Prehistoric Anglesey tomb to be excavated for archaeology event
"Residents will get the chance to see the dig in action at the Neolithic Bryn Celli Ddu site during a fortnight-long event which ends with a Summer Solstice celebration.
An ancient tomb on Anglesey will be excavated this summer as part of a two-week long archeology event.
The Neolithic passage tomb of Bryn Celli Ddu is one of Wales’s best-known prehistoric monuments.
The fortnight-long event starts on June 9 and will culminate in a public open day and celebration of the Summer Solstice from June 19-22.
The excavation of the tomb will be led by the Welsh Government’s historic environment service Cadw and Manchester Metropolitan University.
It is hoped it will break new ground exploring the landscape’s ‘rock art’- a term used in archaeology to describe the human-made markings discovered in natural stone."
More at Daily Post:
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/prehistoric-anglesey-tomb-excavated-archeology-9393252#ICID=sharebar_twitter
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Maen Penddu defaced with Cross
GGAT have reported that someone has scratched a cross into the surface of Maen Penddu.
Not dissimilar from the cross on one of the stones at The Druid's Circle nearby. Seems there's still some people who think pagan monuments need to be "Christianised"
https://twitter.com/GwyneddArch/status/599260598694649857/photo/1
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Devon archaeological dig reveals "exciting" prehistoric finds
Follow up to news story from October.
"A Stone age knife, a Bronze age arrow head and a Roman nail are just some of the surprises uncovered by a new archaeological dig in Devon.
The idyllic fields around Spriddlestone, near Plymstock, were first identified as a potential area of historical interest by amateur archaeologist Howard Jones.
But what began as an armchair project to find a prehistoric settlement – with Google Maps as his only tool – has now progressed into a two-week on-site exploratory dig."
Read more: http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Devon-archaeological-dig-reveals-exciting/story-26142640-detail/story.html#ixzz3U0yoxIcB
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Bronze Age Rudham Dirk saved for museum
A spectacular new Norfolk treasure has been unveiled - after years of being used as a doorstop.
The 3,500-year-old Rudham Dirk, a ceremonial Middle Bronze Age dagger, was first ploughed up near East Rudham more than a decade ago. But the landowner didn’t realise what it was and was using it to prop open his office door.
And the bronze treasure even came close to being thrown in a skip, but luckily archaeologists identified it in time.
Now the dirk has been bought for Norfolk for close to £41,000 and is now on display in Norwich Castle Museum.
Dr John Davies, Chief Curator of Norfolk Museums Service, said: “This is one of the real landmark discoveries.”
The dirk - a kind of dagger - was never meant to be used as a weapon and was deliberately bent when it was made as an offering to the gods.
Only five others like it have ever been found in Europe - including one at Oxborough in 1988, which is now in the British Museum. But thanks to a £38,970 grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, following a £2,000 donation from the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society, the Bronze Age treasure will now stay in the county.
Dr Tim Pestell, who is Curator of Archaeology with the NMS, has been negotiating with the (unnamed) landowner for almost a year. He said: “As soon as my colleagues told me about it we started to plan how we could acquire it, so it could stay in Norfolk and be on display here.”
Dr Andrew Rogers, whose team first identified the dirk, said he never expected the Oxborough discovery would be repeated. “It’s absolutely incredible. Gosh - to have a find like this twice in a lifetime - this is unbelievable,” he said.
The 1.9kg (4lb) dirk is made from bronze, which is nine-tenths copper and one-tenth tin. The nearest source for the copper is Wales, while the tin may have come from Cornwall.
Straightened out, it would be 68cm long, slightly shorter than the Oxborough example. It may even have been made in the same workshop, maybe even by the same craftsperson.
Sophie Cabot, president of the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society, added: “We’re really excited - it would have been a great shame if we’d have lost it.”
http://www.edp24.co.uk/norfolk-life/archaeologists_hail_incredible_norfolk_bronze_age_discovery_1_3857540
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Devon treasure hunter locates Bronze Age settlement using Google Earth
http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Devon-treasure-hunter-locates-Bronze-Age/story-23349132-detail/story.html
A Devon treasure hunter has stunned professional archaeologists by locating a Bronze Age settlement using Google Earth.
