Huge protest over henges
A HUGE number of objections are being delivered to County Hall today, protesting against a quarry firm's bid to extend its operations near the 'Stonehenge of the North'.
Thornborough Henge campaigners hope to have collected a massive 1,000 individual letters of objection against Tarmac Northern Ltd's plan to extend their sand and gravel extractions at Nosterfield Quarry.
The Friends of Thornborough and Heritage Action have also collected thousands more signatures on petitions, including on the internet, protesting against the threat to the prehistoric site, near Bedale.
Today they will be using a wheelbarrow to take the objections to North Yorkshire County Council which is set to decide on the issue.
Speaking of the massive support, George Chaplin, Heritage Action's Thornborough Campaign co-ordinator and member of the Friends of Thornborough, said: "We have really upped the ante; we want to make a splash and show the powers that be some clear confirmation of the level of support.
"We feel that by presenting the council with more objections than it has ever received for any application, we can send a clear message about the strength of public concern."
The campaign involved members visiting houses throughout the area and asking residents if they were interested in giving their support and writing a letter of protest.
Houses in Masham, Thornton Watlass, Newton-le-Willows, Well, Thornborough and Crayke Hall were all targeted and by Wednesday the group had already received around 600 letters with the promise of more to come.
Around ten per cent of the protest letters are from abroad, reflecting the international interest in the site, and an online petition has so far gained 3,300 signatures.
Although the statutory period for consultation officially ends tomorrow, people can still object to the application up to September 30.
Mr Chaplin said: "Once the statutory period is over we intend to concentrate on the quality rather than quantity of the objections as well as continuing the process of gaining international recognition for the Thornborough Henges.
In a statement, Tarmac Northern estates manager Bob Nicholson said the company shared the public's concern for local heritage and the need to protect the area of the henges.
"We have announced that we do not intend to go ahead with any planning application to excavate the area surrounding the protected henges, pending the outcome of a detailed English Heritage study which will reveal the extent of the area's competing land uses," he said.
"We have also explained that by progressing our application to excavate sand and gravel at nearby Ladybridge Farm in the meantime we will be uncovering artefacts which would otherwise be left undiscovered, or worse, damaged by modern agricultural practices.
"In fact, Tarmac has an exceptional record in the recovery and protection of important archeological finds.
"We also continue to operate an open door policy with all local interest groups and the relevant statutory authorities to ensure we work together to find a solution which protects our local heritage at the same time as drawing on much-needed resources for the region's construction industry."
Mr Alwyn Shaw, the county council's principal minerals and waste planning officer, could not confirm whether the number of objections was a record for such an application, as claimed by the campaigners.
"Everybody is entitled to make their views be known and we will look at them, read them, and present a summary of them to the planning committee," he said.
"This is a controversial application and there has been a lot of concerns, as there is with a lot of quarry and waste applications. They attract local interest."
Mr Shaw said a preliminary report would go before committee in October, and he believed a recommendation would be made that councillors undertake a site visit, probably in December.
"We would then have the full report with the full details and all representations heard. We accept that it is a difficult decision and we have to acknowledge people's concerns."
http://www.northallertontoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=22&ArticleID=831525
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Bid to increase quarrying runs into a barrow-load of trouble
CAMPAIGNERS delivered a wheelbarrow full of objections against more quarrying near an ancient monument in North Yorkshire yesterday.
About 550 letters were handed to the county council from protestors fighting plans to extend the Nosterfield Quarry, close to Thornborough Henges, near Ripon, North Yorkshire.
Campaign group Heritage Action says the proposal by Tarmac Northern would destroy a significant archaeological site.
George Chaplin, Heritage Action campaign co-ordinator, said: "This is the most important monument between Stonehenge and the Orkneys and we expect it to be a long campaign.
"This is just an initial show of concern.
"Thornborough Henges has been woefully under-recognised as a site of importance and we aim to move forward with a national campaign to build awareness.
"Our work will be going on all summer. We have meetings set up all over the place to spotlight the issue."
The site is said to contain the greatest concentration of late Neolithic and early Bronze Age henges - or circular monuments - in the country.
It is thought the henges may have been the most important sacred site in Britain 5,000 years ago and English Heritage has backed the protest campaign.
The county council expects to produce a preliminary report for consideration by councillors in September. This is likely to recommend a site visit and it could be December before any decision is taken.
http://www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk/the_north_east/northallerton/news/NEWS2.html
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Roman and Stoneage Artefacts Found Near Pub
Archaeologists have unearthed evidence of a Roman fort and a Stone Age settlement near a pub in Chesterfield.
Experts were called in when developers discovered the artefacts on land underneath the Old Feather's Pub on Lordsmill Street.
Some of the pottery dates back to the 1st Century AD.
Maria Barnes from Chesterfield Museum said the discovery indicates the town's Roman settlement was larger than previously thought.
"Most of the evidence of Roman settlement is the centre of Chesterfield and this gives us proof that the civilian settlement around the fort extends further south than we previously thought," she said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/3891829.stm
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Pledge Over Ancient Site Quarrying
A decision on plans to quarry near an ancient monument known as "Britain's best kept prehistoric secret" will not be rushed, North Yorkshire Council has promised.
The council is considering an application by Tarmac Northern to extract sand and gravel from Ladybridge Farm at Nosterfield, near Ripon, which is within a mile of Thornborough Henges – three 5,500-year-old ancient monuments forming part of a sacred landscape across North Yorkshire.
English Heritage is among the opponents of quarrying until more archaeological investigations are carried out.
