Kozmik_Ken

Heritage Action fundraising CD: ‘Earthworks‘

A twelve track CD, released to raise funds for Heritage Action. Heritage Action was formed in 2003 by ‘ordinary people caring for extraordinary places’, in response to the neglect of the ancient prehistoric sites of Britain and Ireland.

Covering an eclectic mix of musical styles, the CD features both established and unsigned artists who care about our ancient heritage. From gentle acoustic to banging techno, ska to spacey jam, ambient to indie guitar and folk/dub to funk.

01. Tex la Homa – The Circle (Dub Mix) 03.34
02. Tarantism – Bless My Friends 04.41
03. Silverspace – Salsify 08.29
04. Rebelation – Politrics 03.44
05. Zone Fluffy – Chumblefunk 09.00
06. A Show of Hands – Crooked Man (Live Version) 03.55
07. Twin Hazey – Awaiting The Arrival 03.18
08. Subgiant – Solstice Morning 05.11
09. Zion Train – Zion High (Banco de Gaia remix) 06.30
10. Celtica – UFS 23 07.12
11. X03 – Procession to the Omphalos (World Tree Mix) 05.55
12. Judge Tev – Yer all Gonna Die 03.14

Total: 65.12

The CD can be ordered from the Heritage Action online shop at heritageaction.org for £8.99 + P&P.

We would like to say a heartfelt thanks to all the artists who contributed to this CD for free. All profits from the sale of this CD will go towards helping to run Heritage Action (a not-for-profit voluntary group), and fighting to stem the tide of destruction facing our ancient heritage.

Heritage Action is a rallying point for anyone who feels that society is deaf to the threats to heritage places, especially the most threatened of all, our most ancient sites.

We want to help individual voices to be heard loud and clear by the public, the media and the authorities.

We believe that this generation holds its heritage in trust for future generations and we should never break this trust. From this comes our single purpose — to build a powerful voice for action on all threatened heritage places.

We aim to promote an appreciation of the value of these places, highlight threats to them, and encourage the public to become involved in responsible but vigorous action to preserve them.

Each individual threat needs publicity and, if necessary, pressure on site owners, commercial interests, local authorities, and heritage bodies.

For more info about Heritage Action and our campaigns, please visit our website at heritageaction.org

Source: Heritage Action

Mindless vandals have scrawled graffiti over one of Yorkshire’s best loved beauty spots.

Shocked walkers on Ilkley Moor have discovered that ancient rocks have been defaced by louts.

The hooligans have used white gloss paint to leave their mark between the Cow and Calf and the White Wells.

And they have defaced an earlier carving of a deer on one specimen.

Local councillors and walkers have expressed their disgust at the senseless vandalism.

Coun Brian Mann said he had not personally seen the graffiti but would be raising the issue with his colleagues on the council, and he urged everyone to be vigilant.

He said: “It is nasty and cowardly. What do they hope to achieve?”

He said graffiti on the moor would have a massive impact, and he stressed: “It is something we are going to stamp down on.”

Coun Mann said thankfully vandalism did not appear to be a persistent problem.

He added: “I think more people should report these kinds of things if they see them happening – and certainly they should bring it to our attention.”

Coun Anne Hawkesworth said the graffiti had not been brought to her attention but she was planning to look into it.

She said people tended to respect the area, and but added: “Obviously it would be quite disturbing if the vandalism got too much.

“It is quite incredible that someone had trailed white paint up there.”

Richard Perhim, a spokesman for Bradford Council’s countryside department said the reports of graffiti would be investigated.

He said: “It comes round every now and again but it is usually not too bad up there.”

He said masonry paint would be used to cover the graffiti.

“We have tried using removal stuff in the past – but it doesn’t work particularly well,” he said.

“The rock is quite coarse so it is easier to paint over it.”

Source: Ilkley Gazette – Thursday 01 July 2004

thisisbradford.co.uk/bradford__district/archive/2004/07/01/otle_spor22.int.html

A day-school at the Student Union Auditorium, University of Sheffield (England), jointly hosted by YAS & Prehistoric Society, exploring the significance of recent prehistoric metalwork finds wil be held on Saturday, 20th November 2004.

Speakers include Roger Bland (Impact of new legislation); Ian Stead (Snettisham hoard); Naomi Field (A votive deposits at Fiskerton); Vicki Priest (The helmet & the hoards: E Lincs); Megan Dennis (Sedgeford Hoard), along with Kevin Leahy, Paul Wheelhouse and Donald Coverdale.

