BrigantesNation

Some interesting topics covered here.

From: Hannah Lynch [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 27 April 2004 13:35

Dear All,
Please find below the timetable for the Inaugural Postgraduate Forum
Conference at the School of Historical Studies, University of Newcastle
upon Tyne, on May 14th. This conference is free and open to all; all we
ask is that you email us with your intention to attend
([email protected]). More details at:
historical-studies.ncl.ac.uk/postgrad_forum/
Many thanks,
Hannah Lynch.

Inaugural Postgraduate Forum Conference
14th May 2004
ICCHS Lecture Theatre, Line Building
University of Newcastle upon Tyne

9.30 – 9.45am
Introduction and Welcome from Jeremy Boulton, Head of the School of
Historical Studies, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
9.45 – 10.15am
‘Fieldwalking in Wensleydale and Problems with The Study of Neolithic
Exchange’ (Hannah Lynch, School of Historical Studies, University of
Newcastle upon Tyne)
10.15 – 10.45am
‘Looking to the Future: Cicero on Divination Through Dreams’ (Maithe
Hulskamp, School of Historical Studies, University of Newcastle upon Tyne)
10.45 – 11.15am
‘The Appeal of the British National Party (BNP): 1993 -2003.’ (Andrew Ali,
School of Historical Studies, University of Newcastle upon Tyne)
11.15 – 11.30am Coffee
11.30 – 12.00
‘Space, Light and Experience in Byzantine Churches’ (Claire Nesbitt,
School of Historical Studies, University of Newcastle upon Tyne)
12.00 – 12.30pm
‘The Reconstruction of Archaeological Artefacts: an Experiential Approach
to Archaeological Investigation’ (Andy Bates, Freelance Experimental
Archaeologist)
12.30 – 1.00pm
‘Rus in Urbe: The Domus Aurea and Neronian Horti in the City of Rome‘
(Simon Wood, School of Historical Studies, University of Newcastle upon
Tyne‘
1.00- 1.45pm Lunch
1.45 – 2.00pm
Introduction to Session
2.00 – 2.30pm
‘The Macella of Rome’ (Sue Walker, School of Historical Studies,
University of Newcastle upon Tyne)
2.30 – 3.00pm
‘The Poverty of Tory Historiography. Margaret Thatcher and the
Conservative Party in the 1970s’ (Campbell Storey, School of Historical
Studies, University of Newcastle upon Tyne)
3.00 – 3.15pm Coffee
3.15 – 3.45pm
‘The Star Disc of Nebra: The Problem of Circular Arguments in
Archæoastronomy’ (Alun Salt, School of Archaeology and Ancient History,
University of Leicester)
3.45 – 4.15pm
‘From Head to Soul: the Problem of the Division of the Human Psyche in
Aristotle’s Ethics’ (Sarah Francis, School of Historical Studies,
University of Newcastle upon Tyne)

Austrian settlements in the Region of the Danube were prosperous and cosmopolitan in the Bronze Age. That’s what new studies undertaken by researchers in the Prehistoric Commission of the Austrian Academy of Sciences show in a project supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF. It is centred around analysing the findings from excavations on the Oberleiserberg Mountain in Lower Austria where scientists discovered traces of a major trade and relics of a once-flourishing culture of crafts.

The Oberleiserberg mountain excavation site is one of the most prominent locations in Lower Austria. This is where one of the largest settled areas of the Bronze Age (2300 – 800 B.C.) in Central Europe was discovered measuring seven hectares. The excavations have been underway since 1976 and they supply a wide range of findings from the Bronze Age, the Late Latène Period, later ancient times and the time of the great migrations after the fall of the Roman Empire. While the material stemming from ancient times and time of the great migrations has been analysed very thoroughly, the project supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF was only recently able to precisely tap the findings from the Bronze Age.

Trade in Time and Space
The analysis of findings clearly show that the first large-scale settlement of the Oberleiserberg mountain region was in the early Bronze Age (2300 to 1600 B.C.) when the Moravian/Austrian group of the Aunjetitz culture held sway here in the northern region of the Danube. The major characteristic of the Aunjetitz culture was large regular fields of graves and diverse burial gifts made of bronze. There was a great exchange of goods in this group, especially raw materials. For instance, in the early Bronze Age, the settlers at the Oberleiserberg Mountain used flint from Moravia to make a wide variety of implements such as blades and arrowheads.

Dr. Michaela Lochner from the Austrian Academy of Sciences points out that “we analysed the mineralogical characteristics of the flint and its type and arrived at the surprising result that the types of stones to be found at Oberleiserberg mountain were often made and used in the early Bronze Age, although these implements were previously assigned to the Stone Age. In addition, most of the flint originates from the Moravian region that is much further away, which is a strong indication of the settlements in the Danube region exchanging goods with one another”. This era of intensive trade came to an abrupt end at the Oberleiserberg Mountain when the settlement was abandoned due to a disastrous fire.

An Excellent Position
There were only more recent settlements at the end of the older phase of the middle Danube region urn field culture (about 1000 B.C.) named after the preferred manner of burying the dead by cremating them and burying them in urns. The analysis of findings from this time show that the settlement flourished due to its safe location on the mountain and excellent access to trade routes. Dr. Lochner tells us that “we found a number of everyday implements for manufacturing textiles such as weaving weights and wharves in the excavations, so that we concluded that there was a lot of crafts and trading being done that produced a significant amount of prosperity.

This is something we can also see from bronze garment needles with carefully designs needle heads in shape of vase heads or spindles that were used as clothing decorations”. These objects were cast in forms made of stone or clay that we still have today along with stove or oven plates. The ceramic of the Oberleiserberg mountain also prove how highly developed crafts were then. What is especially remarkable are the very thin-walled bowls that are decorated with a wealth of new types of line, rhombic and circular designs.

When we analyse these findings, it provides us with new insight into the conditions under which Bronze Age settlements lived in the region of the Danube. The Oberleiserberg Mountain was a stronghold of culture in the Bronze Age and it fostered the exchange of creative and innovative ideas, just like the Austrian Science Fund FWF.

fwf.ac.at/en/press/bronze_age.html

Study Day

ART, ARCHAEOLOGY & LANDSCAPE
Sat 24th April 10.00-5.00pm
FCE 32 Tavistock Square, London

Art Archaeology Landscape Fay Stevens

Development in rock art studies throughout Britain Stan Beckensall

Ad majoram Dei gloriam: ecclesiastical architecture and the Medieval
landscape Stuart Brookes

Art and the re-presentation of the past Sue Hamilton

Excavate overlay: a project linking art, archaeology and landscape
Sara Bowler

Fee: #30 (#15 concessions) To enrol call: 020 7631 6627

UW student considers mound a key archaic site
By SUSANNE QUICK

In the middle of a swampy island inhabited by some of the most dangerous cocaine runners in the Americas, there lies an ancient Garden of Eden.

Ancient Mound Discovered

Discovered and uncovered by John Hodgson, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, this archaeological site may prove to be a crucial piece of the puzzle known as the late archaic period of Mesoamerica – a time period about 5,000 years ago in a region that includes Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

And it may shed light on the factors that prompted a transition from a purely hunting and gathering society to one more complex.

“This could reshape a whole set of questions that I’ve been asking for the last 30 years,” said John Clark, a professor of anthropology at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and a collaborator of Hodgson’s.

In addition, the site, which is on an island along the Pacific Coast of Chiapas, Mexico, may indicate that civilization, at least in this region, was not borne on the back-breaking bones of environmental hardship, overpopulation and hunger, but within a resource-enriched paradise of bountiful food, fish, plants and raw materials.

“That goes against the traditional framework” of how civilizations rose, Clark said.

Other researchers, however, think the leap from this find – a large shell mound – to the dawn of Mesoamerican civilization may be a bit premature.

The discovery of Alvarez del Toro – the name Hodgson gave the site, in honor of a famous Mexican zoologist – was announced by UW officials.

And because nobody other than Hodgson has seen the site (although he did take photographs of it that Clark and a few others have seen) – nor has it been evaluated in a peer-reviewed journal – many researchers are remaining circumspect about the find.

Alvarez del Toro can best be described as a very large shell mound.

And although other shell mounds have been found in the region – which are thought to be either huge garbage dumps, called middens, or evidence of successive “clam-bakes” – Hodgson and Clark said this late archaic shell mound is unique.

More than 240 feet long, 90 feet wide and 21 feet tall, this 5,000-year-old structure appears to have layers of flooring that were laid down every 20 to 30 years over a 500-year period.

“Regardless of whether or not this turns out to be a sedentary site occupied year-round, it is still potentially important for a variety of reasons,” said Jason Yaeger, a professor of anthropology at UW who was not involved in the project but has seen Hodgson’s photographs.

Yaeger said the early date of the mound, which Hodgson has verified at two different laboratories using half a dozen samples, combined with its long occupancy and the “significant and unprecedented” amount of labor involved in its construction all contradict current ideas of how people were living in this region around 3,000 B.C.

The common understanding is that people were hunter-gatherers – an anthropological description of a society that is generally on the move, hunting and collecting food. This find, Yaeger said, indicates that these people had “long-term ties to this particular place on the landscape.”

“We know that structures like this are the basis for later Aztec and Mayan” ritual buildings – such as the Maya pyramids of Tikal in Guatemala, Yaeger said.