The council is waiting for archaeological information from Tarmac, which will form part of the company's environmental statement in support of its plans.
Tarmac has sought to reassure local people, including the Friends of Thornborough Henges, who oppose any further quarrying, that the Ladybridge Farm application for an 111-acre quarrying extension would not damage the area's archaeology.
Simon Smales, North Yorkshire's assistant director (planning and countryside unit), responded to Friends' criticism over the council's handling of the planning application, saying it would be determined in the same way as any other scheme. He said: "Far from putting anyone at a disadvantage, the county council is providing everyone who has an interest in this particular application a period of time far in excess of that required by law to formulate their views and provide their comments.
"The county council must strike a balance between complying with the relevant legislation, the efficient handling of a planning application and obtaining the views of those people who are affected by, or have an interest in, a proposed development."
Mr Smales said the usual 21-day period for responses had been extended by a week to July 30 and the Friends had been told the council would accept representations received up to September 30.
Planning officers are not expected to prepare a report for councillors before late October and a site visit would follow.
See http://snipurl.com/7rz8 for the original article by Julie Hemmings, as published on 14th July 2004 on the YorkshireToday web site.
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Archaeologists 'link Stonehenge to Wales'
Daniel Davies, The Western Mail - Jun 21 2004
Stonehenge was built by a Welsh family, archaeologists now believe.
The discovery of an early Bronze Age grave, made by workmen laying pipes on Salisbury Plain, is further proof that England's ancient landmark is a Welsh export.
Chemical tests on the 4,300-year-old teeth of seven people unearthed on Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, show they came from South West Wales or the Lake District.
But because the stones are bluestone brought from the Preseli mountains in Pembrokeshire, experts say the remains almost certainly belong to people born in Wales, who were among Stonehenge's builders.
It is the first time human remains have been found that link the mysterious ceremonial site with the north Pembrokeshire origins of the 80 standing stones.
Dr Andrew Fitzpatrick, from Wessex Archaeology, who excavated the site, said, "In medieval times, people believed that the stones could only have been brought to Stonehenge by Merlin the Wizard.
"For the first time we have found the mortal remains of one of the families who were almost certainly involved in this monumental task."
Archaeologists have named the Welshmen the Boscombe Bowmen because they were found buried with arrowheads.
The remains were dug up near the site where the Amesbury Archer was found two years ago. Although he lived at the same time, he came from central Europe.
Pottery fragments buried with him match those found with the Welsh family.
The Boscombe Bowmen grave is unusual because it contains the remains of an entire family, including three children, a teenager and three men. The shape of their skulls shows at least three of the party were related.
They were found in May 2003 when QinetiQ, a technology company operating on Boscombe Down airfield, dug a trench to lay water pipes and electrical cable.
QinetiQ archaeologist Colin Kirby, who stumbled across the 2,300BC grave, said, "On the second day of the excavations, I noticed human remains in the side of a water pipe trench.
"On investigating the spoil from the trench, fragments of beaker pottery and an arrowhead emerged.
"This was very exciting as it showed that the burial was probably Bronze Age and may be linked to the Amesbury Archer.
"I immediately informed Wessex Archaeology."
The Archer's burial is the wealthiest in Europe found from this period. Grave goods show he was clearly wealthy and may have been held in high esteem for importing metal working skills from Europe.
Metal may hold the key to why an ancient society chose Preseli bluestones for a monument more than 200 miles away.
Dr Fitzpatrick said beaker pottery of the type found with the Bowmen and the archer has also been found in county Kerry, Ireland.
The Preseli mountains could have been an important landmark for prospectors travelling around western Britain looking for sources of copper at the dawn of the Bronze Age, he said.
"Why people know of either Stonehenge or why people know of Preseli is the thing that people are beginning to tie together with people travelling and looking for metal," Dr Fitzpatrick said.
The stone circles at Stonehenge were built from two types of rock. The massive goal-like structures are sarsen sandstone from Marlborough, 20 miles north of Stonehenge.
But this find brings experts no closer to understanding how the bluestone, which was used to create the inner circle of smaller standing stones, was hauled to Salisbury Plain.
Dr Fitzpatrick said, "It is an astonishing thing to have done and people must have regarded Preseli as a truly magical place because they made the enormous effort to transport stone all the way over 200 miles, so there must have been something in the stone or the spirit of the place."
Scientists can locate where the Bowmen came from bythe enamel on their teeth. Asit forms it retains a fingerprint of the local environment by locking in oxygen and strontium isotopes. Tests by the British Geological Survey showed the men came from an area with high radiation background, like WestWales.
Original article on icwales.co.uk
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Henges battle's new twist
http://www.ripontoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=18&ArticleID=805861
A quarry firm has been warned it has a fight on its hands over plans to extend its operations next to an ancient site of national importance.
Campaigners this week pledged to step up their fight to protect the unique triple henge complex at Thornborough, north of Ripon, after it was revealed that quarry operators had submitted a planning application to extract more sand and gravel nearby.
National campaign group Heritage Action has formed a small sub-group to look at the issues surrounding the neolithic site and to support local action group, the Friends of Thornborough, in their fight against further quarrying.
The Friends have been building up support for the last year, and now Heritage Action are urging more people nationwide to back their cause – and protest against the planning application by quarry company Tarmac Northern Ltd.
Tarmac has just submitted proposals to North Yorkshire County Council for an area of 111 acres at Ladybridge Farm, which lies to the east of the current Nosterfield Quarry at Thornborough.
The company says the expansion is necessary to provide much-needed sand and gravel supplies to North Yorkshire's construction industry.