For more details, contact Jenny Moore at 19 Storrs Hall Road, Walkley Bank, Sheffield, S6 5AW, or email at [email protected]

Source: Archeo News/BritArch mailing list (18 June 2004)

Vital clues into how ancient Britons lived thousands of years ago have been unearthed on a bypass site. Among the items uncovered along the A142 between Newmarket and Fordham (Cambridgeshire, England) include skeletons from the Bronze Age and Iron Age, along with a body from Roman times. Flints and pottery, buried since the Neolithic period around 4,500 years ago, have also been discovered, and will now be cleaned and carefully examined to help experts learn more about the history of East Anglia’s ancestors.

“It is very exciting. We have found an awful lot of archaeology in general at the Fordham bypass site,” said Richard Mortimer, project officer at Cambridgeshire County Council’s archaeology field unit. “We found skeletons from the Bronze Age and Iron Age, along with a Roman skeleton and some lovely other pieces, such as flints and pottery. We have also found large, pit-like shafts and a couple of Roman roads – all manner of things which are very rich and very prehistoric. Finding skeletons is not that unusual, but to find the amount of pieces we did, from difference periods but all in the same place, is very rare.”

One of the skeletons dates back around 6,000 years, and coincides with the birth of farming. “This is the first evidence of people settling down and becoming more sedentary, after we had stopped being hunter-gatherers,” added Mr Mortimer. The pieces will be sent away to specialists and cleaned, which will take up to a year.

The team were asked to move onto the site before work begins on the Fordham bypass scheme in July. They then spent around 12 weeks painstakingly clearing the area, using pick axes and shovels, before uncovering all the archaeological gems the site has to offer.

Source: Archeo News/East Anglian Daily Times (11 June 2004)
eadt.co.uk/homeStory.asp?Brand=EADONLINE&Category=NEWS&ItemId=IPED10+Jun+2004+20%3A15%3A34%3A240

In light of the recent claims of author Terry Deary, a design similar to the Ilkley Moor Swastika Stone has surfaced on rocks near Brisbane, Australia.

The design is etched into the face of a small boulder and measures 1090mm in height and 970mm in width. It closely resembles the design of the ‘Camunian Rose’ motif (based on a cross of nine cups surrounded by an interweaving groove), found in Valcomonica, Northern Italy.

The Swastika, sometimes known as the Fylfot, is a widely used symbol found all over Europe and Asia. In Britain, it is thought to have been a solar symbol and a symbol of the Celtic Goddess Brigit (also known as Brig, Brid, Bride, Brigantia and the christianised St Bridgit), but was previously unknown in Australia.

It is not known how old the carving is, but was discovered by the finder two years ago.

Pics and diagram:
themodernantiquarian.com/post/28464
themodernantiquarian.com/post/28467

Source: Personal Correspondence

Peak Park bosses and quarry chiefs are locked in a legal battle over the rights to extract stone from a controversial quarry where eco-warriors have been camped for four years. Planners at the National Park Authority listed Endcliffe and Lees Cross Quarries at Stanton Moor (England) as dormant because there had been no significant working in them for many years. But quarry owners are making a legal challenge in the High Court against the listing.

Park bosses say they are determined to defend the challenge, even though it could leave them with a huge legal bill, in order to uphold their primary purpose of protecting the Peak District’s special qualities. Councillor John Bull, the authority’s planning committee chairman, said the course of action is essential to reduce the risk of environmental harm to an area that is of nationally-important archaeological and historical interest. “It is absolutely crucial to establish the legal status of the quarries, as this affects our ability to impose modern working conditions on the operations based on the existing planning permission which dates back to 1952,” he added. “If we do not defend the challenge, the quarries will be deemed to be ‘active’ making it more difficult to impose any conditions to limit the effects of quarrying. “Future working could then lead to significant environmental damage and disturbance to communities living nearby.

The High Court hearing is currently taking place in London. Protesters set up camp in the quarry four years ago amid fears that new workings could create a landslip and destroy nearby Bronze Age burial grounds, including the Nine Ladies stone circle.

Source: Archaeo News (22 May 2004)

Kilmartin House Museum is an independent charitable institution established in Scotland in 1994. The impetus for the museum was the rich archaeological and ecological heritage of the area, which includes nationally important monuments such as Dunadd, a great density of prehistoric rock carvings, cairns and standing stones as well as outstanding environmental habitats.

After the initial development phase, the institution has been funded through ticket sales and income generated in the shop and café. However, as with all museums, that will never be enough. If KHM are not able to persuade national and local government bodies and other agencies of our worth, and secure further funding, the Museum will have to close. They currently receive no core funding from local or national government.