However, he cautioned that Hodgson’s find is more than 1,000 years older than these later structures and not necessarily indicative of a sudden rise to civilized society.

“There are other contemporaneous or earlier examples of formalized ritual spaces in Mesoamerica,” he said, citing Gheo Shin, a large, flat open space surrounded by boulders, discovered in Oaxaca, Mexico.

“There is no sign of habitation or debris in it,” he said – just like Alvarez del Toro – and it is believed to have been an open-air dance site where groups of hunter-gatherers would gather to perform ritual dances, exchange marriage partners and trade goods.

“It’s possible that Alvarez del Toro is also a long-term meeting place for mobile hunter-gatherer groups, although clearly more formalized than Gheo Shin,” he said.

But, “that would be the least-exciting possible interpretation,” said Yaeger.

Instead, the most exciting possibility, he said, is that it ends up being a permanent village.

More data needed
But all of these scenarios will have to wait until more data can be collected.

Barbara Voorhies, a professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of California-Santa Barbara and an expert in the late archaic period of the Pacific region, agrees.

“I have been working on the Chiapas shell mounds since the 1960s and have investigated them in considerable detail,” she said.

In the shell mounds she has excavated, she has interpreted the layers as being sequential clam bakes. These may be different from the layers Hodgson has found, but it’s too early to tell.

“It is impossible to say” from a UW news release whether this “new shell mound is like the ones I have studied in detail, or not,” she said.

If post holes can be found – areas where structural supports were put in the ground to construct a wooden building – “the new mound would prove to be different from the known ones,” she said.

But it seems premature to say anything too definitive about the site at this time, she said, especially in light of the information available for the “clam-bake” sites.

At the same time, however, “it would be wrong to think that site structure at the new site must be the same as the nearby shell mounds since site structure and contents do vary,” she said.

Hodgson is planning to return this fall to see if he can unearth more of the structure, search for post holes and possibly find other structures nearby.

Brigham Young’s Clark believes Hodgson will find these things.

“It makes sense to look for the origins of Mesoamerican civilization in marshes,” such as the one Hodgson’s mound is in, said Clark. “I consider investigating the potential of this site to be the number one priority” for archaeologists in the region.

jsonline.com/alive/news/apr04/223112.asp

Stephen Stewart – April 19 2004

Archaeologists will have a greater understanding of the lives of the people who built great ritual monuments such as Stonehenge following excavations at one of Scotland’s largest rural settlements.

A dig at a new housing development in Dreghorn, Ayrshire, has revealed major medieval remains and Neolithic features including the site of a ceremonial pole, houses and a pottery kiln.
The site suggests a 5000-year-old village similar in scale to the group of stone houses at Skara Brae, Orkney, and is helping historians “rewrite pre-history”.

Large amounts of grooved ware pottery, a decorated ceramic that seems to have evolved in Scotland and is found across the UK at ceremonial monuments including henge earthworks and timber structures, were also found.

Tom Addyman is excavation director of Addyman Associates, who carried out the ongoing dig at the George Wimpey housing development.

He said: “This was part of a five-acre development where it was suspected from documents, including an aerial photograph taken in the 1940s, that there was evidence of prehistoric remains.
“Once we had gone in and tested the ground by cutting strips across the land, we found there were very substantial remains of the low sides of the medieval village and strong evidence of agricultural activity with two or three corn-drying kilns.
“Very often these kilns caught alight and the grain turned to charcoal that could be dated to the thirteenth century. There had been a hint of prehistory but we excavated a two-acre trench and at the top of the slope there was a great deal more prehistoric activity behind the village street.

“We found 750-odd pieces of grooved ware, which is one of the largest collections in the south-west of Scotland. (The area) is now known as a type site for the Neolithic period, which means that all other sites will be compared to this one.”
Experts believed the site, between the River Irvine and Annick Water, was chosen in the twelfth century for a settlement, then abandoned after 200 years, possibly because of rising water levels. But older finds indicate the area was settled considerably earlier.

Mr Addyman said: “We are now able to build up a picture of how these people lived and understand how things were organised on the ground.

“There is certainly a lot for us to consider.” Mike Pitts, editor of British Archaeology magazine, said: “Finding evidence at this date for settlement, in the form of building foundations and for pottery making, is extremely rare, and promises to help us understand the lives of the people who built the great ritual monuments like henges and early stone circles.”

Archaeologists will have a greater understanding of the lives of the people who built great ritual monuments such as Stonehenge following excavations at one of Scotland’s largest rural settlements.

A dig at a new housing development in Dreghorn, Ayrshire, has revealed major medieval remains and Neolithic features including the site of a ceremonial pole, houses and a pottery kiln.
The site suggests a 5000-year-old village similar in scale to the group of stone houses at Skara Brae, Orkney, and is helping historians “rewrite pre-history”.

Large amounts of grooved ware pottery, a decorated ceramic that seems to have evolved in Scotland and is found across the UK at ceremonial monuments including henge earthworks and timber structures, were also found.

Tom Addyman is excavation director of Addyman Associates, who carried out the ongoing dig at the George Wimpey housing development.

He said: “This was part of a five-acre development where it was suspected from documents, including an aerial photograph taken in the 1940s, that there was evidence of prehistoric remains.
“Once we had gone in and tested the ground by cutting strips across the land, we found there were very substantial remains of the low sides of the medieval village and strong evidence of agricultural activity with two or three corn-drying kilns.
“Very often these kilns caught alight and the grain turned to charcoal that could be dated to the thirteenth century. There had been a hint of prehistory but we excavated a two-acre trench and at the top of the slope there was a great deal more prehistoric activity behind the village street.

“We found 750-odd pieces of grooved ware, which is one of the largest collections in the south-west of Scotland. (The area) is now known as a type site for the Neolithic period, which means that all other sites will be compared to this one.”

Experts believed the site, between the River Irvine and Annick Water, was chosen in the twelfth century for a settlement, then abandoned after 200 years, possibly because of rising water levels. But older finds indicate the area was settled considerably earlier.

Mr Addyman said: “We are now able to build up a picture of how these people lived and understand how things were organised on the ground.

” There is certainly a lot for us to consider.” Mike Pitts, editor of British Archaeology magazine, said: “Finding evidence at this date for settlement, in the form of building foundations and for pottery making, is extremely rare, and promises to help us understand the lives of the people who built the great ritual monuments like henges and early stone circles.”

Archaeologists will have a greater understanding of the lives of the people who built great ritual monuments such as Stonehenge following excavations at one of Scotland’s largest rural settlements.

A dig at a new housing development in Dreghorn, Ayrshire, has revealed major medieval remains and Neolithic features including the site of a ceremonial pole, houses and a pottery kiln.
The site suggests a 5000-year-old village similar in scale to the group of stone houses at Skara Brae, Orkney, and is helping historians “rewrite pre-history”.

Large amounts of grooved ware pottery, a decorated ceramic that seems to have evolved in Scotland and is found across the UK at ceremonial monuments including henge earthworks and timber structures, were also found.

Tom Addyman is excavation director of Addyman Associates, who carried out the ongoing dig at the George Wimpey housing development.

He said: “This was part of a five-acre development where it was suspected from documents, including an aerial photograph taken in the 1940s, that there was evidence of prehistoric remains.
“Once we had gone in and tested the ground by cutting strips across the land, we found there were very substantial remains of the low sides of the medieval village and strong evidence of agricultural activity with two or three corn-drying kilns.
“Very often these kilns caught alight and the grain turned to charcoal that could be dated to the thirteenth century. There had been a hint of prehistory but we excavated a two-acre trench and at the top of the slope there was a great deal more.

theherald.co.uk/news/14279.html

Astronomy study reveals ancient places of healing

Mysterious T-shaped monuments scattered around the Mediterranean island of Menorca were most probably places of healing, says an archaeoastronomer who has studied the orientation of the Bronze Age monuments.

Each “taula” – named after the Catalan word for table – is formed by two massive stone blocks arranged in the shape of an upright “T”. The taulas face an opening in a surrounding ring of stones, and all but one of the 30 structures on Menorca face roughly south.

The taulas are usually made from limestone and range between two and five metres (Image: Michael Hoskin)
“It has long been known that these taulas were sanctuaries,” says University of Cambridge archaeoastronomer Michael Hoskin, citing the large number of bones from sacrificial animals that litter the sites.

But the sites were also home to a few intriguing bronze statues, including a bull, an Egyptian figurine with an inscription in hieroglyphics reading, “I am Imhotep the god of medicine” and horse hooves. The latter is particularly curious as there is no known horse god in ancient Mediterranean cultures.

Hoskin was invited to study the sites’ orientation to understand the significance of both the bronze statues and why no taulas are found on the nearby island of Mallorca. The taulas’ southern orientation – facing the sea or looking down from a hillside – gave him an important clue.

“What was near the southern horizon that was of interest?” Hoskin wondered. Today the answer is not much. But over time, gravitational tugs from the Sun, Moon, and planets make the Earth wobble on its axis like a spinning top.

For this reason, the night sky would have looked slightly different in 1000 BC, when the taulas were constructed. At that time, the entrance to the taulas framed the seasonal rise of a constellation known as Centaurus by the ancient Greeks. Today, it is split into the constellation of the Southern Cross, followed by the bright stars Beta and Alpha Centauri.