But the Friends this week accused the quarry company of sacrificing heritage for profits and said Tarmac was going ahead with the planning application despite being made fully aware of its national significance.
Jon Lowry, chairman of the Friends, said: "I can assure Tarmac that it is in for a long fight and call upon all citizens of this country to join our demand, by writing to their MPs, that the government takes immediate action to protect this outstanding example of our national heritage by declaring it an Area of Archaeological Importance."
Heritage Action is also urging people to protest against Tarmac's proposals to extend its operation around the henge site, which archaeologists have dubbed the 'Stonehenge of the north'.
It is asking members of the public to write to Prime Minister Tony Blair, his deputy John Prescott and Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, as well as the county council.
The group's chairman, George Chaplin, who is also a member of the Friends, said this week there was pressure for the application to be called in by Mr Prescott, which would involve a public inquiry.
He added: "The site is Yorkshire's oldest and most important monument complex, and it's one that's already had a massive amount of damage done to it.
"We are going to make sure that the Thornborough issue reaches national headlines. It is important that the government is aware that this is a national issue."
Tarmac this week sought to give assurances that the proposals would not impact on the archaeology of the area because they do not include the area of Thornborough Moor, which contains the 5,500 year old henges.
And it said any future plans for the Thornborough Moor area would take full account of the archaeological and environmental value of the site.
Bob Nicholson, Tarmac's estates manager, said that, without an extension of the excavation area, Nosterfield Quarry would have to close in three years' time.
He added: "Tarmac will not pursue any further proposals until the findings of the English Heritage sponsored Conservation Plan are known.
"The application to extend the area of excavation to Ladybridge Farm includes detailed plans for initial soil stripping works to be monitored by a professional archaeologist to ensure any artefacts which may be discovered are investigated and recorded. There are also plans to fully restore the site to enhance biodiversity and nature conservation.
"As responsible quarry operators, this care and respect for the environment and its archaeological heritage, is standard practice for Tarmac."
For more information about Heritage Action's campaign see www.heritageaction.org. The Friends' website is at www.friendsofthornborough.org.
11/06/04
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Minerals firm accused by campaign group
http://www.thisisdarlington.co.uk/the_north_east/news/NEWS35.html
by staff of The Darlington & Stockton Times
A LEADING minerals company is prepared to sacrifice archaeological heritage near Bedale for profits, it was claimed this week.
A local campaign group has reacted angrily to the announcement that, as expected, Tarmac Northern has applied for planning permission to extract sand and gravel from an area next to Nosterfield quarry in a bid to secure the future of the operation.
The 111-acre site east of the quarry at Ladybridge Farm does not include the area of Thornborough Moor, which contains three earthwork henges classified as scheduled ancient monuments, but the campaign group warned that it would vigorously resist the application.
Tarmac Northern estates manager Bob Nicholson said Nosterfield quarry would close in three years' time unless the company was able to extend the extraction area. This would have a knock-on effect on local jobs and building projects.
Tarmac Northern has already said that it will defer any decision on whether to try to extend excavations on to Thornborough Moor until the results of a conservation plan commissioned by English Heritage are known.
The Friends of Thornborough, a voluntary group dedicated to protecting the surviving setting of the henges, is concerned about the potential effects of quarrying in that area but is also worried that excavations at Ladybridge Farm will destroy more archaeological evidence.
Tarmac Northern said, however, that it was seeking to reassure local stakeholders and interest groups that the Ladybridge Farm application would not have an impact on the archaeology of the site.
It added that any future plans for Thornborough Moor would take full account of the archaeological and environmental value of the site and would not affect the henges.
Mr Nicholson said: "The application to extend the area of excavation to Ladybridge Farm includes detailed plans for initial soil stripping works to be monitored by a professional archaeologist to ensure any artefacts which may be discovered are investigated and recorded.
"There are also plans to restore the site fully to enhance biodiversity and nature conservation. As responsible quarry operators, this care and respect for the environment and its archaeological heritage is standard practice for Tarmac Northern.''
He said Tarmac was doing important work in identifying and extracting new sand and gravel sources to meet the needs of local construction industry in accordance with the Government's supply guidelines.
If Nosterfield quarry were to close, North Yorkshire would face a supply shortfall of 500,000 tonnes a year.
Tarmac began consulting the local community and statutory authorities in November 2002.
Submission of the Ladybridge Farm application clashes with the stance taken by English Heritage, which said in April that it was opposed to any further extraction in that area until the archaeological value of the landscape surrounding the henges was better understood.
English Heritage is funding Dr Jan Harding, of Newcastle University, to conduct extensive fieldwork on the Thornborough landscape. It was Dr Harding who first highlighted the historic importance of the henges.
A spokesman for the Friends of Thornborough said the Ladybridge Farm application was a sad day for the henges complex, described by English Heritage as the most important prehistoric site between Stonehenge and the Orkneys.
Friends' chairman Jon Lowry said: "It is appalling that a company which attempts to project itself as a supporter of archaeology is prepared to sacrifice yet more of this national treasure for the sake of its own profits.
"I can assure Tarmac it is in for a long fight and call upon all citizens to join our demand by writing to their MPs that the Government takes immediate action to protect this outstanding example of our national heritage by declaring it an area of archaeological importance.''
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Ancient Mining and Metallergy Summer School
IAMS SUMMER SCHOOL 2004
Dear all,
It is my pleasure to announce once again the upcoming IAMS Summer
School. Our annual two-week event will treat
"Ancient Mining Technology" and "Ancient Smelting and
Metallurgy",
and will take place from
Monday June 21 until Friday July 2 2004
at the
Institute of Archaeology
University College London
31-34 Gordon Square
London WC1H 0PY
United Kingdom
(For a map, see www.streetmap.co.uk, using the London post code WC1H
0PY).
