International scientists are meeting in Orkney to develop a system for assessing the risks to world heritage sites posed by climate change.
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Latest News
April 24, 2019
April 17, 2019
The Book of Howburn published towards the end of last year...
Full report of the late Upper Paleolithic findings from from Howburn Farm a little North of Biggar. Over ten years in the making, the work is dedicated to the memory of Alan Saville of the National Museums of Scotland who was a great supporter of Biggar Archaeology Group’s prehistoric work and who died during the preparation of the book. Alan should have been co-author of the lithics side of the project. The book is dedicated to his memory. Similarly, some of Biggar Archaeology Group have also sadly passed away in the interim; Fiona Christison, Denise Dudds, Ian Paterson and Janet Ward, all stalwarts of BAG, and all fondly remembered.
Hard copies are £25.
Free PDF of full publication from this link.
archaeopress.com/ArchaeopressShop/Public/download.asp?id={F70B0E82-8EC0-4A15-8E8A-C9CE826C2AF8}
What a story.
April 16, 2019
The ancestors of the people who built Stonehenge travelled west across the Mediterranean before reaching Britain, a study has shown.
Researchers in London compared DNA extracted from Neolithic human remains found in Britain with that of people alive at the same time in Europe.
The Neolithic inhabitants appear to have travelled from Anatolia (modern Turkey) to Iberia before winding their way north.
They reached Britain in about 4,000BC.
Details have been published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
The migration to Britain was just one part of a general, massive expansion of people out of Anatolia in 6,000BC that introduced farming to Europe.
Before that, Europe was populated by small, travelling groups which hunted animals and gathered wild plants and shellfish.
One group of early farmers followed the river Danube up into Central Europe, but another group travelled west across the Mediterranean.
DNA reveals that Neolithic Britons were largely descended from groups who took the Mediterranean route, either hugging the coast or hopping from island-to-island on boats.
April 13, 2019
The head of a dog that lived on Orkney 4,500 years ago has been recreated in what experts believe is the world’s first canine forensic reconstruction.
The dog had been domesticated in the Neolithic era on the Scottish island archipelago, but still carried wolf-like characteristics, standing about the size of a large collie, according to Historic Environment Scotland (HES) which jointly commissioned the reconstruction with the National Museum of Scotland.
It was reconstructed by a forensic artist – using techniques similar to those by crime scene investigators – from one of 24 dog skulls that were excavated by archaeologists in Cuween Hill, a delicate passage tomb on Orkney’s Mainland, and which have been radiocarbon-dated to 2,500BC.
theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/apr/13/neolithic-dog-reveals-tales-behind-orkney-monuments
April 12, 2019
Artists have drawn on Scotland’s Neolithic past to create a series of new illustrations.
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April 11, 2019
Some idiot has seen fit to engrave some graffiti on to one of the stones at Brodgar.
Report and picture of the damage in the Orcadian
April 8, 2019
A miniature Bronze Age axe head was handed over to the National Museum of Ireland after pictures emerged of it on social media.
The axe was discovered through illegal metal detecting in Adare, Co Limerick.
NMI Keeper of Irish Antiquities Maeve Sikora said a member of the public alerted the museum to the images and the axe was recovered following an investigation by gardaí.
More: rte.ie/news/ireland/2019/0408/1041305-bronze-age-axe-find/
March 23, 2019
A conservation charity has bought a west Highlands hill and its area of ancient Caledonian pinewood and native birchwood.
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March 21, 2019
An “excavation” on social media has provided names for four women shown in pictures of a dig in Orkney.
More Info :
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-47639736
March 20, 2019
Bronze Age Cist discovered near Wooler
Human remains thought to date back 4,000 years have been discovered during building work at the Tankerville Arms Hotel in Wooler.
Contained human remains in crouched position but no artefacts reported at this time.
More data and photos at link below
Read more at: northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/4-000-year-old-human-bones-found-in-wooler-1-9660925
Archaeologists hope to carry out a fresh dig at what they believe could be the site of a 5,500-year-old “mortuary” in Aberdeenshire.
More info :
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-47626652
March 16, 2019
La Hougue de Vinde dolmen near Noirmont has been seriously damaged after someone dug holes all over the 5,000 year old historical site.
A man was seen illegally using a metal detector and a trowel on the ancient site, prompting the island’s heritage organisations to appeal to the public to help protect them.
After an islander reported the incident, Olga Finch, Jersey Heritage’s Curator ofArchaeology, inspected the site. She confirmed that it had been seriously damaged, finding ‘backfilled’ metal detecting holes in the centre of the chamber, and targeted digging all over the dolmen, particularly in the earthen banks and at the base of the orthostats (upright stones).
February 27, 2019
Archaeologists have carried out a dig at one of Scotland’s biggest and most significant hunter-gatherer sites.
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-47386160
February 15, 2019
Medieval vandalism?
If there is a gateway to hell, a portal from the underworld used by demons and witches to wreak their evil havoc on humanity, then it could be in a small east Midlands cave handy for both the M1 and A60.
Heritage experts have revealed what is thought to be the biggest concentration of apotropaic marks, or symbols to ward off evil or misfortune, ever found in the UK.