In Greek mythology, the Centaur – who had a man’s head and a horse’s body – taught medicine to Asclepius, the god of medicine.

Myths circulated around the Mediterranean and Near East even before the taulas were made and the different cultures engaged in a lot of trade, “so it is entirely possible – but not proven, of course – that the Menorcans had a similar view of Centaurus [as the ancient Greeks],” Hoskin told New Scientist.

The association with healing could explain the bronze hooves – which could be the remains of a statue of the Centaur, the Egyptian medicine god figurine – possibly left by an Egyptian sailor – and even the absence of taulas on neighboring Mallorca.

“Menorca is flat and you can see the Southern Cross, etc., from almost any location,” Hoskin explains. Settlements on mountainous Mallorca, on the other hand, were located in valleys “from which the Cross was invisible because it was screened by the surrounding hills”.

Steve McCluskey, a historian of astronomy at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, US, says Hoskin’s astronomical and archaeological evidence “combine to provide strong indications of a healing cult at this site”.

McCluskey also said Hoskin has “fundamentally transformed” archaeoastronomy by showing that the builders of these monuments were little concerned with the “highly precise orientations that had formerly been the touchstone of archaeoastronomical investigations”. Pointing their constructions in roughly the right direction appears to have sufficed.

newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994849

The sun and stars may have served as critical references for a startlingly diverse range of ancient builders who constructed chambers to hold the dead and other religious shrines.

The orientation of thousands of Neolithic tombs erected across Europe and Africa around 10,000 B.C. were apparently built to face the rising sun, securing the sun’s importance in various human cultures across three countries, two continents and the Mediterranean islands, according to one astronomy historian

space.com/scienceastronomy/ancient_tombs_040405.html

Flint-area resident taps ‘forgotten technology’ to move massive objects

FLINT — Some may find it odd that a 57-year-old man goes out into his yard to play with blocks.

But then, the blocks that Wallace T. Wallington moves around near his home in a rural Flint area weigh up to nearly 10 tons. And by himself, he moves these behemoth playthings, not with cranes and cables, but with wooden levers.

“It’s more technique than it is technology,” Wallington says. “I think the ancient Egyptians and Britons knew this.”

Last October, a production crew from Discovery Channel in Canada came to Wallington’s home to film him as he raised a 16-foot, rectangular concrete block that weighed 19,200 pounds and set it into a hole. That taping was made into a segment, which has aired on Discovery Canada and the Discovery Science program in the United States.

The project resulted in a column, standing more than 10 feet high in his yard. He says he intends to construct his own kind of Stonehenge — without cranes or any modern engines or machines. He believes that’s the way ancient people moved and constructed the great landmarks of the world.

For the full story, vist...
detnews.com/2004/metro/0404/01/d06e-109393.htm

By Corinne Field 01/04/2004

Bones of a man and woman dating back to 3000BC have been found in a gravel pit in Leicestershire. The extraordinary find, including a skull, vertebrae and long bones, are the earliest human remains ever found in the county.

Not only that but a series of timber uprights for a footbridge dating back to AD500, remnants of the only early Anglo-Saxon bridge known in Britain, were uncovered at the same spot.

Both discoveries were made at a gravel quarry near Watermead Country Park, Birstall eight years ago by archaeologists from the University of Leicester but investigations and analysis of the finds have only just been completed.

Dr Patrick Clay, Director of University of Leicester Archaeological Services said, “This is a remarkable discovery literally from the jaws of the gravel excavators.”

For the full story, visit...
24hourmuseum.org.uk/nwh/ART20695.html

Norwegian archaeologists were ecstatic this week after making a rare discovery at Aukra in Romsdal, north-central Norway. They’ve confirmed finding bone fragments from a child who must have lived in the area around 6,000 years ago.

Archaeologists have confirmed that this fragment was part of a Stone Age child’s chin.

The discovery was made in connection with excavations underway for the new land-base for the Ormen Lange gas field in the North Sea. Industrial concern Norsk Hydro is developing the gas field but its excavations are being conducted in cooperation with archaeologists.

Researchers know that the area around Aukra featured ancient settlements, and several thousand items already have been found and recorded.

“We knew, of course, that there were children in the Stone Age as well, but we’re probably guilty of focusing on the male hunters from the period,” Hein Bjerck, from the Science Museum in Trondheim (Vitenskapsmuseet i Trondheim), told newspaper Aftenposten

“But when we actually find a child, it’s almost heartbreaking,” Bjerck said. It’s the first time a child’s remains from so long ago have been found in Norway.

He said that initial examination suggests the child was between two and four years old at time of death. The child’s bone fragments were found in a compact mass of sand. Archaeologists also noted contures in the sand that probably were made by a human body, as long ago as 5,000 BC.

Bjerck and members of his team were ecstatic over the discovery because “there’s a lot of facts we can get out of such remains, for example cause of death, physiology and the child’s diet. We’re on the threshold of something very exciting.”

aftenposten.no/english/local/article764163.ece

Letters to the Darlington and Stockton Times by DST readers – 12/03/04

Sir, – I am an employee at Nosterfield quarry, where the extraction of sand and gravel has been conducted for 50 years.

I have been reading and listening to reports by a small minority of people in the villages surrounding Nosterfield quarry who have set up a campaign and called themselves the Friends of Thornborough.

This group is campaigning to save the henges located on Thornborough moor. It accuses Tarmac (Nosterfield quarry’s owners) of planning to destroy the henges and their settings. As an employee I know for a fact that the henges are protected and cannot be interfered with by anybody whatsoever.

I attended a meeting held by the Friends of Thornborough on March 4 to listen to their points of view. They know that Tarmac will not be quarrying the henges and for some reason they are hell-bent on trying to close down Nosterfield quarry and put myself and my colleagues out of work, using the henges as an excuse.

The majority of this group moved into the surrounding areas of Nosterfield quarry long after quarrying started. If they are against Nosterfield quarry operating why did they move here at all?

My colleagues and I are proud of the work we do at Nosterfield quarry, supplying one fifth of Yorkshire’s sand and gravel. Why should we feel that our job security is being threatened by a group of fanatics out to spoil a tradition going back 50 years. Today’s construction industry relies heavily on sand and gravel produced at Nosterfield quarry.

CHRIS COLE
Bullamoor Road,
Northallerton.

Sir, – At the Friends of Thornborough meeting at West Tanfield last Thursday, Simon Smales (head of planning, North Yorkshire County Council) said that he had been disturbed by misleading statements which had been made concerning the council’s involvement with mineral extraction and archaeology around Thornborough and Nosterfield.

I trust that he was referring to the county council’s senior archaeologist’s attempt to mislead another senior archaeologist by stating that there was no threat to the landscape around our henge complex from quarrying and that this “red herring” was the construct of a few individuals opposed to wetland restorations.

This was clearly aimed at people who are not opposed to well planned restorations, but who are strongly opposed to the county council-backed blue print for quarry restorations, spearheaded by the Lower Ure Conservation Trust on Nosterfield Nature Reserve.

The LUCT, which was set up in the Nineties with the prime objective to acquire quarried sites, has three trustees; one of whom is the county council’s chief rural conservation officer. Part of his remit is to comment on the impact of quarry applications and after-use restoration plans.

This blueprint for the after-use strategy will be a supplement to the county’s new minerals plan, which is heavily influenced by the Hambleton Biodiversity Action Plan – collated and launched by the LUCT.

Our national BAP was agreed following the 1992 Earth Summit, which says that one state must not cause environmental damage to another, and that food for an expanding world population must be provided by maintaining and improving existing agricultural land.

By quarrying and creating massive lakes, we are permanently removing some of the best agricultural land from use; thus placing the same pressures which previously destroyed much of our biodiversity on other areas of the world.

The county council has created an organisation which sucks in public money to purchase and restore quarry sites, and to publicise and promote the benefits of quarrying. This enables quarry companies to work in areas hitherto closed to them.

The whole issue is summed up by a Yorkshire Post article (Feb 11) headlined “Winning quarry wants to expand” which features a photograph of quarry chiefs standing in the Nosterfield Nature Reserve, pointing at plans for our henge complex surrounded by lakes.

R J LONSDALE
Nosterfield,
Bedale.

Sir, – On the face of it many people would welcome Tarmac’s statement that it does not intend to proceed with a planning application for Thornborough Moor until after English Heritage completes its conservation plan for the area surrounding the henges. However, Tarmac has confirmed that it intends to proceed with the application for Ladybridge – this site is also covered by the conservation plan!

So what’s the difference between the two areas? Many people have heard that more archaeology is likely to be discovered at Ladybridge and Tarmac’s own web site seems to confirm this. So what is the difference between Thornborough Moor and Ladybridge?

Timing, it appears is the important factor. The fact is that the conservation plan is due out later this year, and that Tarmac have never intended to apply for planning permission for Thornborough Moor before 2006 at the earliest. The statement was therefore no more than corporate spin.

So, rather than a change of position, Tarmac’s press release is actually a confirmation that they intend to continue with their plans unchanged – this was put across in a way that was likely to mislead members of the public and the press.

As your own headlines and the local people have confirmed, Tarmac’s press release did fool a lot of people into thinking Tarmac had made a complete u-turn.