We would like to invite you to the annual Summer School on Extractive
Mining and Metallurgy at the Institute of Archaeology in London.
Running from Monday 21 June to Friday 2 July 2004, it offers one week
on mining technology, taught by Professors Tim Shaw and Beno
Rothenberg, and one week on extractive metallurgy, taught by Beno
Rothenberg, Vince Pigott, H-G Bachmann, John Merkel and Thilo Rehren
(in chronological order of appearance...).
The Summer School is organised and sponsored by the Institute for
Archaeo-Metallurgical Studies (IAMS), aiming at students and
professionals with an interest in ancient technology and
archaeometallurgy. The admission fee covers
handouts and biscuits and a small contribution towards the costs; it is
kept low to encourage and enable student participation. Admission for
one week is GBP 75, for both weeks GBP 120 (single day attendance GBP
30).
Unfortunately, we can not provide support for accommodation or travel
costs.
Details of the programme can be found at IAMS' webpage
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/iams, and you can contact Xander Veldhuijzen at
the Institute of Archaeology / IAMS at [email protected] for
bookings and requests.
The courses are intended for anybody interested in early mining and
metallurgy, and require no existing specialist knowledge. However,
opportunity will be given to explore specific aspects in more detail,
within the given schedule. Both weeks can be taken independently from
each other.
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Ancient Cave in Central Iran Dated to 15 Millennia B.C.
TEHRAN (CHN) -- Iranian scientists have dated a Paleolithic cave in the central Isfahan province at about 15,000 years B.C. biologists in the university of Isfahan arrived at the conclusion after studying some 100 animal bones.
The cave was discovered six months ago during archeological and geological studies west of the city of Isfahan near the Zayandeh River. Stone tools and bones were found in the cave.
An official with the local cultural heritage department Mohsen Khavari said studies suggest the bones belonged to such animals as turtles, gazelle, wild goat and birds from 15 millennia B.C.
Further investigations are scheduled to be carried out in the cave, the first Paleolithic cave in the Isfahan province, in the current year.
Archeologists believe further research could shed light on many questions surrounding the Paleolithic age in the area.
No excavations have so far been carried out in the cave, located 30 km west of Isfahan. Archeological explorations are planned for fall.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=5/2/2004&Cat=10&Num=1
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Artefacts Dating Back 4,000 Years Found in Londonderry
Artefacts dating back around 4,000 years have been uncovered by archaeologists in Londonderry.
The team, led by John O'Neill from Queen's University, was working on a Bronze Age lake settlement at Ballyarnet, when they found large quantities of decorated pottery, flint arrowheads and scrapers, hammerstones, fishing weights and grinding stones.
According to Mr O'Neill, the investigation, which was carried out earlier this month, revealed that the substantial lake settlement may have only been occupied during a relatively short period of time.
"The settlement, which dates from 1700-1500 BC, was over 20 metres in diameter and is located close to the edge of the lake, within fenlands," Mr O'Neill said. "It is situated on top of 4.5 metres of peat and was buried by later peat formation, providing a sealed time capsule, unlike many excavations where artefacts from different periods can become intermixed by later activity."
He also revealed that initial construction saw the deposition of layers wood and upright posts, and subsequent occupation saw the use of various hearths and stone surfaces.
"Many of the finds suggest that it is a high status site," he added.
The excavation was funded by Environment and Heritage Service (Department of the Environment, NI) and took place with permission of the land owners, Derry City Council.
The excavation crew was drawn from volunteers from the United States, students from Exeter University under Dr. Bruce Bradley and staff from QUB.
http://www.4ni.co.uk/industrynews.asp?id=28553
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Inaugural Postgraduate Forum
Some interesting topics covered here.
From: Hannah Lynch [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 27 April 2004 13:35
Dear All,
Please find below the timetable for the Inaugural Postgraduate Forum
Conference at the School of Historical Studies, University of Newcastle
upon Tyne, on May 14th. This conference is free and open to all; all we
ask is that you email us with your intention to attend
([email protected]). More details at:
http://www.historical-studies.ncl.ac.uk/postgrad_forum/
Many thanks,
Hannah Lynch.
