ryaner

A meeting of Sligo County Council has heard there is an incredible amount of damage being done to one of the most significant historic monuments in the country, the stone cairn over Queen Maeve’s grave on the summit of Knocknarea.

Sinn Fein Councillor Chris MacManus says a small number of people climb on top of the cairn while Fine Gael Councillor Sinead Maguire says people can be seen coming down the mountain carrying rocks from the cairn.

A local resident in the area also told Ocean FM News recently that some people have been digging up quartz stones from around the base of the cairn.

More (including a short poscast): oceanfm.ie/2019/11/12/conservation-plan-required-for-cairn-of-queen-maeve/?fbclid=IwAR1a2nXG8r302c0nimDg6CjVi-rTSgn2ZOhumlnKeEYZfIlfPttgmVOE-xA

The river bed of the Boyne is being searched by archaeologists.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE IDENTIFIED what could be Neolithic log boats as well as boulders, perhaps intended to be used in the building of Newgrange or Knowth, in the river bed of the Boyne, near to the famous monuments.

More: jrnl.ie/4878107

Scientists find 257 prints that were preserved in wind-driven sand 80,000 years ago

Scientists have found hundreds of perfectly preserved footprints, providing evidence that Neanderthals walked the Normandy coast in France.
The prints suggest a group of 10-13 individuals, mostly children and adolescents, were on the shoreline 80,000 years ago.
Neanderthals, the closest evolutionary cousins to present-day humans and primates, have long been thought to have lived in social groups, but details have been hard to establish.

More: theguardian.com/science/2019/sep/10/neanderthal-footprints-found-in-france-offer-snapshot-of-their-lives?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

A huge Iron Age roundhouse, thought to be about 2,500 years old, and roman pottery have been uncovered during an archaeological dig at a coastal fort.

Volunteers have joined experts to find out more about the little-known Dinas Dinlle National Trust-owned monument in Gwynedd before it falls into the sea.

The 43ft (13m) wide roundhouse was buried by coastal sand, thought to have blown there during a sandstorm in 1330.

Coins found at the fort near Caernarfon suggest it was occupied in Roman times.

The “well-preserved” roundhouse – with its 8ft (2.5m) thick walls – was uncovered close to the cliff edge buried underneath 3ft (1m) of sand during a two-week dig.

More: bbc.com/news/uk-wales-49397328?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_wales_news&ns_linkname=wales&ns_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0nyySxlVuqawKkRL7-6vl6GmiF38rLZlWAO78mVxWtmVuS46jdmbJoHvw

Around 40 previously unknown monuments have been identified in the Brú na Bóinne area close to Newgrange as a result of what a leading archaeologist says was an “exceptionally successful” survey.

Dr Steve Davis of the UCD School of Archaeology, who has worked for over a decade on the Brú na Bóinne landscape, said the monuments appear to range from what are most likely early Neolithic houses to Neolithic timber enclosures as well as Bronze Age burial monuments and some early medieval farmsteads.

The area surveyed included locations both sides of the Boyne, within the bend of the Boyne and across from the megalithic tombs at Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth.

More: irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/unknown-monuments-identified-close-to-newgrange-in-exceptionally-successful-survey-942120.html?fbclid=IwAR3TTUaKStOYMnnS8USVbwIZA1p8fw6OA-92zViLJ9r2LoiqAsMhk2NpDdk

A replica of a 2,400-year-old log boat, that lies on the bottom of Lough Corrib, was launched in Co Galway this afternoon.

The prehistoric log boat, built from a single oak timber and some 7.5m long, 0.61m wide and 0.4m deep, has been radiocarbon dated to 754-409 BCE (over 2,400 years ago; the Iron Age).

More: rte.ie/news/connacht/2019/0706/1060564-galway-log-boat/

More:
jrnl.ie/4682855

The National Monuments Service has confirmed that it is investigating a report of serious damage to a 3,000-year-old hillfort near Cavan town.

More: rte.ie/news/ulster/2019/0610/1054511-cavan-hillfort/

Archaeologists hail iron age object a ‘marvellous, internationally important find’

More: theguardian.com/science/2019/may/23/2300-year-old-iron-age-bark-shield-leicestershire?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

More: donegaldaily.com/2019/05/03/shocking-vandalism-at-ancient-beltany-monument/?fbclid=IwAR0QpJ2STQLHWGL1YpUbRnQtL1j6k8zXqCLtjREFVAGDz31Ggn8LZjh3Kp0

The ancestors of the people who built Stonehenge travelled west across the Mediterranean before reaching Britain, a study has shown.