Howard Jones shunned the usual methods of finding ancient communities and relied on the internet instead.
He trawled satellite images for the sort of terrain that would have offered food, water and shelter for a prehistoric settlement.
Howard used Google's overheard mapping site to zoom in on fields and farmland before pinpointing a spot in the South Hams.
The former Royal Marine then sought permission from the local landowner before heading down there to scour for remains.
He soon unearthed old flint tools, pottery shards and scraps of metal thought to date back 5,000 years.
Howard called in Devon County archaeologist Bill Horner who carried out a geophysical survey using ground-penetrating radar equipment .
The two men found two large buried structures that they believe are farm buildings dating back to the bronze or iron age.
Howard, a commercial diver from Plymstock, said: "Night after night I looked at Google Earth asking myself the question 'if I was alive 3,000 years ago where would I live'.
"I would need food, water, shelter, close to Dartmoor for minerals, close to a river to access the sea and trade routes .
"After a few weeks I put an 'X marks the spot' on the map - that was where I would live."
Not knowing who the site belonged to, Howard was initially unable to test his theory until he tumbled across the landowner by chance.
He said: "At kids rugby training one night I remembered that one of the other coaches was a farmer and I asked him if I could field walk and detect on his land.
"As I didn't know where his farm was, I arranged for my family and I to meet him and he gave us a tour of his fields.
"It was then I found out that my 'X marks the spot' was on his land - it was unbelievable."
Howard has previously searched for ancient artefacts underwater and in 2010 he was involved in the discovery of the 300-year-old Dutch merchant vessel the Aagtekerke off the Devon coast.
But after deciding to switch his search inland because of this year's storms he hopes his latest find will prove his best yet.
Mr Horner has arranged for a series of trench digs, which could take place as early as February next year.
He says Howard's web-inspired find could offer new insights into Bronze Age trading outposts.
Mr Horner said: "The survey shows two or three probable farmsteads which look to be late prehistoric, bronze age to iron age.
"Other parts of the underlying settlement possibly continue to the Romano-British period, around 1,500-2,000 years ago.
"The images also show tracks and enclosures, as well as a number of pits, which alongside Howard's findings, looks like evidence of metal works."
"We know that Devon's mineral resources were being traded along the coast and along the channel in prehistoric times.
"While Dartmoor is famous for preserved historic sites, the same is not true of coastal areas. So this could be the missing link between those moorland sites and the evidence we have of trading."
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1920s picnic picture recreated at ancient monument
A photograph of picnickers enjoying lunch at an ancient monument in Cornwall has been re-enacted almost a century after the original party packed up their hampers.
Photographer Andy Hughes, who has a studio in St Ives, was invited to recreate the scene by members of Sustrust, a history group responsible for rebuilding Carwynnen Quoit, near Camborne, earlier this year.
Using an old glass plate camera, the Truro College photography lecturer set up the shot as the original group had been arranged in 1925. He is currently processing the image and will be revealing the results in a few weeks.
Meanwhile, a number of professional photographers, including Colin Higgs, of the Western Morning News, were on hand to capture the reconstruction process.
“Andy was meticulous in his preparations,” said Colin. “It was fascinating to watch.”
The Neolithic structure, known locally as the Giant’s Quoit, had been a forlorn pile of stones for some 50 years before members of Sustrust began a five-year project to rebuild it. Watched by several hundred enthusiasts and supporters, its 10-ton capstone was finally hoisted back into place on Midsummer’s Day. Measuring 11ft by 8ft by 1ft, the great granite slab was dropped into position by crane.
Pip Richards, who has been the driving force behind the venture to re-erect the 5,000-year-old burial chamber near Troon, said the photographic re-enactment was part of a number of associated activities, including the production of a book and app.
