Report from the Orcadian with details of the new visitor centre.
Latest News
April 5, 2017
April 4, 2017
Iron Age chariot and horse found buried together in Yorkshire
The Ancient Brits loved their wheels. Indeed they seem to have been so attached to their sports-car-style chariots that they may even have thought they could use them to get to the next world.
Academic knowledge about these elegant high status prehistoric British vehicles is now set to increase significantly, following the discovery of an ancient Briton buried inside his chariot in East Yorkshire.
April 3, 2017
medieval-villagers-mutilated-the-dead-to-stop-them-rising-study-finds
Don’t think this investigation is included in the UK Archaeological Science Conference (see below) .
But a good example of tech clarifying the muddy waters .
April 2, 2017
UK Archaeological Science Conference 5th – 8th April 2017
See
ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/cal...tract_book.pdf
For info .
Abstracts start at P. 21 .
Pps 48, 57 , 65 & 107 .Look the most likely to grab attention here , particularly the Aveline’s Hole one .
April 1, 2017
Those zany National Truss People really had me going then.
March 31, 2017
Wiltshire Wildlife Trust have made the following announcement:
“It is with much regret that we must cancel the 2017 Sarsen Trail and Neolithic Marathon.
Unfortunately there is now going to be a major military exercise on Salisbury Plain with live firing. As a result we will be unable to access the Plain or Old Carter Barracks at Bulford (the finish) on 30th April, the planned date of our Sarsen Trail and Neolithic Marathon.
We have overcome many challenges in the 29 years of running this event but after looking at alternatives including changing the date and route, none of these options are viable.
To find out more information, how to claim a refund or how to donate your entry fee please call 01380 829084.”
March 29, 2017
As helpfully pointed out by thesweetcheat on TMA Forum, there have been some seemingly sudden changes to the 49 bus service from Swindon Bus Station to Avebury.
Anyone planning a bus trip to Avebury from Sunday 2nd April 2017, they now only run every two hours. Here are the times:
From Swindon Bus Station: 08.15, 10.15, 12.15, 14.15, 16.15, 18.15
Return from Avebury: 09.34, 11.34, 13.34, 15.34, 17.34, 19.34 (leaving Devizes at 11 minutes past the hour – every two hours).
March 28, 2017
Volunteers for Bryn Celli Ddu dig
An appeal is being made for volunteers to join archaeologists to excavate in the surrounding landscape of Bryn Celli Ddu passage tomb on Anglesey.
The team behind the dig — led by staff from the Welsh Government’s historic environment service, Cadw, University of Central Lancashire and Manchester Metropolitan University are calling on local volunteers to join the team for a two week excavation taking place this summer.
During the dig, due to begin on 11 of June, archaeologists hope to find further evidence of a Late Neolithic / Bronze Age burial cairn located meters from the main Bryn Celli Ddu passage tomb.
There will also be opportunities to explore the surrounding landscape, recording the eight new rock art panels found during the last two years. Dr Ffion Reynolds, from Cadw, said the dig would end on 24 of June and participants do not need any prior knowledge of archaeology to take part, just a curious mind.
She said: “There’ll be opportunities for archaeological investigation, geophysical survey, field walking and we also need people to help record our new rock art panels.”
The main passage tomb and cairn were built around 4,800 years ago, and the project is building up a picture of a complex landscape of activity, from burial locations to sites of pilgrimage. Dr Seren Griffiths, from University of Central Lancashire, said “the nature of the monument and the rock art at Bryn Celli Ddu makes it internationally important.”
Members of the public will also get a chance to experience a real life dig and see the newly discovered secrets, when Bryn Celli Ddu plays host to an open day on Saturday 17 June, between 11am and 4pm.
To sign up to be a volunteer, get in touch with Dr Seren Griffiths from the University of Central Lancashire on [email protected] Public events:
The archaeological open day (17 June, 11am – 4pm) is free to attend, and no booking is required.
The stargazing event (16 June, 9.30pm) is £5 per ticket, places are limited. To book phone Dark Sky Wales on 07403 402114.
Read more: Call For Volunteers For Third Season Of Bryn Celli Ddu Landscape Excavation news.wales/national/cadw/call-for-volunteers-for-third-season-of-bryn-celli-ddu-landscape-excavation-2017-03-31902.html
“It will be intriguing to know whether any remains of the 2,500 year hillfort are evident or did the castle obliterate it all? We think there must have been more buildings within the castle walls but we’ll have to wait and see whether there are any hints of their remains.”
dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/underground-castle-archaeological-search-underway-12790723
March 27, 2017
Visitor centre at Orkney gets "go-ahead"
“Adam’s stunning picture shows a shaft of life entering one side of the historic fort, before creating a perfect line to the other side.”
From The Donegal Daily
March 23, 2017
Some forty prehistoric engravings, more than 14,000 years old, have been discovered in Finistere, at the town of Plougastel-Daoulas, in Brittany (northwestern France).
Depicting several animals, these artistic vestiges date back to the Upper Palaeolithic period and are extremely rare in Europe.
Read more at archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2017/03/14000-years-old-engraved-tablets.html#qMS1uqLGExkMDcwR.99
Also:
journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0173037
March 18, 2017
Nieuwegein is a municipality and city in the Dutch province of Utrecht.
It was reported on January 31, 2017 that, in a thick layer of clay on the site of a new business park in Nieuwegein, archaeologists had found a nearly intact skeleton dating from approximately 6000 years ago. The location had already yielded pots and jewellery from the Swifterbant Culture (5300-3400 BCE), named after the village of Swifterbant in the Flevopolder, where the first finds were made.