If you think it’s important that Kilmartin House Museum doesn’t close, you can help. KHM needs to persaude local and national government that the Museum is worthy of support, so you can call into the museum, sign the online petition (kilmartin.org/) or write to the Chief Executive of Argyll and Bute Council: Mr James McLellan – Chief Executive Argyll and Bute Council, Kilmory, Lochgilphead Argyll PA31 8RT Scotland. So that KHM can monitor support, please also copy your letter to the Curator, Dr Sharon Webb, Kilmartin House Museum, Kilmartin, Argyll, PA31 8RQ, [email protected]. The petition will be sent to Argyll and Bute Council and copies will be sent to the Scottish Executive.

Source: Archaeo News (22 May 2004)

Archaeologists will have a greater understanding of the lives of the people who built great ritual monuments 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. 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, excavation director of Addyman Associates, who carried out the ongoing dig at the housing development, 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 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.”

Mr Addyman added: “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.”

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.”

Source: The Herald (19 April 2004) & Stone Pages

The people who created the first surviving art in Britain were committed Europeans, belonging to a common culture spanning France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, according to the man who discovered the cave art in Creswell Crags, Nottinghamshire (England). The discovery of 13,000-year-old rock paintings in Nottinghamshire last year rewrote ice-age history in Britain. Archaeologists from all over Europe met in Creswell to discuss how the finds form part of a continent-wide culture known as the Magdalenian.

Paul Pettitt, of Sheffield University’s archaeology department, said: “The Magdalenian era was the last time that Europe was unified in a real sense and on a grand scale.” According to Mr Pettitt, the artists behind the Creswell paintings would have spent summers in the area feasting on migrating reindeer, but the winters on lowlands which now form the North sea or in the Netherlands or central Rhine areas. They would have kept in close contact, possibly through yearly meetings, with people in the middle Rhine, the Ardennes forest and the Dordogne. At the time it was possible to walk from Nottinghamshire to the Dordogne. “The importance of art for the Magdalenians is clear,” said Mr Pettitt. “It helped to reaffirm their common cultural affiliation.”

Of particular interest on the Creswell paintings is a depiction of an ibex, an animal now only to be found in Europe in the Pyrenees. “Not one ice-age ibex bone has been found in Britain. The nearest ibex remains [from the period] were found in Belgium and mid-Germany,” said Mr Pettitt. He said the most likely explanation is that Magdalenians saw ibexes elsewhere and painted them in Creswell as a reminder.

Other shapes found at Creswell were initially thought to be long-necked birds. “Looked at another way,” said Mr Pettitt, “You see a naked women in profile, with jutting out buttocks and raised arms. It appears to be a picture of women doing a dance in which they thrust out their derrières. It’s stylistically very similar to continental examples, and seems to demonstrate that Creswellians are singing and dancing in the same way as on the continent.”

The cave complex and attendant museum attract 28,000 visitors a year. The museum trust has submitted a £4 million bid to the lottery heritage fund to improve access to the site. Jon Humble, inspector of ancient monuments for English Heritage, called it “the best and most successful example of an archaeology-led project for social and economic regeneration anywhere in the UK”.

Source: The Guardian (15 April 2004) & Stone Pages

An Orcadian farmer has unearthed on his land at Howe Farm in Harray (Orkney, Scotland) what is believed to be a Bronze Age burial kist. Despite kists being quite common in Orkney, Historic Scotland called in AOC Archaeology from Edinburgh to carry out the excavation at the end of last week.

AOC project officer Ronan Toolis said: “The machinery went over the kist and broke through the top slab. It was reported to Historic Scotland and they called us in.” Ronan and project supervisor Martin Cook travelled to Orkney on Friday and found a stone kist grave, in effect a stone box. “It is actually very well constructed and inside was a small deposit of cremated bone. We would expect it to be human, although it is still to be analysed,” Ronan said. He continued: “The bone was in a small pile, it may have originally been in a bag that has since rotted away.”

The kist measures about 1.5 metres long, by 60cm wide and was 70cm below the ground surface. Samples have been taken from the kist and surrounding area in a bid to date the burial. The bone material will also be assessed to see how many individuals were buried, their age, sex and health. “We suspect the grave could be Bronze Age as we found a bit of melted metal within the kist,” Ronan said. The grave has been taken apart by the excavators and recorded.

Source: The Orcadian (18 March 2004)

The only known Ice Age cave art in Britain is to be revealed to the public for the first time. But the tours, to be held for just two weeks next month, will be the only chance to see the 12,000-year-old carvings at Creswell Crags (Nottinghamshire, England) for some years.