“It is quite a famous photograph and comes from the collection of David Thomas,” she said. “It was a great day and I’m confident the results will be exceptional because the weather was not too bright so people weren’t squinting.”
Among those posing as 1920s picnickers were archaeologists James Gossip, Jacky Nowakowski and Richard Mikulski, Tony Boshier, who was part of the reconstruction team, Sustrust chairman Andy Norfolk, along with volunteer diggers and supporters.
“People just love to dress up and have some fun,” said Pip. “The director, James Kitto, did a great job organising everyone into their positions. If anything was different it was the attitude of those being photographed. In 1925, it was only seven years after the Great War, and there is a sombre air about the picture.”
Carwynnen Quoit – which has also been known as The Giant’s Frying Pan and Pendarves Quoit – might originally have been covered by a large mound of earth. More than a dozen similar structures can be seen elsewhere in Cornwall, including Trethevy Quoit, Lanyon Quoit and Chun Quoit.
Numerous groups were involved in the reconstruction project, including several schools which took part in outdoor lessons at the site. Children from Troon, Crowan, Kehelland, Penponds and Archbishop Benson schools chose items for a time capsule, which has now been buried deep beneath the ancient monument.
“We decided to let the children decide what should go in it,” said Pip. “So among the objects is a teddy bear, a jar of local honey to help people in the future identify the plants of today, hair from members of the team to help with DNA identification, 2014 coins, a serpentine heart pendant, a golf ball, badges from Troon Cricket Club and Camborne Rugby Club, a St Piran’s flag, a pasty key-ring, and a cartoon telling the story of the quoit.”
Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Sita Cornwall, the excavation revealed around 2,300 objects – many of them Neolithic – in the surrounding area. For more information visit giantsquoit.org
http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/1920s-picnic-picture-recreated-ancient-monument/story-21962607-detail/story.html
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Part of the Snowdon massif for sale
A large part of Wales’ highest mountain is being prepared for sale.
The 500-acres on the northern slopes of the mountain comprises Clogwyn Du’r Arddu, regarded as one of the premier rock climbing areas in Britain, and rough pasture land from below the cliffs to the Halfway station on the Snowdon Mountain Railway.
A website created by agents acting for farmer Dafydd Morris states: “This famous mountain is regarded as one of the wonders of Wales, the jewel in the crown of Snowdonia and one of the most visited tourist attractions in the UK.
“Snowdon or Yr Wyddfa in Welsh is the highest mountain in Wales and is the home to a number of rare plant and bird species including the world renowned Snowdon Lily artic-alpine plant, treasured by the Welsh nation.
“A large part of the Snowdon massif is up for sale and Dafydd Morris is calling on all conservationists and the public in general to grasp the opportunity to buy a part of Snowdon to help conserve and cultivate its natural beauty for generations to come.”
It is understood Mr Morris is planning to sell Clogwyn Du’r Arddu in one lot and the remainder of the land in smaller parcels.
Mr Morris was not available for comment but a spokesman said no final decision has been taken yet as to whether the sale will go ahead.
“All the necessary components for a possible sale have not been finalised and a final decision whether or not to sell the land has been taken,” he said.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/snowdon-sale-farmer-prepares-sell-7537087
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Ballymaglaff Stone Age site 'lost because of planning error'
DoE probes claims of unsuitable dig prior to developers moving in
BY LINDA STEWART – 03 JUNE 2014
Planners have launched a probe following claims that a rare site where early humans settled has been badly damaged without carrying out proper archaeological investigation.
The Department of the Environment (DoE) said its planning department has launched an enforcement investigation to establish if a breach of planning control had taken place at Ballymaglaff in Dundonald in relation to archaeological matters.
Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) also sent staff to inspect the site after concerns were raised about the road access to a new housing development close to the Comber Greenway.
Local historian Peter Carr, who discovered the archaeological site in 1984, says it dates from the era of the first human settlement of Ireland, the early Mesolithic period 8,800-9,800 years ago, and more than 2,000 pieces of struck flint have been found there.
