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An English cave has been described as the “Sistine Chapel of the Ice Age” after the discovery of 80 engraved figures in its limestone ceiling.

The discovery at Creswell Crags was announced on Tuesday.

It comes a year after the initial discovery of 12 engraved figures, which were trumpeted as the earliest examples of prehistoric cave art in Britain.

The new discoveries were made possible by the good natural light in April and June, rock art experts said.

Creswell Crags – a Site of Special Scientific Interest – lies on the border of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. It comprises a gorge and many caves.

The latest artwork, dated to be about 13,000 years old, was found in an opening in the rock known as Church Hole, in Nottinghamshire.

Scientist Dr Sergio Ripoll, from Spain’s Open University, said: “’The good natural light both in April and June of this year, and the realisation that the Ice Age artists who were visiting Church Hole were actually modifying the natural shapes in the limestone, has enabled us to see many new animal figures.”

The figures include representations of bison, deer, bears, plus two or three species of bird; including one unusual bird head with a long, curved bill.

British rock art expert Dr Paul Bahn said: “The sunny mornings especially provided an opportunity to see the cave illuminated by a brilliant reflected light, presumably how our Ice Age ancestors meant for the art to be experienced.”

Dr Nigel Mills, manager of the Creswell Heritage Trust, said the discoveries were “absolutely fantastic news”.

“Church Hole cave is really the Sistine Chapel of the Ice Age,” he said.

Although older cave art in France and Spain is regarded as more sophisticated, the Creswell images are deemed to be significant because of their northerly position.

They are the only examples of Palaeolithic cave art in the UK, and the artists who made them would have witnessed a British landscape still being shaped by glaciers.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/3890113.stm

***Thanks to Mrs Goffik for this link!***

Interesting archaeological exercise – or (paranoia?) p.r. for quarry owners?!
In

People are being invited to be among the first in 6,000 years to try their hand at building sections of what were the north Highland version of the Pyramids.

The cairn-building project, launched at the weekend by Caithness Archaeological Trust (Cat), is designed to lift the profile of the ancient tombs and encourage more people to come and see them. The great mounds of stone, of which the Grey Cairns of Camster is best known, were used for burials by the area’s first settlers.

An initial 13 volunteers have so far joined the modern-day construction team in the village of Spittal, just off the northernmost stretch of the A9 between Latheron and Thurso. Cat’s archaeological development officer Andy Heald said yesterday: “We’re trying to relive a community project carried out by our Caithness ancestors more than 6,000 years ago.”

The volunteers are being overseen by Mr Heald and John Barber, director of the AOC Archaeology Group. Local quarry owner A & D Sutherland is supplying the stone being used.

Mr Heald said: “We’re building up experience and expertise for the longer-term aim of the project which is to construct a full-size cairn somewhere in Caithness. We hope to involve as much of the community as possible and, ideally, we will attract people of various ages and strengths to help us at every stage of the project from collecting the stone to building the cairn.”

He believes the initiative can serve as a visitor attraction and help in Cat’s drive to increase the popular appeal of the county’s rich archaeology. The scheme at Spittal is scheduled to last until July 30.

Special children’s days are being held on July 17 and 24, while an evening lecture, on the current scheme, is at Spittal Village Hall on July 19.

Anyone interested in taking part in the cairn-building should can turn up at 9.30 any weekday morning at the entrance of A & D Sutherland Ltd’s quarry. All under-18-year-olds have to be accompanied by an adult.

As well as the quarry owners, the project has been supported by O’Brien Construction Ltd, John Gunn & Sons Ltd and Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise.

Mindless vandals have scrawled graffiti over one of Yorkshire’s best loved beauty spots.

Shocked walkers on Ilkley Moor have discovered that ancient rocks have been defaced by louts.

The hooligans have used white gloss paint to leave their mark between the Cow and Calf and the White Wells.

And they have defaced an earlier carving of a deer on one specimen.

Local councillors and walkers have expressed their disgust at the senseless vandalism.

Coun Brian Mann said he had not personally seen the graffiti but would be raising the issue with his colleagues on the council, and he urged everyone to be vigilant.

He said: “It is nasty and cowardly. What do they hope to achieve?”

He said graffiti on the moor would have a massive impact, and he stressed: “It is something we are going to stamp down on.”

Coun Mann said thankfully vandalism did not appear to be a persistent problem.

He added: “I think more people should report these kinds of things if they see them happening – and certainly they should bring it to our attention.”

Coun Anne Hawkesworth said the graffiti had not been brought to her attention but she was planning to look into it.

