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From the summit of the Great Orme, the landscape looks as peaceful as it is striking – all rolling green hills and farmland stretching out to the blue Irish Sea.

But the headland that rises over Llandudno, Wales has a secret, one that lay buried for thousands of years.
More than five miles (8km) of tunnels run beneath the hill’s surface. Spreading across nine different levels and reaching 230 feet (70m) deep, some are so narrow that only children would be small enough to access them.
These are the tunnels of a copper mine: one that was first dug out some 3,800 years ago and that, within a couple of centuries, was the largest in Britain.

Continues.....

bbc.com/earth/story/20160420-the-ancient-copper-mines-dug-by-bronze-age-children

Great news! Scientist Mary Somerville too.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-36111759

Robert Macfarlane, writer and Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, welcomed the choice of Ms Shepherd for the £5 note.
He said: “It is thrilling to see Nan Shepherd celebrated and commemorated in this way.
“Nan was a blazingly brilliant writer, a true original whose novels, poems and non-fiction broke new ground in Scottish literature, and her influence lives on powerfully today.”

Western Daily Press

The National Trust and Wiltshire Police are to crack down on the ‘number and behaviour’ of people camping on Britain’s oldest roads – the ancient Ridgeway near Avebury – for the summer solstice.

A new plan has been drawn up by the Trust, which owns the stone circle in the Wiltshire village, to clamp down on the growing numbers of people staying outside the village and blocking the Ridgeway, which runs along the hillside just to the east of the village.

The crackdown will also see more enforcement of tighter new parking restrictions at Avebury village itself, as the National Trust aims to curb the excesses of the revellers who gather there.

The move follows hugely controversial measures put in place by English Heritage for the summer solstice at Stonehenge, including charging £15 to park cars in the temporary car park, and banning alcohol on the site for the night.

While the crowds can reach 40,000 at Stonehenge to see the sunrise on the longest day in June, the solstice at Avebury is a much smaller affair. Crowds there can reach 5,000, and there already has been one major crackdown on what went on there.

There was absolute chaos in 2005 and 2006 when so many people parked all over the village that they completely blocked the main A361 Swindon to Devizes road, which runs through Avebury. During the 2000s, residents also complained consistently of drunken, loutish behaviour by revellers, including finding people vomiting, sleeping, urinating or defecating in their gardens. Many residents still go away for the two days either side of the solstice to avoid the event.

The National Trust and police clamped down on parking. It is no longer allowed anywhere outside the existing visitors’ car park, which fills up almost as soon as it is opened on the eve of the solstice, and camper vans are banned.

But increasing numbers of people are heading to Avebury – anecdotally to avoid increased regulation at Stonehenge – and many camp wild along the Ridgeway, which is a short walk across the fields from Avebury village, and affords amazing views over the stone circle and Silbury Hill.

The Ridgeway there is the start of an ancient road that runs all the way to East Anglia and dates back to at least the creation of the Avebury stone circle more than 5,000 years ago.

The Trust said it wanted to make ‘Solstice a more peaceful occasion’, and its plan would make the celebrations at Avebury ‘safe for everyone and respectful of the World Heritage Site’.

As part of the plan, the Police and Wiltshire Council will increase patrols on the Ridgeway – a byway east of Avebury where the number and behaviour of people gathering during Solstice has become a problem.

The National Trust said regular patrols of the byway ‘will ensure safety, keep access along the byway open and prosecute and remove those found to be breaking the law’.

Jan Tomlin, the National Trust’s General Manager in Avebury, said: “We want the Solstice at Avebury to continue to be known for being a peaceful, respectful occasion which all those who care most about the henge and the village would want it to be – that is why we are taking this action.”

“As landowner we are concerned about the safety of anybody using our land – including the Ridgeway. A robust management plan as proposed and enforced by the council and Police is the right thing,” she added.

Philip Whitehead, Wiltshire council’s highways boss, said he was ‘delighted’ action was being taken. “I am delighted we are taking a real partnership approach to tackling the challenges the Summer Solstice brings to Avebury,” he said. “It is a real team effort, and I look forward to another successfully managed event.”