Researchers in London compared DNA extracted from Neolithic human remains found in Britain with that of people alive at the same time in Europe.

The Neolithic inhabitants appear to have travelled from Anatolia (modern Turkey) to Iberia before winding their way north.

They reached Britain in about 4,000BC.

Details have been published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

The migration to Britain was just one part of a general, massive expansion of people out of Anatolia in 6,000BC that introduced farming to Europe.

Before that, Europe was populated by small, travelling groups which hunted animals and gathered wild plants and shellfish.

One group of early farmers followed the river Danube up into Central Europe, but another group travelled west across the Mediterranean.

DNA reveals that Neolithic Britons were largely descended from groups who took the Mediterranean route, either hugging the coast or hopping from island-to-island on boats.

More: bbc.com/news/science-environment-47938188?fbclid=IwAR1Q99kEGMVgXbR2B3qDJcl02Hoocwi5z7uSXw1_OSpeb1ZYpqGrUB98aKc

A miniature Bronze Age axe head was handed over to the National Museum of Ireland after pictures emerged of it on social media.

The axe was discovered through illegal metal detecting in Adare, Co Limerick.

NMI Keeper of Irish Antiquities Maeve Sikora said a member of the public alerted the museum to the images and the axe was recovered following an investigation by gardaí.

More: rte.ie/news/ireland/2019/0408/1041305-bronze-age-axe-find/

La Hougue de Vinde dolmen near Noirmont has been seriously damaged after someone dug holes all over the 5,000 year old historical site.

A man was seen illegally using a metal detector and a trowel on the ancient site, prompting the island’s heritage organisations to appeal to the public to help protect them.

After an islander reported the incident, Olga Finch, Jersey Heritage’s Curator ofArchaeology, inspected the site. She confirmed that it had been seriously damaged, finding ‘backfilled’ metal detecting holes in the centre of the chamber, and targeted digging all over the dolmen, particularly in the earthen banks and at the base of the orthostats (upright stones).

More: bailiwickexpress.com/jsy/news/5000-year-old-dolmen-seriously-damage/?fbclid=IwAR0s4vziAhnZCYVZKJRwR6JIayfx90b4CuOg2mLUEYsegamACx1iajNLAFQ#.XIxalIXeyFr

Britain’s favourite monument is stuck in the middle of a bad-tempered row over road traffic. By Charlotte Higgins

Published: 06:00 Friday, 08 February 2019

Stonehenge, with the possible exception of Big Ben, is Britain’s most recognisable monument. As a symbol of the nation’s antiquity, it is our Parthenon, our pyramids – although, admittedly, less impressive. Neil MacGregor, the former director of the British Museum, recalls that when he took a group of Egyptian archaeologists to see it, they were baffled by our national devotion to the stones, which, compared to the refined surfaces of the pyramids, seemed to them like something hastily thrown up over a weekend.

More: theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/feb/08/the-battle-for-the-future-of-stonehenge?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Story here:
jrnl.ie/4356455

Tests show 5,000-year-old remains found at the world heritage site came from more than 100 miles away in west Wales

Maev Kennedy

The bones of people buried at Stonehenge, who died and were cremated about 5,000 years ago, have given up their secrets: like the bluestones, which form part of the famous prehistoric monument, they came from west Wales, near the Preseli Hills where the stones were quarried.

The remains of at least 10 of 25 individuals, whose brittle charred bones were buried at the monument, showed that they did not spend their lives on the Wessex chalk downland, but came from more than 100 miles away. Examination of the remains showed they were consistent with a region that includes west Wales, the most likely origin of at least some of these people.

Although the team, led by scientists from the University of Oxford with colleagues in Paris and Brussels, cannot prove that the remains are of people who actually built the monument, the earliest cremation dates are described as “tantalisingly” close to the date when the bluestones were brought into the earlier ditch and bank monument to form the first stone circle.

More:
theguardian.com/science/2018/aug/02/revealed-stonehenge-buried-welsh?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

To date, two burial chambers have been discovered within the western part of the main passage.

A MEGALITHIC PASSAGE tomb cemetery dating back some 5,500 years has been unearthed beside Dowth Hall in Co Meath.

The discovery is within the Brú na Bóinne heritage site. The excavation is being carried out by agri-technology company Devenish in partnership with UCD’s School of Archaeology.