She said people tended to respect the area, and but added: “Obviously it would be quite disturbing if the vandalism got too much.

“It is quite incredible that someone had trailed white paint up there.”

Richard Perhim, a spokesman for Bradford Council’s countryside department said the reports of graffiti would be investigated.

He said: “It comes round every now and again but it is usually not too bad up there.”

He said masonry paint would be used to cover the graffiti.

“We have tried using removal stuff in the past – but it doesn’t work particularly well,” he said.

“The rock is quite coarse so it is easier to paint over it.”

Source: Ilkley Gazette – Thursday 01 July 2004

thisisbradford.co.uk/bradford__district/archive/2004/07/01/otle_spor22.int.html

From the THES 9/7/04;
It’s Brit Art, but not as we know it
Steve Farrar
Published: 09 July 2004

The cave engravings emerged first, then shadowy bas-reliefs. Steve Farrar reports
The finest collection of Ice Age bas-relief sculpture found on a cave ceiling is as elusive as it is beautiful. Indeed, the experts who will soon officially announce the discovery overlooked its existence during a preliminary survey.
A search of Church Hole, a cave in Creswell Crags, near Worksop, Nottinghamshire, last year first revealed engraved – as opposed to bas-relief – images of horses, bison, red deer and possibly a wolf that are probably more than 13,000 years old.
Until then, the Ice Age residents of Britain were widely considered impoverished cousins of continental Europeans who produced rich cave paintings and carvings.
But even as that image crumbles, the team admits that the most astonishing achievements of the Creswellian artists initially evaded detection.
“We’d seen no bas-relief before,” says Paul Bahn, an independent scholar and leading Ice Age art expert. “When we first saw the horse’s head, we thought it was a trick of the light.”
The oversight is forgivable. At first glance, only the natural cracks and bumps of the limestone are evident in the cave. But with expert guidance, a menagerie of animals can be espied in the gloom.
Chaotically aligned, overlapping figures peer out from every corner. First come the engraved outlines, which reveal a sophisticated understanding of the animals’ physiology. Then comes the bas-relief, formed by chipping away rock to leave images proud of their background.
Many combine natural features suggestive of an animal with sculpted elements such as an eye, ear or muzzle. Among them is a large brown bear and the horse – a haunting image with a bas-relief mane – whose mouth is formed by a white chip of mineral in the rock.
Paul Pettitt, lecturer in human origins at Sheffield University, who organised the search for UK cave art with Dr Bahn 18 months ago, notes how a minimum of elaboration was often enough to complete the picture.
“They bring out the ghost of these animals’ form,” he says.
When the experts began the work, they dared not imagine they would enjoy such success. Dr Pettitt and Dr Bahn were joined by Sergio Ripoll, a leading Ice Age art specialist at the Spanish Open University, who is renowned for having “the eyes” to detect previously unrecognised cave art.
They started at Creswell Crags, where traces of Ice Age people had been found. Twenty minutes after entering Church Hole something caught Dr Ripoll’s eye.
“I saw a line and suddenly a head was there. I then said a very big bad word in Spanish – it was so exciting,” Dr Ripoll says. He had found the outline of what later turned out to be a red deer stag.
Since then, up to 81 possible pictures have come to light, most emerging since international experts descended on Creswell in April to discuss the discoveries.
The artists are thought to have been the first hunter-gatherers to return to Britain after the last Ice Age.
Dr Pettitt says the artwork suggests strong cultural links between the people of Creswell Crags and their counterparts elsewhere on the great plain that once linked Britain to Germany.
The experts admit they can only guess what the pictures meant to the artists, though their sheer number suggests they were intensely personal.
Dr Pettitt interprets boomerang-shaped figures found deep in the cave as highly stylised depictions of dancing women similar to those found on the continent. His colleagues are not convinced.
“We still argue for hours and bounce ideas about,” Dr Bahn says.
The evidence is still coming in. It seems likely that Church Hole was completely covered in pictures, while the handful of images identified in other Creswell caves makes it possible that the entire gorge was decorated.
The pictures might even have been brightly painted – a possibility that infra-red imaging could soon confirm.
With more discoveries possible elsewhere in Britain, it seems the original exponents of Brit Art are finally getting recognition.

Scutchamer’s Knob, has always been a a glowing belisha beacon on the beautiful Berkshire downs for rave parties and illicit camping trips – especially during the early ‘90’s. Largely helped by its ease of accessability but yet fairly remote location.