Read more: westerndailypress.co.uk/National-Trust-crackdown-Avebury-solstice/story-29147628-detail/story.html

More info :

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-36053300

insidewiltshire.co.uk/5000-years-of-history-unearthed-at-site-for-new-army-homes/

“The archaeological work that uncovered these exciting remains was undertaken as part of the normal planning process and we are pleased that, as a result, it has been agreed some of the most significant archaeology will be preserved within the planned open space. The remains date from the prehistoric to the modern periods and add new chapters to the story of Bulford. These finds are a great example of the fantastic range of archaeology that lies unseen under our county waiting to be rediscovered, and how sustainable development can help to tell us more about our past.”

A further phase of excavation is planned to examine the two prehistoric monuments beside which the Saxon cemetery was established. These appear to consist of Early Bronze Age round barrows that may have earlier, Neolithic origins. They are likely to be granted scheduled monument protection by Historic England and will be preserved in situ in a part of the site that will remain undeveloped. Neolithic pits outside the monuments contained decorated ‘Grooved Ware’ pottery, stone and flint axes, a finely made disc-shaped flint knife, a chalk bowl, and the bones of red deer, roe deer and aurochs (extinct wild cattle).

“Some of the world’s oldest prehistoric artwork, located in the Chauvet-Pont d’Arc cave in southeastern France, is actually 10,000 years older than previously thought, researchers said Tuesday.

The red and black cave drawings contained in the cave are more than 30,000 years old, according to a radiocarbon dating study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed US journal.”

More here:

rfi.my/20ACLug

salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/14411283.Booze_banned_from_summer_solstice_at_Stonehenge_and___15_parking_charge_confirmed/?ref=fbshr

BOOZE will be banned from summer solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, English Heritage has confirmed.
And drivers will have to fork out £15 to park at the Stones, in a bid to reduce the number of cars at the event.
When the plans were unveiled in February it led to a “pay to pray policy” accusation from senior druid King Arthur Pendragon.
Bosses at Stonehenge say the reason behind introducing a £15 parking charge is encourage more people to car share and use public transport.
They also believe that banning alcohol will “reduce the risk to those attending and to the monument itself”. Drinking will not be allowed anywhere in the monument field.

Part of the reasons for the changes is the increase in numbers to Stonehenge for the summer solstice. In 2000, approximately 10,000 people attended while in 2014, the figure was close to 40,000. That same year, the stones were vandalised during both the summer and winter solstice celebrations.

Money raised from the new charges would go towards supporting £60,000 a year cost of maintaining the visitor centre car park. Kate Davies, Stonehenge’s General Manager, said: “Over the last 15 years we have seen a huge increase in the number of people celebrating the summer solstice at Stonehenge. We have limited parking facilities and we believe the parking charge will encourage more people to car share or travel by bus.

“We’ve also seen more drunken and disrespectful behaviour. Something has to be done or we risk losing what makes solstice at Stonehenge so special.
“These changes will help us to better look after both those attending the solstice and the ancient monument itself.
“Since we proposed these changes, we’ve had a lot of support from the public and from across all the different groups who help to organise the solstice celebrations.”

English Heritage also said it was mindful of how alcohol was used by some druids during ceremonial practice and would be consulting with the community on how moderate use of ritual alcohol.

Research has found that red deer were brought to the Scottish islands by humans, but the question remains: where did the Neolithic colonists come from?

The riddle of the red deer of Orkney and the Outer Hebrides has just become even more baffling. Stags and hinds arrived with humans – but not from Scandinavia, nor from the British mainland.

And they can only have arrived by ship: transported by enterprising Neolithic colonists who had learned to treat deer as livestock, long ago and far away in Europe.

Full The Guardian article: theguardian.com/science/2016/apr/06/riddle-of-the-red-deer-orkney-deer-arrived-by-neolithic-ship-study-reveals

And from BBC News :
‘Mystery voyage’ of Scottish islands’ red deer

bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35970195

Science Magazine:
Red deer came to Scottish islands from unexpected places

sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/red-deer-came-scottish-islands-unexpected-places

The original paper published by The Royal Society:
Colonization of the Scottish islands via long-distance Neolithic transport of red deer

rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/283/1828/20160095

A huge boulder which a road was bizarrely constructed around decades ago – could finally be removed after a motorist crashed into it.