I suggest in future when Tarmac issue a press release we all take a far more sceptical and informed view of it. Let’s make sure local people are presented the facts, not corporate spin.

GEORGE CHAPLIN
Brompton Road,
Newton le Willows.

thisisdarlington.co.uk/the_north_east/opinion/OPINION4.html

A PREHISTORIC site at risk from quarrying appears to have found a new ally, with North Yorkshire County Council acknowledging its national importance.

Following growing concerns about the threat to the unique triple henge complex at Thornborough, near West Tanfield, the council has formed a special consultation group in a bid to help safeguard its future.
The site – said to be one of most important Neolithic remains in the country – lies next to the massive Nosterfield Quarry which is is feared will encroach even closer to the 5,000 year old henges.
The new consultation group includes representatives from the county council, who are responsible for giving planning permission to quarry at the site, as well as English Heritage, English Nature, Hambleton District Council and local action group The Friends of Thornborough, who last year stepped up their campaign to stop quarrying on the site.
Meetings will be held every six weeks, providing a forum for the exchange of information and views.
The move by the county council highlights the growing interest in the site, which is beginning to be recognised as being of national archaeological importance, and has even had questions about it raised in the House of Commons by MP for the area, Anne MacIntosh.
Coun Peter Sowray, the county council’s executive member for environmental services who will chair the consultation group, said this week: “The county council recognises the importance of Thornborough Henges both locally and nationally. The group has been set up to reflect the county council’s role in dealing with the henges.
“Further mineral working in the area of Thornborough Henges would have major implications, not only for the henges and the surrounding archaeological landscape, but also in terms of the impact it would have on local communities at Thornborough and Nosterfield.
“The current planning permission for sand and gravel extraction at Nosterfield Quarry was granted in 1994 subject to a detailed schedule of conditions, including restoration and archaeology. Proposals for site restoration are being progressed on a phased basis and in accordance with an agreed management plan. Setting up this consultation group will give us the opportunity to discuss all these issues with interested parties.”
Chairman of the Friends, Jon Lowry, who will sit on the consultation group, said: “We are hopefully all working together towards a common end and I think the council is taking the issue seriously. Its rather good that at least now we can find somebody to talk to.”
But he added: “Some of us may be a little wary because we have been trying to talk to these people for ages and all of a sudden the door’s open. The timing of the consultation group coincided with the questions in the House of Commons.
“I have questions as to whether a meeting every six weeks will be enough and if anything will be done in between. But I’m hoping things will happen.”
A large turnout was expected last night for a public meeting called by the Friends to canvas views from English Heritage, the county council and quarry company Tarmac Northern Limited.
A conference is due to take place in Northallerton at the end of the month to consider the archaeological consequences of continued quarrying at Thornborough. Run by the Yorkshire Group of the Council for British Archaeology and open to members of the public, it will feature presentations by eminent archaeologists and the main stakeholders in the dispute.
Mr Lowry said such events were indicative of the way recognition of the site’s importance had snowballed in the last year.
He added: “I think we are finding doors are opening. People were a bit wary of us at first but now we have the support of some serious and well-respected archaeologists and that shows that our cause is at least legitimate.”
l The CBA conference takes place at the Golden Lion Hotel, Northallerton on Saturday, March 27. Tickets cost £5 (£15 with buffet lunch) and are available on 01609 771878.

ripontoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=18&ArticleID=751734

From an article in Yorkshire Post Today by Brian Dooks:

Thornborough is the only triple henge complex in the world and the only one to share the same astronomical alignment as the pyramids at Giza in Egypt.

A recent theory is that the henges’ alignment may follow that of Orion’s Belt in the constellation of Orion.

The site, which may have been chosen because of its proximity to the River Ure, was first used about 3500BC and it continued to be a centre for religious ritual worship, drawing pilgrims from across the North, at least until 2500BC.

The henges are one of the largest earthmoving projects undertaken by Neolithic man. Together with other henges at Nunwick, Hutton Moor and Cana Barn, near Ripon, plus the Devil’s Arrows at Roecliffe, near Boroughbridge, they form one of Britain’s premier sacred sites.

Superficial investigations of the site took place in the late 19th century but the henges were largely ignored by archaeologists until 1994, when a team from Newcastle University launched an intensive research project, which still continues under senior lecturer Jan Harding.

Worked flints from the Pennines and the Yorkshire coast have been discovered there along with axeheads from Langdale in Cumbria.

Dr Harding says the henges are a mirror image of Orion in its highest position with the southern entrances framing Sirius as it appeared over the horizon.

If the banks were covered in gypsum, as some excavations suggest, they would have appeared silvery white in the moonlight.

The Friends of Thornborough – www.friendsofthornborough.org – say that after years of neglect, including the use of the central henge as an ammunition store in the Second World War, their setting is now threatened by an extension to Nosterfield sand and gravel quarry.

From the Meath Chronicle today:

Two researchers have claimed that a huge, human-like depiction present in the road system straddling Meath and Louth could be the world’s largest ground-based representation of the constellation of Orion.

They say that there is “tantalising evidence” that the vast `High
Man’ figure may have been set down in prehistory and a five-year project of research into ancient myths and stories has revealed a significant astronomical knowledge among our ancient ancestors.

More: mythicalireland.com/highman

“King” of Stonehenge may have been Swiss – Swissinfo – February 11, 2003 8:08 PM

Stonehenge, the 4,000-year-old mysterious ring of ancient stones, which is one of Britain’s most famous landmarks, may have a Swiss connection.

Archaeologists say that the remains of a wealthy archer – dubbed the King of Stonehenge – found near the site were from the Alps region.

Tony Trueman, a Wessex Archaeology spokesman, said tests on the chemical components of the archer’s tooth enamel confirmed that he had come from an area which is most probably modern-day Switzerland.

He said that it was clear that the man had been important from the sheer volume and value of the finds in his grave and this had resulted in his nickname, the King of Stonehenge.

Important finds

Among the objects were gold hair ornaments and copper knives, making it one of the richest and earliest Bronze Age sites in Britain. The gold is some of the earliest found in the country.

But how much of a link the archer, found just three miles away from Stonehenge at Amesbury, had to the ancient stone ring is open to speculation.

Archaeologists think that the man, who was skilled in metalwork, might have played an important part in the construction of the site and helped to introduce new skills in the area.

“What we do know is that Stonehenge was built about 3000 BC and sometime around 2400-2200 BC people began to put the stones up and right in the middle of that period the archer came over”, Trueman told swissinfo.

“We know that he was an immensely important and influential person and he so must have visited Stonehenge and he must have visited it because he was buried within a short walk of it”, he said.

Sophisticated society

Trueman said that the Swiss would not have had any problems communicating with the Britons as they all spoke a form of Celtic at that time.

He added that there was a lot of international trade and that cultural links with the continent were strong during the period that Stonehenge was built.

“Look at this man, he was from Switzerland or thereabouts, the copper knives were from Spain and France and he came over to Britain and died there”, explained Trueman.

“We’re looking at an immense movement of people, which we don’t expect when we think of the Stone Age or the Bronze Age. We think of people with clubs living in caves and grunting, but this is much more sophisticated society than people think of”.

Stonehenge is a ring of 20-ton stones on the Salisbury Plain and is a world heritage site. The reason why it was built continues to baffle archaeologists, with some suggesting that it was used as a giant astronomical observatory.

swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=105&sid=1626144

A village in Ayrshire has discovered that it could be the oldest continuously-occupied settlement in Scotland, dating back 5,500. Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of stone age houses in the middle of Dreghorn near Irvine.

They are having to re-write their local history in Dreghorn. Archaeologists have discovered that people may have been living here since 3500 BC – and it might make the village unique. They found evidence of occupation dating back to the Stone Age, through the Bronze Age to the medieval period.

Archaeologist Tom Addyman said: “People have always lived here, and have wanted to live here. Can’t think of any other site that has that depth and layering of occupation.”

The settlement has been found on the site of a modern housing development. Building work has been halted to allow the archaeologists to dig. They have made several intriguing finds.

Project supervisor Tom Wilson said: “It appears to be quite a large monument, like a standing stone, or some kind of totem pole, if you will, set up towards the centre of the settlement. That is an unusual thing to find in a settlement like this.”

Pre-historian Mike Donnelly said: “Well, what we found here looks like a prehistoric pottery kiln, which would be very unusual for mainland Scotland, it would certainly be the first for mainland Scotland.”

The archaeologists are noting down everything before the builders move back in. Dreghorn already had one claim to fame, as the birthplace of John Boyd Dunlop, the inventor of the pneumatic tyre; now it has a second, as – possibly – Scotland’s oldest village.

scotlandtoday.scottishtv.colo.ednet.co.uk/content/default.asp?page=s1_1_1&newsid=2863

WORKMEN digging up a city street in preparation for a new bus route have uncovered an Iron Age structure.

The remains of the 3000-year-old stone enclosure were discovered in the Broomhouse area.

Archeologists believe the 130ft by 100ft structure dates back to around 1000BC, making it from the late Bronze or early Iron Age.

The remains were uncovered by Balfour Beatty workmen excavating the site as part of preparation works for the West Edinburgh Busway.

