Stonehenge parking expansion planned after transport issues
A planning application to provide more parking spaces and resurface the overflow car park at Stonehenge is to go before the local authority.
English Heritage said the work would create about 25 additional coach parking spaces and ensure high volumes of visitors can park in wet weather.
People had complained of inadequate transport facilities at the site when a new £27m visitor centre opened in 2014.
A shuttle bus scheme had proven unable to cope with the influx of visitors.
English Heritage said that over the course of the year it had looked at areas of the visitor experience that "need to be improved" and is now "taking steps to address them".........
More to be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-30708526
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Stonehenge World Heritage Site at risk from A303 tunnel plans
An excellent analysis by Kate Fielden(CPRE) in the Ecologist on that fraught subject of the tunnel by Stonehenge.
The government's plans to tunnel the A303 under the Stonehenge World Heritage Site has one grievous flaw, writes Kate Fielden. The tunnel is too short, so huge portals and graded junctions at both ends would lie entirely within the WHS causing huge damage to landscape and wipe out archaeological remains...
See the article at:
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2670978/stonehenge_world_heritage_site_at_risk_from_a303_tunnel_plans.html
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Archaeologists in Jersey find solid gold torc hidden in Celtic coin hoard
Archaeologists in Jersey find solid gold torc hidden in Celtic coin hoard
By Richard Moss
A Celtic coin hoard discovered on Jersey has been offering up its secrets and astounding archaeologists with a series of golden treasure finds.
For the last two weeks, the Jersey Heritage hoard conservation team have been excavating in an area known to contain gold jewellery and late last week, one end of a solid gold torc was uncovered.
The find comes on the back of several finds within the hoard including two other solid gold torcs, one gold plated and one of an unknown alloy, along with a silver brooch and a crushed sheet gold tube. But the latest discovery is considerably larger than anything previously unearthed on the island.
A large, rigid neck ring, archaeologist say the torc has a massive decorative ‘terminal’, which is where it was probably locked closed around the owner’s neck. The terminal is formed from two solid gold wheels, each about 4cm across and 1cm wide.
So far, 10cm of the curved gold collar has been uncovered and it is not yet known how complete it is.
“It’s an incredible time here,” said Neil Mahrer, Jersey Museum Conservator. “Every hour or so we are finding a new gold object.
“We did see some gold jewellery on the surface of the hoard, but since we’ve started looking at this shoe-box sized area, we’ve uncovered a total of six torcs, five of which are gold and one which we believe to be gold-plated. This is the only one that we think is whole, though.”
The extent of the torc’s wholeness will be discovered in the next few weeks as the coins currently hiding it will be painstakingly recorded and removed.
Dr Andrew Fitzpatrick, an Iron Age jewellery expert who has been involved in studying jewellery found in other Jersey hoards has been assisting with the interpretation. He has already identified comparable features in examples found in 2nd century BC hoards at Bergien, Belgium and Niederzier, Germany.
A small stone has also been uncovered, possibly of local granite. Archaeologists say it may be no more than a pebble in the field that fell into the treasure pit during the burial, but, as it is an odd shape and size, its purpose will be investigated.
At the end of the clearing period the torc will be scanned in place to record its position to fractions of a millimetre before being removed, probably along with some of the other jewellery surrounding it.
http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art508530-archaeologists-in-jersey-find-solid-gold-torc-hidden-in-celtic-coin-hoard
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Groundbreaking finds by Stonehenge team
Update for 2014.
Pre-history may have to be re-written following a recent dig by university students near Stonehenge.
Signs of human habitation 8,000 years ago have been discovered by Archaeology MA students from the University of Buckingham, led by senior research fellow David Jacques.
Mr Jacques said: “This year we’ve found burnt flint – a sign that people had made fires, so were in the area, around 8,000 years ago.
“The finds will have to be carbon-dated to get a precise date.
“It’s been wonderful that the first ever University of Buckingham archaeology students have unearthed mesolithic tools as part of the team of volunteers at the dig.”
The archaeologist, who is leading the new Archaeology MA course at the university, has just completed a two-week dig at Vespasian’s Camp, a mile from Stonehenge, at which MA students and University of Buckingham staff worked as volunteers, sifting through remains.
A number of ancient flint tools were among the finds.
More than 12,000 items from the mesolithic era (8000 – 3500BC) have been uncovered, including hunting tools, the cooked bones of aurochs – a gigantic cow-like animal – deer, wild boar, and even toads’ legs.
The finds have revealed that the site was in use continually for over 3,000 years, and could even be the reason why Stonehenge is where it is.
Mr Jacques suspects the site will contain evidence of settlements, which would be some of the earliest ever found in the UK and would completely change our understanding of this era.
Mr Jacques appeared on TV this year in BBC 1’s Operation Stonehenge and BBC 4’s The Flying Archaeologist.
And the MA students working alongside him at the dig a fortnight ago found themselves being filmed for a forthcoming episode of Horizon.
Digs at the site over the last few years have already yielded a staggering 32,000 artefacts dating from as far back as 7500BC.
Last year, the dig resulted in 8,000-year-old burnt frogs’ legs being found, revealing the delicacy was originally English and not French.
Earlier this year, carbon dating of finds from the dig led to the revelation that Amesbury is the oldest town in the country.
A previous public lecture by Mr Jacques at the university drew a packed audience.
Following the latest dig, Mr Jacques is returning to deliver another public lecture on Thursday, November 13.
The free event will take place at 6.30pm, in the Chandos Road Building, as part of the university’s autumn concert and lecture series.
In the lecture, Mr Jacques will unveil startling new evidence showing how the mesolithic period influenced the building of Stonehenge.
The lecture will focus on the area around the dig, Blick Mead, which features a natural spring, which would have attracted settlers to the area.
The warm spring water has caused stones to turn a bright puce, a colour of stone not found elsewhere in the UK.
David Jacques was elected a Fellow of the Society of the Antiquaries (FSA) in recognition of the importance of his discoveries there.
http://www.buckinghamtoday.co.uk/news/more-news/groundbreaking-finds-by-stonehenge-team-1-6390477
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Bog material reveals 11,500 years of Scottish history at prehistoric hillforts near Edinburgh
Evidence of prehistoric man and the woodland clearances of the Iron Age are found at the site of two hillforts near Edinburgh
Peat from a bog near Edinburgh contains 11,500-year-old vegetation and glimpses of the impact made by humans on the landscape from as far back as the Neolithic period, say experts who have foraged seven metres into the earth across parts of a site previously known for prehistoric settlements.
Ravelrig Bog, where an early Iron Age palisaded homestead was found during preparations for a quarry extension, contains two hillforts. Kaimes Hill offers evidence of human activity from the Mesolithic period, while the unexcavated Dalmahoy Hill is thought to have been occupied during the pre-Roman Iron Age and early medieval times.
Woodland resources for fuel and building material, found at the homestead, have been radiocarbon dated to between 400 and 800 BC.
“The bog started out as a small lochan [lake] within a rocky hollow that was formed at the end of the last glacial period,” says archaeobotanist Susan Ramsay, discussing pollen analysis on the Ravelrig core as part of a report concluding that there is “plentiful archaeological evidence” of the people who once roamed the region.
“Aquatic plants gave way to marshland and finally raised Sphagnum bog as natural succession progressed.
“During the early Holocene, the woodlands of the area were dominated by birch, hazel and willow but developed into mixed oak, elm and hazel woodlands by the mid-Holocene.
Most previous studies of the vegetation history of central Scotland have concentrated on the last 3,000 years of environmental history.
“This has tended to be because extensive industrial and agricultural activity in the central belt of Scotland, which was the industrial heartland of the country, has removed many potential sites of palaeoenvironmental importance over recent centuries, and so there have been few chances to construct a pollen diagram from this region that covers most of the Holocene period.
“The presence at Ravelrig Bog of an area of deep peat in an area that has a rich archaeological record and is also located close to agricultural land provided a unique opportunity to study the effects of human activity on the environment of this part of Scotland.”