Archaeologists announced their unique discovery at the Crags last summer. The images carved by nomadic Ice Age hunters who sheltered in the caves were the first to be found in Britain. Before then only small carved objects from the period had been found in the UK. Ice Age cave art has previously been found in France and Spain. The Creswell pictures, of animals such as the ibex (a type of goat), wild ox and birds, were found carved into the walls of Church Hole Cave at the heritage site at Welbeck, near Worksop. But they have been kept from public view while they have been studied, and to protect them.

Now the first tours to see the carvings are to be run daily between April 3 and 18. Times will vary and places must be booked in advance. Visitors will be able to see the ancient images, which are high up on the cave wall, by climbing steps to a viewing platform. Brian Chambers, Creswell Crags curator, said: “This really is a chance in a lifetime.”

It is likely to be the only public viewing allowed for two, possibly three years. But other caves will remain open. Public access has been limited owing to health and safety issues. But in the long term, organisers are investigating ways for the public to have more access. Researchers will be given limited access to the site.

Ian Wall, services and operations manager, said: “It is a sensitive archaeological site and we have already had to take special measures such as installing scaffold platforms for people to stand on to look at the art.

The cave tours will cost £5 for adults, £2.50 for children or £12.50 for a family of four. Visitors must be aged above five. The number of people allowed on each of up to four tours a day will be limited to ten for health and safety reasons. Early bookings for cave tours are recommended. Call 01909 720378.

Source: This is Nottingham, Evening Post (26 March 2004)

A 5,000-year-old flint axe head has been found in a garden in Somerset (England). Andrew Witts made the rare prehistoric discovery while landscaping his garden at Creech St Michael near Taunton. Mr Witts said: “I knew I had found something unusual when I noticed the object had a polished surface, but I never thought it would be that.” The Somerset County Museum which identified the object said it was a fine example of a highly polished, flint Neolithic axe. Mr Witts plans to donate the axe to the museum, where it will be put on display as part of the Taunton 1100 exhibition.

Source: BBC News (13 March 2004)

Dreghorn in Ayrshire, Scotland, has been revealed as Britain’s oldest continuously inhabited village after the remains of an ancient settlement were uncovered by builders.
North Ayrshire Council granted permission for a development of 53 new houses at Dreghorn on the condition that tests were carried out on land next to Dreghorn cemetery. Developers spotted suspicious-looking lumps and bumps on aerial photographs, and when a 5,500-year-old well was found in November, archaeologists were called in. The team of archaeologists is being led by Tom Wilson.
“This is only one of five to be discovered in Scotland and we think it dates back to around 3500 BCE” he said. “It would be a farming community with around eight huts taking pride of place in the site. We have also found pits with pottery and a giant fence that must have circled the village. Although other neolithic villages have been found in Scotland, this is the only one I believe has been permanently lived in. We can see where the huts and kiln would have been. The residents moved further up the hill in the winter as the land was prone to flooding. We’re really like detectives and so far we have found some important artifacts including grooved-ware pottery and a kiln that we think is the oldest found in Scotland.”
Pitchstone cooking pots from Arran have been found, along with animal remains. Also found were some much later mediaeval artefacts. Many of the artefacts will be put on display at the National Museums of Scotland.
The archaeologists have until the end of March to complete their investigations before the building work goes ahead.

Source: icAyrshire (4 March 2004)

A scientist from Douglas (Isle of Man) who is helping explore and visualise the underwater landscape of the Southern North Sea is hoping that the same technology could help historians firm up dates when the island was populated. Simon Fitch is in the second year of a PhD in geoarchaeology at Birmingham University. He is part of a team of archaeologists, geologists and engineers investigating the large plain where hunter-gatherers roamed up to 10,000 years ago, before the inundation by rising ocean levels in the last post-glacial period. With a first degree in geology and a master’s in landscape archaeology, Simon has played a pivotal role in the North Sea exploration, reviewing and analysing key data. He hopes that the same techniques could be used to discover how his home island first became inhabited.

Source: Isle of Man Online (23 February 2004)

An Ancient burial site, which was unearthed by workers preparing land for a massive gas pipeline, has proved to be a mine of information about Scottish people of the Bronze Age. Archaeologists at the 3,500-year-old cemetery, found in a field near Auchnagatt (Aberdeenshire), say the discovery also reveals important clues about ancient burial rituals in the north-east. They are analysing pottery urns, containing cremated human remains.

The Bronze Age graveyard was found in the summer of 2001 on the route of a major Transco pipeline development from St Fergus to near Aberdeen. The find was the first of its kind in Aberdeenshire for more than 30 years.