Inaugural Postgraduate Forum Conference
14th May 2004
ICCHS Lecture Theatre, Line Building
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
9.30 - 9.45am
Introduction and Welcome from Jeremy Boulton, Head of the School of
Historical Studies, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
9.45 - 10.15am
'Fieldwalking in Wensleydale and Problems with The Study of Neolithic
Exchange' (Hannah Lynch, School of Historical Studies, University of
Newcastle upon Tyne)
10.15 - 10.45am
'Looking to the Future: Cicero on Divination Through Dreams' (Maithe
Hulskamp, School of Historical Studies, University of Newcastle upon Tyne)
10.45 - 11.15am
'The Appeal of the British National Party (BNP): 1993 -2003.' (Andrew Ali,
School of Historical Studies, University of Newcastle upon Tyne)
11.15 - 11.30am Coffee
11.30 - 12.00
'Space, Light and Experience in Byzantine Churches' (Claire Nesbitt,
School of Historical Studies, University of Newcastle upon Tyne)
12.00 - 12.30pm
'The Reconstruction of Archaeological Artefacts: an Experiential Approach
to Archaeological Investigation' (Andy Bates, Freelance Experimental
Archaeologist)
12.30 - 1.00pm
'Rus in Urbe: The Domus Aurea and Neronian Horti in the City of Rome'
(Simon Wood, School of Historical Studies, University of Newcastle upon
Tyne'
1.00- 1.45pm Lunch
1.45 - 2.00pm
Introduction to Session
2.00 - 2.30pm
'The Macella of Rome' (Sue Walker, School of Historical Studies,
University of Newcastle upon Tyne)
2.30 - 3.00pm
'The Poverty of Tory Historiography. Margaret Thatcher and the
Conservative Party in the 1970s' (Campbell Storey, School of Historical
Studies, University of Newcastle upon Tyne)
3.00 - 3.15pm Coffee
3.15 - 3.45pm
'The Star Disc of Nebra: The Problem of Circular Arguments in
Archæoastronomy' (Alun Salt, School of Archaeology and Ancient History,
University of Leicester)
3.45 - 4.15pm
'From Head to Soul: the Problem of the Division of the Human Psyche in
Aristotle's Ethics' (Sarah Francis, School of Historical Studies,
University of Newcastle upon Tyne)
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The Bronze Age - Austrian Settlements as Centres of Trade
Austrian settlements in the Region of the Danube were prosperous and cosmopolitan in the Bronze Age. That's what new studies undertaken by researchers in the Prehistoric Commission of the Austrian Academy of Sciences show in a project supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF. It is centred around analysing the findings from excavations on the Oberleiserberg Mountain in Lower Austria where scientists discovered traces of a major trade and relics of a once-flourishing culture of crafts.
The Oberleiserberg mountain excavation site is one of the most prominent locations in Lower Austria. This is where one of the largest settled areas of the Bronze Age (2300 - 800 B.C.) in Central Europe was discovered measuring seven hectares. The excavations have been underway since 1976 and they supply a wide range of findings from the Bronze Age, the Late Latène Period, later ancient times and the time of the great migrations after the fall of the Roman Empire. While the material stemming from ancient times and time of the great migrations has been analysed very thoroughly, the project supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF was only recently able to precisely tap the findings from the Bronze Age.
Trade in Time and Space
The analysis of findings clearly show that the first large-scale settlement of the Oberleiserberg mountain region was in the early Bronze Age (2300 to 1600 B.C.) when the Moravian/Austrian group of the Aunjetitz culture held sway here in the northern region of the Danube. The major characteristic of the Aunjetitz culture was large regular fields of graves and diverse burial gifts made of bronze. There was a great exchange of goods in this group, especially raw materials. For instance, in the early Bronze Age, the settlers at the Oberleiserberg Mountain used flint from Moravia to make a wide variety of implements such as blades and arrowheads.
Dr. Michaela Lochner from the Austrian Academy of Sciences points out that "we analysed the mineralogical characteristics of the flint and its type and arrived at the surprising result that the types of stones to be found at Oberleiserberg mountain were often made and used in the early Bronze Age, although these implements were previously assigned to the Stone Age. In addition, most of the flint originates from the Moravian region that is much further away, which is a strong indication of the settlements in the Danube region exchanging goods with one another". This era of intensive trade came to an abrupt end at the Oberleiserberg Mountain when the settlement was abandoned due to a disastrous fire.
An Excellent Position
There were only more recent settlements at the end of the older phase of the middle Danube region urn field culture (about 1000 B.C.) named after the preferred manner of burying the dead by cremating them and burying them in urns. The analysis of findings from this time show that the settlement flourished due to its safe location on the mountain and excellent access to trade routes. Dr. Lochner tells us that "we found a number of everyday implements for manufacturing textiles such as weaving weights and wharves in the excavations, so that we concluded that there was a lot of crafts and trading being done that produced a significant amount of prosperity.
This is something we can also see from bronze garment needles with carefully designs needle heads in shape of vase heads or spindles that were used as clothing decorations". These objects were cast in forms made of stone or clay that we still have today along with stove or oven plates. The ceramic of the Oberleiserberg mountain also prove how highly developed crafts were then. What is especially remarkable are the very thin-walled bowls that are decorated with a wealth of new types of line, rhombic and circular designs.
When we analyse these findings, it provides us with new insight into the conditions under which Bronze Age settlements lived in the region of the Danube. The Oberleiserberg Mountain was a stronghold of culture in the Bronze Age and it fostered the exchange of creative and innovative ideas, just like the Austrian Science Fund FWF.
http://www.fwf.ac.at/en/press/bronze_age.html
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Art Archaeology Landscape Study Day
Study Day
ART, ARCHAEOLOGY & LANDSCAPE
Sat 24th April 10.00-5.00pm
FCE 32 Tavistock Square, London
Art Archaeology Landscape Fay Stevens
Development in rock art studies throughout Britain Stan Beckensall
Ad majoram Dei gloriam: ecclesiastical architecture and the Medieval
landscape Stuart Brookes
Art and the re-presentation of the past Sue Hamilton
Excavate overlay: a project linking art, archaeology and landscape
Sara Bowler
Fee: #30 (#15 concessions) To enrol call: 020 7631 6627
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Student Considers Mound a Key Archaic Site
UW student considers mound a key archaic site
By SUSANNE QUICK
In the middle of a swampy island inhabited by some of the most dangerous cocaine runners in the Americas, there lies an ancient Garden of Eden.
Ancient Mound Discovered
Discovered and uncovered by John Hodgson, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, this archaeological site may prove to be a crucial piece of the puzzle known as the late archaic period of Mesoamerica - a time period about 5,000 years ago in a region that includes Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
And it may shed light on the factors that prompted a transition from a purely hunting and gathering society to one more complex.
