Eagle secret of Bronze Age burial
From The Scotsman, 24 November 2004
Archaeologists in Scotland have made a "hugely significant" discovery by unearthing the best and most comprehensively-dated Bronze Age site in the UK, The Scotsman has learned.
The tightly clustered group of 29 cremation pits, one containing eagle talons, was uncovered at Skilmafilly when the gas maintenance company Transco was excavating and installing its £56 million gas pipeline from St Fergus to Aberdeen.
With no previous indications of the burial site, either from ground-level observations or aerial photographs, the pits were stumbled on by chance. Transco called in archaeological contractors to check the site while the pipeline was being installed. continues...
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New book shows how site has developed
by Maev Kennedy, arts and heritage correspondent, The Guardian, Monday November 22, 2004
Stonehenge's past brought to light
The sign advises the solitary car pootling down the deserted road, past the reassuring AA phone box, to "fork left for Exeter" - unless the driver decides to fork right onto the infant A344, park on the grass verge, and pop in for a quick wander among the towering columns of Stonehenge, or for a nice cup of tea and a Bath bun in the newly built Stonehenge Cafe.
The photograph, one of hundreds excavated for a new book by archaeologist Julian Richards, from the National Monuments Archive in Swindon and other public and private archives, dates from around 1930. The car is passing the exact spot of the current furore over what to do about the world's most famous prehistoric site. Read whole article here...
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Burial Mound Discussed at Museum
The Neolithic burial mound at La Hougue Bie in Jersey is to be discussed at the British Museum in London.
Olgar Finch from the Jersey Heritage Trust will be talking about the historic monument at the Neolithic Studies Group meeting.
La Hougue Bie, which was discovered in 1924, is said to be one of the best preserved European passage graves.
It is thought the burial site, which dates back to about 3500 BC, was also used for ritual and ceremonials.
Solstice light
In the early 1990s the burial mound was explored properly for the first time in an excavation project and a stone façade was found.
During the German occupation in 1942, forces began to build a battalion command bunker into the eastern side of the mound.
Over 70 trenches were dug in the grounds, causing extensive archaeological damage.
The tourist attraction is best known for a 'light box' which allows the sun's rays to shine through the chamber at the winter and summer solstice.
Archaeologists claim the shaft of light which heralded the start and end of winter reveals more details about the lives and beliefs of primitive Neolithic man.
Speakers from Guernsey, the UK and Belgium will also be talking at the meeting.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/jersey/3990831.stm
">Link text 8 November 2004
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First excavation of ancient fort
The first excavation of a well-known pre-historic monument has shown it to be much older than previously thought.
The archaeological dig at Badbury Rings near Wimborne in Dorset has uncovered evidence that the site was inhabited at least 5,000 years ago.
The excavations, which were prompted by concerns that tree roots on the summit were damaging the site, have found the remains of a Neolithic settlement.
The National Trust dig on the hill fort ends on Friday.
Martin Papworth, National Trust archaeologist for Wessex, said: "To date, it is the only hill fort of this size not to be excavated in the area.
"We are hoping that this first excavation of Badbury Ring will help us untangle the chronology of this important piece of Dorset's history."
The evidence found so far dates the first occupation of Badbury Rings , which are part of the National Trust's Kingston Lacy Estate, between 3500 and 1500 BC.
from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/3684294.stm
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Bronze Age Brummie's sauna may sink plans for tourism
14 Sept 2004 by David Bell, Evening Mail
The remains of a sauna used by Bronze Age Brummies is set to scupper a
multi-million pound marina project for the city. The 'hot tub' threat emerged
as planners investigated possible sites for the big money tourism scheme.
Water voles who live on the stretch of water at Millpool Hill, Alcester Road South,
alongside the Stratford Upon Avon canal, could be another hurdle.
Planners have identified the location as the only place in the city with the potential
to be turned into a marina with mooring for up to 80 boats. But the area includes
the sauna suite beside the Chinn Brook known as the Bayston Road Burnt Mound.
Dating to between 1500 and 1000 BC, it is thought to be the debris from heated
stones used as saunas by Bronze Age Brummies within the shelter of willow
structures. Councillors want a proper archaeological excavation to uncover other historical clues.