More: thejournal.ie/megalithic-passage-tomb-meath-4130419-Jul2018/

Anthony Murphy, founder of Mythical Ireland, made the discovery when flying drones in the Brú na Bóinne area yesterday evening.

A LARGE CIRCULAR enclosure, or henge, has been revealed near the UNESCO World Heritage Site close to Newgrange in Co Meath.

Anthony Murphy, founder of Mythical Ireland, made the discovery when flying drones in the Brú na Bóinne area yesterday evening with photographer Ken Williams.

More: thejournal.ie/newgrange-mythical-ireland-4123238-Jul2018/

Experts from the National Museum have begun an investigation into the exciting discovery of four prehistoric gold arm bands they believe date back to the Bronze Age.

The amazingly intact ornaments were found buried together several feet underground at an undisclosed location in Co Donegal earlier this week.
Maeve Sikora, keeper of Irish antiquities at the National Museum of Ireland, credited local Donegal residents for finding the treasures and immediately reporting them to officials at the Donegal County Museum, who in turn alerted them to the find yesterday.

“These people were so helpful and quick to report it,” she said.

More:
m.independent.ie/irish-news/locals-unearth-significant-prehistoric-hoard-of-gold-bands-in-donegal-37058447.html

More serious problems at Dunbeg.

Full story:
thejournal.ie/kerry-fort-ancient-3781702-Jan2018/

The prehistoric shift towards cultivation began our preoccupation with hierarchy and growth – and even changed how we perceive the passage of time

More:
theguardian.com/inequality/2017/dec/05/how-neolithic-farming-sowed-the-seeds-of-modern-inequality-10000-years-ago

We all want to believe that the places and heritage we love will be protected by somebody else for our children to enjoy. Some really important places in the UK benefit from protection by law and are supposed to be kept safe by our government bodies for the benefit of everyone. One such place is the ancient Neolithic burial site on the hill at Knock Iveagh. Although the burial site (cairn) is older than the pyramids and should be treated as a gem in the crown of beautiful Co Down, right now unfortunately it looks like somebody has dropped the ball because it is under terrible threat. Our public bodies have the power to save the hill and it is up to us to make sure they do so. That is why we are asking for your contribution to this important fight. Legal advice costs money, but this is a fight we can and must win.

gofundme.com/saveknockiveagh

It was a puzzling case of Danny Healy-Rae and the ‘little people’.
The Kerry TD is blaming poor road conditions around Killarney on fairies, according to his daughter.

Mr Healy-Rae believes that mythical creatures are at work on the main route between Killarney and Cork and that they are responsible for the appalling condition of the road.

More
m.independent.ie/irish-news/danny-healyrae-and-the-little-people-fairies-to-blame-for-problems-on-bad-road-says-td-36009894.html

Illegal metal detectors have caused irreparable damage to a prehistoric road in the Midlands with Ireland’s leading heritage charity calling on the Government to intervene to save the road.

An Taisce: The National Trust for Ireland has written to the Heritage Minister Heather Humphreys to request that the oakwood-built roadway, located on Mayne Bog in Coole, Co. Westmeath, be protected fully by the laws of the State.

Its Antiquities and Monuments committee has criticised the Minister for “standing idly by” and wants a licensed metal detector survey carried out along the route.

Dr Mark Clinton of An Taisce said that the area is of international importance and should be placed on the Record of Monuments and Places (RMP) list. Much of the 647-metre, 3,000-year-old wooden track has been dug up by workmen cutting peat.

More: independent.ie/irish-news/illegal-metal-detectors-damage-3000yearold-wooden-road-35780708.html

Paleolithic-era drawings found in Axturra cave are in ‘Champions League’ of cave art sites, team leader says

Spanish archaeologists say they have discovered an exceptional set of Paleolithic-era cave drawings that could rank among the best in a country that already boasts some of the world’s most important cave art.

Chief site archaeologist Diego Garate said that an estimated 70 drawings were found on ledges 300m (1,000 ft) underground in the Atxurra cave in the northern Basque region. He described the site as being in “the Champions League” of cave art and among the top 10 sites in Europe. The engravings and paintings feature horses, buffalo, goats and deer, dating back 12,500-14,500 years.

More: theguardian.com/science/2016/may/27/spanish-archaeologists-discover-cave-art-axturra-paleolithic

NUI Galway archaeologist Andrew Whitefield disputes age of ancient north Mayo site.

