Latest News

“Previously unknown Anglesey landscape possibly includes cairn cemetery in what experts described as ‘really exciting stuff’

Archaeologists have uncovered a prehistoric ritual landscape that possibly includes a cairn cemetery around a 5,000-year-old burial mound aligned with the summer solstice sun on Anglesey.

Though far less famous than Stonehenge, the spectacle of sunlight shining down a long narrow passage to light up the inner chamber of Bryn Celli Ddu on the longest day of the year is unforgettable. Excavation now suggests the site had significance for prehistoric people that lasted for millennia after the earth mound was raised over a stone passage grave.”

More here...

theguardian.com/science/2017/jun/21/archeologists-unearth-prehistoric-ritual-area-bryn-celli-ddu-anglesey

For the first time, a detailed online atlas has drawn together the locations and particulars of the UK and Ireland’s hill forts and come to the conclusion that there are more than 4,000 of them, mostly dating from the iron age.

You can access this new database at

https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/

archaeologyorkney.com/category/the-cairns-dig-diary-2017/

Article on The Guardian online travel page today...

theguardian.com/travel/2017/jun/19/scotland-prehistoric-rock-carvings-walking-holidays?CMP=twt_gu

Illegal metal detectors have caused irreparable damage to a prehistoric road in the Midlands with Ireland’s leading heritage charity calling on the Government to intervene to save the road.

An Taisce: The National Trust for Ireland has written to the Heritage Minister Heather Humphreys to request that the oakwood-built roadway, located on Mayne Bog in Coole, Co. Westmeath, be protected fully by the laws of the State.

Its Antiquities and Monuments committee has criticised the Minister for “standing idly by” and wants a licensed metal detector survey carried out along the route.

Dr Mark Clinton of An Taisce said that the area is of international importance and should be placed on the Record of Monuments and Places (RMP) list. Much of the 647-metre, 3,000-year-old wooden track has been dug up by workmen cutting peat.

More: independent.ie/irish-news/illegal-metal-detectors-damage-3000yearold-wooden-road-35780708.html

Pathetic :-(

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-40171195

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-40133597

Preserving an ‘at risk’ ancient monument in Weston-super-Mare is a priority for Historic England and a volunteer group, who hope teaching schoolchildren about its importance will ensure it is looked after for generations to come.

thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/importance-of-at-risk-hill-fort-promoted-to-ensure-it-can-be-preserved-1-5021355

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/8400025.stm

Paleolithic-era drawings found in Axturra cave are in ‘Champions League’ of cave art sites, team leader says

Spanish archaeologists say they have discovered an exceptional set of Paleolithic-era cave drawings that could rank among the best in a country that already boasts some of the world’s most important cave art.

Chief site archaeologist Diego Garate said that an estimated 70 drawings were found on ledges 300m (1,000 ft) underground in the Atxurra cave in the northern Basque region. He described the site as being in “the Champions League” of cave art and among the top 10 sites in Europe. The engravings and paintings feature horses, buffalo, goats and deer, dating back 12,500-14,500 years.

More: theguardian.com/science/2016/may/27/spanish-archaeologists-discover-cave-art-axturra-paleolithic

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-39976276

A prehistoric henge, dating back almost 6,000 years, has been uncovered on farmland in Warwickshire.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-39985586

“Barker and Jenks discovered prehistoric burial mounds and cremations, slots for standing stones and two rows of Neolithic post holes and a ditch, known as a cursus, which they interpreted as a processional way. It was aligned east to west, extending towards the current church building.

“The current church appears to have incorporated and deliberately built over late Neolithic/early Bronze Age remains. The 15-inch section of post we found was sticking up into the Medieval foundations,” said Janey Green, of Baskerville Archaeological Services.

“It is an incredibly complex site and appears to have been used and re-used for religious purposes for over 4,000 years. It is well known that Christians liked to build churches over pagan sites.

“More work needs to be done but early interpretations indicate that it is the earliest known sacred site in Britain that is still in use today.”

Read more at shropshirestar.com/news/local-hubs/2017/05/18/dig-finds-oldest-sacred-site-in-the-uk/#3jeResuJxr0OjCLo.99

“When we arrived there, a man was burning a sack full of rubbish IN the burial chamber. Smoke was bellowing out from under the cap-stone and the smell of plastic was heavy in the air.”

From a letter to the Glamorgan GEM

Follow up:

Tinkinswood fire reported to police

The Glamorgan GEM

salisburymuseum.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/british-art-ancient-landscapes

On currently until Sunday, September 3, 2017

Booking: No booking required.
Cost: Normal admission charges apply.

“The British landscape has been a continual inspiration to artists across the centuries and particularly the landscapes shaped and marked by our distant ancestors. The megaliths, stone circles and chalk-cut hill figures that survive from Neolithic and Bronze Age times have stimulated many artists to make a response. In this major new exhibition curated by Professor Sam Smiles, these unique artistic responses have been brought together to create a new discussion. Featuring the work of some of the greatest names in British art from the last 250 years, see John Constable, JMW Turner, Eric Ravilious, John Piper, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Paul Nash, Richard Long, Derek Jarman and more, as their work records and reflects on some of our most treasured ancient landscapes.”