An initial survey, in 2007, revealed the incredible scientific potential of a core deposit covering more than 10,000 years of history.
“Previous studies have suggested that the first major woodland clearances in central Scotland occurred in the pre-Roman Iron Age, with the cleared agricultural landscape being maintained throughout the Roman period,” says Ramsay.
“However, at Ravelrig, human impact on the landscape is recorded from the Neolithic period onwards, with increasing woodland clearance and agricultural activity in the Bronze Age and a peak in activity in the pre-Roman Iron Age.
“Pastoral agriculture was the dominant form of farming in the area, although there is evidence for the cultivation of cereals from the later Bronze Age onwards.
“These periods of agricultural intensification appear to correspond with known periods of occupation at the nearby hillforts.”
A slight decline in agriculture between 250 BC and AD 150 could have followed the abandonment of Dalmahoy and the Roman invasion.
“Birch pollen levels increased significantly, suggesting that land that was previously farmed was abandoned and was gradually colonised by birch woodland,” says Ramsay.
The birches gave rise to the oak and elm trees which later colonised the woods.
A slight increase in activity, between AD 400 and 600, could show that the hill fort was set for reoccupation during the early medieval period, although the subsequent 850 years saw alder and birch growth take over, chiming with evidence from other sites in central Scotland at the time.
“It is not clear what the cause of this agricultural decline might be but further work may be able to determine a more precise date range for this event,” believes Ramsay.
“It has been suggested that there were some reversions to a colder and wetter climate during the sixth to ninth centuries AD, which could explain why areas once suitable for agriculture perhaps became too wet to grow crops and agriculture had to be moved to sites with better drainage.
“This explanation could account for the significant increase in alder – a tree of wetter areas and river banks that is seen at Ravelrig during this period.
“The last major episode of woodland clearance began around AD 1450, with the cleared landscape continuing until the present day.”
The full results of the research, funded by Tarmac Ltd have been published at archaeologyreportsonline. com.
taken from: http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art503348-bog-material-reveals-years-of-scottish-history-at-prehistoric-hillforts-near-edinburgh
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Archaeologists make discovery of bronze remains of Iron Age Celtic chariot at hillfort
More fascinating discoveries.... by Richard Moss in Culture24
A hoard of rare bronze fittings from a 2nd or 3rd century BC chariot, which appears to have been buried as a religious offering, has been found at the Burrough Hill Iron Age hillfort, near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire.
Students from the University of Leicester’s School of Archaeology and Ancient History found the remains during their ongoing excavation of the site while digging a pit near the remnants of a house within the hillfort.
A group of four students found a piece of bronze in the ground before uncovering a concentration of further parts very nearby.
The artefacts, which as a group are covered by the Treasure Act, were soon identified as a matching set of bronze fittings from a mid to late Iron Age chariot. They appear to have been buried in a box together with a series of tools and accoutrements.
After cleaning, decorative patterns became visible in the metalwork – including a triskele motif showing three waving lines, similar to the flag of the Isle of Man. It is thought the chariot would have belonged to a high-status individual, such as a “noble” or “warrior”.
One of the students, Nora Battermann, described the moment she and her colleagues found the remains.
“Realising that I was actually uncovering a hoard that was carefully placed there hundreds of years ago made it the find of a lifetime,” she said. “Looking at the objects now they have been cleaned makes me even more proud, and I can’t wait for them to go on display.”
The pieces appear to have been gathered in a box, before being planted in the ground upon a layer of cereal chaff and burnt as part of a religious ritual. The chaff might have doubled as a “cushion” for the box and also the fuel for the fire.
After the burning, the entire deposit was covered by a layer of burnt cinder and slag – where it lay undisturbed for more than 2200 years until the team uncovered it.
Dr Jeremy Taylor, Lecturer in Landscape Archaeology at the University’s School of Archaeology and Ancient History and co-director of the Burrough Hill field project, confirmed the finds were a matching set of highly-decorated bronze fittings from an Iron Age chariot.
“This is the most remarkable discovery of material we made at Burrough Hill in the five years we worked on the site,” he added. “This is a very rare discovery, and a strong sign of the prestige of the site.
“The atmosphere at the dig on the day was a mix of ‘tremendously excited’ and ‘slightly shell-shocked’. I have been excavating for 25 years and I have never found one of these pieces - let alone a whole set. It is a once-in-a-career discovery.”
The School has led a five-year project at Burrough Hill since 2010, giving archaeology students and volunteers valuable experience of archaeological excavations.
John Thomas, co-director of the project, added: “It looks like it was a matching set of parts that was collected and placed in a box as an offering, before being placed in the ground. Iron tools were placed around the box before it was then burnt, and covered in a thick layer of cinder and slag.
“The function of the iron tools is a bit of a mystery, but given the equestrian nature of the hoard, it is possible that they were associated with horse grooming. One piece in particular has characteristics of a modern curry comb, while two curved blades may have been used to maintain horses hooves or manufacture harness parts.”
The parts have been taken to the University of Leicester’s School of Archaeology and Ancient History for further analysis and will be temporarily displayed at the Melton Carnegie Museum, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, from Saturday October 18 until Saturday December 13.
More information about the Burrough Hill project at www2.le.ac.uk/departments/archaeology/research/projects/burrough-hill
http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art502651-archaeologists-make-once-in-a-career-discovery-of-bronze-remains-of-iron-age-celtic-chariot-at-hillfort
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to quote;
". It is therefore safe to assume that this stone is also a Bronze Age monument, marking a burial (in a cremation urn) or an area of now concealed ritual and funerary activity"
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Archaeologists find prehistoric cattle tooth within mound of Iron Age stones on Skomer
The first excavations on Skomer, in Pembrokeshire, have revealed huge burn mounds made by hungry prehistoric settlers
A cattle tooth left in a cooking mound and fire-cracked stones used for boiling water have paved the prehistoric way to dating the sweeping settlement of Skomer Island in Pembrokeshire, where archaeologists say the ancient, well-preserved field systems date from between 520 to 458 BC.
This was the first time archaeologists had been allowed to excavate on the island. Opening a trench, they aimed to explore the “long and complex” history of settlements and farming on Skomer, informed by three years of careful research by wildlife and science experts and universities.
“Already we have discovered previously unknown Neolithic and Bronze Age ritual stone settings, and demonstrated that the field systems may date back to at least the later Bronze Age.
“But despite half a century of modern archaeological interest, we still had no scientific dates for the roundhouses and fields on Skomer.
“It was decided to target a prehistoric burnt mound or cooking mound of fire-cracked stones, which stands immediately outside one of the paired roundhouses.
“This mound built up from numerous cooking episodes in the adjacent house. Our excavation discovered a cattle tooth from within the mound of stones, which has now been radiocarbon dated to the late Iron Age.
“Beneath the mound we found a sealed land surface containing Neolithic or Bronze Age worked flint tools.
“A second radiocarbon date from blackthorn charcoal, in the upper soil layers, gave an early Iron Age date, possibly from burning and clearance on the land, which showed our burnt mound and the houses it belongs to arrived after the early Iron Age.
“Both dates are accurate to within 62 years.”
The boiled water took around three hours to cook a joint of meat. The burnt mounds outside the roundhouse clusters are said to be “huge”, dominating the Iron Age landscape alongside the conical thatched house roofs.
“Skomer is a fragile protected landscape, and our archaeological research to date has focussed on non-invasive investigation of the prehistoric fields and settlements,” said Dr Driver.
“This has included new aerial photography, airborne laser scanning, ground geophysics and walkover surveys.
“These new dates confirm pre-Roman settlement on Skomer. Even so, the burnt mound covers a substantial earlier field wall showing that the island was already well settled and farmed in previous centuries.”
As well as its huts and fields from the prehistoric period, the island is well-known for its puffins and breeding seabirds.
http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art501691-archaeologists-find-prehistoric-cattle-tooth-within-mound-of-iron-age-stones-in-skomer
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A small excavation that showed the dense occupation of this Iron Age fort.