Melanie Johnson, field officer at CFA Archaeology, said: “The cemetery consisted of almost 40 pits containing cremations, 11 of which were contained inside pottery urns,” she said. “The site was unusually well-preserved.” A number of cremations have now been dated, using the latest advances in radiocarbon dating of human bones. Ms Johnson said: “This shows the cemetery was in use from about 1900 BCE to 1600 BCE. “The urns are currently being conserved at Aberdeen’s Marischal Museum, while analysis of the cremated human bones will reveal all sorts about the person who died, including their sex, age and whether they were in good health.”

Source: Aberdeen Press & Journal (15 January 2004)

The CAPE (Culture, Archaeology, Prehistory Experience) Project comprises the construction of a visitor centre highlighting the Bronze Age and Celtic culture of north east Wales that could attract up to 150,000 tourists a year. At the core of the new visitor attraction, drawing on Arthurian connections, would be the famous gold Bronze Age Mold Cape, currently held in the British Museum.

Experts have drawn up a study and believe that such a centre is feasible, probably on land next to Clwyd Theatr Cymru. To get the project going, the report will suggest trying to establish an academic centre first which could be a base for archaeological dig teams. “We urge local people to take an interest and get involved. It is vital we now widen the debate and engage local people at the earliest opportunity in the future planning of the project in the hope that they will get behind it, ” said Project chairman Adrian Barsby.

The whole idea was sparked by a drive in the town for the return of its famous Bronze Age cape. It was discovered by labourers in pieces at Bryn yr Ellyllon (Hill of Elves) just off Chester Road, Mold, in 1833 along with the bones of a man. It is dated between 1900 and 1600 BCE and is made from the equivalent of 23-carat Irish gold.

Sources: Daily Post, icNorthWales, North Wales Weekly News (6 February 2004)

The Migdale Hoard has been returned to the Highlands of Scotland for an exhibition at Inverness Museum. A priceless collection of Bronze Age jewellery – including a bronze axe head, bronze hair ornaments, sets of bronze bangles and anklets, and several carved jet and shale buttons – it was found in May 1900 in a rock crevice above Loch Migdale, Sutherland.
Although kept in Edinburgh at the National Museums of Scotland, the artefacts are being lent to Inverness Museum for an exhibition lasting until mid-June. Local Highland councillor Alison Magee said “I’m delighted that these highly important artefacts will be on display in the Highlands close to where they were found. I hope as many people as possible from the Kyle of Sutherland and the wider Highlands will be able to visit the museum and see for themselves this stunning example of our local Bronze Age history.”
However, the collection may be incomplete, as Inverness Museum archaeologist Patricia Weeks explained “Intriguingly, some of the pieces found with the hoard never made it to the National Museum.” Smaller artefacts were apparently picked up at the time of discovery by local children, and it’s possible some of the missing pieces may still be in the area.
Later this year, Dr Alison Sheridan of the National Museums of Scotland will give a talk in the Highlands on the Migdale Hoard, but the time and place have still to be confirmed.

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, stones were washed down to East Anglia with a vast river that cut through the middle of England. But what the experts are puzzling over today is where this river ran its course. If they can plot its course and date it accurately, they could prove there were humans living in Britain 500,000 years ago and fill a gap in the prehistoric knowledge. And a hand-axe discovered at Lakenheath in the 1800s could be the vital link they need.
This is part of an historical puzzle being pieced together by British archaeologists as part of the national Ancient Human Occupation of Britain (AHOB) survey. Members of AHOB were at Maidscross Heath, Lakenheath in Suffolk, taking samples from the site of the ancient riverbed to help them track its course. The site was chosen mainly because antiquarian geologist RW Flower found a hand-axe on the heath in 1869. In three pits, scientists have already found gravel deposits, which prove the river ran from the West Midlands down through Suffolk and Norfolk.
Archaeologist Nick Ashton, the British Museum’s senior curator in the department of pre-history and Europe, said they are trying to look at when humans were here and what kind of climate they were living in. The evidence suggests the hand-axe found at Lakenheath was probably carried onto the site by the river from somewhere else in England. “There is a huge gap in human occupation between 250,000 and 60,000 years ago. There seems to be a complete absence of humans in Britain – probably because of the creation of the English Channel” said Ashton. “We are looking at dating this site. The hand-axe found by Flower is slightly rolled smooth, caused by it rolling in river gravel. This (site) would not have been where it was made. The axe could have been eroded out of an even earlier deposit, which means it is at least 0.5 million years old, possibly even 600,000 years old,” he added.
Simon Lewis, a lecturer at Queen Mary College of London, said this river bed was an exciting find. “Drainage altered beyond recognition during glaciation 450,000 years ago.” At that time the River Thames flowed through Suffolk and Essex, but it was diverted to its present course by the pressure of the ice. At Lakenheath there is evidence of quartzite and quartz that has travelled from a very old deposit in the West Midlands. “Lakenheath is a fragment of this river’s story. It flowed out across to Great Yarmouth and out to a massive delta where it met the Rhine and other large continental rivers,” he said.