I had a look at the catalogue yesterday which is available at the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes. The word catalogue does not do it justice – a very beautiful book to own, though at £25 not cheap. Several of the artworks owned by Wiltshire Museum are in the exhibition, including David Inshaw.

Not my patch by a great distance but am following Kilmartin Museum on FB and was pleased to read their following statement:
“We are delighted to announced we have reached and EXCEEDED our £10,000 goal for our Coll Hoard Conservation campaign! A huge huge thank you to everyone who donated, shared and in any way helped us to achieve this. Rewards and official thank yous will be issued soon. This is extremely exciting as now these fantastic artefacts can be sent to the Scottish Conservation Studio in Edinburgh to be conserved properly. We’ve already raised £905 over the amount needed, and our campaign does run until tomorrow morning so we have decided any extra money we make will go towards preserving an early Christian cross slab fragment which comes from a ruined Chapel in Kilmartin Glen. If this is something you are interested in supporting you can still donate at:”
crowdfunder.co.uk/coll-hoard-conservation

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-39703952

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-39782018

“The issue is whether Stonehenge exists to provide a tourist experience, or whether it is something more significant, both historically and spiritually,” he says. “It has stood there for 4,500 years. And up to now, no one’s thought of injecting enormous quantities of concrete into the landscape and permanently disfiguring it.”

theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/25/stonehenge-tunnel-desecration-prehistoric-traffic-jams

tepetelegrams.wordpress.com/2017/04/21/archaeoastronomy-meteor-showers-mass-extinction-what-does-the-fox-say-and-what-the-crane-the-aurochs/

A useful response from the excavators ,mainly related to the problems connected with the nonsense about about the symbols and cherry picking .
It’s not to be expected that they might have noticed that the astronomy was also wrong i.e. the asterisms were actually below the horizon on their chosen solstice date . Possibly why the images highlighted them during the day when they were above the horizon but invisible .
No mention either of the suggested date of the observation being a thousand years earlier than the earliest date from the site .
Hopefully the Telegraph and New Scientist will give this the space it deserves .

Ancient stone carvings confirm how comet struck Earth in 10,950BC, sparking the rise of civilisations .

telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/04/21/ancient-stone-carvings-confirm-comet-struck-earth-10950bc-wiping/

Even the New Scientist fell for this nonsense .

The paper is here .
maajournal.com/Issues/2017/Vol17 ... 281%29.pdf
Well worth a read if you enjoy fantasies .

Ideal fodder for the saddos who have a problem with experts .
In this case the expertise of the authors ( chemical engineering ) is unrelated to the content .
Not dissimilar to geomorphologists writing “papers ” about archaeology .

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-39658788

Well-known for its World Heritage Sites of Stonehenge and Avebury, the prehistoric monuments of Wiltshire have long provided a focus of attention for archaeologists and visitors alike. Today the Wiltshire sites are perceived as an important focal point in British prehistory.

Yet there is much more to the prehistory of Wiltshire than Stonehenge, Avebury and Silbury Hill. The latter sites are of course all here, and discussed with personal insight, but so too are the widespread fields and enclosures of the Bronze Age that established a template across the countryside for later generations to follow, and the enormous hillforts of the Iron Age that stand sentinel-like overlooking the chalkland river valleys. Interesting sites abound, particularly on the wide expanses of uncultivated downland, and these provide a remarkable insight into past societies, economy and settlement. Prehistoric impact on the landscape was huge and the archaeology reveals the nature of development and changes across the countryside.

This volume provides an up-to-date account of the prehistory of Wiltshire from the earliest evidence for human occupation to the influence on the Romano-British countryside; it outlines the effect of past climate change on the topography and how animals and people established the landscape that we know today. The story is one of exuberant but excessive monument building, of innovation potentially fuelled by competition to impress, and of the struggle to subsist.

- See more at: amberley-books.com/prehistoric-landscapes-of-wiltshire.html

An art exhibition at the Richard Jefferies Museum, Marlborough Road, Swindon SN3 6AA features a portrait of Julian Cope by the Avebury Stones – artist as yet unknown.

Exhibition is called ‘Weird Wiltshire’ – celebrating the “myth, magic and mystery of Wiltshire” in art form.
swindonopenstudios.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/weird-wiltshire-exhibition.html?spref=fb

From 1st – 29th April. Entry Free.
Opening times vary so, if planning a visit please call 01793-466571 or see web-site:
richardjefferiessociety.co.uk/RJmuseum.html

DOI: doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2016.269

Josh Pollard has an interesting paper in the most recent “Antiquity ” . An original suggestion , afaiaa , that the geoglyph is a symbol related to the Trundholm sun horse and associated motifs found on Scandinavian razors and rock art .

Flemming Kaul has been the main instigator in suggesting that the symbol(s) are derived from Indo -European myth and represent the sun on it’s daily journey from east to west , whilst a boat or chariot takes it on the underworld return west to east journey .
In this case the horse is heading just west of south .
There are problems with the Kaul suggestion but it still has adherents since his initial “Ships on Bronzes ” nearly 20 years ago .