The prospect of the ancient stone, thought to have been located in Chapel Hill, Soulbury, for millions of years, being taken away has prompted outrage from villagers as Bucks County Council finds itself stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Read more from Leighton Buzzard Online: leightonbuzzardonline.co.uk/news/local-news/bizarre-ancient-landmark-in-middle-of-road-could-be-dug-up-after-accident-claim-1-7295148#ixzz44wfSlNBm

And from The Guardian: theguardian.com/science/2016/apr/02/the-soulbury-stone-never-loses-and-now-the-council-knows-it

Update from BBC News:
Soulbury stone: White lines ‘horrific’ and ‘an eyesore‘

White lines painted around a boulder, thought to have been in place 11,000 years in an attempt to make it safer, have been described as an “eyesore” and “horrific” on social media.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-36024009

Damage to an ancient dolmen in Brittas Bay has been reported to the gardaí and the National Monument Service.

The megalithic tomb named the Castletimon Dolmen dates back close to 4,000 years and is a protected monument.

Part of the structure appears to have been knocked down, while stones and earth have been pulled away.

Steven Brennan of the Brittas Bay Tourism Association said the destruction of the Dolmen has caused widespread local anger.

‘I was pretty shocked when I first saw the damage. People are very annoyed. It’s a very historic area and needs to be treated with the respect it deserves.

‘People are embarrassed by this incident. It’s one of Wicklow’s oldest human structures and is one of only four on the east coast of Ireland.‘

The whole area is of significant historical importance with a number of standing stones, cairns, a fourth century Ogham stone and a recently newly discovered standing stone. There is also a sixth century monastery nearby which was second in importance only to Glendalough.

More:
independent.ie/regionals/wicklowpeople/news/investigation-into-brittas-bay-dolmen-damage-34563576.html

The tradition of building cairns and wind breaks in the Yorkshire Dales has begun to put the area’s history at risk according to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA).
Robert White, Senior Conservation Officer for the YDNPA, says the rocks walkers are using are sometimes being taken from ancient sites including burial mounds, which has led to problems at a number of historically-important sites within the National Park, including Beamsley Beacon near Bolton Abbey.” .
“During the Bronze Age, some 4,500 years ago, a large stone mound was built there, probably to mark the burial place of a local chieftain and to act as a territorial boundary marker,” explained Robert.
“Much of this cairn, which is now about 11m in diameter, still survives but in recent years it has suffered a lot of disturbance due to people using stones from it to make modern cairns and wind breaks. Another smaller historic cairn lies further along the ridge at Old Pike and that has also lost some of its stones.”

And so it goes on.....

culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art66905

By Andrew Curry
Mar. 24, 2016 , 9:30 AM

About 3200 years ago, two armies clashed at a river crossing near the Baltic Sea. The confrontation can’t be found in any history books—the written word didn’t become common in these parts for another 2000 years—but this was no skirmish between local clans. Thousands of warriors came together in a brutal struggle, perhaps fought on a single day, using weapons crafted from wood, flint, and bronze, a metal that was then the height of military technology.

Struggling to find solid footing on the banks of the Tollense River, a narrow ribbon of water that flows through the marshes of northern Germany toward the Baltic Sea, the armies fought hand-to-hand, maiming and killing with war clubs, spears, swords, and knives. Bronze- and flint-tipped arrows were loosed at close range, piercing skulls and lodging deep into the bones of young men. Horses belonging to high-ranking warriors crumpled into the muck, fatally speared. Not everyone stood their ground in the melee: Some warriors broke and ran, and were struck down from behind.

When the fighting was through, hundreds lay dead, littering the swampy valley. Some bodies were stripped of their valuables and left bobbing in shallow ponds; others sank to the bottom, protected from plundering by a meter or two of water. Peat slowly settled over the bones. Within centuries, the entire battle was forgotten.

More: sciencemag.org/news/2016/03/slaughter-bridge-uncovering-colossal-bronze-age-battle?utm_source=sciencemagazine&utm_medium=facebook-text&utm_campaign=bronzeagebattle-3174

ISLANDERS are being warned to keep away from the site of an ancient tomb in St Martin that has been damaged by a large fallen tree.

Robert Waterhouse (46), the field archaeologist for the Société Jersiaise, which is dedicated to preserving Jersey’s history and culture, said the 5,000-year-old Le Couperon dolmen, near Saie Harbour, had been hit by a 40-ft Monterey pine during a storm earlier this month.