More here: irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/c%C3%A9ide-fields-may-be-2-500-years-younger-than-thought-1.2961569

An ancient hill fort dubbed “one of the jewels in the crown” of the South Downs National Park has been damaged, police have said.

Illegal metal detecting is believed to be behind the disturbance to the ground at the 5,000-year-old Cissbury Ring site near Worthing in West Sussex.

More: telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/25/illegal-treasure-hunters-damage-ancient-hill-fort-south-downs/

Sitting partially exposed in the hollow of the strange mound behind the Hellfire Club, a dark lump of igneous rock served as a handy border to many bonfires over the centuries. However, those who enjoyed the warmth of the fire while lying up against the comfortably curved bank of the mound may not have realised that the mound they rested upon was the remains of an ancient tomb, and that plain looking dark stone was carved with symbols and designs that are over 5,000 years old.

The discovery of the artwork was the result of incredible serendipity. The surface of the stone has been damaged by fires and weathering, so the artwork is almost completely imperceptible to the naked eye. Had we dug our trenches anywhere else on site we would not have discovered it, and had we excavated during the summer, the higher flatter sunlight may not have revealed the faint trace of the artwork.

As the stone was sitting in a disturbed modern layer of material relating to picnics and parties, it was outside of its original context. We removed it quite early in the dig, though due to the many fires that had been lit upon it, it fractured into four large fragments as we began to lift it from the trench. As we did not originally notice anything particularly unusual about the stone, we (with some difficulty) lifted it out of the trench and set it on the side, so it would be close at hand for when we began to backfill the trenches.

More here: abartaheritage.ie/megalithic-art-discovered-at-the-hellfire-club/

Damage to an ancient dolmen in Brittas Bay has been reported to the gardaí and the National Monument Service.

The megalithic tomb named the Castletimon Dolmen dates back close to 4,000 years and is a protected monument.

Part of the structure appears to have been knocked down, while stones and earth have been pulled away.

Steven Brennan of the Brittas Bay Tourism Association said the destruction of the Dolmen has caused widespread local anger.

‘I was pretty shocked when I first saw the damage. People are very annoyed. It’s a very historic area and needs to be treated with the respect it deserves.

‘People are embarrassed by this incident. It’s one of Wicklow’s oldest human structures and is one of only four on the east coast of Ireland.‘

The whole area is of significant historical importance with a number of standing stones, cairns, a fourth century Ogham stone and a recently newly discovered standing stone. There is also a sixth century monastery nearby which was second in importance only to Glendalough.

More:
independent.ie/regionals/wicklowpeople/news/investigation-into-brittas-bay-dolmen-damage-34563576.html

By Andrew Curry
Mar. 24, 2016 , 9:30 AM

About 3200 years ago, two armies clashed at a river crossing near the Baltic Sea. The confrontation can’t be found in any history books—the written word didn’t become common in these parts for another 2000 years—but this was no skirmish between local clans. Thousands of warriors came together in a brutal struggle, perhaps fought on a single day, using weapons crafted from wood, flint, and bronze, a metal that was then the height of military technology.

Struggling to find solid footing on the banks of the Tollense River, a narrow ribbon of water that flows through the marshes of northern Germany toward the Baltic Sea, the armies fought hand-to-hand, maiming and killing with war clubs, spears, swords, and knives. Bronze- and flint-tipped arrows were loosed at close range, piercing skulls and lodging deep into the bones of young men. Horses belonging to high-ranking warriors crumpled into the muck, fatally speared. Not everyone stood their ground in the melee: Some warriors broke and ran, and were struck down from behind.

When the fighting was through, hundreds lay dead, littering the swampy valley. Some bodies were stripped of their valuables and left bobbing in shallow ponds; others sank to the bottom, protected from plundering by a meter or two of water. Peat slowly settled over the bones. Within centuries, the entire battle was forgotten.

More: sciencemag.org/news/2016/03/slaughter-bridge-uncovering-colossal-bronze-age-battle?utm_source=sciencemagazine&utm_medium=facebook-text&utm_campaign=bronzeagebattle-3174

Scientists were astounded when tests showed the fragment, from a butchered brown bear, confirmed that humans were active in Ireland 2,500 years earlier than previously suspected.

The fragment was stored in a cardboard box in the National Museum for over 100 years but had only been subjected to detailed forensic tests over the past two years.