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Cadw CGI reconstruction......
Like a tortoise's carapace, new technology reconstructs Pentre Ifan.
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Stonehenge's most intricate archaeological finds were 'probably made by children'
Some of the most high status pieces of prehistoric ‘bling’, prized by Stonehenge’s Bronze Age social elite, are likely to have been made by children, according to new research.
An analysis of objects, found near the ancient stone circle, shows that the ultra-fine craftwork involved such tiny components that only children or myopic (short-sighted) adults could have made them.
The research into the human eyesight optics of micro-gold-working in the Bronze Age has considerable implications for more fully understanding the nature of society in Western Europe some 4000 years ago.
“The very finest gold work involved the making and positioning of literally tens of thousands of tiny individually-made components, each around a millimetre long and around a fifth of a millimetre wide,” said David Dawson, Director of the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes where the world’s finest prehistoric micro-gold working achievements are on display as part of a major permanent exhibition of Bronze Age gold treasures.
“Only children and teenagers, and those adults who had become myopic naturally or due to the nature of their work as children, would have been able to create and manufacture such tiny objects,” said a leading authority on the optics of the human eye, Ronald Rabbetts, who has been assessing the human eyesight implications of Bronze Age micro-gold-working – implications that are examined in detail in a BBC Two documentary ‘Operation Stonehenge’, this evening, Thursday.
“The implication is that there would almost certainly have been a small section of the Bronze Age artisan class who, often as a result of their childhood work, were myopic for their adult life. They would therefore have been unable to do any other work apart from the making of tiny artefacts and would have had to be supported by the community at large,” he said.
The Stonehenge area object with the largest number of ultra-small gold components is a dagger made in around 1900 BC – and now on display in Devizes’ Wiltshire Museum. Crafted more than 1100 years before the invention of the first magnifying glass, the dagger’s 12 centimetre long handle was adorned with up to 140,000 tiny gold studs – each around a millimetre long and around 0.2 of a millimetre in diameter. Even the heads of each stud are just a third of a millimetre wide. They were set, with great manual dexterity and remarkable skill, into the surface of the wooden dagger handle - with more than a thousand studs neatly embedded in each square centimetre.
The prehistoric gold micro-working process appears to have had at least four stages. First, Bronze Age craftsmen manufactured lengths of extremely fine gold wire, almost as fine as a human hair. Then they flattened the end of a piece of wire to create the first stud-head – and cut the wire with a very sharp flint or obsidian razor a mere millimetre below the head. This delicate procedure was then repeated literarily tens of thousands of times – to decorate just one dagger handle! Next, a tiny bronze awl with an extremely fine point was used to create minute holes in the dagger handle in which to position the studs. Then a thin layer of tree resin was rubbed over the surface as an adhesive to keep the studs in place.
Each stud was then carefully placed into its miniscule hole – probably with the help of a very fine pair of bone or wooden tweezers, because the studs are too small to have been placed in position directly by the artisan’s fingers.
“We estimate that the entire operation – wire manufacture, stud-making, hole-making, resin pasting and stud positioning – would have taken at least 2500 hours to complete,” said David Dawson.
The dagger – and another probably less decorated similar weapon found with it – are believed to be the only such ultra-fine micro-worked artefacts to have survived from the prehistoric period anywhere in the world. But the high level of skill involved suggests that it was not a one-off creation, but was instead probably a product of a wider micro-gold-working tradition in at least part of Bronze Age western Europe. It is likely that the tradition was centred in Brittany in what is now western France.
It is also conceivable that Bronze Age craftsmen used comparable micro-working skills to create ultra-fine textiles.
The gold-studded daggers were discovered in 1808 inside Bush Barrow, a substantial Bronze Age burial mound, located almost a thousand metres from Stonehenge. However, it is only now that the eyesight and other human implications of its manufacture have been examined in detail.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/stonehenges-most-intricate-archaeological-finds-were-probably-made-by-children-9738993.html
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Public invited to see excavation of 4,000-year-old Bronze Age barrow on Dartmoor edge
Archaeologists are inviting the public to witness the excavation of a 4,000-year-old Bronze Age burial mound
Emmet's Post, named after one of several pillars built to divide Lee and Shaugh Moors in 1835, is being investigated as part of a government-approved quarry expansion on the edge of Dartmoor.
The mound of the post, on the boundaries of a china clay pit, was confirmed as a Bronze Age bowl barrow during a dig in 2011. Oxford Archaeology have been granted Scheduled Monument Consent by English Heritage in a bid to discover how the site was constructed and used over the centuries.
‘‘The barrow at Emmets Post, with its slightly hollowed-out top, is not the best-preserved of these Bronze Age monuments,” said Andrew Josephs, an archaeologist for Sibelco, the minerals firm paying for the project.
“The excavation has the potential to further characterise the full extent of the barrow and potential ditch, possibly identifying buried surface deposits and phased construction horizons.
“Environmental remains will add to the regional studies of the wooded prehistoric landscape that was very different to that today.”
Having offered a limited number of volunteer placements at the start of the project, which began on September 1 and will run until September 26, the team are inviting enthusiasts to enjoy an open day on Sunday (September 21), when experts will answer questions and discuss the Post’s history at the site.
Visitors can reach the barrow via a 1.5-mile unfenced single road track from Cadover Bridge. There is a small car park nearby, and waterproofs, warm clothes and stout footwear are recommended.
http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art499019-Public-invited-to-see-excavation-of-4000-year-old-bronze-age-barrow-on-dartmoor-edge
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English Heritage satisfied pink drapes on Nine Ladies Stone Circle was not vandalism
Derby Telegraph
By Kelly Tyler
The Nine Ladies stone circle at Stanton Moor, near Bakewell, was mysteriously draped in pink fabric.
The striking dressing of the Nine Ladies monument, believed to have been built more than 4,000 years ago, was spotted by a walker on Monday.
A cryptic note left at the circle signed by the "Spirit Wrestlers" said the gritstone blocks were decorated as an "act of love and gratitude for their eternal being".
English Heritage, which owns the site at Stanton Moor, near Bakewell, said it is not known exactly why the material was placed over the stones.
A woman who came across the unusual sight said: "As I approached I thought the stones had been – as had happened a few months ago – vandalised with pink paint.
"However, as I neared the stone circle, it was apparent the Nine Ladies had been seemingly dressed in a bright pink fabric.
"A note had been left in the middle of the stones referring to the earlier attack and also the troubles in the world today. Interesting, I thought, if not a little strange.
"This is the Nine Ladies though, I suppose, so anything is possible."
The ancient monument dates back to the Bronze Age and is popular with walkers and pagan worshippers.
The stones were traditionally believed to be nine ladies turned to stone as punishment for dancing on Sunday.
The site was vandalised in March this year by offenders who sprayed yellow and green paint on the rocks.
A note left at the spot said the stones were wrapped as a "direct response to an act of vandalism on the Nine Ladies some months ago and the knowledge that the Universe must be realigned."
It went on to say: "The consequences of our actions will only become apparent over time.
"Do something to make the world a better place, whether this act is large or small matters not.
"Doing it is what drives us forward. Whatever next?"
An English Heritage spokesperson said: "Having been contacted about the sighting of pink material on the stones earlier yesterday, we visited the site to investigate this afternoon and it would appear it has since been removed without trace.
"We are not treating this as an act of vandalism"
http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/English-Heritage-satisfied-pink-drapes-Ladies/story-22870940-detail/story.html
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Neanderthal 'artwork' found in Gibraltar cave
Mounting evidence suggests Neanderthals were not the brutes they were characterised as decades ago.
But art, a high expression of abstract thought, was long considered to be the exclusive preserve of our own species.
The scattered candidates for artistic expression by Neanderthals have not met with universal acceptance.
However, the geometric pattern identified in Gibraltar, on the southern tip of Europe, was uncovered beneath undisturbed sediments that have also yielded Neanderthal tools.