The fallen tree, which broke the western capstone – a flat stone on top of the tomb – is due to be cut up and removed this week.

Any damage to the dolmen can then be properly assessed.

jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2016/03/22/sticks-and-stones-tree-falls-on-dolmen/

Scientists were astounded when tests showed the fragment, from a butchered brown bear, confirmed that humans were active in Ireland 2,500 years earlier than previously suspected.

The fragment was stored in a cardboard box in the National Museum for over 100 years but had only been subjected to detailed forensic tests over the past two years.

The incredible discovery by Dr Marion Dowd and Dr Ruth Carden will now re-write Ireland’s settlement history with the bone indicating that humans were hunting in Ireland in 10,500BC – some 2,500 years earlier that previously thought.

Amazingly, the bear bone was discovered in Clare back in 1903 but was left for over a century in a storage box in the National Museum without being forensically tested.

Dr Dowd of IT Sligo and Dr Carden of the National Museum decided to examine the bear bone and subject it to radiocarbon dating.

More: independent.ie/irish-news/news/bear-bone-discovery-pushes-back-date-of-human-existence-in-ireland-by-2500-years-34556770.html

Update on an archaeological dig at Pocklington....

Almost 2,000 years after being buried, the remarkably well-preserved remains of 150 skeletons and their personal possessions have been discovered in a small market town at the foot of the Yorkshire Wolds.

The remains of the burial ground that contained skeletons of people from the middle-iron age Arras culture in Pocklington, east Yorkshire is being hailed as one of the largest and most significant iron age findings of recent times.

Some of the 75 square barrows – burial chambers – contained personal possessions such as jewellery and weapons. Archaeologists have also discovered a skeleton with a shield.

It is believed the site dates to the iron age, which in Britain lasted from 800BC until the time of the Roman conquest, which started in AD43.

cont...

theguardian.com/science/2016/mar/17/hugely-important-iron-age-remains-found-yorkshire-site

From the BBC...

“A Bronze Age burial site uncovered after two metal detector enthusiasts found artefacts is set to be excavated.

Matthew Hepworth and David Kierzek discovered a chisel and a dagger in a Lancashire field, 20 years after one of them first explored the site.

This led to the uncovering of an ancient barrow at the site, which lay untouched for thousands of years.

The men will take part in a dig in July, which is being financed with a £49,500 Heritage Lottery Fund grant.”

More here...

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-35800891

And for an opportunity to join in the dig, the Crowdfunding group page is here...

digventures.com/projects/barrowed-time-2016/

standard.co.uk/news/london/developer-plans-to-move-london-stone-out-of-wh-smith-and-onto-public-plinth-a3200061.html

In legend, it formed part of London’s foundations and was the resting place of King Arthur’s sword Excalibur.

But for years the London Stone has lain in a case behind a pavement-level grille in the Cannon Street WH Smith.

Now, the Grade II listed lump of oolitic limestone is set to be restored as a centrepiece of the Square Mile.

It ended up in the Sixties block housing WH Smith after its former berth, St Swithin’s Church, was bombed in the Blitz.

Under plans to turn the block into an eight-storey office tower, developer Applegarth has revealed plans to give the stone pride of place on a plinth.

An application to the City of London Corporation says: “The plinth and the London Stone would be reinstated at the height they were in St Swithin’s Church prior to its destruction in the Second World War. This would make it more prominent to public viewing than is currently the case.”

Giles Clapp, clerk of the Worshipful Company of Masons, which helps protect the history of the City of London, said: “We support giving the stone the prominence it deserves. It is very important in the telling of the London story.”

The relic — also known as the Stone of Brutus after the legendary Roman founder of the capital — is mentioned in historical documents as early as 1100.

It was written about by Shakespeare and Dickens and has become the subject of countless myths, including claims it was the stone from which Arthur drew Excalibur.

The 17th-century poet William Blake believed the site of the relic was a druidic sacrificial stone circle, while another theory holds it was the symbolic point from which all distances in Roman Britain were measured.

An application by developers Minerva to move the stone into the foyer of nearby offices sparked a row with heritage groups in 2012. The latest plan has been broadly welcomed, with Historic England raising no objections.