The construction firm is carrying out works on behalf of Transport Initiatives Edinburgh near the Edinburgh-Glasgow railway line.

A fuller evaluation of the site is now being conducted by Headland Archeology.

A spokesman for the company said the structure would need to be closely examined before its secrets are revealed.

He added: “The development on this site has given us an opportunity to carry out research into the historical landscape of the Broomhouse area. It’s likely the timber structure was used as a farm steading enclosure or a corral for livestock.

“Excavating, recording and collecting artefacts from the site will give us a better understanding of what it was used for.”

Council archeologist John Lawson agreed the ancient structure was a significant find.

“This is the first such monument to be excavated within the city’s boundaries,” he said.

“It probably dates to the late Bronze Age or early Iron Age, although recent work in Scotland has shown that this type of enclosure may also date to the early medieval period, around the tenth to 13th century AD.

“Either way, it is an important site in Edinburgh’s history.”

The West Edinburgh Bus System will provide travellers with a bus service from Ingliston to the city centre, passing through residential areas such as Stenhouse as well as Edinburgh Park.

It has been described as a vital part of the city’s public transport scheme.

It is not known whether the find will delay work to the project, scheduled to finish later this year.

Councillor Ricky Henderson, executive member for sports, culture and leisure, said the find was a valuable part of the city’s history.

“The discovery of these remains at Broomhouse will further help piece together Edinburgh’s past,” he said.

“Preserving and recording the findings will add valuable information to the bank of knowledge the city has built up through its archeological finds to date.”

In July last year, the accidental discovery of a 200-year-old map led to the location of the long-lost settlement of Whittingehame in East Lothian, which dated from the seventh century but was abandoned nearly 300 years ago.

Investigations of the field near East Linton identified the site of old buildings, including the pub, a blacksmith’s and school, while a host of relics were brought to the surface by a farmer’s plough.

About 200 villagers lived at the site at one time, until the 18th century when agriculture declined and it was abandoned.

Further archeological work was to be carried out on the area to expose the foundations of the buildings where relics have been recovered.

news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=226522004

The remains of people who lived in Derby (England) 3,500 years ago have been found on the site of a derelict hotel in Littleover. Archaeologists say the Bronze Age cremation site, containing burial urns dating back to 1500 BCE, is the oldest historical exhibit found intact in Derby. A major highway used by Roman armies from 70AD was also discovered, along with the boundaries of what is thought to be an Iron Age field.

The finds were made as excavation work was carried out on the Pastures Hill side of the former Forte Post House hotel, which closed in 2001. The work was being carried out by archaeology experts ahead of a proposed housing development. Dr Andrew Myers, Derbyshire County Council’s development control archaeologist, said during the dig the team found a Bronze Age cremation cemetery. On excavating one of the six cremations, they found burnt human bones inside a burial urn. “It’s the earliest intact archaeology that has been excavated in the whole of Derby,” said Dr Myers. “There were also several pit-like finds in a row. They were identified as Iron Age, and may be part of field boundaries dating back to 500 BCE.

Joan D’Arcy, of Derbyshire Archaeological Society, said: “We had no idea that there was any Bronze Age or Iron Age occupation in that area.” When the discovered items have been investigated they will be displayed at Derby Museum and Art Gallery in the Strand.

stonepages.com/news/archives/000585.html

9.30 – Editted highlights of Time Flyers and discussion by Dave Macleod and Richard Maude, presenter and producer.
10.05 – Planning for Change – some current princeples and past lessons – George Lambrick Director of CBA
10.20 – A comparison with Stonehenge: linkages in the landscape – Mike Parker Pearson.
10.50 – The Neolithic in Yorkshire – Terry Manby
11.20 – The Neolithic and Bronze Age Complex of Thornborough – Dr Jan Harding
12.10 – panel discussion on conservation issues at Thornborough
12.40 lunch

2.00 – A community view on the archaeology of Thornborough – George Chaplin
2.30 – The Archaeology of the Nosterfiedl and Ladybridge Sites – Mike Griffiths Associates on behalf of Tarmac
3.00 – The NYCC’s role and consultation group – Simon Smales, NYCC head of Planning
3.30 – The English Heritage Position
4.00 – plenery discussion on policy implications

Location – Golden Lion, Northallerton. Saturday 27th March, price- £15.00 including lunch, £5.00 excluding lunch.

Bookings should be sent to John Sheehan, Hon. Secretary, CBA Yorkshire Group, 4 Arden Mews, Northallerton, DL6 1EN.

ALL the experts agree breast is best for baby – but it may be less traditional than we think. Yorkshire research suggests Iron Age infants were on the ancient equivalent of formula.

Molecular-level examinations of 2,000-year-old bones from the Wetwang burial site, near Driffield, East Yorkshire, have produced puzzling results, leading scientists to speculate that ancient people were even more concerned about food taboos than we are today.
Mandy Jay, of Bradford’s archaeology department, has examined the bones of more than 50 adults and 25 infants, analysing isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in the collagen to see what kind of proteins the Iron Age people ate.

All the adults, from wealthy warriors interred with chariots in burial mounds to paupers buried in ditches, seem to have eaten plenty of animal protein, which produces the same type of collagen, whether dairy or meat.

That should mean bones of breast-fed infants would have even higher protein levels, as they would be drinking milk from mothers who were themselves nourished with animal proteins.

But instead, babies’ bones have levels comparable with a diet of cows’ milk.

Ms Jay said: “It may be a society where they didn’t want to breastfeed too long because they wanted to toughen the children up.
“If they were trying to feed their children cows’ milk, the chances are they would have a higher mortality rate, which is something I would have to examine.”

Alternatively, the low levels could also be due to women becoming vegan when pregnant or breastfeeding. A temporary change in diet wouldn’t show up in the women’s bones, as adult collagen is laid down over several years.

“It’s very difficult to understand what a different society would think. To them, drinking milk while producing milk may have seemed strange. There are societies that do all kinds of things with pregnant and menstruating women,” she said.

They certainly seem to have imposed plenty of other dietary restrictions. Bones more than 6,000 years old show Stone Age man suddenly stopped eating fish and shellfish, possibly because of taboos about wild food as people became settled farmers.

Fish wasn’t back on the menu until the Romans arrived, 4,000 years later.
Perhaps the most intriguing finds are two human bones from Wetwang, whose owners appear to have been vegan, though Ms Jay is cautious as to what they mean.

She said: “They could have belonged to a class that was being fed differently, such as a slave class, or they could have had some kind of disease and had to become vegan. We can’t really say, but I’m very excited about it.”

yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticleMore2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=740506&Page=1&ReturnUrl=NewsFrontMore.aspx

DEXTER SNIFFS OUT AN ANCIENT RARITY

DEXTER the labrador proved he had a nose for history when he unwittingly helped his owner make a significant archaeological discovery dating back more than 3,000 years.

Harvey Jones, of Cranleigh Gardens, Northwood, was walking boisterous two-year-old Dexter on Bembridge Down when he ran off into a massive gorse bush, dragging Mr Jones along with him.
The Bronze Age artefact was lying on the top of a rabbit hole in the middle of the bush – catching the eye of Mr Jones, who said: “It was only thanks to Dexter that I actually saw it.
“The thing about National Trust land is that you have to keep your pets on a lead, so wherever your pet goes you go and that meant accompanying Dexter into the bushes.
“When I picked up the axe head it was in perfect condition and looked almost brand new, like someone had dropped it there yesterday.”
Curious to know more about the piece, Mr Jones dusted himself down and took his find to Frank Basford, of the IW Archaeology and Historic Environment Service.
He concluded the axe head was a looped palstave dating to the middle Bronze Age, from 1500BC to 1200BC and that it had an unusual design on the metal with four lines carved into the bronze, making it unlike any others found on the Island.
Mr Basford said: “Quite a number of looped palstaves have been found but this is the first of this particular type found here and it is in great condition.”
After conservation work has been done on the palstave, it will take pride of place at the Guildhall Museum in Newport.

A gold sword belt ornament encrusted with garnets which could have belonged to the bloodthirsty seventh century Saxon king Caedwalla – and has been described as the missing link in Island history – looks likely to be lost to the Island.
The item was found on the beach at Bembridge by shop manager Darren Trickey and later declared treasure trove but its £50,000 valuation is beyond the £3,000 a year new acquisitions budget of the Guildhall Museum and could instead be bought by the British Museum.
It is felt that the only way it might be retained on the Island would be if locals were to raise around a quarter of the price, then seek grant funding to make up the difference.

iwcp.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1252&ArticleID=743664

A team of Australian archaeologists have sparked an academic row by claiming to have solved the riddle of a missing 1,000 years in human prehistory.

The scientists from Melbourne’s La Trobe University have found remnants of grains on the shore of the Dead Sea in Jordan that they believe help fill the 1,000-year gap in our knowledge of man’s transition from nomad to farmer.

But not everyone agrees, and the Australian team is now muscling up for an academic arm wrestle next month with the exponents of different theories in France.

The debate is all about the period when man shifted from being a nomadic hunter-gatherer to settling down as a sedentary farmer.

Conventional wisdom is that the transitional period, known as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period, finished about 9,200 BC.

But La Trobe’s Archaeology Program Coordinator Dr Phillip Edwards says the university’s discovery of wild ancestors to domestic crops in Jordan now proves the PPNA in fact lasted until 8,300 BC.