Details of the discovery by an international team of researchers has been published in the journal PNAS.
There is now ample evidence that Neanderthal intellectual abilities may have been underestimated. Recent finds suggest they intentionally buried their dead, adorned themselves with feathers, painted their bodies with black and red pigments, and consumed a more varied diet than had previously been supposed.
One of the study's authors, Prof Clive Finlayson, director of the Gibraltar Museum, said the latest find "brings the Neanderthals closer to us, yet again".
Continued on the link below...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28967746
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British Museum replica with the original very badly damaged disc.
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Link from Aerial-Cam; Rather beautiful tourist video of the achaeology of Orkney. Enjoy.
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Remains of at least two bodies found in ancient grave
This is a tentative guess for this news item in Ardnamurchan...
Archaeologists have discovered the remains of at least two bodies in a Bronze Age burial cist in a remote area of the west Highlands.
They were previously aware of one body in the ancient grave on the Ardnamurchan peninsula but they have now found more bones than could belong to another person.
A skull found during an earlier archaeological dig at Swordle in 2010 was dated as being from around 1700BC.
And the bones discovered during the Ardnamurchan Transition Project team’s visit to the area this summer have now been sent away for radiocarbon dating.
Team leader Ollie Harris, who is a lecturer in archaeology at the University of Leicester, described the latest discoveries as both “interesting” and “exciting”.
He said: “In the majority of Bronze Age cists, we would expect to find one person buried in a crouching position on their side, but examining the remains in this cist strongly suggests the presence of two or more people.
“This was an exciting find. One of our main aims this year was to find out about what we thought was a single body, so to come back and find probably two people is very interesting as it offers a different perspective on Bronze Age burials.”
He added that they also found another jet bead in the grave. Three were found in 2010 and they are believed to be part of a necklace.
They also unearthed a flint scraper, which they believe to have been used for removing fat from hides, and small pieces of flint debitage, which is the waste material produced in the making of early stone tools.
The cist was found under a pile of rocks known as Ricky’s Cairn.
While at Swordle this year, the team also excavated the Neolithic tomb of Cladh Andreis, a 200ft long mound of rocks leading from the tomb, which they describe as the tail of the monument, and a small Bronze Age cist cut into the side of the tail.
Mr Harris said the small Bronze Age cist had been a new find this year.
He said: “This cist had been heavily robbed. There were just a few scraps of bone in it, but we are hoping we can get a radiocarbon date from them.”
He added that they had previously worked on Cladh Andreis, which was built around 3,700BC, from 2006 to 2010.
“This year we found bits of teeth, human remains from various bodies and a leaf-shaped arrowhead,” said the archaeologist.
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/highlands/314656/remains-of-at-least-two-bodies-found-in-ancient-grave/
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Archaeologists compare Neolithic Kent site to Stonehenge, find Bronze Age funerary monument
A Neolithic ditch which became a huge funerary monument when it was enlarged with an outer ring during the Bronze Age has been found on housing development grounds in Kent.
Archaeologists suspect a “sacred way” could have led to a henge 6,000 years ago at Iwade Meadows, to the west of the Kent industrial town of Sittingbourne.
Positioned on a north-west slope, the 30-metre diameter structure is one of several prehistoric monuments on a north-west slope above the Ridham fleet stream running through the centre of the site.
“Its purpose is not known,” says Dr Paul Wilkinson, of excavators SWAT Archaeology.
“But it may be that the monument was reused as an enclosure for stock management at this time or could formally have been used as a ‘sacred way’ leading to the Neolithic ‘henge’.
“The monuments are in a location that would have formerly had extensive views to the Swale Estuary and the Island of Sheppey beyond.
“The archaeological evidence suggests that the outer ditch may have originated in the Neolithic and been later transformed in the Bronze Age into a funerary monument with the addition of the inner ring.”
Archaeologists now hope to determine the exact date, phasing and character of the monuments.
“The outer ring has an entrance facing north-east suggesting that it may have originated as a henge-type monument – a ceremonial gathering place of which Stonehenge is our most well known example,” says Dr Wilkinson.
“The inner ring appears to be later and is an unbroken circuit. This may be associated with a Bronze Age burial, as a barrow, though no burials have yet been found.
“A second smaller monument lies close to the larger rings and may be a secondary barrow dating to the Bronze Age.
“While the monuments may have fallen out of use for their primary function by the middle Bronze Age they seem to have still been significant landscape features, as a track from the north-east is seen to have been extended to the causeway entrance of the outer ring.
“The importance of the location in the Neolithic period is reinforced by the rare findings of a series of pits close to the monuments that may indicate the area was being used before the construction of the monument or represents activity associated with it.”
http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art494192-Archaeologists-compare-Neolithic-Kent-site-Stonehenge-Bronze-Age-funerary-monument
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King Arthur's Hall: Medieval Pound or Prehistoric?
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Hambledon Hill fort in Dorset acquired by National Trust for £450,000
An Iron Age hill fort has been bought by the National Trust for £450,000.
Built more than 2,000 years ago, Hambledon Hill, near Blandford Forum in Dorset, stands at 190m (620ft) and spans the size of 50 football pitches.
The trust, which takes over management of the site, said its historical uses included communal occupation, farming, feasting, conflict and burial.
Money to buy the hill fort came from a Natural England grant and a legacy gift left to benefit Dorset countryside.
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Hambledon is the first hill fort acquired by the trust in Dorset for 30 years and joins its six other sites, including Hod Hill, Lamberts Castle, Badbury Rings and Pilsdon Pen.
It had been owned for the past 30 years by conservational charity Hawthorn Trust, which was looking to sell, and managed by Natural England as a National Nature Reserve.
The National Trust said it decided to buy the site to secure its future and ensure maintenance and access for the public was maintained.
Jerry Broadway, a National Trust volunteer working on Hambledon Hill, said: "When I come here I feel like someone would when they go into St Paul's Cathedral.
"When there is no-one else around and I sit on the top of the hill looking at the view I feel very privileged. And to play a small part in looking after the hill is a good feeling."
The nationally-important chalk grassland is also home to at least five species of orchids, while 28 species of butterfly have been recorded at the site over the years.
From its summit visitors can see across three counties - Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-28674113
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Was quoit a place of worship?
Carwynnen Quoit is standing proud again for the first time in half a century thanks to the efforts of a community group. Eminent Cornish archaeologist Professor Charles Thomas explains the ancient monument’s significance.
Today in Cornwall and Scilly the remnants of what are seen as Neolithic burial monuments, mostly excavated or ruined, involving large granite uprights and capstones and usually seen as having been enclosed in large kerbed mounds or cairns, are known by various names.
These include quoit, referring to capstones, and an English word for the small stone discs or horseshoes used in an old-style throwing game. They also include and cromlech, which is sometimes seen as “grambla”, an obscure dialect word shared with Welsh.
Its original sense was “curved-slab”, referring – like quoit – to a capstone.
In the last few years, thanks to Pip Richards of the Sustainable Trust and her archaeological colleagues, excavations and public involvement by schools and community groups have reached a most exciting stage at Carwynnen, the high ground in the southern part of Camborne parish. Readers will already know this as it has been well-reported in the WMN.
I write as a Camborne man, born in 1928, who well recalls the Carwynnen monument before its last collapse – possibly as a result of an earth tremor – in 1948. The monument, when complete, had three large local granite uprights and a vast granite capstone slab. It stands in what has long been called Frying Pan Field and was still nicknamed when I was a boy as The Devil’s Frying Pan. The implication, possibly overlooked until now, is that Carwynnen Quoit, as we may call it, was – unlike similar and contemporary Neolithic monuments in West Penwith such as Lanyon Quoit, Chun Quoit, Zennor Quoit and others – never contained in a large mound or cairn with stone-kerbed circumference and a low entrance passage.
Carwynnen was not necessarily unique in all of Cornwall, but radically different.