"This site proves that Bronze Age Brummies were far more sophisticated than we gave them
credit for," Coun Peter Douglas Osborn told city planners. "You can tell it was a sauna
because of all the round stones on the site. They used it for recreation."
Marina developers will also be required to carry out a field survey for water
voles - a legally protected species - and avoid habitats at all costs.
Officials want the marina complex to include a clubhouse, cafe, restaurant
and visitor facilities. They see it as a lure not only for tourists, but also as
a centre for water sport activities.
From: http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100localnews/tm_objectid=14640183&method=full&siteid=50002&headline=bronze-age-sauna-may-sink-plans-for-tourism-name_page.html
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Stones' tunnel decision rests with DoT
The report on controversial plans to build a £200m tunnel near Stonehenge has gone to the secretary of state for transport, Alastair Darling.
Planning inspector Michael Ellison has been compiling his findings since the public inquiry into the road building scheme at the world heritage site finished in May.
His completed report will contain a recommendation about whether a 2.1km tunnel should be bored through the landscape or the plans should be scrapped in favour of finding an alternative solution.
More here...
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Kilmartin wins eleventh hour reprieve
From an article by Stephen Stewart of The Herald - 9th September 2004
One of Scotland's most important museums has been saved from closure by a £100,000 investment package. Frank McAveety, the culture minister, helped broker the deal which will save Kilmartin House Museum in Argyll.
Stars from the world of television archaeology including Tony Robinson, Baldrick in the comedy Blackadder and presenter of Time Team, had rallied to support the museum, which was due to close this month.
More....
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Archaeology 'must not become history'
Hey, TMA kids, why not vote? http://www.britarch.ac.uk/yac/voting
by Martin Wainwright
Thursday August 26, 2004, The Guardian
Thousands of young archaeologists are rallying to the defence of the country's only GCSE in the subject, which is facing abolition by the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance examining board (AQA).
An online opinion poll and petition will be launched today to demand a change of heart over ending the "first-stage" exam which has a record of stimulating interest in A-level and archaeology degrees. Voting will run until September 30.
The campaign has been organised by the Young Archaeologists' Club, which has seen a steady rise in membership following TV series such as Time Team. Although only 350 students sat the exam this year, up to 10 times that number are estimated to want to tackle it, if appropriate teaching can be found.
"We are ready and able to help with that," said Don Henson, an education officer of the Council for British Archaeology, which has organised some of Britain's most distinguished specialists in the country to lobby the exam board. The campaign is also being backed by the presenter of Time Team, the actor Tony Robinson, who called the abolition decision "plain daft".
Mr Robinson said: "We should be making the past more accessible, not burying it. There's a huge interest in archaeology these days, and it's an interesting, exciting and open-air science which specially appeals to the young. How sad it'll be if only those students who stay on into the sixth form are able to take an archaeology exam."
The Young Archaeologists' Club, whose members are currently fighting it out in a national competition to design a prehistoric monument, promised to campaign against the abolition with vim. There may also be a legal challenge to AQA because of the lack of any alternative to their archaeology GCSE.
"They have announced quite a list of GCSEs they plan to get rid of, including accountancy, classical Greek and Russian," said Mr Henson. "But archaeology is the only one which isn't available from any of the other boards."
The AQA has regularly praised the quality of its archaeology candidates, despite teaching shortages.
from http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1290993,00.html
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Battle to preserve Thornborough henges
by Norman Hammond, Archaeology Correspondent of The Times Online, 24 August 2004
UNPRECEDENTED protests have been made in Yorkshire about plans to quarry the prehistoric ritual landscape around the Thornborough Henges.
Although the closing date for comments on the proposals is still more than a month away, North Yorkshire County Council has received more objections than for any other planning application, according to the magazine Current Archaeology.
Thornborough — sometimes called "the Stonehenge of the North" although the monuments consist of three huge earthen banked circles without stones — has long been a scheduled ancient monument in recognition of its importance.
But protesters say that the problem is that, as at Stonehenge, the visible monument is just the core of a densely packed ritual area of other ancient sites. "The quarry has already eaten 40 per cent of the ritual landscape of the henges, we cannot afford to lose more," Current Archaeology says.