Unfortunately, it now proving to be popular with our local ‘yoof’ community, wryly twisitng it’s older meaning of a ‘moot’ point about face.

As well as the usual load of cans, plastic bags and even car doors to be found there, I was astonished and saddened to see that ten or so of the trees to the left of the mound have been heavily vandalised by green paint (I’ve posted then pictures in the Image section).

A local tree surgeon has recommended that the paint is allowed to weather off naturally, as forcing it’s removal may actually damage the tree itself.

So, next time your down there please stop and admire our new fluorescent world – sheer magic!

- Come and find out from the horse’s mouth exactly why it’s so important that Thornborough should be quarried. You can ask questions.

From Nidderdale Today
nidderdaletoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=18&ArticleID=818968

“A quarry firm at the centre of a bitter row with conservationists is squaring up to its critics by staging a public exhibition to explain its controversial plans to extend operations next to an ancient site near Ripon.

Tarmac Northern Ltd – part of Anglo American plc, one of the world’s largest mining companies – is holding the event to enable members of the public to find out more about its plans for Nosterfield Quarry at Thornborough.

Tarmac submitted proposals to extract sand and gravel from a further 111 acres at Ladybridge Farm, east of the current quarry, last month, saying the expansion was necessary to provide much-needed sand and gravel supplies to North Yorkshire’s construction industry.

Now members of the public will be able to see the plans in detail for themselves. Visitors to the exhibition being held at West Tanfield village hall on Saturday, July 10, from 11am to 4pm, will find information about the application and quarrying in general. They will also be able to follow a virtual tour of how the area will be restored once the quarrying has finished, access information on the archaeology of the area and view some of the finds from excavations as part of the quarrying process.

Bob Nicholson, estates manager at Tarmac, said: “This is a great opportunity for residents from the local communities to get a clear picture of our plans for Ladybridge Farm, why we need to quarry here and how the area is going to be restored in the future. There will be a team of us there to deal with any questions people may have.”

The exhibition by Tarmac will be closely followed by a talk about the importance of the henge site and what should be done to protect it.

The new visitor centre was unveiled yesterday (5th July) and the caves are once more open to the public.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/3867385.stm

Also see ThisIsDevon for more details:
thisisdevon.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=143650&command=displayContent&sourceNode=143634&contentPK=10562050

by RHIANNION EDWARD of The Scotsman, Monday 5 July 2004

RESEARCHERS are hoping that a computer program will map all of Scotland and give a virtual impression of the landscape as far back as 15,000 years ago.

The team, from the University of Stirling, has started by modelling the village of Kilmartin in Argyll as it was 15,000 and 4,500 years ago. The pictures of 15,000 years ago depict the area as under sheets of ice and a glacier where Loch Awe is now. The pictures of 4,500 years ago depict the area, now lush agricultural land, as dense woodland.

The technology was developed in six months by researchers at the university’s School of Biological and Environmental Sciences.

The university has set up a Virtual Landscape Centre to help bring history to life. The centre’s director, Sandy Winterbottom, said it was unnerving standing in a virtual-reality reconstruction of thousands of years ago of an area she knew well.

She said: “We have reconstructed the Kilmartin landscape for two periods – 15,000 years ago and 4,500 years ago.

“The first period was in an ice age and the whole area was covered in sheets of ice. Very little grew, just moss and lichens. The landscapes are desolate and cold,” she said.

“The later landscape shows a densely wooded, leafy and green valley. It comes from the time of many of the exciting finds archaeologists have made in the area, like the Temple Wood Stone Circle.”

Dr Winterbottom said the technology could help interest children in science. “This is a new way you can teach people. Museums have to catch up with the technology they are using. Children are used to computers and IT, and exhibits in glass cases don’t grab them anymore.”

SPEAKERS UPDATE

The Bronze Age Forum 13th & 14th November 2004 University of Southampton

Please see our website for all information regarding programme, registration
and suggested accommodation www.soton.ac.uk/~baforum1/. Places are limited
and
you advised to book early to avoid disappointment.