I don’t want to anticipate the findings of a report to be published by senior archaeologists Jacky Nowakowski and James Gossip, who are in charge of the exploration. What I stress is that this upland sector of Cornwall’s central east-west ridge has a general name of Carwynnen (Cornish: the light-coloured, or granitic, rocky hill) and that, despite centuries of mining and farming, it’s still riddled with standing stones, the odd stone circle, clusters of stone huts and early field-systems. Trial sections now dug in Frying Pan Field imply scattered Neolithic activity all around.
My guess is that those “frying pan” names date from the 16th or 17th centuries when English overcame spoken Cornish and that, before then, the monument itself was most probably cromlech. If so, the name would arise from the large, always visible, capstone. The conclusion is that Carwynnen Quoit was never contained in a vast mound of stones and earth and never so concealed. It was, if you like, open-air. From the Neolithic beginning, people could walk between the uprights, walk below the capstone, on a kind of neat circular paving, upon which they might place small offerings.
In other words, it was never built as a Neolithic burial mound. Effectively it was some kind of religious monument or a temple. Why, where and when it was made are questions still left with the archaeologists.
Now that the capstone has been replaced, the field tidied and sign-boarded, it is a temple once again.
Again as a Camborne man, whose family – from West Penwith – settled up there on the Carwynnen ridge in the 1680s, I find all this exciting beyond words. And I hope, readers of the WMN, will follow what happens next with equal attention.
http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/quoit-place-worship-burial/story-21465028-detail/story.html
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Well to add to the story of the person in the 'boat coffin', Jacquetta Hawkes writing in her 'Prehistoric Monuments' tells a somewhat different story, perhaps I should say a more embroidered rendition, considering the only remains found in the coffin was part of a foot, with shoe/clothes, etc. But see Pastscape link below..
"which proved to cover a Bronze Age burial of an unusual kind. The excavators struck suddenly on an oaken timber near the base of the mound, and from it gushed gallons of water. This had been contained in, and was helping to preserve, a boat-shaped coffin with neatly fitting lid, which had contained a body extended full length, wearing clothes and shoes and with the head resting on a straw-stuffed pillow. Oak coffins are know elsewhere; what was unique at Loose Howe was the presence beside the coffin (itself carefully carved to suggest a craft) of a dug-out canoe, perhaps a ritual vessel, perhaps one which had been made for practical use"
Well according to Pastscape this other canoe, may have been in fact another coffin.....
http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=28936#aRt
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Click on link to 'Related Text' for info about the stones.
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Dovedale Roman and Iron Age coins found after 2,000 years
Experts say the find is highly unusual as it is the first time coins from these two separate civilisations have been buried together
A precious hoard of Roman and Late Iron Age coins has been discovered in a cave where it has lain undisturbed for more than 2,000 years.
The treasure trove was unearthed after a member of the public stumbled across four coins in the cave in Dovedale in Derbyshire's Peak District.
The discovery prompted a full-scale excavation of the site.
Experts say it is the first time coins from these two separate civilisations have been found buried together.
Archaeologists discovered 26 coins, including three Roman coins which pre-date the invasion of Britain in AD43, and 20 other gold and silver pieces which are Late Iron Age and thought to belong to the Corieltavi tribe.
Although Roman coins have often been found in fields, this is understood to be the first time they have been unearthed in a cave.
The cache has been declared as "treasure".
National Trust archaeologist Rachael Hall said: "The coins would suggest a serious amount of wealth and power of the individual who owned them.
"Coins were used more as a symbol of power and status during the Late Iron Age, rather than for buying and selling staple foods and supplies.
"Was an individual simply hiding his 'best stuff' for safe keeping? Or perhaps speculating, in the hope that the value would increase in the future, like a modern-day ISA?"
She said the situation of the cave could not be ignored.
'Exciting find'
"Could it have been a sacred place to the Late Iron Age peoples that was taboo to enter in everyday life, making it a safe place that would ensure that person's valuables were protected?"
The largest hoard of Iron Age gold and silver coins ever found in Britain was discovered by an amateur archaeologist in 2000 near Hallaton in Leicestershire.
More than 5,000 coins, jewellery and a silver-gilt Roman parade helmet were among the treasures discovered during that excavation.
The British Museum's curator of Iron Age and Roman coins Ian Leins said that while this latest find at Reynard's Cave and Kitchen did not quite match the Hallaton discovery, it was "exciting".
For the first time, the National Trust enlisted the help of wounded ex-soldiers returning from Afghanistan to assist with the excavation.
The coins have been cleaned by conservation specialists at the British Museum and University College London and will go on permanent display at Buxton Museum later this year.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-28189287
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Archaeologists search for new portal into bygone era
University of Leicester archaeologists have been uncovering the past and this summer will be undertaking the final season of excavations at Leicestershire's finest Iron Age hillfort.
The nationally important hillfort, marked by dramatic earthworks, located near Melton Mowbray has been the setting for a five year research project which has helped redefine understanding of the hillforts use with the help and support of English Heritage and landowners the Ernest Cook Trust.
Located between Burrough on the Hill and Somerby, south of Melton Mowbray, it is one of the most striking and historic features in the landscape of eastern Leicestershire. The well-preserved Iron Age hill fort dramatically crowns a steep-sided promontory of land reaching 210m (690 ft), with superb views.
Dr Jeremy Taylor, co-director of the excavations, said: "Before the current project began there was little known about Burrough Hill, with only small scale excavations in the 1960s and 1970s to go on. As a result of the University of Leicester led excavations since 2010 we now have a fuller understanding of the nature of the hillforts occupation over time and the prestige of the hillfort residents during the Iron Age."
The excavations have revealed evidence of life on Burrough Hill from at least the Early Bronze Age, with last year's work identifying a small building and monument containing stone tools and pottery dating to around 2800 BC. The hillfort appears to have been constructed during the Iron Age, around 500 BC, and used throughout the later Iron Age and into the Roman period. The excavations have shown that Burrough Hill continued to be used well into the Roman period, identifying evidence for a Roman farmstead dating to the 3rd-4th century AD.
This final year of the project aims to investigate a possible second entrance into the hillfort and more about the life of its inhabitants in order to bring to a conclusion what has a been a very succesful series of excavations.
John Thomas, project co-director said: "We have been surprised by the quantity and quality of the information we have uncovered. It has really painted a new picture of life at Burrough Hill and helped to fit the hillfort into a wider view of Iron Age life across the county that we have steadily developed through other excavations over several decades. Now we can compare Burrough Hill not only to contemporary sites in the East Midlands, but also other nationally important hillforts such as Danebury and Hunsbury."
Thomas added: "We would like to share the results of our work with as many visitors as possible seeing as this is the last chance for people to view the excavations in progress. We run a programme of school visits during our time here, which has been supported by generous grants from the Ernest Cook Trust. This year has proved particularly popular due to the changes in the National Curriculum to include prehistory in primary school teaching. The open days we have held over the last few years have been
fantastically well supported and it is good to see the hillfort full of people who are excited about the discoveries we are making about one of our regions finest prehistoric monuments."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140623092301.htm
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Archaeologists to begin excavating early Bronze Age cemetery in Hampshire
A four-year campaign to dig a 21-barrow set of graves, declared as a set of Scheduled Ancient Monuments and aligned in a style linked to Stonehenge, has begun at one of Britain's largest and most intriguing mixed cemeteries.
Archaeologists hope to discover the origins of the cemetery on Petersfield Heath, where the early Bronze Age burial mounds are set in a style more typically associated with Wessex.
The style of the burial mounds is more commonly seen is Avebury, Stonehenge and Wessex.
The build, environmental impact, social implications and living conditions of the barrows will be examined in a series of dig seasons expected to begin in September.
Geophysical and topographic surveys, documentary research and palaeo-environmental studies will also take place under plans backed by a £100,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant and a £20,000 investment from the South Downs National Park Authority.