"Over 20 of the period's rare and highly distinctive microliths have been discovered here. Very few sites can claim over 10," he said. "The larger part of the site was destroyed in January during the building of an access road to a new housing development.
"Although the site is on the Department of the Environment's Sites and Monuments record, as a result of an administrative oversight no protective archaeological clause was attached to the planning permission.
"Archaeologists tested the area before construction work began, but the 'trial excavation' used the wrong archaeological methods and as a result nothing was found.
"The archaeological layer, which contained early Mesolithic flints and possibly other material, was left in spoil heaps near the road. These have not been protected and soil from the heaps has subsequently been redistributed."
However, DoE planners said they had placed archaeological conditions on the planning permission.
"The most recent planning permission was granted November 20, 2013 for housing and an access road. When assessing the application, DoE Planning consulted with the NIEA, who recommended conditions requesting a written scheme and programme of archaeological work to be prepared by a qualified archaeologist for approval by the department," a spokesman said.
"These conditions were placed on the planning approval. The applicant carried out a test evaluation of lands near the road. This was conducted under licence from NIEA. No archaeological material was identified during this evaluation.
"A meeting will take place next week with the department and the developer to discuss options."
Peter Woodman, Ireland's foremost expert on the early Mesolithic period, said few sites on the island have produced such numbers of microliths, which are pieces of blade that would have been inserted into wood or bone to create composite tools. He said: "You excavate for information. Bits and pieces of stone tools are one part of that, but there are other equally important things."
Excavation at Ballymaglaff could have yielded evidence of huts, post holes and fireplaces to help build a picture of how early humans lived in Ireland, he said.
"The destruction of a site about which so little is known is always a great tragedy," he said.
A spokesperson for Lagan Homes, which is developing the site, said: "Lagan Homes complied fully with – and exceeded – the archaeological conditions attached to these works. The company strongly refutes any suggestion that it did not comply with planning conditions."
Mr Carr insisted Ballymaglaff could still yield valuable information. "If the department gets its act together, material could still be salvaged from what remains of the heaps," he said.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/ballymaglaff-stone-age-site-lost-because-of-planning-error-30322927.html
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Church in Wales campaign to protect yew trees
A campaign to help protect yew trees up to 5,000 years old has been launched by the Church in Wales.
It will offer advice on how to manage and make the most of the trees, which are often found in churchyards.
A survey has found that the Church in Wales owns 334 yews which are between 500 and 800 years old.
The church said it was keen to protect such a precious heritage for future generations.
Information about where to get the best advice for managing yew trees will be sent to parishes and communities which have some of the oldest in Wales.
The Church in Wales said the work was supported by the churchyard conservation organisation, Caring for God's Acre and the Ancient Yew Group.
Alex Glanville, head of property services at the Church in Wales, said: "It is incredible to think that some of the yew trees in our churchyards are older than our faith itself - dating back thousands of years.
"On example at Defynnog in Powys is thought to have been planted 5,000 years ago and could be a contender for the oldest tree in Europe.
"We think it's time we celebrated these amazing trees and the communities that have cared for them down the centuries."
He said some ancient yews would have marked venerated places in pre-history, many of which became Christian sites later on.
They survived in Wales better than anywhere else largely because of the wet climate and lower light levels and because Celtic traditions encouraged the planting of yews, he added.
The Church in Wales owns, within 203 of its churchyards, 101 ancient yew trees which are more than 800 years old and 233 yews over 500 years old.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-27692461
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Fisherman Catches Bronze Age Figurine
Not exactly the most attractive thing you ever saw, but:
KEMEROVO, RUSSIA—Nikolay Tarasov was fishing with a net in a river near his home in Tisul, Russia, when he recovered what he thought was an unusual stone, but he realized it was carved with almond-shaped eyes, a large mouth with full lips, and a ferocious expression before he threw it back into the water.
“On the reverse side on the head the carver etched plaited hair with wave like lines. Below the plait there are lines looking like fish scales,” he told The Siberian Times.