Confirmed Speakers:

Fleshhooks: technological complexity and forging chiefly authority (Stuart
Needham & Sheridan Bowman – British Museum)

Croft Moraig and the chronology of stone circles (Professor Richard
Bradley -
University of Reading & Alison Sheridan University of Edinburgh)

Deconstructing the Irish Bronze Age rapier...literally (Barry Molloy -
University College Dublin)

The role of barrows and bronze deposition in the shaping and valuing of
Bronze
Age landscapes (David Fontijn – University of Leiden)

A comparative study of Hungarian and British/Irish Bronze Age ceramics (Jo
Sofaer Derevenski – University of Southampton)

Llanmaes: a newly discovered Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age site in the
Vale of Glamorgan (Adam Gwilt – National Museums & Galleries of Wales)

Personal Appearance in Prehistory: the Middle Bronze Age ‘ornament horizon‘
in
context (Ben Roberts – Cambridge University)

Investigating Arable Agricultural Systems of Bronze Age Ireland (Meriel
McClatchie – University College London)

Where have all the flowers gone? Empty landscapes, sacred places and
contemplation in the Bronze Age landscape of Somerset (Clive Bond – King
Alfred’s College)

Aspects of the Bronze Age Landscape of the North West English Midlands
(David Mullin – Gloucestershire County Council Archaeology Service)

Standing Stones and Islandscapes in Western Scotland (Joanna Wright -
University of Manchester)

A recently discovered and fairly substantial complex of funerary and
ceremonial monuments at Damerham, Hampshire (Martyn Barber – English
Heritage)

The recent excavation of a Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial site at
Eweford, East Lothian (Gavin MacGregor – GUARD University of Glasgow)

Forgotten Land: What’s going on in Bronze Age Cumbria? (Helen. L. Loney &
Andrew W. Hoaen – University of Glasgow)

New light on depositional practices and the treatment of metalwork in SE
Wales
(Mark Lodwick – National Museums & Galleries of Wales)

The first wave of metalworkers – new evidence for Beaker/EBA prospecting and
mining within the UK (Simon Timberlake – Coventry University)

Biographies in stone: rock art, landscape and the Neolithic/Early Bronze Age
transition in Kilmartin, Scotland (Andy Jones – University of Southampton)

Approaching later prehistoric ritual traditions c.1500-600 BC (Rachael
Pope -
University of Wales)

From Dorchester to Dieskau: Relations between Britain and Central Europe in
the Early Bronze Age (Brendan O’Connor)

Atlantic swords: a technological approach for Late Bronze Age societies
(Bénédicte Quilliec – Universite de Nanterre)

Revisiting Bronze Age Gwithian 50 Years On (Jacky Nowkowski – Cornwall
Archaeology)

From The Scottish Herald, 1 July 2004
Archaeologists have found the remains of a prehistoric village on Orkney, which has already unlocked secrets of the island’s life, beliefs and rituals.

The discovery will provide a mine of information and has already revealed that Orkney was more densely populated than thought and its inhabitants were happy living among their dead.
Experts said the ruins contradict the orthodoxy that prehistoric human activity was confined to the area around the ceremonial structures of Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness.

A series of exploratory excavations around the site of the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney revealed that the area may contain a well-preserved neolithic village.

Nick Card, projects manager for the Orkney Archaeological Trust, and his team found evidence of a massive village between the two stone circles – covering an area of just more than six acres – which may date from approximately 3500-1800BC.

Continues

From
This Is Devon.

Dartmoor campaigners have drafted in ponies to help control bracken which is damaging a precious archaeological site. Around 25 campaigners from the Dartmoor Preservation Association (DPA) are using Dartmoor hill ponies to pull a roller to bruise bracken on Corndon Tor, Poundsgate on Dartmoor.

The historic site – situated between Ashburton and Princetown – is thought to be more than 3,000 years old, and dates back to the Bronze Age. The site is littered with remains of hut circles, pre-historic boundaries and Bronze Age field systems. But it is being threatened by the spread of bracken. The plant’s root systems can get underneath the low-standing stone walls and damage them.

The DPA, with the support of the Dartmoor National Park, is carrying out a programme designed to control the spread of bracken and protect historic sites. Yesterday, it joined forces with the Friends of the Dartmoor Hill Pony to try to clear some of the bracken on the 20-acre site. Three ponies were used – two attached to a bracken bruiser, a chain and harrow, and one pulling a weighted rubber tyre to stamp down the plant.

Dru Butterfield, development officer for the DPA, said: “We are working on a magnificent Bronze Age settlement that is currently covered in bracken. The advantage of using ponies is they are able to walk over the archaeological site without harming it – something that a quad bike or tractor is incapable of doing”

...

The DPA has been controlling the bracken for a few years and hopes it will be under control in three years’ time. The volunteers plan to return to the site on Saturday to continue the bracken bruising, and again in August. The process will then be repeated twice every year for the next two years. Anyone interested in taking part on Saturday or in August should call Dru Butterfield on 01626 355314.