Source: EDP24 (28 January 2004)

Fragments of femur excavated from an Iron Age burial site in east Yorkshire (England) have been analyzed by the department of archaeological sciences at Bradford University. For scientists, bones such as these contain a key piece of information about ancient societies: what people ate. Remarkably, bones retain a chemical signature of what went into making them in the first place: what it was in the diet that provided the raw materials for the bone to grow. By examining bone in this way, the Bradford researchers, led by Dr Mike Richards, have made a number of significant discoveries. The most intriguing is that around 6,000 years ago Stone Age man in Britain seems suddenly to have stopped eating fish and shellfish. This dietary restriction persisted for the better part of 4,000 years, until the Romans arrived.

Mandy Jay has been examining the diet of people buried at the largest Iron Age cemetery in Britain at Wetwang, on the Yorkshire Wolds. The cemetery dates from the 3rd or 4th century BCE, and contains around 450 people. “The cemetery was used over a period of about 200 years, and there is a very particular pattern to the burials,” says Jay. “There are five chariot burials, where bodies have been buried with chariots. It is assumed that these were the highest-status individuals. There are remains of bodies that were buried under specially constructed mounds, or barrows, which presumably was also indicative of status, and finally bodies buried in the ditches surrounding the barrows – suspected to be the lower status.”

“The question I wanted to ask is whether we could see a difference in diet depending on the assumed status of the individuals,” says Jay. Following isotope-ratio analysis on almost 50 samples, Jay has concluded that there is no difference between the three groups in terms of the source of their protein. “All of the samples showed quite a lot of animal protein in the diet,” she says. The proportion of animal and plant protein remained similar throughout the period that the cemetery was being used. This suggests that the community was highly economically stable over this time, with the same farming practices persisting for two centuries. “The other thing that we can say with some confidence is that there is no evidence of any marine protein having been consumed,” says Jay. “Things like fish and shellfish were absent from the diet.” This fits in with a recent finding by Dr Richards that people simply did not eat seafood at this point in history.

“We know that about 6,000 years ago, during the Neolithic period, there was a revolution in the way people lived. People stopped being nomadic hunter-gatherers and started to farm animals and crops, and live in villages.” said Dr Richards. There were big cultural as well as economic changes at this time. Domesticated animals were brought over from the Continent, and wheat and barley appeared. Pottery began to be made, and elaborate burial monuments started to appear. “From a dietary point, before this time there was only wild food,” says Dr Richards. “If you do isotope analysis of bones found at coastal sites, you find evidence of a large amount of marine food in the diet. But after about 4,000 BCE suddenly there is no marine food in the diet. People simply stopped eating fish and shellfish.”

The reasons for this are not clear. One school of thought suggests that a shift in climate at that time, causing sea levels to rise, made fishing difficult. Other archaeologists think that the advent of farming made the food resource much more secure – there was no need to harvest wild food. Dr Richards believes that the radical change in diet reflected larger changes in society. “It coincides with the appearance of pottery and of big monuments and new burial practices,” he says. “My hunch is that there was a spread of a new kind of belief system, a new way of looking at the world, and a big part of that could have been a change in diet. But it is rare that you see such sudden changes.”

Fish seems not to have appeared again on the menu until the Romans arrived, 4,000 years later. The pattern is confirmed in Jay’s findings. She has looked at samples of Iron Age bone from two coastal sites, in Cornwall and East Lothian. These, too, are devoid of any evidence of a marine diet. “We know that the technology for fishing existed and you would have thought that a ready source of food would be exploited. It might have been that seafood in some way became taboo. Even now there are dietary taboos – for example we balk at the thought of eating horsemeat or dog, but these are eaten in some societies. In fact we know that people in the Iron Age did eat dogs and horses.” says Jay.

Source: The Independent (14 January 2004)

Black coverings put on parts of an English white horse landmark to advertise a car have been torn down by a protester. A restoration group allowed panda markings to be put on the historic white horse at Cherhill in Wiltshire in return for a donation. The publicity stunt was connected with the launch of a Fiat car and the black vinyl sheets were due to be removed after a few days. The National Trust had given permission but there were complaints that the transformation at the ancient hillside site had not turned out as planned.