He donated the figurine to the Tisul History Museum, where it was dated to the early Bronze Age. The 4,000-year-old figure was carved in horn that had fossilized.
“Quite likely, it shows a pagan god. The only things we have dated approximately to the same age are a stone necklace and two charms in the shapes of a bear and a bird,” said Marina Banschikova, director of the museum.
http://www.archaeology.org/news/2146-140529-russia-horn-figurine/2146-140529-russia-horn-figurine
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Earliest evidence of the presence of humans in Scotland found in South Lanarkshire
From Historic Scotland:
9 April 2014 Archaeologists have uncovered the earliest evidence of the presence of humans in Scotland it was announced today.
An assemblage of over 5,000 flint artefacts was recovered in 2005-9 by Biggar Archaeology Group in fields at Howburn, near Biggar in South Lanarkshire, and subsequent studies have dated their use to 14,000 years ago. Prior to the find, the oldest evidence of human occupation in Scotland could be dated to around 13,000 years ago at a now-destroyed cave site in Argyll.
Dating to the very earliest part of the late-glacial period, Howburn is likely to represent the first settlers in Scotland. The flint tools are strikingly close in design to similar finds in northern Germany and southern Denmark from the same period, a link which has helped experts to date them.
The new findings were revealed today (9th April) by Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs in her speech at the Institute for Archaeologists’ annual conference, which is this year taking place in Glasgow. The definitive findings will be published next year in a report funded by Historic Scotland.
During her speech, the Cabinet Secretary announced over £1.4 million of funding for more than 60 projects in 2014/15 through Historic Scotland’s annual Archaeology Programme, and launched the first Scottish Historic Environment Data (SHED) Strategy, which aims to create a collaborative national public information resource for the historic environment.
The hunters who left behind the flint remains at Howburn came into Scotland in pursuit of game, probably herds of wild horses and reindeer, at a time when the climate improved following the previous severe glacial conditions. Glacial conditions returned again around 13,000 years ago and Scotland was once again depopulated, probably for another 1000 years, after which new groups with different types of flint tools make their appearance.
Fiona Hyslop said: “Our heritage helps us to connect our past, present and future. It reveals stories about where we’ve come from and who we are, and helps us to reflect on who we could be. The discovery of the earliest physical evidence of human occupation in Scotland is hugely exciting, in part because it offers us a very tangible link to the past and a physical reminder of the people who came before us.”
The nature of the physical connections made between the peoples in Scotland, Germany and southern Denmark is not yet understood. However the similarity in the design of the tools from the two regions offers tantalising glimpses of connections across what would have been dry land, now drowned by the North Sea.
Alan Saville, President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Senior Curator, Earliest Prehistory at the National Museums of Scotland and a specialist in the study of flaked flint and stone tools said: “These tools represent a real connection with archaeological finds in north-west Germany, southern Denmark and north-west Holland, a connection not seen elsewhere in Britain at this time. This discovery is both intriguing and revolutionises our ideas about where humans came from in this very early period. In southern Britain, early links are with northern France and Belgium. Howburn is just one chance discovery and further such discoveries will no doubt emerge.”
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Storms expose ancient human remains on Cornish beach
From BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-26621146 (via Richard Mikulski)
"Efforts are under way to identify ancient human remains found on a Cornish beach.
Archaeologists believe the bones, exposed by storms in a cliff at Harlyn bay near Padstow, could be those of a young iron age or bronze age woman.
Once they have been radiocarbon dated it is hoped they will go on show at the Royal Cornwall Museum.
Archaeologist Andy Jones said there had been a lot of Bronze and Iron Age burials in the area.
Mr Jones, from Cornwall Council's historic environment service, said: "Based on what has been found before from the vicinity we thought there was a very good chance they were either going to be Bronze Aged or Iron Aged."
A member of the public reported the discovery to the police after noticing the cliff face had changed and the bones were in view following this year's winter storms. The passerby suspected the remains to be human.