The incredible discovery by Dr Marion Dowd and Dr Ruth Carden will now re-write Ireland’s settlement history with the bone indicating that humans were hunting in Ireland in 10,500BC – some 2,500 years earlier that previously thought.

Amazingly, the bear bone was discovered in Clare back in 1903 but was left for over a century in a storage box in the National Museum without being forensically tested.

Dr Dowd of IT Sligo and Dr Carden of the National Museum decided to examine the bear bone and subject it to radiocarbon dating.

More: independent.ie/irish-news/news/bear-bone-discovery-pushes-back-date-of-human-existence-in-ireland-by-2500-years-34556770.html

Archaeologists have uncovered what they believe to be the “best-preserved Bronze Age dwellings ever found in Britain”.

More:
bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-35280290

Site on Sligo/Leitrim border may not have been found until now due to mountain setting

A hilltop tomb recently discovered close to the edge of Tievebaun mountain on the Sligo/Leitrim border may be more than 5,000 years old , according to the archaeologist who found it.

Michael Gibbons said a series of discoveries in this area – including animal enclosures, field systems, and booley settlements – suggests that there are layers of history spanning the Neolithic period, the iron age, the bronze age and the post medieval period on these uplands.

Mr Gibbons, who discovered other tombs in this area a decade ago, said that the hilltop tomb, which was a sacred site up to 3,500 BC, was probably not discovered before now because of its dramatic setting on the edge of the mountain.

More: irishtimes.com/news/science/tomb-thought-to-be-more-than-5-000-years-old-discovered-1.2422061

‘Scandal’ that oak road on Mayne Bog, dating to 1200-820 BC, not surveyed or preserved

The Midland bogs have always been places of mystery – vistas of burnt umber that every so often unearth prehistoric time capsules: vats of bog butter, golden hoards, the mummified remains of sacrificial corpses.

In Longford, the Iron Age road unearthed at Corlea Bog has become the county’s prime tourism attraction, with massive oak planks wide enough for two chariots to pass side by side. In 2005, the discovery of a grander and far longer oak road at Mayne Bog in Coole, Co Westmeath, was a cause of great excitement. The National Monuments Service established that it was no mere trackway, measuring up to 6m in width, and dating to 1200-820 BC – a 1,000 years older than Corlea.

Westland Horticulture, extracting peat from the site at the time, were expected to cease work immediately but the National Monuments Service did not issue a preservation order, nor record it in the Register of Historic Monuments.

More:
irishtimes.com/news/environment/bronze-age-road-in-midlands-turned-into-potting-compost-1.2368920

(Slightly out of our timeline being early-medieval, and very long and detailed, but of interest to archaeological activists all the same)

I’ve written before about how a simple, unattributed blog post … just 178 words long … kicked off an advocacy campaign to ensure the correct management and archaeological excavation of a crannog at Drumclay, Co. Fermanagh. I’d had reports from trusted, experienced colleagues that the site was poorly run and equipped. Worse than that, the excavation appeared to be in imminent danger of hitting its arbitrarily allotted time limit, declared ‘complete’, and whatever else remained allowed to be destroyed … all so the road could continue. Well, we weren’t going to stand for that and, a large number of archaeologists and concerned members of the public banded together to cause a fuss. We were joined by a significant number of professional organisations, including the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists, the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland, and the BAJR Federation. We set up a Facebook page, we ended up on radio and television talking about it, we eventually presented a paper at the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland conference in Belfast, and even wrote pieces about it for Archaeology Ireland magazine [here & here]. The initial reaction of the relevant government departments was to close ranks and claim that they were satisfied with the conduct of the excavation and that everything was running according to plan. When that failed, it was claimed that they were aware of the issues and were already working hard behind the scenes to resolve them. The significant breakthrough came when then Minister for the Environment, Alex Attwood, visited the crannog, was convinced of its importance and subsequently ordered an exclusion zone around the site, along with instituting a competent regime of excavation and management. To paraphrase Hunter S Thompson’s obituary of Nixon: ‘That is Drumclay, in a nut, for people with seriously diminished attention spans.’

More:
rmchapple.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/mud-lies-and-hazard-tape-reviewing.html

A British wildlife film-maker has returned from one of the most inaccessible parts of the world with extraordinary footage of ancient rock art that has never been filmed or photographed before.