This period saw “pre-domestication cultivation” of barley, wheat, pulses and pistachio nuts.

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“The theory holds that our forebears certainly began planting crops from about 9250 BC, but the grains they planted for around 1,000 years continued to be wild varieties, leading to the mistaken conclusion that they had been gathered in the wild during those 1,000 years and not cultivated,” he said.

This view remains a minority one, with most archaeologists still accepting that man had not begun farming cultivated crops at this time, so the stage is set for a good old academic stoush.

The arena for the bloodletting will be the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Workshop at Frejus, France next month.

Members of the La Trobe team will feature in a documentary on the origins of farming life, Stories from the Stone Age, which will screen on the ABC later in the year.

theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/19/1077072756313.html

By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News

Walking in the Western Desert

Feb. 12, 2004 — Tourists traversing Egypt’s desert may solve a mystery that has puzzled archaeologists for centuries: what happened to the 50,000-man Persian army of King Cambyses.

Set up by tourist operator Aqua Sun Desert, the Cambyses project will comb the desert sands using four-wheel-drive vehicles packed with paying tourists eager to find the remains of the lost army swallowed in a sandstorm in 524 B.C., according to the account of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus.

“The project is approved by the Ministry of Tourism after the agreement of Ministry of Antiquities. Any evidence will have to be reported to the authorities,” Hisham Nessim, manager of Aqua Sun Desert, told Discovery News.

Running between 10 and 22 days, the desert safari expeditions will follow a special route in the Western Desert, one of the world’s most beautiful and inhospitable deserts.

Particular attention will be given to an area not far from the Siwa oasis near the Libyan boarder, where four years ago a team of Egyptian geologists stumbled on bits of metal resembling weapons, as well as fragments of human bones.

First thrilled by the news, scholars then reacted with skepticism.

“As nothing was published and no pictures released it is hard to tell whether those were the remains of the lost army. Skeletons can belong to anyone, and without a thorough anthropological study, or any accompanying artifacts, it is hard to judge these allegations,” Egyptologist Salima Ikram of the American University in Cairo told Discovery News.

Herodotus reported that after the Persian occupation of Egypt in 525 B.C., Cambyses, the son of Cyrus the Great, sent 50,000 soldiers west from Thebes to attack the Oasis of Siwa and destroy the oracle at the Temple of Amun, who, according to legend, would have predicted his death.

After walking for seven days in the desert, the army got to El-Khargeh, presumably intending to follow the caravan route via the Dakhla Oasis and Farafra Oasis to Siwa.

But after they left El-Khargeh, they were never seen again.

“As they were at their midday meal, a wind arose from the south, strong and deadly, bringing with it vast columns of whirling sand, which entirely covered up the troops and caused them wholly to disappear,” Herodotus wrote.

The sandstorm was probably caused by the khamsin — the hot, strong, unpredictable southeasterly wind that blows from the Sahara desert over Egypt.

Nessim will continue the Cambyses expeditions for the next five years.

“If we discover anything about the lost army, it will be the discovery of the century,” he said.

According to Ikram, there might be a chance that tourists find something in the desert.

“There is a lot there. Whether or not it has anything to do with the Persians in Egypt is unpredictable. More likely not, but who knows,” Ikram said.

dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20040209/cambyses.html

reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=4332908&section=news

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s ancient pyramids are probably a byproduct of a decision to build walls around the tombs of kings, a leading expert on early Egyptian royal burials said Wednesday.

Guenter Dreyer, director of the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo, said he based his theory on similarities between Egypt’s first pyramid, built at Saqqara south of Cairo for the Pharaoh Zozer in about 2650 BC, and the structure of the tomb of one of his immediate predecessors.

The Saqqara pyramid, known as the Step Pyramid because of its unique shape, began as a flat mound about eight meters (25 feet) high built over the burial chamber of the pharaoh.

At the slightly earlier tomb of the Pharaoh Khasekhemwy, at the old royal cemetery at Abydos in southern Egypt, German excavators found evidence of a similar flat mound covering the central part of the underground burial complex.

The walls in the central part of the tomb were compacted to about twice the thickness and half the height of the walls to the sides, suggesting a heavy weight had once stood on top, Dreyer told Reuters in an interview.

Khasekhemwy’s complex also had one of the niched enclosure walls which later became a distinctive feature of the dozens of pyramids built along the western edge of the Nile Valley for hundreds of years to come, he said.

MOUND OF CREATION

But in the Abydos example, the enclosure wall was much further from the tomb than in the case of Saqqara.

“My theory is that...these two elements (the mound and the wall) were united at Saqqara by his successor Zozer and then something happened. The mound on top of the tomb was hidden by the large surrounding wall -- it was not visible.

“This was a problem, because this mound I think represented the primeval mound of creation and guaranteed the resurrection of the king,” said Dreyer.

The architects of the Saqqara complex solved the problem by building another smaller flat mound on top of the first and then decided to extend it upwards by adding more mounds.

The Sakkara pyramid is an intermediate stage between the flat mounds, known as mastabas, of the earlier period and the smooth-sided classical pyramids of the type found at Giza, just outside the modern city of Cairo.

Archaeologists have long speculated that the pyramids are an extension of the mastaba concept but Dreyer’s theory adds the enclosure wall as an explanation for the transition.

Dreyer, who has spent the last decade studying the kings who ruled in southern Egypt in what was called the pre-dynastic period, before about 3100 BC, said he now believed he had identified another king from the period, known by the name of Horus or Hor, the same as that as the falcon god.

He is basing his theory on a close analysis of two ancient palettes, flat ceremonial stone plates on which early Egyptians appear to have recorded historical and mythological events.

Two palettes show a Horus falcon in a context which Dreyer interprets as the place where the name of a king should appear.

Several palettes have been interpreted as commemorating the conquest of Nile Delta towns by the kings from the south, a process which later led to the political unification of Egypt.

The conquest has traditionally been attributed to either King Narmer or King Aha, who lived about 200 years later.

“He (King Horus) started the whole thing, conquering the Delta, several generations before Narmer. Why? He wanted to safeguard trade routes to Palestine which ran along the Delta, where the Egyptians brought all the wine in,” Dreyer said.

SHARJAH – An Australian-American archaeological team hosted by the Antiquities Directorate of the Sharjah Department of Culture and Information from December 2003 till last month, conducted detailed inspections of the Iron Age site found earlier in Muweileh in Sharjah.

The site, located 15km west of Sharjah city, has already revealed substantial evidence for a 3000-year old settlement which is one of the largest sites dating back to that age discovered so far in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Previous finds included the oldest writing found in the UAE, the oldest Iron-Age artifacts and many buildings including a columned hall that must have functioned as the centre of an economic and political power within the settlement.This season’s excavations, the eighth at the same site, revealed several buildings inside the fortification wall, said a spokesperson of the department. “Previously, we had assumed that the central area of the site consisted of an open courtyard, but it appears that it is not the case,” the spokesperson said, adding that the recent excavations also revealed a new gateway in the eastern side of the settlement. “

This was constructed from stone and had a hardened plaster floor and had evidence for holes for large wooden doors. Several complete painted vessels and some iron artifacts were found associated with this gateway. To the south, a new building adjoining the fortification was also unearthed. This house is larger than most at the site and had plastered floors. A stone incense burner was found on the floor of one of the rooms of this building,” he said.

He said the joint team found evidence throughout all these buildings of a fiery destruction that brought the settlement to an end around 750BC. “This conclusion was drawn from the fact that a lot of archaeological materials have been discovered including pots, clay ovens, animal bones, burnt dates and date-seeds and shells that would have been obtained by the old inhabitants from the coast for eating,” the spokesperson observed, revealing that continued analysis of these finds will provide unparalleled data on how people lived 3000 years ago in Sharjah.

“It is now clear that the ancient settlement of Muweileh was larger and more complicated than we originally thought. We look forward to continued research at the site with the support and collaboration of Sharjah Archaeological Museum,” said a spokesperson for the Australian-American team.

Meanwhile, a Spanish Archaeological expedition from Otonoma University arrived in Sharjah last week to conduct excavations at Ak Thaquiba site in Al Madam Plain.

The Spanish team will focus on resuming excavations of ancient canals of water springs discovered last season in addition to digging other parts of this agricultural settlement which dates back to the first millennium B.C.

khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2004/February/theuae_February114.xml&section=theuae

A village from the Copper Age was found in northern Bulgaria. The village is situated just 800 metes away from the place where the bridge Vidin -Kalafat is to be built.

The archaeological treasure was found near the Antimovo village when a study in connection to the Danube Bridge 2 construction was made.

The ancient village is not within the road-bed of the bridge, but all necessary measures for its preservation will be taken, engineer Kostantin Zhiponov, one of the people dealing with the construction of the bridge said, cited by the local radio Gama.

Some of the finds will be transported to the archeological museum in the town. More researches will be launched in the spring of 2004.

novinite.com/view_news.php?id=30841

Lucy Andrew
ABC Science Online
Friday, 30 January 2004

A Greco-Illyrian helmet found at the Cetina River valley in Croatia (University of Birmingham).

A waterlogged archaeological site in Croatia has given European archaeologists an insight into Bronze Age life.