Volunteers of all ages will be invited to take part in the excavations.
http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art488124-Archaeologists-excavating-Bronze-Age-cemetery-Hampshire
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Ancient monument Carwynnen Quoit rebuild completed
Work to rebuild a collapsed ancient Cornish monument has been completed on the day of the summer solstice.
Carwynnen Quoit, or Giant's Quoit, a 5,000-year-old burial chamber near Troon, collapsed in 1966.
The burial chamber had fallen apart but, with help from archaeologists, it is standing proud once again.
Replacing the capstone was the last piece of work carried out by owners the Sustainable Trust, which bought the site in 2009.
Leading architect on the project, Jacky Nowakowski said: "It's a magical moment to get to this stage in the project.
"I feel exhilarated to bring the capstone home and make the monument complete again.
"A lot of people have come together to bring an ancient monument back to life, so today's a real celebration of that amazing achievement."
The ancient granite monument is believed to date as far back as the Neolithic period.
The Cornwall Sustainable Trust and Cornwall Heritage Trust employed professional archaeologists to help research and rebuild it.
Initial work saw two support stones replaced in their original Neolithic footings but the third stone had to be adjusted to comply with health and safety regulations.
The main capstone measuring 3.3m (11ft) long, 2.5m (8ft) wide and 30cm (1ft) thick was dropped into position by a large crane.
According to the trust, Carwynnen Quoit is among 12 similar monuments around the county.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-27945128
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Taken from 'Past Horizons'
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Ancient tomb gives up its secrets
A PREHISTORIC tomb discovered on North Dartmoor is slowly revealing its ancient secrets, as final analysis work on the artefacts found within nears completion. In August 2011, excavation work began on a cremation burial chamber discovered on Whitehorse Hill near Fernworthy Forest. Co-ordinated by Dartmoor National Park Authority with funding from English Heritage, the excavation has revealed an internationally important collection of early Bronze Age organic remains and artefacts. The find is now considered to be the most important assemblage of prehistoric grave goods ever recovered in South West England. The survival of organic remains is also seen to be of international importance. The assessment of the cremated human remains has revealed that these represent no more than one individual, with an age at death of about 15 to 25 years old. The gender is unknown. The overall impression is of a small, gracile person. A number of small textile fragments were recovered from the cremation, their charred state suggesting that the textile accompanied the body into the cremation, maybe worn as clothing, or added as a shroud or used to bind the body. Analysis of the skilfully-made textile and animal skin object found in the cist has revealed that this is a band of textile made from finely woven nettle fibre. Stitched to the outer edges of this were two rows of leather binding with a fringe of outward pointing leather triangles made from thin calf skin. This object seems to be unique in North Western Europe, its fine decorative work suggests it was an item to be worn, possibly as a sash or belt. An arm band was also found within the tomb, with domed rivets made of tin and fibres made from cow hair. The use of tin for decorative objects is exceptionally rare within prehistoric burial contexts in Britain and despite tin being a locally available resource on Dartmoor, this is the first time it has been found within a prehistoric archaeological context. Cow hair was also used to make a basket containing the majority of over 200 beads discovered, by far the largest number of beads found from a single Bronze Age discovery in South West England. Seven of those beads discovered are made of amber. Amber is an exotic resin from the Baltic, associated with supernatural powers and used as an amulet. The presence of these beads strongly suggests that this was a high status burial. There are also 92 individually perforated disc or sphere-shaped shale beads. The shale has been identified as coming from Kimmeridge in Dorset. Other discoveries within the cist include four wooden studs, probably used in ears or elsewhere on the body, or set into leather belts or clothing, two wooden stakes, some fragments of a copper alloy, and an animal pelt. The analysis work has been funded by English Heritage, the Dartmoor National Park Authority, Devon County Council and a number of other organisations and private individuals. It has been carried out by specialists from English Heritage, British and European Universities and the British Museum. The painstaking conservation work, which was undertaken by the Wilshire Conservation Service, Chippenham has also finished and the artefacts will soon be transferred to the Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, with a major exhibition ‘Whitehorse Hill: A Prehistoric Dartmoor Discovery’ planned at the museum from September 13 to December 13.
http://www.tavistock-today.co.uk/News.cfm?id=18562&headline=Ancient%20tomb%20gives%20up%20its%20secrets
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Stonehenge builders' 'bright and airy' homes re-created
Another housing development!
Five Neolithic houses have been recreated at Stonehenge to reveal how the ancient monument's builders would have lived 4,500 years ago.
The single-room, 5m (16ft) wide homes made of chalk and straw daub and wheat-thatching, are based on archaeological remains at nearby Durrington Walls.
Susan Greaney, from English Heritage, said the houses are the result of "archaeological evidence, educated guess work, and lots of physical work."
The houses open to the public, later.
The "bright and airy" Neolithic homes are closely based on archaeological remains of houses, discovered just over a mile away from Stonehenge.
Dated to about the same time as the large sarsen stones were being erected, English Heritage said experts believe they may have housed the people involved with constructing the monument.
Excavations at Durrington Walls, not only uncovered the floors of houses but stake holes where walls had once stood - providing "valuable evidence" to their size and layout.
"We know for example, that each house contained a hearth and that puddled chalk was used to make the floor," said a spokesman for English Heritage.
"And far from being dark and primitive, the homes were incredibly bright and airy spaces with white chalk walls and floors designed to reflect sunlight and capture the heat from the fire."
'Labour of love'
Using authentic local materials including 20 tonnes of chalk, 5,000 rods of hazel and three tonnes of wheat straw, it has taken a team of 60 volunteers five months to re-create the homes.
Susan Greaney, a historian at English Heritage, said it had been a "labour of love" and an "incredible learning experience" for the volunteers.
"One of the things we're trying to do at Stonehenge is to re-connect the ancient stones with the people that lived and worked in the surrounding landscape," she said.
"Now visitors can step through the door of these houses and get a real sense of what everyday life might have been like when Stonehenge was built. "
They are furnished with replica Neolithic axes, pottery and other artefacts.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-27656212
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Iron Age settlement unearthed at Swindon building site
Well there is going to plenty of news on this front from now on, 700 houses to be built near Purton. Swindon is looking for a further 60,000 new houses to be built in the future...
A small Iron Age settlement has been found during excavations at the site of a new housing development near Swindon.
A number of "round houses" with hundreds of pits for storage are among the discoveries at Ridgeway Farm, where Taylor Wimpey is building 700 homes.
Other items found include loom weights for weaving, quern stones for grinding corn and various personal items.
Andrew Manning from Wessex Archaeology, which is carrying out the work, said the find was of local significance.
He added that some evidence of Roman life, notably a large clay quarry pit, had been unearthed as well.
The archaeological digging is expected to continue for a further three weeks.
A Taylor Wimpey spokesman said: "We scheduled the archaeological investigation into our programme of work, as it is a vital step of the process.
"The work will continue until our contractors are completely satisfied that they have thoroughly investigated and recovered everything which they need for further analysis."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-27515176
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New project aims to protect Orkney monuments
Protection for the 'Heart of Neolithic Orkney'
The impact of renewable energy projects on the world-famous Skara Brae monuments in Orkney is being researched as part of a new management plan aimed at protecting the site.
Five thousand years ago, the then residents of Orkney began constructing some extraordinary monuments out of stone.
They built a series of domestic and ritual monuments which include a beautifully-preserved domestic settlement at Skara Brae, the chambered tomb at Maeshowe, the Stones of Stenness circle and henge, and the Ring of Brodgar - a great stone circle, 130 metres across.
These important monuments are now collectively known as the Heart of Neolithic Orkney (HONO) and represent one of the richest surviving Neolithic landscapes in western Europe.
Since 1999 they have been an official UNESCO World Heritage Site.
This is a designation for places that are “of outstanding universal value to humanity”, and includes places as diverse and unique as the Pyramids of Giza, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Taj Mahal in India, and the Acropolis in Greece.
Representatives from Historic Scotland, Orkney Island Council, Scottish Natural Heritage, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds have now launched the Heart of Neolithic Orkney Management Plan 2014-19, which sets out how they aim to protect, conserve, and enhance the site.