"This could reshape a whole set of questions that I've been asking for the last 30 years," said John Clark, a professor of anthropology at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and a collaborator of Hodgson's.
In addition, the site, which is on an island along the Pacific Coast of Chiapas, Mexico, may indicate that civilization, at least in this region, was not borne on the back-breaking bones of environmental hardship, overpopulation and hunger, but within a resource-enriched paradise of bountiful food, fish, plants and raw materials.
"That goes against the traditional framework" of how civilizations rose, Clark said.
Other researchers, however, think the leap from this find - a large shell mound - to the dawn of Mesoamerican civilization may be a bit premature.
The discovery of Alvarez del Toro - the name Hodgson gave the site, in honor of a famous Mexican zoologist - was announced by UW officials.
And because nobody other than Hodgson has seen the site (although he did take photographs of it that Clark and a few others have seen) - nor has it been evaluated in a peer-reviewed journal - many researchers are remaining circumspect about the find.
Alvarez del Toro can best be described as a very large shell mound.
And although other shell mounds have been found in the region - which are thought to be either huge garbage dumps, called middens, or evidence of successive "clam-bakes" - Hodgson and Clark said this late archaic shell mound is unique.
More than 240 feet long, 90 feet wide and 21 feet tall, this 5,000-year-old structure appears to have layers of flooring that were laid down every 20 to 30 years over a 500-year period.
"Regardless of whether or not this turns out to be a sedentary site occupied year-round, it is still potentially important for a variety of reasons," said Jason Yaeger, a professor of anthropology at UW who was not involved in the project but has seen Hodgson's photographs.
Yaeger said the early date of the mound, which Hodgson has verified at two different laboratories using half a dozen samples, combined with its long occupancy and the "significant and unprecedented" amount of labor involved in its construction all contradict current ideas of how people were living in this region around 3,000 B.C.
The common understanding is that people were hunter-gatherers - an anthropological description of a society that is generally on the move, hunting and collecting food. This find, Yaeger said, indicates that these people had "long-term ties to this particular place on the landscape."
"We know that structures like this are the basis for later Aztec and Mayan" ritual buildings - such as the Maya pyramids of Tikal in Guatemala, Yaeger said.
However, he cautioned that Hodgson's find is more than 1,000 years older than these later structures and not necessarily indicative of a sudden rise to civilized society.
"There are other contemporaneous or earlier examples of formalized ritual spaces in Mesoamerica," he said, citing Gheo Shin, a large, flat open space surrounded by boulders, discovered in Oaxaca, Mexico.
"There is no sign of habitation or debris in it," he said - just like Alvarez del Toro - and it is believed to have been an open-air dance site where groups of hunter-gatherers would gather to perform ritual dances, exchange marriage partners and trade goods.
"It's possible that Alvarez del Toro is also a long-term meeting place for mobile hunter-gatherer groups, although clearly more formalized than Gheo Shin," he said.
But, "that would be the least-exciting possible interpretation," said Yaeger.
Instead, the most exciting possibility, he said, is that it ends up being a permanent village.
More data needed
But all of these scenarios will have to wait until more data can be collected.
Barbara Voorhies, a professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of California-Santa Barbara and an expert in the late archaic period of the Pacific region, agrees.
"I have been working on the Chiapas shell mounds since the 1960s and have investigated them in considerable detail," she said.
In the shell mounds she has excavated, she has interpreted the layers as being sequential clam bakes. These may be different from the layers Hodgson has found, but it's too early to tell.
"It is impossible to say" from a UW news release whether this "new shell mound is like the ones I have studied in detail, or not," she said.
If post holes can be found - areas where structural supports were put in the ground to construct a wooden building - "the new mound would prove to be different from the known ones," she said.
But it seems premature to say anything too definitive about the site at this time, she said, especially in light of the information available for the "clam-bake" sites.
At the same time, however, "it would be wrong to think that site structure at the new site must be the same as the nearby shell mounds since site structure and contents do vary," she said.
Hodgson is planning to return this fall to see if he can unearth more of the structure, search for post holes and possibly find other structures nearby.
Brigham Young's Clark believes Hodgson will find these things.
"It makes sense to look for the origins of Mesoamerican civilization in marshes," such as the one Hodgson's mound is in, said Clark. "I consider investigating the potential of this site to be the number one priority" for archaeologists in the region.
http://www.jsonline.com/alive/news/apr04/223112.asp
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Dig at Housing Site Sheds Light on Prehistoric Settlers
Stephen Stewart - April 19 2004
Archaeologists will have a greater understanding of the lives of the people who built great ritual monuments such as Stonehenge following excavations at one of Scotland's largest rural settlements.
A dig at a new housing development in Dreghorn, Ayrshire, has revealed major medieval remains and Neolithic features including the site of a ceremonial pole, houses and a pottery kiln.
The site suggests a 5000-year-old village similar in scale to the group of stone houses at Skara Brae, Orkney, and is helping historians "rewrite pre-history".
Large amounts of grooved ware pottery, a decorated ceramic that seems to have evolved in Scotland and is found across the UK at ceremonial monuments including henge earthworks and timber structures, were also found.
Tom Addyman is excavation director of Addyman Associates, who carried out the ongoing dig at the George Wimpey housing development.
He said: "This was part of a five-acre development where it was suspected from documents, including an aerial photograph taken in the 1940s, that there was evidence of prehistoric remains.
"Once we had gone in and tested the ground by cutting strips across the land, we found there were very substantial remains of the low sides of the medieval village and strong evidence of agricultural activity with two or three corn-drying kilns.