English Heritage stated this year that Thornborough was "the most important ancient site between Stonehenge and the Orkneys", but quarrying so far has come within yards of the henges. Although Tarmac Northern Ltd, the company involved, has responded by announcing that it will hold off plans to quarry Thornborough Moor, one of its potential gravel sources that is closest to the henges, it has applied to expand at the Ladybridge Farm site to the north.
"If permission is granted to quarry there, it will cause the loss of a further 111 acres of archaeology that is of critical importance", Current Archaeology says. More than 10,000 people have already signed a petition against the development, organised by Heritage Action, which claims that the Ladybridge site "is potentially the most important remaining area of archaeology in the ritual landscape of the henges".
George Chaplin of Heritage Action said that Ladybridge included the remains of a settlement between the henges and a dried-up glacial lake to the north which may have been used by those attending rituals. "Current quarrying in this general zone has already turned up large amounts of archaeology: smaller investigative excavations indicate even more lies within the Ladybridge area. It is a tragedy that despite knowing this, Tarmac is intent on going ahead," Chaplin told the magazine.
The landscape includes settlement, alignments of pits creating avenues to structures no longer visible, and burials covering three millennia of ceremonial activity. "Much of this archaeology is extremely rare and nationally important in its own right," Current Archaeology says.
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Desirable round house unearthed on Exmoor
By Tony Gussin of the North Devon Gazette.
The silent earth of Exmoor has given up some of its secrets in the form of a prehistoric home dating back 3,500 years.
Members of the North Devon Archaeological Society were thrilled to uncover the remains of a Bronze Age round house as they carried out a two-week excavation at a site near Parracombe.
It was the third year a dig has taken place on the site, and last year the team uncovered an almost complete prehistoric pot, now on display at the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon.
But although nothing as intact was found this time, the group was still delighted when members uncovered a series of stone clad 'post holes' clearly marking out where the walls of a round house once stood.
Similar to a replica which can be seen near Braunton Burrows, the structure would have had a conical thatched roof and measured around 30 feet across.Continues...
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Hi-tech vet to clean stone circle
from BBCi
Druids tried to spiritually clean them but now it is a vet's turn to see if he can physically restore them to health.
The ancient Rollright Stones on the Oxfordshire/Warwickshire border have been off-colour ever since vandals daubed them in bright yellow paint.
Hi-tech ultrasound equipment used by vets to clean plaque from animals' teeth is now to be used in an attempt to restore the stones. It is hoped the device will leave rare lichen on the stones untouched. Continues...
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Archaeologists begin big dig for knowledge
by Lynn Jackson, from This is East Dorset
AN AMBITIOUS project to uncover ancient archaeological remains dating back to the Bronze Age is due to start in east Dorset next month.
A team led by archaeologists from Bournemouth University plans to investigate a number of round barrows from around 2000BC at Knowlton Circles, south of Cranborne, as well as other ancient monuments along the Allen Valley.
Historians believe this part of Dorset was heavily occupied 4,000 years ago, but very little is known about how these early people lived.
Project leader John Gale, who is organising this summer's dig with both university students and local volunteers, said: "It could be very exciting. There are hundreds of round barrows in this area, although many are hard to spot on the surface.
"Ancient monuments on Cranborne Chase have been relatively well studied but there's been very little excavation work carried out in the Knowlton area and along the Allen Valley.
"The last major dig in this part of Dorset was sometime in the 1890s, but since then it's hardly been looked at."
As well as Bronze Age remains, archaeologists have also unearthed evidence of a nearby Romano-British settlement dating back to the first century AD.
Now, the university-led team hopes to do more exploratory work on this widespread site, with a view to carrying out excavations over the next four years.
Students and volunteers are set to start the dig on August 9, and will be on site six days a week, with Saturdays off.
Visitors are welcome to come and see how the work is progressing.
Published 27 July 2004
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Dig set to begin at historic site
From BBCi, 22 July 2004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3915397.stm
Excavations are set to begin at what experts have described as one of the most important archaeological sites in Scotland.
They are trying to discover exactly how much damage was done by a major fire at the site last year.
The dig is taking place on Traprain Law, a hill near East Linton in East Lothian.
The area is noted as having been a major population centre in the late Bronze Age, 3,000 years ago.