The markings, at Creswell Crags, a limestone gorge on the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border, include hundreds of letters, symbols and patterns carved, at a time when belief in witchcraft was widespread. The scale and variety of the marks made on the limestone walls and ceiling of a cave which has at its centre a deep, dark, hole, is unprecedented....
theguardian.com/culture/2019/feb/15/nottinghamshire-cave-carvings-marks-scare-witches
February 8, 2019
Britain’s favourite monument is stuck in the middle of a bad-tempered row over road traffic. By Charlotte Higgins
Published: 06:00 Friday, 08 February 2019
Stonehenge, with the possible exception of Big Ben, is Britain’s most recognisable monument. As a symbol of the nation’s antiquity, it is our Parthenon, our pyramids – although, admittedly, less impressive. Neil MacGregor, the former director of the British Museum, recalls that when he took a group of Egyptian archaeologists to see it, they were baffled by our national devotion to the stones, which, compared to the refined surfaces of the pyramids, seemed to them like something hastily thrown up over a weekend.
More: theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/feb/08/the-battle-for-the-future-of-stonehenge?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
February 4, 2019
A set of highly decorated chalk cylinders, carved in Britain more than 4,000 years ago and known as the Folkton drums, could be ancient replicas of measuring devices used for laying out prehistoric monuments like Stonehenge, archaeologists say...
livescience.com/64603-ancient-carved-drums-measure-stonehenge.html
January 31, 2019
“The bodies of an estimated 60 people from the Bronze Age have been found during an archaeological dig on land in Templeogue where former Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave lived.
The land, which is earmarked for housing development, is also believed to have evidence of Iron Age occupation and a ring fort and is being looked on as a very significant historical find.
Last week Independent.ie reported how the excavations being carried out on the land were a mystery to locals since work began last October.
South Dublin County Council would not comment on the dig, and local councillors could not get answers to their questions on the project.
But sources have now revealed that the site, on the Scholarstown Road close to Knocklyon, is of major significance.
“It is believed this was a Bronze Age burial site, and that people from the Iron Age used the site as a shrine or place of some sort of place of gathering,” the source said.
Evidence of a ring fort was also uncovered by archaeologists, the source added.
The Bronze Age in Ireland lasted from about 2000BC to 500BC. The Iron Age followed, lasting until around 400AD.Former Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave lived in a humble bungalow called Beech Park on the 16 acres of prime residential zoned land until his death in 2017 at the age of 97 .... ”
January 21, 2019
Apparently, the Holmhead RSC was actually built by a previous tenant of the land during the 1990s.
Read about it in this Daily Telegraph report....
... and on the BBC website.
January 16, 2019
Archaeologists have found evidence of early human activity at a submerged prehistoric forest in the Western Isles.
More info :
January 7, 2019
An archaeological charity is pushing ahead with an ambitious plan to construct a full-size replica of an Iron Age broch.
More info :
December 17, 2018
Recumbent stone circle discovered at north-east farm
A stone circle has been discovered on a farm in the north-east.
The stone circle was found near Leochel-Cushnie and had been unknown to archaeologists until now.
Read the Evening Express report.
Adam Welfare from Historic Environment Scotland said: “In numbering 10 stones it fits the average, but its diameter is about three metres smaller than any known hitherto and it is unusual in that all the stones are proportionately small.”
More information on the Aberdeenshire Council website
See also Aberdeenshire Archaeology Service Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) for more details.
December 12, 2018
You couldn’t really make this up.
telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11/29/uks-first-pagan-burial-tomb-5000-years-hit-business-rates-bill/
December 7, 2018
Archaeologists have accused Highways England of accidentally drilling a large hole through a 6,000-year-old structure near Stonehenge during preparatory work for a tunnel.
The drilling, which is alleged to have taken place at Blick Mead, around a mile and a half from the world-famous neolithic ring of stones, has enraged archaeologists, who say engineers have dug a three-metre-deep hole (10ft) through a man-made platform of flint and animal bone.
Highways England have said they are not aware of any damage to archaeological layers on the site caused by their work and will meet with the archaeological team on Thursday, led by David Jacques, a senior research fellow at the University of Buckingham.......
theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/dec/06/ancient-platform-damaged-during-stonehenge-tunnel-work
November 29, 2018
salisburymuseum.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/hoards-hidden-history-ancient-britain
In partnership with the British Museum
Hoards: a Hidden History of Ancient Britain.
Salisbury Museum – until Jan 5th 2019
“In partnership with the British Museum, this exhibition traces the story of hoarding from Bronze Age weapons discovered in the river Thames and the first Iron Age coin hoards, through to hoards buried after the collapse of Roman rule in Britain and in more recent times. It will showcase recent discoveries of hoards reported by finders and archaeologists through the Treasure Act and brings together objects from the British Museum and Salisbury Museum, including the spectacular Ipswich Iron Age gold torcs and new prehistoric and Roman finds from Wessex.”
Why have ancient people placed precious objects underwater or in the ground? Were they accidentally lost or stolen, discarded as worthless, saved for recycling, hidden for safekeeping, or offered up to the gods? The archaeological evidence may point to different explanations for the burial of these hoards. Come and find out what careful study of these finds has revealed about the past.”
– Saw this today, definitely worth a trip to the historic city of Salisbury.
See British Museum link below for other dates and venues later in 2019, including Ulster Museum, Buxton Museum, IoW and Peterborough.
britishmuseum.org/about_us/tours_and_loans/uk_loans_and_tours/current_tours_and_loans/hoards.aspx
November 23, 2018
Story here:
jrnl.ie/4356455