The plan is the result of consultation with the various interested organisations and members of the community, which took place last year.
Part of the plan states: “An emerging issue of concern for the cultural heritage sector is the impact of climate change on the management of the archaeological resource.
“This is a global issue and one that UNESCO is concerned about for its effects on the world heritage site (WHS).
“HONO WHS is at significant risk from a variety of climate-related factors including: increases in storminess and sea level rise and consequent increases in coastal erosion; torrential rain and flooding; changes to wetting and drying cycles; changes to the water table; and changes to flora and fauna.
“The growth of renewable energy also has the potential to impact on the setting of the monument.”
In welcoming the launch of the new plan, Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs said: “Five millennia after they were built, these beautifully-preserved monuments offer us an invaluable insight into the society, skills and spiritual beliefs of the people who constructed them.
“The successful management of the site has depended on the close working relationship between the Partners, who have drawn on the experience, as well as consulting with stakeholders and members of the public, to produce this new, improved Management Plan.”
Gavin Barr, Orkney Islands Council’s Executive Director of Development and Infrastructure said: Orkney’s heritage plays an important role in life on the Islands today, by providing cultural, spiritual, economic and educational benefits.
“I’m delighted that the new Management Plan will ensure an appropriate policy context for ensuring the Sites remain relevant to modern day challenges, recognising their role in the wider sustainability of Orkney’s environment and economy.”
The site is managed and cared for by Historic Scotland who work in partnership with Orkney Islands Council, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in its wider management.
http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/heritage/new-project-aims-to-protect-orkney-monuments-1-3389055
Heart of Neolithic Orkney
http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/index/heritage/worldheritage/world-heritage-sites-in-scotland/neolithic-orkney.htm
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PDF file by James Gossip for 'Erosion Repair'
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Time Team wanted for Brighton dig
Someone has been generous with money....
Indiana Jones wannabes can dust off their trowels in an archaeological expedition aimed at delving deeper into 5,500-year-old remains in Brighton.
Thanks to a £99,300 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, local residents are being encouraged to work on a Time Team type project
Those taking part will work with professional and skilled volunteers in finding out more about Whitehawk Hill.
The aim, according to the Latest website, is to focus on the collection of objects excavated from the Neolithic site in the 1920s and 1930s.
Experts believe the land, near Brighton racecourse, used to be used for ritual ceremonies 500 years before Stonehenge was created.
It is also thought to be one of Britain’s first farming communities.
Stuart McLeod, head of the Heritage Lottery Fund South East, said: “Whitehawk Hill holds hidden clues as to the way our ancestors lived and how the community around here developed into what it is today.
“By delving into this history, volunteers will not only expand their knowledge and learn lots of new skills, but it will also provide a unique record of the area for others to learn, enjoy and be inspired by.”
The Whitehawk Camp partnership is made up of the Centre for Applied Archaeology, University College London, Brighton and Hove City Council’s Royal Pavilion and Museums and Brighton and Hove Archaeological Society.
Over the next 12 months, a series of events will take place which will focus on the biodiversity of Whitehawk Hill and the site’s relationship with the wider downland landscape
Volunteers will also be recruited to catalogue and examine archaeological finds, undertake geophysical survey, excavate archaeological remains and carry out conservation work to the monument.
Dr Dominic Perring, director of the UCL Centre for Applied Archaeology, said: “This is what archaeology should be about: a chance for everyone to participate in the adventure of discovery on a really important site.
“There are some fantastic events planned, and we look forward to learning a lot more about what happened at Brighton in the early New Stone Age.”
Councillor Geoffrey Bowden, chair of Brighton and Hove City Council’s Economic Development and Culture Committee, said: “Whitehawk Camp, older than Stonehenge, is on our doorstep and we are delighted that, with our partners, we have been successful in securing funds to increase understanding and highlight the importance of this historical site.
“This promises to be a real community effort and there will be opportunities for people to get involved in workshops at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery to study objects excavated from the site in the ’20s and ’30s, a community excavation at the site, and a range of other activities.”
For more details visit
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/caa/whitehawk-hlf
Except they have not filled in the details yet, but there is a nice reconstruction of the causewayed enclosure....
- See more at: http://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2014/04/18/time-team-wanted-for-brighton-dig/28992?#sthash.wPhAFnLQ.dpuf
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Excitement after prehistoric burial site found in new Crieff Primary School site
Archaeologists are ecstatic after uncovering a “really significant” Bronze Age burial site in Perthshire.
Arrowheads believed to date back to between 2,500BC and 800BC have already been found at the site of the new Crieff Primary School, and experts hope to unearth more historic items in forthcoming weeks.
One “definite” prehistoric burial site, known as a cursus — a Bronze Age ceremonial monument walkway — has been identified and archaeologists are hopeful there will be more finds to come.
Sarah Malone, a heritage officer with Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust, told The Courier last night that archaeologists had been at the Crieff site since last year.
“We have been working at the site for a while and this is a really significant find,” she said.
“We have identified one definite prehistoric Bronze Age burial site here and will probably find more items.
“Last year we discovered Bronze Age arrowheads and some kists.”
Ms Malone said that archaeologists were still excavating at the Crieff site and confirmed it is part of a “Bronze Age landscape”.
“It is quite exciting,” she added.
Local historian Colin Mayall said: “That whole area is a site of great historical interest. It is the site of more than one cursus, which can date back some 6,000 years.
“Cursus are now regarded as a type of sacred walkway, with earthen walls which could have extended for miles.
“More recently it was also the ancient site of the Stayt of Crieff, where the Earls of Strathearn held their courts.
“I feel these finds are all relevant, not just in a local sense but on a national and, indeed, international archaeological stage.”
Perth and Kinross Council confirmed that excavations are currently taking place.
“Archaeological works being carried out on the site for the new Crieff Primary School have indicated the presence of what are believed to be prehistoric burials — potentially from the early Bronze Age,” a council spokesperson said.
“Further assessment of the site to confirm these initial findings is ongoing at present.”
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/perth-kinross/excitement-after-prehistoric-burial-site-found-in-new-crieff-primary-school-site-1.325269?
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Cremated bones of Bronze Age tumour sufferer found hanging from Scottish cliff
A cist burial spotted hanging from a cliff on the edge of Scotland came from the ceremony of a Bronze Age adult cremated swiftly after their death, say archaeologists investigating the bones of a body whose skull carried a tumour.
Cracks and warping of the remains, which belonged to someone of indeterminate gender, suggest the body was still fleshed when it was cremated in a service accompanied by a tonne of burning wood.
The bones were secured in a daring rescue mission on the eroding face of a sand cliff at Sannox, on the Isle of Arran, where experts used a mechanical cherry picker and balanced on harnesses to remove two cists.
“All the bone was uniformly white and in a similar condition, which is evidence for a hot cremation pyre reaching temperatures in the order of 650 to 950 degrees,” says Iraia Arabaolaza, who led the team responsible for the excavation.
“It is likely that the cremation occurred soon after death.
“The smaller average weight of the bones in this cist, as well as the absence of axial [head and trunk] bones, is a common trait in some Bronze Age cremations.
“The lack of remains such as substantial amounts of charcoal associated with a pyre also reinforces the idea of a selected burial.”
Some of the bones may have been kept back or lost to erosion on the cliff.
Arabaolaza says a mysterious green stain, examined once the team had moved the remains to Glasgow, could be copper – demonstrating poor preservation conditions.
A food vessel and a sharp knife, made with Yorkshire flint and found with the body, served both as tools and grave goods.
“Although the burial customs of the Scottish early Bronze Age varied greatly, across the period as well as from region to region, scale-flaked and plano-convex knives clearly represent an important tool,” says Torben Bjarke Ballin, a lithic expert from the University of Bradford.
“Flint knives frequently formed part of the period’s burial goods.
“The Scottish scale-flaked and plano-convex knives are most likely to also be sickles, and they probably carried out the same work as the crescent-shaped sickles of southern Britain.