From u.tv

The 700 metres of earthen works that surrounded the ancient Dun Mor Fort on the Dingle Peninsula were levelled at the weekend by an excavating machine. An entrance and a standing stone with an ogham inscription were also removed.

Heritage Ireland spokeswoman Isobel Smyth said it was a dreadful act. “This is a very important site and we want to see an investigation carried out,” she said.

The 80 acre Dun More fort overlooks the Blasket Islands and the Skelligs. The Ogham stone which was removed contained an inscription to Dhuibne, a deity of the Corca Dhuibne tribe which lived in the area from around 1,000 BC to 600 AD.

Gardai visited the site yesterday and have begun an inquiry into the incident.

“There is no preservation order but it is listed as a National Monument and should not have been interfered with,” said a spokesman.

The destruction was uncovered at the weekend by local walking tour guide and amateur archaeologist Con Moriarty. “Someone has to be held responsible for this outrageous behaviour. People are lamenting the loss of historic sites and artefacts in wartime Iraq but here it is happening in peace time Ireland,” he said.

It is understood the man responsible is from the local area. The Dingle Peninsula, which is part of the famous Ring of Kerry route, contains nearly 40 national monuments and around 2,000 other archaeological sites.

Dun Mor was one of the biggest settlements of its kind in Europe, according to Galway-based archaeologist Michael Gibbons. “The average ring fort was around 30 metres in diameter. This was 500-600 metres. This is vandalism on an unbelievable scale,” he said.

According to a Heritage Council survey, around 10% of all national monuments have been lost in the last 10 years. The vast majority of this destruction is carried out by farmers who are reclaiming land. Mr Gibbons said that changes in Irish farming had accelerated the process. “As farm sizes increase and smaller farms decline, farmers are gobbling up land they have no connection with. We are losing a lot of monuments, especially in Munster,” he said.

Under the new National Monuments Bill being prepared by Environment Minister Martin Cullen, the fines for destruction of a national monuments will increase from a maximum of 62,000 euro (£41,000) to 10 million euro (£6.6 million).

u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=47131&pt=n

A day-school at the Student Union Auditorium, University of Sheffield (England), jointly hosted by YAS & Prehistoric Society, exploring the significance of recent prehistoric metalwork finds wil be held on Saturday, 20th November 2004.

Speakers include Roger Bland (Impact of new legislation); Ian Stead (Snettisham hoard); Naomi Field (A votive deposits at Fiskerton); Vicki Priest (The helmet & the hoards: E Lincs); Megan Dennis (Sedgeford Hoard), along with Kevin Leahy, Paul Wheelhouse and Donald Coverdale.

For more details, contact Jenny Moore at 19 Storrs Hall Road, Walkley Bank, Sheffield, S6 5AW, or email at [email protected]

Source: Archeo News/BritArch mailing list (18 June 2004)

Daniel Davies, The Western Mail – Jun 21 2004

Stonehenge was built by a Welsh family, archaeologists now believe.

The discovery of an early Bronze Age grave, made by workmen laying pipes on Salisbury Plain, is further proof that England’s ancient landmark is a Welsh export.

Chemical tests on the 4,300-year-old teeth of seven people unearthed on Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, show they came from South West Wales or the Lake District.

But because the stones are bluestone brought from the Preseli mountains in Pembrokeshire, experts say the remains almost certainly belong to people born in Wales, who were among Stonehenge’s builders.

It is the first time human remains have been found that link the mysterious ceremonial site with the north Pembrokeshire origins of the 80 standing stones.

Dr Andrew Fitzpatrick, from Wessex Archaeology, who excavated the site, said, “In medieval times, people believed that the stones could only have been brought to Stonehenge by Merlin the Wizard.

“For the first time we have found the mortal remains of one of the families who were almost certainly involved in this monumental task.”

Archaeologists have named the Welshmen the Boscombe Bowmen because they were found buried with arrowheads.

The remains were dug up near the site where the Amesbury Archer was found two years ago. Although he lived at the same time, he came from central Europe.

Pottery fragments buried with him match those found with the Welsh family.

The Boscombe Bowmen grave is unusual because it contains the remains of an entire family, including three children, a teenager and three men. The shape of their skulls shows at least three of the party were related.

They were found in May 2003 when QinetiQ, a technology company operating on Boscombe Down airfield, dug a trench to lay water pipes and electrical cable.

QinetiQ archaeologist Colin Kirby, who stumbled across the 2,300BC grave, said, “On the second day of the excavations, I noticed human remains in the side of a water pipe trench.