The CLC has called the new proposal “an appropriate development”. Its ruling, after a meeting tonight, could have wider repercussions for the City. An ancient warning comes with the block, which says: “So long as the Stone of Brutus is safe, so long will London flourish.”

bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06wrhn5

Maes Howe and Tormiston Mill shut for the next fortnight

Stone Age Britons may have developed a prehistoric secret code.

Mysterious markings engraved on an 11,000 year old pendant found in Yorkshire suggest that the area’s ancient Mesolithic inhabitants used a system of long and short lines to represent events or objects in numerical form.

The markings appear to have been inscribed on the pendant in a deliberately faint way – and archaeologists suspect that that may have been in order to render many of them almost invisible when not being examined closely.

The site they were discovered on – at Star Carr in the Vale of Pickering – was used for ritual activities – probably ceremonial dances performed by prehistoric shamans.

continued.....

independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/stone-age-britons-may-have-had-prehistoric-secret-code-a6896596.html

“To take fragments from Carn Menyn is to violate a part of our heritage which has been valued for over 4,000 years” Geoffrey Wainwright

A quarry which scientists have recently identified as being the source of Stonehenge’s famous rocks is being plundered at a “terrifying rate” by thieves selling them on eBay for £8, tourism bosses say.
Preseli bluestone can only be found on the Preseli Hills which runs the spine of Pembrokeshire, West Wales.
The stones were cut from rock and transported 160 miles to Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain to form the iconic circle around 5,000 years ago still stands today.

telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/12164042/Stonehenge-tourist-bosses-demand-visitors-stop-chipping-stones-and-selling-them-on-eBay.html

A complete Bronze Age wheel believed to be the largest and earliest of its kind found in the UK has been unearthed.
The 3,000-year-old artefact was found at a site dubbed “Britain’s Pompeii”, at Must Farm in Cambridgeshire.
Archaeologists have described the find – made close to the country’s “best-preserved Bronze Age dwellings” – as “unprecedented”.
Still containing its hub, the 3ft-diameter (one metre) wooden wheel dates from about 1,100 to 800 BC.
The wheel was found close to the largest of one of the roundhouses found at the settlement last month.

More on the Bronze Age wheel discovery
Its discovery “demonstrates the inhabitants of this watery landscape’s links to the dry land beyond the river”, David Gibson from Cambridge Archaeological Unit, which is leading the excavation, said.

More.....

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-35598578

English Heritage has commissioned a carving into the rocks at Tintagel. As this is the News Section I will refrain from expressing a personal view.

english-heritage.org.uk/about-us/search-news/merlin-carving-tintagel

Summary of the Bill’s provisions

To give more effective protection to listed buildings and scheduled monuments

Extension of the definition of a scheduled monument
The Welsh Ministers will be able to recognise and protect any nationally important sites that provide evidence of past human activity.

Amendments to the criminal offences and defences for damage to scheduled monuments
The Bill will make it easier to bring cases of unlawful damage or destruction of scheduled monuments to prosecution by limiting the defence of ignorance of a monument’s status or location. The accused will have to be able to show that all reasonable steps had been taken to find out if a scheduled monument would be harmed or destroyed by their actions.

Powers of entry for the archaeological investigation of ancient monuments in danger of damage or destruction
If an ancient monument is at immediate risk of damage or destruction, the Welsh Ministers will be able to authorise archaeological excavations without the owner’s consent. This new power, which will help to rescue valuable information about Welsh history, will only be used in exceptional cases.

Introduction of enforcement and temporary stop notices for scheduled monuments
Temporary stop notices will give the Welsh Ministers powers to put an immediate halt to unauthorised works or other damage to scheduled monuments. They will be able to use complementary enforcement notices to order repairs to monuments or the fulfilment of scheduled monument consent conditions without going to court.

heritageofwalesnews.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/a-bill-to-make-history-legislation-to-100216.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+HeritageOfWalesNews+(Heritage+of+Wales+News)

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-35523757

“A Bronze Age cremation burial has been discovered near Stonehenge after being accidentally dug up by a badger. Objects found in a burial mound at Netheravon, Wiltshire, include a bronze saw, an archer’s wrist guard, a copper chisel and cremated human remains.
Experts believe the burial may have been that of an archer or a person who made archery equipment.
The artefacts date back to 2,200-2,000BC, senior archaeologist Richard Osgood, of the MOD, said.”

These will be displayed in the Wiltshire Museum at Devizes later in the year.