"Very often these kilns caught alight and the grain turned to charcoal that could be dated to the thirteenth century. There had been a hint of prehistory but we excavated a two-acre trench and at the top of the slope there was a great deal more prehistoric activity behind the village street.
"We found 750-odd pieces of grooved ware, which is one of the largest collections in the south-west of Scotland. (The area) is now known as a type site for the Neolithic period, which means that all other sites will be compared to this one."
Experts believed the site, between the River Irvine and Annick Water, was chosen in the twelfth century for a settlement, then abandoned after 200 years, possibly because of rising water levels. But older finds indicate the area was settled considerably earlier.
Mr Addyman said: "We are now able to build up a picture of how these people lived and understand how things were organised on the ground.
"There is certainly a lot for us to consider." Mike Pitts, editor of British Archaeology magazine, said: "Finding evidence at this date for settlement, in the form of building foundations and for pottery making, is extremely rare, and promises to help us understand the lives of the people who built the great ritual monuments like henges and early stone circles."
Archaeologists will have a greater understanding of the lives of the people who built great ritual monuments such as Stonehenge following excavations at one of Scotland's largest rural settlements.
A dig at a new housing development in Dreghorn, Ayrshire, has revealed major medieval remains and Neolithic features including the site of a ceremonial pole, houses and a pottery kiln.
The site suggests a 5000-year-old village similar in scale to the group of stone houses at Skara Brae, Orkney, and is helping historians "rewrite pre-history".
Large amounts of grooved ware pottery, a decorated ceramic that seems to have evolved in Scotland and is found across the UK at ceremonial monuments including henge earthworks and timber structures, were also found.
Tom Addyman is excavation director of Addyman Associates, who carried out the ongoing dig at the George Wimpey housing development.
He said: "This was part of a five-acre development where it was suspected from documents, including an aerial photograph taken in the 1940s, that there was evidence of prehistoric remains.
"Once we had gone in and tested the ground by cutting strips across the land, we found there were very substantial remains of the low sides of the medieval village and strong evidence of agricultural activity with two or three corn-drying kilns.
"Very often these kilns caught alight and the grain turned to charcoal that could be dated to the thirteenth century. There had been a hint of prehistory but we excavated a two-acre trench and at the top of the slope there was a great deal more prehistoric activity behind the village street.
"We found 750-odd pieces of grooved ware, which is one of the largest collections in the south-west of Scotland. (The area) is now known as a type site for the Neolithic period, which means that all other sites will be compared to this one."
Experts believed the site, between the River Irvine and Annick Water, was chosen in the twelfth century for a settlement, then abandoned after 200 years, possibly because of rising water levels. But older finds indicate the area was settled considerably earlier.
Mr Addyman said: "We are now able to build up a picture of how these people lived and understand how things were organised on the ground.
" There is certainly a lot for us to consider." Mike Pitts, editor of British Archaeology magazine, said: "Finding evidence at this date for settlement, in the form of building foundations and for pottery making, is extremely rare, and promises to help us understand the lives of the people who built the great ritual monuments like henges and early stone circles."
Archaeologists will have a greater understanding of the lives of the people who built great ritual monuments such as Stonehenge following excavations at one of Scotland's largest rural settlements.
A dig at a new housing development in Dreghorn, Ayrshire, has revealed major medieval remains and Neolithic features including the site of a ceremonial pole, houses and a pottery kiln.
The site suggests a 5000-year-old village similar in scale to the group of stone houses at Skara Brae, Orkney, and is helping historians "rewrite pre-history".
Large amounts of grooved ware pottery, a decorated ceramic that seems to have evolved in Scotland and is found across the UK at ceremonial monuments including henge earthworks and timber structures, were also found.
Tom Addyman is excavation director of Addyman Associates, who carried out the ongoing dig at the George Wimpey housing development.
He said: "This was part of a five-acre development where it was suspected from documents, including an aerial photograph taken in the 1940s, that there was evidence of prehistoric remains.
"Once we had gone in and tested the ground by cutting strips across the land, we found there were very substantial remains of the low sides of the medieval village and strong evidence of agricultural activity with two or three corn-drying kilns.
"Very often these kilns caught alight and the grain turned to charcoal that could be dated to the thirteenth century. There had been a hint of prehistory but we excavated a two-acre trench and at the top of the slope there was a great deal more.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/14279.html
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Astronomy study reveals ancient places of healing
Astronomy study reveals ancient places of healing
Mysterious T-shaped monuments scattered around the Mediterranean island of Menorca were most probably places of healing, says an archaeoastronomer who has studied the orientation of the Bronze Age monuments.
Each "taula" - named after the Catalan word for table - is formed by two massive stone blocks arranged in the shape of an upright "T". The taulas face an opening in a surrounding ring of stones, and all but one of the 30 structures on Menorca face roughly south.
The taulas are usually made from limestone and range between two and five metres (Image: Michael Hoskin)
"It has long been known that these taulas were sanctuaries," says University of Cambridge archaeoastronomer Michael Hoskin, citing the large number of bones from sacrificial animals that litter the sites.
But the sites were also home to a few intriguing bronze statues, including a bull, an Egyptian figurine with an inscription in hieroglyphics reading, "I am Imhotep the god of medicine" and horse hooves. The latter is particularly curious as there is no known horse god in ancient Mediterranean cultures.
Hoskin was invited to study the sites' orientation to understand the significance of both the bronze statues and why no taulas are found on the nearby island of Mallorca. The taulas' southern orientation - facing the sea or looking down from a hillside - gave him an important clue.