“On investigating the spoil from the trench, fragments of beaker pottery and an arrowhead emerged.

“This was very exciting as it showed that the burial was probably Bronze Age and may be linked to the Amesbury Archer.

“I immediately informed Wessex Archaeology.”

The Archer’s burial is the wealthiest in Europe found from this period. Grave goods show he was clearly wealthy and may have been held in high esteem for importing metal working skills from Europe.

Metal may hold the key to why an ancient society chose Preseli bluestones for a monument more than 200 miles away.

Dr Fitzpatrick said beaker pottery of the type found with the Bowmen and the archer has also been found in county Kerry, Ireland.

The Preseli mountains could have been an important landmark for prospectors travelling around western Britain looking for sources of copper at the dawn of the Bronze Age, he said.

“Why people know of either Stonehenge or why people know of Preseli is the thing that people are beginning to tie together with people travelling and looking for metal,” Dr Fitzpatrick said.

The stone circles at Stonehenge were built from two types of rock. The massive goal-like structures are sarsen sandstone from Marlborough, 20 miles north of Stonehenge.

But this find brings experts no closer to understanding how the bluestone, which was used to create the inner circle of smaller standing stones, was hauled to Salisbury Plain.

Dr Fitzpatrick said, “It is an astonishing thing to have done and people must have regarded Preseli as a truly magical place because they made the enormous effort to transport stone all the way over 200 miles, so there must have been something in the stone or the spirit of the place.”

Scientists can locate where the Bowmen came from bythe enamel on their teeth. Asit forms it retains a fingerprint of the local environment by locking in oxygen and strontium isotopes. Tests by the British Geological Survey showed the men came from an area with high radiation background, like WestWales.

Original article on icwales.co.uk

Daniel McConnell

The Irish Times
17 June 2004

Opponents of newly-published legislation, which will give the Government power to proceed with road projects which interfere with national monuments after archaeological works are carried out, have threatened to challenge the legislation in the courts.

Protesters gathered outside the Dáil yesterday to voice their opposition to the National Monuments Bill, which, when passed, will clear the way for the motorway at Carrickmines in Dublin to be completed.

The protesters claim the legislation will legalise badly-designed roads, and not protect national monuments.

They also claim the Bill is in breach of the Valletta Convention, to which Ireland is a signatory and which stresses that national heritage sites are afforded European recognition.

An Taisce last night called into question the wisdom of introducing legislation with far-reaching repercussions without a Green Paper or any other democratic consultation.

Speaking on behalf of An Taisce, Dr Mark Clinton said: “If Minister Cullen’s intervention is ultimately going to destroy the heritage of the nation, surely he should encourage a proper debate so the public can decide whether they want to maintain our heritage or destroy it.”

Mr Vincent Salafia, leader of the Anger Strike against the National Monuments Bill, accused the Government of placing Ireland’s heritage in serious danger.

He also warned that any legislation passed would be met by legal action. “We are determined to meet this head on. The legislation will without question be met by a legal challenge.

“Had this Government acted properly and efficiently two years ago, the road would now be built, the castle would be saved and everyone would be happy.”

He said the Bill was nothing more than a quick fix.

The Green Party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent, said the Bill would place the future of Irish tourism in jeopardy.

“Tourism is an essential part of Ireland’s economy, with millions travelling here every year to get a flavour of Ireland’s golden age, and this piece of legislation sends out the wrong message to an already dissatisfied public.”

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Mr Cullen, said yesterday that people have a right if they choose to go to the courts.

However, he stressed that the Bill aimed to protect heritage, deliver infrastructure and safeguard the taxpayer. It would enable the completion of the South Eastern Motorway.

Newly-elected Sinn Féin MEP Ms Mary Lou McDonald said Sinn Féin supported the opposition to the Bill.

National Monuments (Amendment) Bill 2004

Irish Independent
17.06.04

Save Tara!

IMPORTANT archaeological sites, including Ireland’s oldest Viking settlement, will be threatened if the Government’s proposed amendment to the National Monuments Bill is passed, heritage activists said yesterday.

Campaigners for Waterford’s Viking remains, Trim Castle and Clondalkin’s round tower and other sites staged a united protest at Dail Eireann against the emergency legislation.

They were joined by Green Party leader Trevor Sargent and Sinn Fein MEP Mary Lou McDonald.

The campaigners have called on members of all political parties to oppose the bill, which is due to be debated in the Dail today.