Researchers from the U.K.’s University of Birmingham, the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia and the Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments in Split, Croatia have uncovered an underwater site.

The site is in the Cetina River valley in Croatia, which so far has yielded metal, stone and timber artefacts, some dating back to 6000 BC.

Project leader, Dr Vincent Gaffney, director of the Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity at the University of Birmingham, is excited about the find.

“The Cetina Valley is certainly the most remarkable site that I have, and will ever, have the privilege of being involved in ... I believe this to be one of the most important archaeological wetlands in Europe,” he said.

Balkan archaeologists have long known about the site but it is only now that the British researchers realised its significance.

Initial surveys of the site in October last year yielded artefacts from the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.

The Neolithic or New Stone Age was characterised by the use of polished stone tools and weapons; the Bronze Age was when the metal alloy bronze was made by combining copper and tin.

The archaeologists found artefacts including swords, helmets and a Roman dagger and sheath that date back to the Bronze Age. There were also jewellery, axes and spearheads.

The researchers could also see remains of wooden buildings from the Neolithic and early Bronze Age, submerged in the water at the bottom of the valley.

The fact that the site was waterlogged has led to exceptional preservation of the artefacts, said Gaffney.

The river would have been an important source of water for the people who once lived there, Gaffney said. Inhabitants seem to have thrown metal and stone objects into the water deliberately, possibly as an offering to river gods.

The Cetina valley, Croatia (University of Birmingham)
Team member and environmental archaeologist Dr David Smith said he planned to examine ancient plant and soil samples from the area.

“Through examination of pollen cores and peat samples from within the basin we can gain a real insight into the everyday life of the people; the food they ate, the crops and animals they kept, and the crafts and activities they pursued.”

River sediments will provide information about the Croatian environment over the past 10,000 years, said Smith.

The researchers will go back to the Cetina valley in April or May this year to continue their search for more clues to its past.

abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1032539.htm

Egypt, Local, 1/29/2004

The Italian team excavating at Madi city in Fayyoum has unearthed an open structure dating back to the Ptolemaic age.

The floor is composed of a single large block of limestone with a groove 10 cm deep and 20 cm wide. In the middle there is a 12 cm-square hole.

The team found two balls of polished limestone, one of which fits the groove and the other the square hole. The structure is like no other found in the ancient world.

After study it was proposed that it might be a first attempt at the practice of bowling.

The pre-sumed bowling track was found next to the remains of a number of houses each made up of two rooms with a large hall.

The team has recently found papyri scrolls dating back to the Ptolemaic period, pottery shards, glass utensils, copper tools and some pieces of faience in the area.

The archaeological site of Medinet Madi is one of the most complete. The oldest of its monuments is a 12th Dynasty temple dedicated to the harvest goddess Renenutet and the crocodile-god Sobek.

The temple is magnificently decorated with reliefs showing the kings of the 12th Dynasty worshipping the gods.

arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/040129/2004012928.html

A harp enthusiast is hoping to recreate the first working copy of the famous Harp of Ur, which was vandalised in Iraq’s national museum following the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Andy Lowings, 52, from Cambridgeshire, wants the replica instrument to be as close to the 4,750 year-old original as possible, even down to the source of the wood.

His £25,000 project caught the imagination of a nearby RAF squadron who agreed to collect two pieces of cedar wood from Basra and presented it to Mr Lowings on Wednesday.

The musical director of the Stamford Harp Festival was moved to act last April when the harp’s remains were among antiquities destroyed by thieves in Baghdad’s main museum.

“I want it to continue as a playing instrument to bring very early Iraqi and Arabic culture to people’s attention again,” he said.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/3445049.stm

Gold earring found buried under a few inches of soil in a ploughed field in East Yorkshire could be more than 3,000 years old.

A metal detector enthusiast, part of a group from Durham, stumbled across the treasure near Driffield last year.
The late Bronze Age ring has narrow stripes of yellow and paler gold and when analysed by experts at the British Museum was found to be 73 per cent gold and 23 per cent silver. Tests showed that the precious metals covered a hoop of base metal.
Weighing just 10gms, it was dated between 1150BC and 750BC.
There is no idea yet of the value, which will be settled next month by an independent valuation committee. Both the British Museum and local museums will be given the first chance to bid.
An inquest in Hull heard the earring was found by Gary Turnbull in around six inches of soil.
Yesterday, after the ring was declared treasure, the landowner said she hoped it would go to a local museum.
The farmer, who asked not to be named, said: “These metal detectorists have been coming for a few years but this is the first thing to come to light.”

yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticleMore2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=731820&Page=1&ReturnUrl=NewsFrontMore.aspx

Perigueux, France – Looking to buy in southwest France? A retired farmer in the Dordogne region is selling his prehistoric cave adorned with drawings for just one million euros ($1.3m).

“I’m 76 years old and I can’t show people around anymore. I can’t go up and down the steps,” Ernest Paluzzano, who has shown his “Grotte du Sorcier” to thousands of tourists over the years, told AFP on Monday.

In 1969, Paluzzano, a farmer of Italian descent, bought the site in the town of Saint-Cirq, which owes its name – “the sorcerer’s cave” – to a drawing of a human figure detailing the face, back and limbs.

The cave, discovered in 1952 by a dentist and amateur archaeologist, is home to drawings dating back to the Magdalenian period, or between 22 000 and 15 000 years BC, according to French experts.

Paluzzano told AFP he had received a barrage of telephone calls from interested buyers since he posted a “for sale” sign near the entrance to his cave a few days ago.

Link: news24.com

Leominster’s biggest-ever archaeological excavation uncovered important clues about the town’s long history.

The extensive dig, covering half an acre of the Focus DIY development site at Mill Street, revealed that Leominster was a hive of industry from a very early period.

A large volume of iron working slag found below ground could date from pre-Roman times. Blacksmiths may have toiled in forges at the site for centuries.

Before the dig began underground scanning equipment revealed `hot spots’.

“We were very excited by what we saw,” said archaeology team leader Huw Sherlock. “The slag really stood out in red on the screen. When we excavated the area we found the huge dump of iron waste which must be the remains of a very large-scale iron working enterprise.

“We are awaiting the results of dating tests and, for the time being, our best guess that it could be pre Roman. The area seems to have been the focus of an iron-working industry for many centuries.”

A number of other trades, including flax processing and tanning, were known to have been carried on in ancient times in the area which may have been the town’s first `industrial estate’.

The major dig provided a “fascinating glimpse” into Leominster’s past, said Huw of Westhope, the director of Archenfield Archaeology.

“We found the remains of substantial medieval buildings close to the River Kenwater and just outside the limits of the Priory precinct,” said Huw.

“A series of large ditches were found to contain well-preserved stakes and a fence line consisting of wattle hurdles carefully placed in the base of the ditch. It is thought the ditches may have been part of a fish-farming or fish-trapping system.

“We found a causeway made of large pieces of slag and unglazed medieval floor tiles bisected the site from north to south. Tantalisingly, the causeway was heading in the direction of the recently discovered possible `rotunda’ on the north side of the Priory.”

Footings of the rotunda, or round church, thought to date from Saxon times, were shown to exist beneath a car park during another project, a ground penetrating radar scan carried out for the Friends of Leominster Priory. The major find was exclusively reported by the Hereford Times earlier this month.

The Mill Street diggers also uncovered a large quantity of glazed medieval roof tile, a medieval coin, pieces of lead flashing and several large iron keys .

The finds are now being analysed by experts but there is no doubt in Huw Sherlock’s mind that the dig uncovered some important pieces of Leominster’s historical `jigsaw’.

The positive attitude of the landowner/developer was crucial, said Huw. “Frank H Dale Ltd recognised the sensitive archaeological background of the site and was co-operative in ensuring the area affected by the new development was fully recorded,” he said.

Link: thisishereforshire.co.uk

HEFEI, Jan. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- White lime used by prehistoric humans 5,000 years ago to bedeck their houses and their handprints on thewalls were discovered in the Yuchi Temple prehistoric site in eastChina’s Anhui province.

Located in Mengcheng county, Yuchi Temple site belongs to the later period of the Dawenkou Culture (approximately 5000 B.C.- 2600 B.C.), a culture of the late New Stone Age.

The white lime was spotted among the relics of red-earth houses.

“As no white lime was found on the wall, we can tell that the lime had been decorated on the ceiling, just like today’s suspended ceiling,” said a local archaeologist.

Handprints of prehistoric humans were also available on part ofthe wall of a southeast-northwestern row of houses, only part of which were excavated and the number of the houses remain unknown.

“Those marks were left precisely when the prehistoric humans plastered mud on the wall,” noted the archaeologist.

Moreover, a few utensils used to store food grains were unearthed at this site. Enditem

Link: xinhuanet.com

Newcastle scientists are helping to save an ancient North site from destruction.

The archaeologists will help promote the little-known henges in Thornborough, near Ripon, North Yorkshire as tourist attractions.

The Neolithic site is said to be equal in importance to Stonehenge. Constructed in 3,000 BC, the triple henge occupies an area larger than Stonehenge itself.

Jan Harding, an archaeologist at Newcastle University, has spent six years leading a research project into the three henges.

Only limited archaeological work was done at Thornborough from the late 19th Century to the 1950s but Dr Harding’s research involved extensive surveys and field walking which yielded a number of flint tools.