Police and council officers then visited the site and an exhumation followed.
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A new view from La Cotte de St Brelade, Jersey
Antiquity via Past Horizons:
"Did Neanderthal hunters drive mammoth herds over cliffs in mass kills? Excavations at La Cotte de St Brelade in the 1960s and 1970s uncovered heaps of mammoth bones, interpreted as evidence of intentional hunting drives. New study of this Middle Palaeolithic coastal site, however, indicates a very different landscape to the featureless coastal plain that was previously envisaged. Reconsideration of the bone heaps themselves further undermines the ‘mass kill’ hypothesis, suggesting that these were simply the final accumulations of bone at the site, undisturbed and preserved in situ when the return to a cold climate blanketed them in wind-blown loess."
PDF download here:
http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/088/ant0880013.htm
Past Horizons article here:
http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/03/2014/no-mammoth-mass-kill-by-neanderthals-at-jersey-site
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Scottish heritage bodies to merge
TWO of Scotland's main heritage bodies are to merge, it has been confirmed.
The Scottish Government published a strategy document for the "historic environment" yesterday as Fiona Hyslop, the culture secretary, launched a Bill to address the management of the nation's built heritage.
The Historic Environment Scotland Bill will bring together Historic Scotland and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS).
The new body will be called Historic Environment Scotland (HES).
The organisation will "be expected to play a key role in delivering the strategy, developed in partnership with stakeholders" which include the Built Environment Forum Scotland, the National Trust for Scotland, the Society of Antiquaries, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and others.
The new strategy, Our Place in Time - A Historic Environment Strategy for Scotland, is now online.
The new Historic Environment Scotland body is expected to be launched in 2015 if the Bill, which has been welcomed by the National Trust for Scotland, passes through parliament.
It will be established in two stages, with the inauguration of the body and a board appointed in April 2015, and the transfer of powers to the new body in October 2015.
Ms Hyslop said: "Combining the skills, expertise and professional experience of Historic Scotland and RCAHMS, HES will take a lead in protecting Scotland's rich historic heritage to ensure it can be enjoyed now and the future."
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/scottish-heritage-bodies-to-merge.23596654
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Six-week consultation on a new proposal for the Heritage Bill
The Welsh Government would like your comments on a new proposal to give more effective protection to scheduled ancient monuments.
Between 2006 and 2012, Cadw received reports of 119 cases of unlawful damage to scheduled ancient monuments in Wales. However, there has been only one successful prosecution under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 in the last 25 years.
A number of respondents to last year’s consultation on proposals for the historic environment, ‘The future of our past’, expressed concerns about the rarity of successful prosecutions. Some called for changes to the Act’s permitted defence of ignorance of the status or location of a monument to make it easier to secure convictions for illegal damage.
Accordingly, the Welsh Government would now like to receive your views on a proposal to amend the offences and defences in the 1979 Act to modify the ‘ignorance defence’.
More details on the proposal are contained in a consultation document, which is available, along with a response form, on the consultation pages of the Welsh Government website.
Since responses are only being sought on a single proposal, the consultation period will be limited to six weeks running from 3 March to 14 April 2014. The consultation results will be available while there is still time to shape the provisions of the Heritage Bill, which is scheduled for introduction to the National Assembly for Wales in spring 2015.
Your thoughts on this proposal could help to improve the protection of scheduled ancient monuments in Wales, so be sure to take part in the consultation by submitting your reply by 14 April.
http://cadw.wales.gov.uk/about/news/8581094/?lang=en
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"The fleeting hour of life of those who love the hills is quickly spent, but the hills are eternal. Always there will be the lonely ridge, the dancing beck, the silent forest; always there will be the exhilaration of the summits. These are for the seeking, and those who seek and find while there is still time will be blessed both in mind and body." Alfred Wainwright
"The movers move, the shakers shake, the winners write their history. But from high on the high hills, it all looks like nothing." Justin Sullivan
Elsewhere: Mastodon
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