In 2003, a fire started by a discarded cigarette end burned through grass and vegetation, damaging some historical remains and exposing others to potential erosion.
It left an unstable mixture of soil, mud and ash.
Investigators are now examining the worst affected areas hoping to carry out rescue and rehabilitation work.
Among the early finds in the current operation have been parts of a mediaeval building, as well as ancient tools, pottery and beads.
In the period AD 80 to 400 Traprain Law's inhabitants had regular contacts with Roman visitors.
A huge hoard of Roman silver items was found on the hill in 1919.
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Bronze age copper mine may be tourist attraction
July 19, 2004
form icNorthWales
EXPERTS have been brought in to help turn ancient bronze age copper workings in North Wales into a major tourist attraction.
Focus for the Copper Mountain project, which includes the old port of Amlwch in Anglesey, will be the historic Mynydd Parys mines and open cast sites. These played a major part in launching the industrial revolution in Britain and western Europe.
Now the mountain will be at the centre of a two-pronged bid to get visitors rolling in.
The Amlwch Industrial Heritage Trust has taken on consultants Gifford and Partners to draw up a detailed conservation management plan. The brief is to outline a programme of repair and restoration.
Another company, Parkin Heritage and Tourism, will draw up a development study and business plan.
The two reports will form the basis for future bids for funding.
On July 27 a team from Gifford will be setting up a day-long surgery at Amlwch Town Hall to get local opinions.
Project archaeologist Babita Sharma said: "We hope to speak to people to understand how they feel about their unique heritage."
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Gravel Glut Should Halt Thornborough Scheme
16 July 2004, from 24hourmuseum.org.uk
Yorkshire campaigners opposing the proposed planning application by Tarmac Northern to quarry close to Thornborough Henges in North Yorkshire, say the application contravenes the local council's policy on quarrying in the area.
Heritage Action claim that North Yorkshire County Council's 'Minerals Action Plan', which regulates mineral extraction and quarrying in the region, recommends a reduction in the supply of sand and gravel from the county by 500, 000 tonnes per year.
This they maintain is not consistent with Tarmac's proposed plans to quarry the nearby Ladybridge area. Continues here...
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University looks back 15,000 years
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."
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Orkney's prehistoric secrets unearthed
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
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Romancing the stones
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...
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The stone diaries
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...
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Fight to stop quarry growth plans
From BBCi, 3 June 2004
Conservationists have vowed to fight plans to extend quarrying near one of Britain's most important archaeological areas.
Nosterfield sand and gravel quarry near Ripon is close to the Neolithic and Bronze Age site of Thornborough Henges.
John Lowry, chairman of the Friends of Thornborough Henges, believes there can be no compromise over its future.
But quarry owners Tarmac Northern says the site faces closure if the extension does not receive the go-ahead.
Tarmac Northern employs 15 full-time people and the proposal will guarantee the quarry's future for another four years. Continues
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Habitat: Commonly sighted in fields round Oxfordshire and Wiltshire.
Distribution: Widespread; occasional migrations to overwinter in Africa or other hot climes.
Characteristics: A tall, blonde, opinionated bird with feisty temper when provoked. Prone to spells of gloom during winter months. Usually sporting dark plumage, except for golden head, can often spotted with sketchbook and brushes near megalithic sites.
Feeding habits: Easily tempted with cheese (any variety) or a nice cup of tea. Unfeasibly fond of curry.
Behaviour: Unpredictable, approach cautiously. Responds very favourably to flattery.
Abhors: slugs, invisible sky gods, Tories, the Daily Mail, bigots, eggs, the cold, walking and timewasting.
Adores: a man called Moth, painting, live music, furry creatures, tea administered frequently, hot places, cheese, writing crap poetry, David Attenborough, Ernest Shackleton, Vincent van Gogh and the English language.
Want more?: see her website.
Big old rocks I find appealling
Their secrets they are not revealing
Some are chambers, some are tombs
Hidden in valleys and in combes
Some are said to act like clocks
With shadows cast out from their rocks
I like the way they just survive
When I visit, I feel alive
So I chase my rocks around the maps
Round England, Ireland and France, perhaps
But there ain't nothin' that I liked so much
As to see the Hunebedden, dem is Dutch.
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