Her work coincides with a BBC 2 series in which TV presenter and archaeologist Mark Horton expressed his horror that one of the most important ancient sites in the region will be destroyed.

During the making of the Time Flyers programme, Dr Horton tells of his shock at current proposals to quarry the entire surrounding area, “which will leave the henges on an `island’ surrounded by open gravel pits”.

He was horrified to discover the extent that quarrying to date had already removed substantial areas of the surrounding landscape, during which a vast amount of related archaeology was destroyed.

Dr Horton, head of archaeology at Bristol University, said: “I’ve been appalled by what I’ve seen at Thornborough. Archaeological sites like this should be protected and plans such as these shouldn’t even be proposed. That such destruction could even be considered around Stonehenge, or even lesser-known sites in the South, is unthinkable”.

Original article – Newcastle Evening Chronicle

A spoof news article, distributed by the Friends of Thornborough has attempted to raise the profile of the landfill site at Thornborough.

Astonishment as to how anyone could consider building a landfill close to the Thornborough Henge Complex was yesterday expressed by Dick Lonsdale, a resident close to the site.

“I was personally astonished that anyone could consider this,” Dick told the Friends of Thornborough yesterday.

Mr Lonsdale said anything considered in this region should be very carefully planned as the area was “way too sensitive” adding that ideally an alternative place for the landfill should be found.

“The message that UK seems to be sending to the rest of the world is that it dumps trash onto its treasures,” Lonsdale said.

And Mr Lonsdale’s belief was supported by a number of archaeological experts from around the world, who have registered their concern on the Friends of Thornborough online petition. The petition is trying to stop extensive quarrying from being allowed close to the 5,000 year old henge complex.

The Friends of Thornborough is a non-profit organisation that deals with the prehistory of Yorkshire, England. Education, research and observation activities are being planned, and profit from will be used to promote a campaign for the better protection of the UK ancient heritage.

Mr Lonsdale explained that the organisation was set up three years ago from a personal obsession about the henges, which he said were the largest, oldest and most important ancient site in England outside of Wiltshire.

Rest at

friendsofthornborough.org

BOSTF Director

Cynthia Busuttil

Astonishment as to how anyone could consider building a landfill close to the Mnajdra temples was yesterday expressed by Linda Eneix, the director and president of the North America based Old Temple Study Foundation (OSTF).

“I was personally astonished that anyone could consider this”, she told The Malta Independent yesterday.

Ms Eneix said anything considered in this region should be very carefully planned as the area was “way too sensitive”, adding that ideally an alternative place for the landfill should be found.

“The message that Malta seems to be sending to the rest of the world is that it dumps trash onto its treasures”, she said.

And Ms Eneix’s belief was supported by a number of archaeological experts from around the world, who attended a conference at the end of last month. The conference – Exploring the Maltese Prehistoric Temple Culture – was the first of its kind organised by the OSTF, and a number of issues regarding the local temples were raised.

The OSTF is a non-profit organisation that deals with the prehistory of Malta and Gozo. Ms Eneix explained to this paper that the organisation plans education, research and observation activities, and profit from these is used to finance research about the temples.

Ms Eneix explained that the organisation was set up eight years ago from a personal “obsession” about the temples, which she said were older than anything else.

The Mnajdra temples were at the centre of discussion during the conference not only because of the proposed landfill, but also because of its astronomical significance. Engineer Chris Micallef made a convincing case for an alignment for the equinoctial sunrise. But he asked: “If it was so important for the builders, why was it not applied in other temples?”

Full article: www.independent.com.mt

The latest four week archaeological excavation at Minehowe in Tankerness came to an end last week – but although it confirmed the extent and importance of metalworking around the enigmatic Iron Age site, it has again left the experts with as many questions as answers.

orkneyjar.com/archaeology/minehowe2003.htm

ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100014_04/09/2003_33683

An archaeological dig on the island of Chios has unearthed evidence of a successful head operation carried out over 2,000 years ago in accordance with the writings of Hippocrates, the most famous of ancient doctors.

observer.guardian.co.uk/cash/story/0,6903,1032434,00.html

Budding archaeologists and historians will get a chance to bid for their own slice of ancient history next month, when one of the biggest Bronze Age barrows in Cornwall is put up for auction.

This chap is offering an internet-based archaeology course on world archaeology,
which will run from 5 October until 30 November 2003. The cost is £30/$50.
All the materials are provided for you. The course itself is divided into
four modules, each last two weeks with one week dedicated to reading and
the second week to e-mail discussions.

1. Introduction to and history of archaeology, evolutionary theory, dating
techniques, and the Oligocene and Miocene apes
2. Our early hominin ancestors, an overview of Multiregionalism and
Out-of-Africa, and an indepth examination of the southern African site of
Swartkrans
3. The Middle Stone Age-Later Stone Age and Middle Palaeolithic-Upper
Palaeolithic transitions, disperal into the Americas and an indepth
examination of the southern African site of Duinefontein 2
4. The Neolithic Revolution in the Fertile Crescent, early state formation,
carbon isotopes and an indepth examination of the site of Great Zimbabwe

antiquityofman.com/course_worldarchaeology.html

Looks interesting.

Bulgarian archaeologists say they have found evidence of the earliest known metalworking foundry in Europe.

voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=D7E35539-7A9E-4982-8731B34AA74C0E0C

Jon Lowry, chairman of the Friends of the Thornborough Henges, has received a letter confirming that Tarmac Northern Ltd, which is already quarrying in other areas around the henges, “is shortly to submit a planning application for the Ladybridge Farm area.”

ripontoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=18&ArticleID=650053

Recent finds at the ancient settlement of Archontiko, near Pella in northern Greece, have shed further light on the wealth, heroic culture, commerce and burial rituals of ancient Macedonians, following the discovery of 396 unlooted tombs and 5,000 objects, dating between the 7th and 4th centuries BC.
ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/content.asp?aid=33279

A unique ancient workshop for bone articles which had no parallel in antique Thrace was unearthed in the vicinity of village Sveshtari in northeast Bulgaria which is famous for the royal tomb discovered there a few years ago.
novinite.com/newsletter/print.php?id=25465

Bronze Age village uncovered in highway dig near Kiryat Gat

An archeological excavation ahead of advancing
highway construction crews in southern Israel
turned up an 8,000-year-old Bronze Age settlement
and the remains of a first century C.E. Jewish
homestead, the Israel Antiquities Authority said
yesterday.

haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=330859

agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200308202114-0168-RT1-CRO-0-NF11&page=0&id=agionline-eng.oggitalia

An ancient clay figure of the lower half of a male body believed to date back to the Stone Age has been discovered in eastern Germany, archeologists said Thursday

The figure, which details a male body from the waist to the calves, is the first such representation of a man to be found in the area, believed to date from 5,000 B.C., Oexle said. Previous finds have been representations of women.

Full story here

YOUNG ARCHAEOLOGISTS DISCOVER NEW SITES

A group of young people on an archaeological holiday in Cornwall with the Young Archaeologists’ Club (YAC)(1) have discovered two previously unrecorded oblong, grave-shaped stone mounds (2) on Minions Moor, part of Bodmin Moor.(3)

Since this discovery in June, experts have examined the sites, which could date back to the Bronze Age. Local archaeologists had no idea these stone cairns were there and are planning to undertake further research in November, when summer vegetation has died down.

As Holiday Leader Tony Blackman explained, “The group literally stumbled over these finds and were quick to assess their context within the ancient prehistoric landscape of this area.”

These are not the first Prehistoric monuments discovered by youngsters on a YAC holiday on Bodmin Moor.

The Young Archaeologists’ Club, which is run by the Council for British Archaeology,(4) has a UK network of 70 branches and its members regularly make new archaeological discoveries.

“Many of our Branches work in close contact with local archaeologists and the results can be amazing,” said Alison Bodley, Co-ordinator of the Club. “For example our North Downs Branch recently found a previously unknown Iron Age enclosure whilst field-walking near Maidstone. The area was to form part of a country park, and the plans for the design of the park were subsequently altered in order to preserve the site”.

Branches of the Young Archaeologists’ Club run a programme of varied activities including recording graveyards, excavating sites and preparing museum exhibitions.

The Director of the Council for British Archaeology, George Lambrick said, “Young people are sharp-eyed and open-minded – key attributes for making interesting new discoveries. YAC gives them a hands-on experience of what archaeology is all about – and they can make a real contribution to our knowledge of the past.”

-Ends-

For further details:
For Cairns found by YAC Cornwall Holiday members, contact Tony Blackman 01872 572725 [email protected]

For images, Young Archaeologists’ Club and YAC Branches, contact Alison Bodley 01904 671417/ 0788 4444675 [email protected]

Archaeologists were called in to investigate the site near Llandysul after workmen clearing farmland for a new Welsh Development Agency industrial estate noticed dark circles in the soil.

Cambria Archaeology workers then identified several large circular graves from the Bronze Age.

And about 200 yards away they found the foundations of a farmyard wall which could have been built 5,000 years ago.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/3171595.stm

Ancient forger’s coin die found – The coin die was used to make Iron Age coins
An ancient British coin die – used to create the design on gold coins in the Iron Age – has been found in Hampshire.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/dorset/3156829.stm