Spokesman for the Save Tara Skreen Valley Group, Vincent Salafia, said that if the amendment is passed into law, it “will open the floodgates for any heritage site to be interfered with by the Government”.

Mr Salafia added that it was “another arrogant attempt by Mr Cullen to force through an ill-conceived piece of legislation”. Campaigners also
claim it breaches the European Convention on the Protection of Archaeological Heritage.

Grainne Cunningham

Irish Examiner
17/06/04

By Jim Morahan

HERITAGE groups yesterday accused Environment Minister Martin Cullen of
failing to protect national monuments.

They protested outside the Dáil yesterday at Mr Cullen’s attempt to plug heritage loopholes in the wake of the M50/Carrickmines Castle debacle.

Mr Cullen claims his newly published bill to amend the 1994 National Monuments Act not only addresses the legal battle surrounding the medieval ruins in South Dublin, which has delayed completion of the road, but also provides markers for the development of road infrastructure when confronted by archaeological finds.

Members of the Save Tara/Skryne Valley Campaign, who are opposing controversial developments planned for Co Meath, called on the opposition parties to oppose the Bill.

Green Party leader Trevor Sargent and Labour environment spokesperson Eamon Gilmore have pledged to support their fight.

The group claimed the bill was designed to legalise badly designed roads and would reduce protections for national monuments.

Heritage legal expert Vincent Salafia said the 1994 Act was designed to prevent “another Wood Quay” the destruction of the Dublin Viking settlement in the late 1970s.

Now they faced “three Wood Quays”; at Carrickmines, Waterford’s Viking
remains in the path of the Waterford bypass, and Trim Castle, Co Meath, where a hotel is planned.

“Like e-voting, this bill is another arrogant attempt by Minister Cullen to force through an ill-conceived and badly researched piece of legislation” he added.

Independent Meath and Trim councillor Phil Cantwell said the question of heritage was a big issue for the people.

Dr Muireann Ni Bhrolchain of the Co Meath group called on the academic community and the public to take a stand.

“It is time to draw the line in the sand before we disgrace ourselves completely in the eyes of the civilised world,” she said.

TaraWatch

Irish Times
Marie O’Halloran
18.06.04

A Bill to allow for the completion of the M50 motorway at Carrickmines will legalise “official vandalism” of national monuments, the Labour Party’s environment spokesman has claimed.

Mr Eamon Gilmore said the Bill goes “way beyond the completion of the M50” and would allow the Minister for the Environment to “demolish, sell or export any national monument”.

He said it allowed the Minister to order that “an archaeological obstacle to a particular development be bulldozed”.

Mr Gilmore alleged the Bill would have “more significance” for the road development at Tara and Skryne in Co Meath. He added that it would have “major implications for archaeology and heritage” of the “entire Celtic world”.

But the Minister, Mr Cullen, accused him of being “grossly unfair” and of “raising the temperature”.

It was “without foundation” to say the Government was in any way interested in bulldozing monuments, he said.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said as he introduced the National Monuments (Amendment) Bill.

The legislation allows for the M50 motorway to be completed, following a High Court judgment cancelling an order by the Minister to allow it to be finished at Carrickmines.

Mr Cullen said the director of the National Museum would be consulted in dealing with the archaeological finds. Mr Gilmore stated, however, that the director would only have 14 days to respond. He said it was “absolutely nonsensical” that he could make a case to save a major find within that time.

The Minister said: “we must be able to state that all archaeological finds must be protected and that we may have to undertake substantial archaeological assessments in those areas”.

Before construction started, “modern geophysical assessments can be undertaken, but that does not determine absolutely what may or may not be found when work begins”.

He thought that in such a situation everyone would want “to ensure that there was a mechanism to stop the potential for anyone to bulldoze and construct”.

Mr Cullen said a magnificent job had been done at Carrickmines. However, he added: “I went out expecting to find a castle. There is no castle.”

Fine Gael’s Ms Olivia Mitchell said the Minister “has had to deal not only with the Carrickmines issues but the possibility of similar cases arising”.

She believed the legislation would “provide some clarity as to how these issues can be addressed”. The delay at Carrickmines had had an “incalculable” effect on business at the Sandyford industrial estate, she said.

Some tenants had moved out because traffic delays had made it impossible to trade. “It could take over an hour to move a couple of hundred yards.”

Mr Finian McGrath (Independent, Dublin North-Central) said that while he supported and respected “the protection of our culture and archaeological sites, when I see the estimated costs of 6 million with regard to Carrickmines, I must cry ‘stop’.”