Bob Husband of the White Horse Restoration Group said : “It’s a fair representation of the sketch we were shown but what it looks like is probably either unprintable or unspeakable.” Summer St John of Earth Energies, who works to protect sacred sites, said the marketing stunt was “disrespectful”. Then an anonymous protester took direct action and removed the black sheets. He telephoned the parish council to say what he had done. Eighteen months ago the Cherhill white horse, Wiltshire’s second oldest, had a makeover by specialist teams using local chalk.

Source: BBC News (16 January 2003)

An eagle-eyed walker’s stroll in English countryside has turned up a piece of history going back at least 3000 years. Michael Lowsley was on one of his regular walks through the picturesque Crimple Valley when an object sticking from the soil suddenly stopped him in his tracks. “I thought straight away it looked interesting. But I had no idea how interesting until I picked it up and gave it closer examination,” said Mr Lowsley, countryside secretary of Harrogate Ramblers’ Association.
The find was eventually declared a Neolithic stone axe after being taken to officials at Harrogate Museums service who sought confirmation from an expert at Manchester University. The discovery has fuelled speculation of a Neolithic settlement in the valley and the possibility of a geological survey by experts.
Alistair Smith, assistant curator for Harrogate Museums and Arts, described the axe head as a very interesting find. It had been declared stone, not flint. The axe head is believed to be the first discovery of its kind in the valley, although development works in Harrogate have produced historical finds in the past.
Although it was found by a walker while on a public right of way the axe head was on privately owned land and belongs to the landowner. Mr Lowsley said following a “very positive” meeting the landowner had agreed to donate it to the museum with the intention of its being displayed in the near future.

Source: Harrogate News (9 January 2004)

Ramblers have held a mass trespass on one of Dartmoor’s most popular landmarks to protest over its closure. Vixen Tor at Merrivale (Cornwall, England) was shut to the public when a new landowner bought it earlier last year. Mary Alford closed the tor after the insurers said she could be liable if someone injured themselves in the area, which includes several ancient monuments.

Rambler Richard Doswell, who was one of about 20 ramblers at the tor, said: “We are not causing any damage, we are simply exerting our rights to walk on part of Dartmoor National Park.” Following the closure, a walker reported Mrs Alford to the Department for Rural Affairs (Defra), alleging that fertiliser had been spread on the moorland around the tor. Defra investigated and Mrs Alford has now been charged with carrying out land improvements without an environmental impact assessment. The assessments are required by law so that rare plants, wildlife and archaeology can be protected from potential damage caused by any working of land.

Source: BBC News (1 January 2004)

The Doctor Little Heritage Group is behind a bid to preserve the Panorama Stones, a group of rocks with ancient cup and ring markings, located in Ilkley (England). The group has got the green light to prepare a plan to move them from the overgrown and neglected St Margaret’s Park, Queen’s Road, to the Manor House Museum.

After a meeting with English Heritage, the group wanted to gauge local opinion. At a follow-up open meeting, no voices of dissent were raised against the plan to make replicas of the stones and move them. Parish councillor Brian Mann, the group’s treasurer, said that everyone involved with the project had been astounded to learn that the prehistoric carvings, which could be 5,000 years old, were viewed as one of the most significant European examples of rock art.

The cup and ring markings, made during the Neolithic or Bronze Age, are in serious danger of wearing away from natural erosion. In 1890, Dr Fletcher Little, medical officer at Ben Rhydding Hydro, bought the stones for £10 from the owner of the land at Panorama Rocks where they were situated, because the area was due for development. To preserve them for posterity, he arranged to have them moved to St Margaret’s Park, surrounded by iron railings. While being moved the largest stone, known as the Panorama Stone, broke and had to be repaired.

The plan is to make replicas of the stones to leave in St Margaret’s Park while the actual stones themselves will be transported to a protective enclosure at the Manor House Castle Yard. This would allow the carvings on the replica stones to be recreated in their original glory while preserving what little is left of the originals.
If a grant is awarded the money will go towards research and a feasibility study for the larger project of copying and moving the stones. Coun Mann is confident that the whole project can be completed with the help of the Countryside Agency after officials expressed support for the project in principle. But if the replica stones are not constructed the scheme to move the originals will not be followed through. A less ambitious plan will be substituted to leave the stones where they are with some sort of protective cover constructed to preserve them.

