to be held early next year.

But the National Trust, while supporting the overall scheme, has reiterated its call for the 2.1 km tunnel proposed by the government, to be lengthened. Speaking in June, trust territory director Martyn Heighton said: “We are not convinced that the plan for a 2.1km tunnel will adequately safeguard the integrity of the site. There are strong archaeological and curatorial reasons for building as long a tunnel as possible, to preserve and enhance the qualities of the site.”

Landowners the National Trust, monument keepers English Heritage and the Highways Agency are working together on the scheme.

The publishing of the report sets off a 12-week public consultation period.

Work will start by 2005 if the scheme is approved.

ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100014_04/09/2003_33683

An archaeological dig on the island of Chios has unearthed evidence of a successful head operation carried out over 2,000 years ago in accordance with the writings of Hippocrates, the most famous of ancient doctors.

From BBCi, 4 September 2003
Next Thursday is the deadline for people to express their views over a proposed £193m road development around Stonehenge. It is hoped that the re-routing of the A303 road, and a £57m visitor centre, will rescue the World Heritage site from its label as “a national disgrace”.
Read whole story here....

Ok, so they’re doing it for their own ends, because they might have to dredge some of it. But they could find all sorts of Prehistoric Stuff.

royal-navy.mod.uk/rn/content.php3?page=1&article=725

Wrecks and ‘drowned’ prehistoric settlements may be among the mysteries of the Solent that could be discovered during the most scientifically advanced survey of the area, being undertaken by the Royal Navy.

New hi-tech equipment is being used to produce pictures of what is on and below the seabed in an area that will have to be dredged if it is chosen as the new route into Portsmouth Naval Base for the navy’s new and much larger generation of aircraft carriers.

The geophysical survey – part of a £150-£200 million Portsmouth regeneration scheme – is being conducted by the RN Hydrographic surveying squadron’s smallest vessel, the 35ft long HM Survey Motor Launch (HMSML) Gleaner. With her small crew under the command of Lieutenant Commander Matt Syrett, the Gleaner started her survey task on Monday (September 1) and will continue the work until September 12.

Working under contract to the ministry of defence, the commercial company Wessex Archaeology is assisting the survey which will be carried out using a multi-beam echo-sounder, high-frequency sonar which can detect small items on or below the seabed and, for the first time, a computer-controlled camera system known as Remus.

Also new will be a Canadian-developed system – Caris – which will be used to process the data at the end of the operation. That data, which should be ready before the end of the year, will be provided to the organisations being consulted as part of an environmental impact assessment already announced.

Among the organisations being consulted are local authorities in the area, English heritage and the Mary Rose trust, who have a keen interest in the results of Gleaner’s survey of the Mary Rose wreck site, where the ship’s bow castle is thought to be lying under the seabed.

An initial assessment provided for mod by Wessex Archaeology has found that there are 174 known and documented wrecks and seabed obstructions in the Solent, including the remains of the Portsdown steam ferry which lies on the route of the navy’s preferred channel.

Much earlier wrecks could also be found as the Romans used the Solent sea routes. Other artefacts and structures may date back to the stone and bronze ages as 18,000 years ago the Solent was dry land that gradually became inundated.

from Farming Life, 3-9-03

Northern Ireland is well known for the diversity of its landscape features, particularly the many archaeological sites which are scattered throughout the countryside.

Examples of the many different types of site include standing stones, stone circles, raths, forts and underground souterrains (tunnels).

However, many important sites have been lost or damaged over the years.

Protection of these unique landscape features is paramount as they not only preserve a visible link with the past, but also contain a wealth of information about the way of life of our ancestors.

These sites can be safeguarded under the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) Scheme and the Countryside Management Scheme (CMS).

In these schemes, the farmer receives an annual payment for the positive management of an archaeological feature.

Read whole story here....

Do I detect the hand of our very our BrigantesNation at work here?!

From www.24hour museum.org.uk
Archaeologists and local campaigners have expressed their concern at the possibility of further gravel extraction close to the Neolithic complex of henges at Thornborough in Yorkshire.

What a great news story!

From an article by Alan Hamilton, published in The Times, on 3rd September 2003:

Cryptic runic symbols discovered on a block of granite in Norfolk, initially thought to be of huge archaeological significance, have been found to be just eight years old.

The two-tonne rock, imported from Norway in the 1980s to strengthen sea defences at Gorleston-on-Sea near Great Yarmouth, was exposed this year by high tides. It was engraved with intertwined serpents and runic symbols which, it was felt, had a definite 2,000-year-old Norse look about them. Dr John Davies, chief curator for North Norfolk Museums, declared it unlikely to be a fake.

“It looks genuine; not the sort of design someone would doodle,” he said. The town’s local newspaper reported a “potentially very important discovery” — but the sculptor then confessed. Barry Luxton, 50, an unemployed construction worker with an interest in druids, said that he cut the design with a hammer and chisel over three days in 1995 to coincide with May Day celebrations.

“It is hilarious that they were taken in,” he said yesterday. “I certainly did not intend to deceive anyone.”

The newspaper carries a photo of the Mayor of Great Yarmouth proudly studying the carving, and another of Mr Luxton carving the symbol (page 11). Great stuff!

The Ananova version of the same article is also entertaining.