“Although the piece from Sannox Quarry does not have any gloss, small flat chips were detached along its edge, indicating that it had been used prior to deposition in the cist.”
Beverley Ballin Smith, an archaeology researcher who works with National Museums Scotland, says the water-damaged vessel is unusual.
“In the suite of Bronze Age funeral ceramics, food vessels are not as common as beakers and urns and are less well known,” she explains.
“In mainland Scotland, they are frequently associated with cists with cremations.
“Although the Sannox pot follows some of the decorative motifs of Scottish food vessels, such as its bevelled rim and the slightly uncommon herring bone design, its decoration is in character comparable to those from the east coast.”
This symbolism from the other side of the land may prove that the objects were used in material exchanges.
“The paired and single incised half-circle motives can be mirrored in many places – not least York, Northumberland, Angus, Fife, and Kinross,” says Ballin Smith.
“In spite of its cracks, the pot is intact but there are significant areas of damage. These are mainly around the base, the body of the vessel just above it, and the bottom of the pot internally.
“The damage is partly due to a loss of surface caused by spalling and erosion of the fabric, partly because the vessel may have lain on the floor of the cist, and possibly because of how it was used and fired.
“The appearance of the vessel suggests that it may have stood in a hot fire. There is no sooting from flames, but the base of the pot indicates heat erosion.
“One interpretation could be that the vessel was positioned on the edge of the funeral pyre, perhaps in order to fire it during the cremation of the body.
“In doing so, it received damage as it was not protected from direct flames or very hot ashes.”
One of the bones from the burial – radiocarbon dated to between 2154 and 2026 B – was rounded into a button shape, suggesting an osteoma benign tumour which may not have caused its bearer “distress or symptoms” during their life.
At a time when wood was a scarce resource in Scotland, the size of the pyre shows the importance given to funerals by Bronze Age society. A “good ceremony” could have enhanced the status of the individual or their community.
Read the full report (opens in PDF).
http://www.archaeologyreportsonline.com/PDF/ARO10_Sannox.pdf
http://www.culture24.org.uk//history-and-heritage/archaeology/megaliths-and-prehistoric-archaeology/art475132-Cremated-bones-Bronze-Age-tumour-sufferer-found-hanging-from-Scottish-cliff?
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The Megalithic Remains of Anglesey - 1911; written by Edward Neil Baynes
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Excavation of Neolithic chambered tomb on Anglesey begins
An archaeological excavation of Ynys Môn’s least known Neolithic chambered tomb – Perthi Duon, west of the village of Brynsiencyn on Anglesey – has begun. The work is being carried out by a team from the Welsh Rock Art Organisation under the direction of Dr George Nash of the University of Bristol and Carol James.
Perthi Duon, considered to be the remains of a portal dolmen, is one of eighteen extant stone chambered monuments that stand within a 1.5 km corridor of the Menai Straits.
The antiquarian Henry Rowlands reports in 1723 that beneath the large capstone were three stones, possibly upright stones or pillars. However, by the beginning of the nineteenth century the monument was in a ruinous state, incorporated into a north-south hedge boundary, itself now removed.
Perthi Duon was visited by the Reverend John Skinner, parish vicar and amateur archaeologist, during his ten day tour of Anglesey in 1802. He sketched the site, then called Maen Llhuyd, and described how its cap stone and three supporters remained on the spot but had "long since been thrown prostate on the ground".
For the current excavation, two trenches have been dug based on the results of a geophysical survey undertaken by the team in early 2012. The probable orientation of the entrance is east-west, with its concealed chamber at the western end. During Neolithic times, the dead would have probably entered the monument via the small entrance, before being deposited within the chamber, either as a cremation or as disarticulated remains.
The international team of archaeologists have so far uncovered several significant features including areas of compacted-stone cairn that would once have formed a kidney-shaped mound, surrounding the chamber of the monument.
Team director, Dr George Nash said: "This discovery, along with other excavated features clearly show this monument to be a portal dolmen, one of the earliest Neolithic monument types in Wales, dating to around 3,500 BC.
"More importantly, the architecture of Perthi Duon appears to be a blueprint for other portal dolmen monuments within what is termed the Irish Sea Province. We hope, by the end of this excavation to gain a better understanding of the burial and ritual practices that went on at this site, some 5,500 years ago."
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2014/march/anglesey-dig.html
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Neolithic homes at Stonehenge
Not sure if anyone has mentioned these, fancy having to go to Malta for the news.....
team of volunteers are recreating a piece of Neolithic history at Stonehenge in the UK.
They are building five houses to give an authentic glimpse of life at the time the World Heritage Site was constructed.
The 60-strong team – which includes a lawyer, teachers and a tour guide – are weaving hundreds of hazel rods through the main supporting stakes and thatching the roofs with hand-knotted wheat straw. Later, the walls will be covered with a daub of chalk, straw and water.
When completed in April, the three-month project will have used 20 tons of chalk as well as 5,000 rods of hazel and three tons of wheat straw.
The volunteers have also helped in the collection of the coppiced hazel, in some cases using prehistoric-style tools such as flint axes.
The houses, which are being constructed outside the newly-opened visitor centre, are closely based on the remains of Neolithic houses discovered in 2006 and 2007 just a mile from Stonehenge at Durrington Walls.
Radiocarbon dates have shown that these buildings dated from around the same time the large sarsen stones were being put up at Stonehenge, in approximately 2500BC.
Experts believe the original occupants might have been involved with the construction of, and celebrations at Stonehenge.
Remains of houses from the late Neolithic period are extremely rare in the British Isles, with others known only from Orkney and at a handful of other locations.
Those found at Durrington were remarkably well preserved and the excavation uncovered the floors of the houses and the stakeholes where the walls once stood, and provided valuable archaeological evidence for the size and layout of the recreated huts.
Each house contained a hearth. Puddled chalk was used to make the floor and the spacing of the upright stakes suggest that hazel of about seven year growth was used to weave the walls.
Susan Greaney, senior properties historian at English Heritage, said: “One of the things we’re trying to do at Stonehenge is to reconnect the ancient stones with the people that lived and worked in the surrounding landscape.
“We hope these houses will give visitors a real insight into what life was like at the time Stonehenge was built.
“They are the product of archaeological evidence, educated guess work, and a lot of hard physical work.”
English Heritage is currently looking for volunteers to work inside the completed houses which will be furnished with replica Neolithic artefacts and lit with fires.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140321/world/Neolithic-homes-at-Stonehenge.511549
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North York Moors: Fighting bracken and badgers
Hope the badgers are fighting back! but.....
Historic monuments are being saved across the Whitby region thanks to the hard work of volunteers.
Working alongside landowners, the volunteer teams are playing a key part in helping the North York Moors National Park and English Heritage save the park’s 840 historic monuments.
Mags Waughman is the national park’s monument management scheme officer and she said that 99 of the monuments are at risk, while another 240 are vulnerable. Among these are a Bronze Age burial at Danby Beacon, a prehistoric field system at Eden House on the Mulgrave Estate and Allan Tofts in Goathland.
English Heritage provided a grant of £100,000 over three years, later doubled to £200,000 to tackle threats caused by coastal erosion, ploughing and badger activity. Mrs Waughman added: “The initial target was to reduce the risk to 50 monuments. The scheme is having a huge positive impact on the large number of scheduled monuments in the National Park, in terms of improving their condition and management, and in increasing the potential for visitor enjoyment.”
Thanks to the volunteers, action has taken place at 184 monuments and a new volunteer project is being carried out to monitor potentially-damaging effects by badgers.
In the past two years, 43 monuments have been removed from the English Heritage ‘at risk’ register or are expected to be, said Mrs Waughman.
A further 19 on the vulnerable list have had their status reduced.
http://www.whitbygazette.co.uk/news/environment/north-york-moors-fighting-bracken-and-badgers-1-6504073
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http://northstoke.blogspot.co.uk/
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