Showing 1-20 of 233 news posts. Most recent first | Next 20 
English Heritage analysis of 3D scanning
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about/news/stonehenge-solstitial-function/
"The laser scan has revealed significant differences in the way the stones were shaped and worked. These differences show that Stonehenge was not only aligned with the solstices, but that the view of the monument from the Avenue, its ancient processional way to the north east, was particularly important. "
Also they have discovered 71 ! new carvings of axes.
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£10m grant for centre from Heritage Lottery Fund
The Heritage Lottery Fund announced last night that they'd be giving ten million pounds towards the Stonehenge visitor centre improvements. Government axes £10m. HLF provides £10m. See we're all in this together and charities can make up the slack. Keep buying those scratchcards. Yes I am being sarcastic. By the way, if you've got a spare nine million pounds then that'll make up the total that EH are going for.
http://www.hlf.org.uk/news/Pages/10minvestmentfromtheHeritageLotteryFundforStonehenge.aspx
Nothing on the EH website yet though, slightly curiously.
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New information about life in Gough's Cave
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jun/20/ice-age-cannibals-britain-earliest-settlers
A new carbon dating technique ('ultra filtration') has suggested that the cave was colonised very quickly from further south in Europe after the retreat of the glaciers. It was inhabited for a few hundred years c. 14,700 years ago (a shorter time than previously thought), and it was probably only a intermittent retreat, not a permanent home. Human bones from the cave show traces of being butchered just like animal bones, to remove the flesh and marrow (and the brain, tongue and eyes, for those wanting more gruesome detail) - but still, it's not possible to say whether this was due to hunger or cultural practice. After this period the ice returned and Britain was completely depopulated again. Chilly.
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Retesting of bones gives new occupation date
Bones from Gough's Cave have been re-radiocarbon-dated, giving a new date 14,700 years ago. This matches the archaeological evidence better than the previous radiocarbon tests.
The date suggests Cheddar Gorge was one of the earliest places in Britain that was colonised after the Ice Age.Members of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain (AHOB) project now think the bones from Gough's Cave could have accumulated over just two or three human generations. The occupants might have been following horse migrations across Doggerland. After this there was a very short period of rapid climate warming, in which birch forests flourished, and the horses were less numerous. People then moved out of the caves to look for other food.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8151524.stm
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Free lecture on Monkswood Hoard
"The Monkswood hoard was found in the St Catherine's valley near Bath during the construction of a reservoir in the 1930s. It contains 38 pieces of Bronze age metalwork. This talk by Stephen Clews, Manager of the Roman Baths & Pump Room, looks at the objects in the hoard from the perspective of what they can tell us about people and society in the area around Bath nearly 3,000 years ago."
The Guildhall, Bath
Tuesday 17 February 2009, 1.10- 1.45pm
Refreshments on sale from 12.45pm
Admission free
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Talk on Cave project, 1st April
There has been a major research project on Kendrick's Cave, and this talk explaining it will be by Jill Cook, the deputy keeper of prehistory and early Europe at the British Museum. She will also reinterpret the 19th century excavations by Thomas Kendrick.
Meanwhile, the 'Sharing Treasures' exhibition will open at Llandudno Museum, at which the mesolithic finds from the cave (including art and jewellery) have been reunited from various collections 'for the first time in 100 years'.
Was the cave just a campsite or a place of more special significance?
Sounds all very interesting. The talk is at 7pm, in Llandudno Town Hall, on Tuesday 1st April. Entry is free but donations to the Museum are welcome.
http://www.newswales.co.uk/?section=Community&F=1&id=13599
More about the art on a horse's jawbone found in the cave at
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/03/19/is-jawbone-the-ancient-souvenir-ancestor-of-the-humble-snow-globe-91466-20643806/
- it's thought to be 13,000 years old!
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Prehistoric finds at new M62 junction
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/7223230.stm
Ron Cowell, the curator of prehistoric archaeology at Liverpool Museum, describes the finds of prehistoric flints and burnt hazelnuts. They're an unusual discovery because of their lowland location. The site will be buried by a new link road for J6 on the M62 near Huyton. There'll be a museum display of all the artefacts found.
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New date for Paviland skeleton
Apparently, because of contaminants from preservatives used in the 19th century, previous tests have underestimated the age of the skeleton. It's now thought that he's 29,000 years old (4000 years older than before!).
This could mean that people living in these islands were the first in Europe to bury their dead in such a way, and that perhaps the custom spread from here (ah it's always seen to be a bonus when a Briton invents something).
It also means that Mr Paviland would have lived in a warm era, rather than a cold period as previously thought.
He will be going back to Wales for an exhibition at the National Museum in Cardiff, starting on December 8th. The 'Origins' gallery has been redeveloped. It's got some very interesting things.
http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/846/
information from C4 article at:
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/science_technology/red+lady+skeleton+29000+years+old/979762
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Protest group claim Roadstone ignored monuments
This article at the Kildare Nationalist reports on recent claims by the Hill of Allen Action Group. They say that the hill is the site of two National Monuments (a cist and a barrow), which are within the land being quarried by Roadstone. They say that when Roadstone registered the quarry with Kildare County Council in 2006, neither of those sites appeared on their registration papers or maps. The Council in turn made no mention of the monuments. However, it is the landowner's responsibility to be aware of their presence. Damage to a site listed on the Record of Monuments and Places (RMP) is a criminal offence. It seems that the required legal procedures involving planning and environmental impact assessment were not carried out.
http://www.kildare-nationalist.ie/news/story.asp?j=26440&cat=news
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Carved stone found at Whitby Abbey
Archaeologists have been excavating Whitby headland and found a carved stone. They have found traces of an Iron Age enclosure there, and they're hoping the stone might be prehistoric. I wonder what people here think.
http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/nwh_gfx_en/ART51381.html
Scroll down towards the end to see the stone (past the altogether more impressive Fylingdales stone).
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Excavation results will feature in documentary
Cardiff university and Herefordshire Archaeology have been excavating at Credenhill Park Wood to determine the full extent of its hillfort - which although little known is one of the largest in the country.
Channel 4's 'Time Team' have agreed to survey the site using 'Lidar' to provide extra information.
The Woodland Trust are also improving access to the fort by removing conifer stands and replacing them with deciduous trees and grazing land.
The Time Team programme will be shown next spring.
From an article by Paul Ferguson on today's Hereford Times website
http://www.herefordtimes.com/news/latest/display.var.1745129.0.time_team_joins_the_dig.php
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Charges against protesters are dropped
The charge of aggravated trespass against six protesters is being dropped, after the Crown Prosecution Service said there was not enough evidence to secure convictions.
And to think (according to the BBC article) they were just fussing about a 'Bronze Age Footpath'.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hereford/worcs/7029688.stm
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Showing 1-20 of 233 news posts. Most recent first | Next 20 |
This hill, it has a meaning that is very important for me, but it's not rational. It's beautiful, but when you look, there's nothing there. But I'd be a fool if I didn't listen to it.
-- Alan Garner.
...I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn...
-- William Wordsworth.
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