In an area of Colombia so vast and remote that contact has still not been made with some tribes thought to live there, Mike Slee used a helicopter to film hundreds of paintings depicting hunters and animals believed to have been created thousands of years ago. He said: “We had crews all over the place and helicopters filming all over Colombia. As a photographer, Francisco Forero Bonell discovered and took the pictures for my movie.”

The extraordinary art includes images of jaguar, crocodiles and deer. They are painted in red, on vertical rock faces in Chiribiquete national park, a 12,000 square kilometre Unesco world heritage site that is largely unexplored. There are also paintings of warriors or hunters dancing or celebrating. “It is the land that time forgot,” Slee told the Observer.

More:
theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/20/colombia-wilderness-film-maker-prehistoric-rock-art?CMP

A group of volunteers has helped to repair a 5,000-year-old burial cairn on one of Northern Ireland’s most significant mountains.

Around 30 of them trekked to the top of Slieve Gullion in south Armagh at the weekend to carry out the work, under the supervision of an archaeologist.

They helped to fix damage done to the huge passage grave by the weather and increasing numbers of hill walkers.

Stones had become dislodged from the top of the ancient cairn.

As a result, the entrance to the site was in danger of being blocked.

The burial chamber is lined up to illuminate with the light from the setting sun of the winter solstice on 21 December every year.

More:
bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-32778672

A rare sample of megalithic engraving or “rock-scribing” has been found on an ancient pilgrimage route to Croagh Patrick in Co Mayo.

The prehistoric ornamentation resembles that found in Lough Crew, Co Meath, and is one of just of two rock art samples of its type to be identified west of the Shannon, according to archaeologist Michael Gibbons.

The panel had been concealed behind the outcropping at the Boheh townland known as St Patrick’s chair, which has some 250 petroglyphs or carvings on its surface. The carvings are believed to have been inspired by the “rolling sun” phenomenon, where the setting sun appears to glide down the flank of Croagh Patrick during the months of April and August.

More: irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/megalithic-rock-scribing-found-near-croagh-patrick-1.2119328

An ancient bog body has been discovered at a midland bog where a similar find was made two years ago.
The remains were found by a Bord na Móna worker at Rossan Bog on the Meath/Westmeath border on Saturday morning.
A Bord na Móna spokesman said: “The remains of a bog body were found in Rossan Bog two miles from Kinnegad on the Meath and Westmeath border.”
The spokesman said the employee discovered the remains prior to beginning work and immediately put Bord na Móna’s protocol in place.

More:
rte.ie/news/2014/0916/644192-bog-body/

Thirty years ago, a peat cutter working in the Cheshire countryside spotted what he thought was a piece of wood trundling along a conveyor belt.

Tasked with the job of keeping the belt free of debris, he threw it away, but as it hit the ground, the dirt fell from it and the remains of a human leg lay in the summer sun.

That gruesome discovery on 1 August 1984 led to Rick Turner, the newly-appointed county archaeologist, being called to the site on Lindow Moss.

He says what followed were “the most exciting days of my archaeological career”.

“I was taken out on to the moss and shown where the previous day’s peat had been taken from,” he says.

“Walking the uncut sections, I found a flap of dark, tanned skin projecting from below.

“Reporting my discovery to the police, we agreed I would be given a day to excavate the remains.”

On 6 August, the site was recorded and sampled, the limits of the remains were established and “Lindow Man was lifted – within his block of surrounding peat – on his way to international celebrity”, Mr Turner says.

More:

bbc.com/news/uk-england-28589151

HAVE YOU EVER wondered about how archaeologists discover the story of the past? In the second of three articles in an exclusive series for TheJournal.ie, archaeologist Neil Jackman will take you behind the scenes of the exciting excavations at Tlachtga (The Hill of Ward) in Co Meath.

A team of volunteer archaeologists led by Dr Stephen Davis from UCD and site director Caitríona Moore, are attempting to discover the story behind one of Ireland’s most enigmatic sites.

thejournal.ie/tlachtga-trench-1493408-May2014/

Gardaí are investigating vandalism to the Lia Fáil – the standing stone at the top of the Hill of Tara in Co Meath.
A garda spokesman confirmed that green and red paint was poured over the stone overnight.
At least 50% of the 5,000-year-old granite has been covered by the paint.
In 2012 the stone was damaged when pieces of it were hacked off with an ax.
Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan described last night’s vandalism as “truly shameful”.
“This is an act of cultural vandalism,” said Ian Doyle, archaeologist and head of conservation with the Heritage Council.
He said local people and others “have a close relationship with the Hill of Tara and this is an assault on their sense of pride and the respect, love and affection they have for it.”
Gardaí have appealed for anyone with information to contact the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666111.