Mr Cullen informed Mr McGrath that the department was spending more than 20 million a year on archaeology for Carrickmines alone.

The Green party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent, said that the job of infrastructural development needed to be separated from the archaeology
role. The Minister could not be the referee if he had a vested interest in both, he said.

The debate was adjourned until next Tuesday.

Monuments Bill ‘legal vandalism’ claims Labour

Irish Independent
18.06.04

Save Tara!

OFFICIAL vandalism of national monuments would be made legal by the National Monuments (Amendment) Bill – to effectively give power to the Minister for the Environment to have the M50 around Dublin completed – it was claimed in the Dail yesterday.

Labour TD Eamon Gilmore said: “It will allow the minister, as his discretion, to demolish, sell or export any national monument.”

The completion of the south eastern motorway has been delayed by a High Court decision which quashed the approval order for building the road at Carrickmines Castle on what the court described as a “technical glitch”.

Labour, the Green Party and Sinn Fein objected to the Bill in that it had been signalled as a “simple Bill to allow for the completion of the M50 at Carrickmines”. They claimed the Bill was about much more than that. Fine Gael backed the Bill.

While all parties agreed the road urgently needed to be completed, they protested that enough time was not being allowed for discussion.

Environment Minister Martin Cullen denied either he was in any way interested “in bulldozing any monuments”.

He said he would have a major national monuments Bill hopefully before the end of the year, but the Bill introduced yesterday was to cater for the Carrickmines delay.

He pointed out there were other major infrastructural projects under way about which there was no methodology for any archaeological mitigation arising from the court decision. The Bill was necessary for now to protect all those sites.

Tanaiste Mary Harney said the Bill was necessary because of the court decision on Carrickmines.

“Million of taxpayers’ money is being wasted because we cannot proceed with this,” she said. Fine Gael deputy Olivia Mitchell said the Bill would deal with the issues thrown up by an archaeological discovery.

The debate continues next week.

Geraldine Collins, Dail Correspondent

Centuries-old conceptions about the Ness of Brodgar – the thin strip of land between the Harray and Stenness lochs – look set to be turned on their heads following a series of exploratory excavations on the south-west of the ness.

Last year’s discovery of a structure half-way between the Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness gave the first hint that ideas were going to have to change.

Full article here

24hourmuseum.org.uk/nwh/ART22422.html

Expert Stan Beckinsall is stumped. One suspects a local will sheepishly admit they’re the culprit, like after other recent similar stories? Have a look at the photos on the link...

From The Guardian, Wednesday June 16, 2004
Julian Cope may well be the only antiquarian researcher to have appeared on Top of the Pops while stoned on acid. He talks to John Vidal about why we venerate landscape, the politics of heritage, shamanism, and the prehistoric nature of football worship

Julian Cope, a middle-aged man wearing a baseball cap, is sitting under a great oak at Avebury, one of Britain’s finest megalithic sites, holding forth on what makes a place hallowed. There are, he says, tens of thousands of stone circles, dolmans, amphitheatres and monuments, but these are mere pointers. “The sacred landscape is everywhere,” he says. “Britain’s ancientness shocks me. It’s all there, just below the surface. You can peel it away like the skin of an onion.”
Whole article continues here...

Making another visit to Rempstone on Thurs 10th June and again on the Sat I was shocked to see ‘forest management’ being undertaken ... (tree clearing so the phone lines don’t get snagged, I think).

This is resulting, and has resulted, in the stone nearest the road being completely exposed and the two ‘avenue’ (?) stones in the approach clearing are now very clear indeed ... from the road also.

I was alarmed that the ‘tree fellers’ (although there were 4 of them

english-heritage.org.uk/default.asp?wci=mainframe&URL1=default.asp%3FWCI%3DNodeContent%26WCE%3D3824

No duvets, nightlights, bicycles or wheelbarrows please.

Article from Neal Ascherson in The Observer, Sunday 13 June 2004, considering the dilemmas Stonehenge presents to developers.

Lose the roaring A roads and restore the empty grassland around Stonehenge? Sounds like a great plan – but objectors say it is missing the opportunity of the century

A week tomorrow is the summer solstice. The druids, the pilgrims and an assorted army of expectant people will gather at Stonehenge to greet the dawn. If it’s clear weather, they will hope to see the disc of the midsummer sun appear in the gap between two of the huge sarsen uprights, in line with the single monolith of the heel stone. Then they will sing and rejoice and inhale the flow of spiritual force. Continues here...