"What was near the southern horizon that was of interest?" Hoskin wondered. Today the answer is not much. But over time, gravitational tugs from the Sun, Moon, and planets make the Earth wobble on its axis like a spinning top.
For this reason, the night sky would have looked slightly different in 1000 BC, when the taulas were constructed. At that time, the entrance to the taulas framed the seasonal rise of a constellation known as Centaurus by the ancient Greeks. Today, it is split into the constellation of the Southern Cross, followed by the bright stars Beta and Alpha Centauri.
In Greek mythology, the Centaur - who had a man's head and a horse's body - taught medicine to Asclepius, the god of medicine.
Myths circulated around the Mediterranean and Near East even before the taulas were made and the different cultures engaged in a lot of trade, "so it is entirely possible - but not proven, of course - that the Menorcans had a similar view of Centaurus [as the ancient Greeks]," Hoskin told New Scientist.
The association with healing could explain the bronze hooves - which could be the remains of a statue of the Centaur, the Egyptian medicine god figurine - possibly left by an Egyptian sailor - and even the absence of taulas on neighboring Mallorca.
"Menorca is flat and you can see the Southern Cross, etc., from almost any location," Hoskin explains. Settlements on mountainous Mallorca, on the other hand, were located in valleys "from which the Cross was invisible because it was screened by the surrounding hills".
Steve McCluskey, a historian of astronomy at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, US, says Hoskin's astronomical and archaeological evidence "combine to provide strong indications of a healing cult at this site".
McCluskey also said Hoskin has "fundamentally transformed" archaeoastronomy by showing that the builders of these monuments were little concerned with the "highly precise orientations that had formerly been the touchstone of archaeoastronomical investigations". Pointing their constructions in roughly the right direction appears to have sufficed.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994849
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Archeao Astronomy Article
The sun and stars may have served as critical references for a startlingly diverse range of ancient builders who constructed chambers to hold the dead and other religious shrines.
The orientation of thousands of Neolithic tombs erected across Europe and Africa around 10,000 B.C. were apparently built to face the rising sun, securing the sun's importance in various human cultures across three countries, two continents and the Mediterranean islands, according to one astronomy historian
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/ancient_tombs_040405.html
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Man Explores Mystery of Stonehenge - Stone Moving
Flint-area resident taps 'forgotten technology' to move massive objects
FLINT — Some may find it odd that a 57-year-old man goes out into his yard to play with blocks.
But then, the blocks that Wallace T. Wallington moves around near his home in a rural Flint area weigh up to nearly 10 tons. And by himself, he moves these behemoth playthings, not with cranes and cables, but with wooden levers.
"It's more technique than it is technology," Wallington says. "I think the ancient Egyptians and Britons knew this."
Last October, a production crew from Discovery Channel in Canada came to Wallington's home to film him as he raised a 16-foot, rectangular concrete block that weighed 19,200 pounds and set it into a hole. That taping was made into a segment, which has aired on Discovery Canada and the Discovery Science program in the United States.
The project resulted in a column, standing more than 10 feet high in his yard. He says he intends to construct his own kind of Stonehenge — without cranes or any modern engines or machines. He believes that's the way ancient people moved and constructed the great landmarks of the world.
For the full story, vist...
http://www.detnews.com/2004/metro/0404/01/d06e-109393.htm
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Leicester Archaeologists find 5000-year-old Human Remains
By Corinne Field 01/04/2004
Bones of a man and woman dating back to 3000BC have been found in a gravel pit in Leicestershire. The extraordinary find, including a skull, vertebrae and long bones, are the earliest human remains ever found in the county.
Not only that but a series of timber uprights for a footbridge dating back to AD500, remnants of the only early Anglo-Saxon bridge known in Britain, were uncovered at the same spot.
Both discoveries were made at a gravel quarry near Watermead Country Park, Birstall eight years ago by archaeologists from the University of Leicester but investigations and analysis of the finds have only just been completed.
Dr Patrick Clay, Director of University of Leicester Archaeological Services said, "This is a remarkable discovery literally from the jaws of the gravel excavators."
For the full story, visit...
http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/nwh/ART20695.html
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Stone Age child's bones found in Aukra - Norway
Norwegian archaeologists were ecstatic this week after making a rare discovery at Aukra in Romsdal, north-central Norway. They've confirmed finding bone fragments from a child who must have lived in the area around 6,000 years ago.
Archaeologists have confirmed that this fragment was part of a Stone Age child's chin.
The discovery was made in connection with excavations underway for the new land-base for the Ormen Lange gas field in the North Sea. Industrial concern Norsk Hydro is developing the gas field but its excavations are being conducted in cooperation with archaeologists.
Researchers know that the area around Aukra featured ancient settlements, and several thousand items already have been found and recorded.
"We knew, of course, that there were children in the Stone Age as well, but we're probably guilty of focusing on the male hunters from the period," Hein Bjerck, from the Science Museum in Trondheim (Vitenskapsmuseet i Trondheim), told newspaper Aftenposten
"But when we actually find a child, it's almost heartbreaking," Bjerck said. It's the first time a child's remains from so long ago have been found in Norway.
He said that initial examination suggests the child was between two and four years old at time of death. The child's bone fragments were found in a compact mass of sand. Archaeologists also noted contures in the sand that probably were made by a human body, as long ago as 5,000 BC.
Bjerck and members of his team were ecstatic over the discovery because "there's a lot of facts we can get out of such remains, for example cause of death, physiology and the child's diet. We're on the threshold of something very exciting."
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article764163.ece
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