m.rte.ie/news/touch/2014/0529/620400-hill-of-tara-vandalism/

A 4,500-year-old log boat is among 12 early Bronze Age, Iron Age and medieval craft that have been located in Lough Corrib, along with several Viking-style battle axes and other weapons.
The vessels were discovered by marine surveyor Capt Trevor Northage while mapping the western lake to update British admiralty charts.
Investigative dives were subsequently carried out last summer by the underwater archaeology unit (UAU) of the National Monuments Service, and radiocarbon dating of samples was then conducted.

More: irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/log-boat-dating-back-4-500-years-found-in-lough-corrib-1.1754885

A study on a Jersey site that revealed a significant piece of late Neanderthal history has been published.

Scientists working on an archaeological dig in St Brelade said teeth found at La Cotte suggest Jersey was one of the last places Neanderthals lived.

bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-24593772

Cashel Man has had the weight of the world on his shoulders, quite literally, for 4,000 years.

Compressed by the peat that has preserved his remains, he looks like a squashed, dark leather holdall.

Apart, that is, from one forlorn arm that stretches out and upward and tells us something of the deliberate and extremely violent death that he suffered 500 years before Tutankhamen was born.

Cashel Man is now being studied at the National Museum of Ireland’s research base in Collins Barracks, Dublin. He was discovered in 2011 by a bog worker in Cashel bog in County Laois.

When the remains are brought out of the freezer, it is hard to tell that this was ever a human being.

More:
bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24053119

New tests on the remains of a preserved body found in a Co Laois bog have revealed that it is the oldest bog body ever discovered in the world.

The body was found by a Bord na Móna worker milling peat in 2011.

It was initially believed that the remains were those of a young female which were around 2,500 years old.

However, a series of recent tests have revealed that it is the body of a male, which dates back as far as 2000 BC.

More here:

rte.ie/news/2013/0802/466108-bog-body/

US scientists say they can track early human movements by analysing molecules in ancient faecal matter.

Researchers were able to use prehistoric poo to establish the presence and size of a population dating back over 7,000 years.

They argue the method could be used to distinguish human from natural impacts on past environments.

Details have been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20492507

Permission refused for proposed Slane bypass
   
An Bord Pleanála has refused permission for the proposed Slane bypass in Co Meath, a decision which has infuriated some local residents.

Local residents who had been campaigning for a bypass are angry

An Bord Pleanála has confirmed it has refused permission for the proposed Slane bypass in Co Meath.
The agency decided to reject the planned bridge and roads around the village because the proposal was located very close to the World Heritage Site at Brú na Bóinne.
Other factors included the belief among board members that it had not been proven that no appropriate alternative was available, and it could have diverted traffic off the M1 tolled motorway.
An Bord Pleanála’s decision has been greeted with anger by local residents who had been campaigning for a bypass.
Residents say the bypass is essential to improve road safety in the area.
They claim that 22 people have died in accidents on the bridge or on its approaches and are warning more could die as a result of today’s announcement.
The Bypass Slane Campaign said it is ‘’shocked and dismayed’’ by the decision. The group was formed in April 2009 in the aftermath of a serious road traffic incident in the village.
In a statement, it said: ‘’Life in the village, over generations, has been overwhelmed by the dangerous volumes of traffic and by the constant threat to life it brings.

More here: rte.ie/news/2012/0307/slane.html

A 64-year-old farmer has been fined €25,000 at the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee for destroying a 1,000-year-old ringfort, which was a protected national monument.
In one of the first prosecutions of its kind to come before the courts, John O’Mahony pleaded guilty to carrying out work on the fort on his farm at Causeway in Co Kerry in February 2008, without notifying the National Monuments Service in advance.

More here:
rte.ie/news/2012/0302/omahonyj.html

Music could have been an inspiration for the design of Stonehenge, according to an American researcher.

Steven Waller’s intriguing idea is that ancient Britons could have based the layout of the great monument, in part, on the way they perceived sound.

He has been able to show how two flutes played in a field can produce an auditory illusion that mimics in space the position of the henge’s pillars.

Mr Waller presented the idea at the AAAS meeting in Vancouver, Canada.

bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17073206