Although the skeleton looks almost intact, it is remarkable that the bones are not all in their logical positions. Why the skeletal parts have been moved out of anatomical context is unclear: possibly they became disorganised through earth movements.
The original Dutch Report includes a photograph of the cast in which the skeleton was removed.
Here’s another illustrated report with a photograph showing archaeologists uncovering a third skeleton from the site.
March 7, 2017
March 6, 2017
A challenging descent by ladder, winch and harness into a prehistoric underworld will open to the public for the first time this year, allowing exploration of shafts and galleries cut deep under Norfolk heathland more than 4,000 years ago.
The extraordinary surface landscape of Grime’s Graves, pockmarked with hundreds of shallow depressions, puzzled people for many centuries until they were identified about 150 years ago as neolithic flint mines.
Nicholas Cope, interpreter of The Knap of Howar and the Golden Mean ratio, leads a guided tour of all the prime Orkney sites, including the Knap, from 7 July. It’s not cheap, but if you’re interested, there’s a link on his FB page.
February 28, 2017
theguardian.com/science/2017/feb/28/detectorists-strike-iron-age-gold-staffordshire-field
“Two metal detecting friends have found a hoard of superb Iron Age gold jewellery after returning to a Staffordshire field where they previously found nothing and became so bored that they gave up the hobby and turned to fishing for 20 years.
The four Iron Age gold torcs – three collars and a bracelet-sized piece, including two made of twisted gold wire, two with trumpet shaped finials and one with beautiful Celtic ornament – are of international importance.
The pieces were made in present-day Germany or France, possibly in the third or fourth century BC and, according to Julia Farley of the British Museum, are some of the oldest examples of Iron Age gold, and of Celtic ornament, ever found in Britain. They could have arrived through trade or on the neck and arms of an extremely wealthy immigrant ....”
February 26, 2017
Women and children last .
A wee bit breathless in places , but the important points make up for it .
February 20, 2017
February 15, 2017
What an absolute belter of a find!
February 10, 2017
February 5, 2017
Welsh heritage bodies have rejected a formal merger of any of their functions.
But government-controlled Cadw will become independent in recommendations to Economy Secretary Ken Skates.
An independent review of National Museum Wales (NMW) will also be held and will be published by the summer.
It follows strong opposition to proposals to merge some commercial functions of heritage bodies into a new organisation Historic Wales.
google.co.uk/amp/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/38841763?client=safari
February 4, 2017
NUI Galway archaeologist Andrew Whitefield disputes age of ancient north Mayo site.
January 30, 2017
“A number of organisations, including Peterborough City Council, Vivacity, the British Museum and The University of Cambridge, are in discussions about how best to display the discoveries found at Must Farm and Flag Fen.
Last January the world’s media was amazed by the archeological dig at Must Farm, near Whittlesey, which saw ancient round houses preserved in the clay. The discovery has been described as ‘the Pompei of the Fens’ because of the way the finds had been preserved, and what they told archeologists about life in the Fens 3,000 years ago. Wooden roundhouses, which were destroyed by a fire thousands of years ago, where uncovered, as were tools, bones and even pots still containing food. Journalists and historians from across the world descended on the Must Farm Quarry to see the operation to recover the finds. A report looking at the possibility of creating a National Bronze Age museum for the city had been prepared in 2014, with the discoveries at Flag Fen being at the heart of the plans – but now the report is being looked at again, to take into account the new discoveries. ”
Read more at: peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/national-bronze-age-museum-could-be-built-in-city-1-7794984
January 29, 2017
N AMATEUR archaeologist believes he has stumbled across Yorkshire’s first selfie, carved into a 4,000-year-old stone on Baildon Moor.
Gordon Holmes, from Shipley, first became interested in carved cup and ring stones on the district’s moors when his father pointed one out to him when he was about 12.
Now aged 64, retired design engineer and IT technician Mr Holmes has dedicated his life to studying the weathered ancient carvings which he believes could date to the late Stone Age.
But he says it had dawned on him recently that one carving he had been studying was of the artist himself.
“I realised that I was looking at a Stone Age selfie,” he said.
“There are many cup and ring stones around the moors, carved into millstone grit, but there are at least five such rocks with carvings representing aspects of the night sky which are on Baildon Moor.
“It seems that only Baildon Moor carvings correlated to patterns of star constellations. The other moors of Ilkley, Rivock Edge, Harden and Bingley only have the odd example of astronomical significance.
“What’s more, these five appear to have a particular style, a bit like handwriting, and I am convinced they are by the same artist.
“My father said to me all those years ago that no-one knew what the markings were, so I made it a mission to find out. I discovered the carvings showed the Pole Star, Cassiopeia, Hyades and Pleiades.
“One particular stone shows Cassiopeia, distinctive in the night sky because it forms a clear ‘W’ shape.
“It also shows a stick figure, which I presume is the artist, sitting or standing in the local landscape or round a fire with almost like a speech bubble above their head showing Cassiopeia above him. It is as if he has carved a selfie of himself,” said Mr Holmes.
“I know there could be earlier interpretations of selfies, such as those drawn in hieroglyphics by the Ancient Egyptians, but this stone carving selfie on Baildon Moor may well be the earliest example in Yorkshire.”
Mr Holmes is also interested in astronomy and has taught the subject at Bradford College.
He is also known for his search for the Loch Ness monster. In 2007 he filmed a large moving object in the loch. Almost a decade later, US-based software firm DreamFactory was able to analyse the footage and confirmed Mr Holmes’s suspicions that he had filmed a giant eel swimming in the loch.