Source: The Ilkley Gazette (19 December 2003)

Revised proposals have been submitted to the Peak District National Park Authority for the reopening of the controversial quarries at Stanton Lees near Matlock (England). Stancliffe Stone Ltd is seeking to commence work at the quarries, which have been dormant for several decades.

The National Park Authority has previously stated that it does not want the quarries to be reopened due to their proximity to Stanton Lees and the scheduled ancient monuments on Stanton Moor. However, the Authority will now examine the company’s proposals and a consultation process will get underway.

John Bull, Chair of the Authority’s Planning Control Committee, said: “This is a very sensitive site and the proposal to reopen the quarries will be controversial. After several years of uncertainty we hope to move ahead and bring the matter to a conclusion by next April. However, people need to be aware that it is not within our power to refuse permission for the quarries to re-open – the site already has permission. The Authority’s role will be to approve a set of modified conditions for working the site in an appropriate way.”

Interested parties will have around two months to lodge their comments, which should be made in writing to the Planning Service, Peak District National Park Authority, Aldern House, Baslow Road, Bakewell DE45 1AE.

Source: The Megalithic Portal (21 December 2003)

The site of archaeological remains which are thought to date back thousands of years has been saved from development. An area occupied by a Scheduled Ancient Monument was at risk of being turned into a small housing estate on the edge of Highbridge and West Huntspill in Somerset.

Land owners Alexander Holderness and Joan Dowling applied to Sedgemoor District Council for planning permission to build about 30 homes on land between Alstone Road and Alstone Lane. But members of the authority’s development control committee decided to preserve the site.

About 80 residents wrote to the authority saying they were against the proposal.

West Huntspill Parish Council also registered an objection as did Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society.

Among the objectors was Alistair Murray. He said: “I live on the boundary of the site and have been doing archaeological digs in my back garden for years.

“The area has been found to have been in occupation from the late Neolithic, through the bronze and iron ages, medieval times up to the present day. It’s an important site, there’s no doubt about it.

“There are other problems, like difficulties with the road access and the land is prone to flooding.”

But Mr Holderness told the Mercury: “We plan to appeal against the decision. We have been working with English Heritage and the Environment Agency and paid for a geophysical survey.

“We have also had specifications drawn up for archaeological digs which we would have paid for had we been given outline planning permission. It would have cost us up to £20,000.

“We have touched nothing so far and done everything by the book. But people in the village are jumping to conclusions and formed an action committee.

“Eventually we will get permission to build houses on at least part of the land.”

Source: megalithic.co.uk > Weston & Somerset Mercury 15/12/2003

Experts believe important prehistoric remains could lie under a proposed international sheepdog centre near Bala, in North Wales. Gwynedd Archaeological Planning Service stepped in after realising there is a prehistoric and Roman site close by.

“Our concern is that there might be similar remains at this site at Ysgubor Isaf,” said archaeologist Emily La Trobe-Bateman. “There is a very important prehistoric and Roman site in a nearby field, as well as similar sites further away, which did come to light in 1997,” she explained.

The scientists plan to use trace changes in the soil which would indicate remains, although there are no plans for a dig. “There may be nothing there, but bearing in mind the closeness to a known prehistoric site then we feel that a survey is necessary,” she added “We are in effect playing safe and the development will depend on what is found below ground.”

Source: icNorthWales (11 December 2003)

The Isle of Man has been continually let down by the British Government in its pursuit of world heritage status for Tynwald Hill, a member of the Tynwald House of Keys (MHK) has claimed. Martyn Quayle made the statement in Tynwald as he called for action to be taken to gain international recognition for the St John’s site, the hill which has been a focus for activities for nearly 4,000 years.

Mr Quayle said the site was first put forward as a site deserving world heritage status in 1984 when other sites, including the Laxey Wheel, were also considered. But it was not included in a list of sites favoured by the UK Government.

The motion on initiate action in gaining recognition for the site was passed unanimously. How it will be achieved has not been determined although members agreed the importance of the site to the people of the Island and its preservation is of more significance than the recognition of third parties.

Source: Isle of Man Online (12 December 2003)

The farmer who closed Dartmoor’s (England) Vixen Tor to the public has been charged with carrying out land improvements without an environmental impact assessment. Mary Alford, who owns the site at Merrivale, near Tavistock, Devon, will appear before Plymouth Magistrates in the New Year.

Vixen Tor, nicknamed the Sphinx of Dartmoor, is a well known landmark and a popular destination for walkers and rock climbers. Although lying on private land, the previous owner had allowed public access to the weathered outcrop for more than 30 years. But earlier this year Mrs. Alford stopped access to the site. Following the closure a walker reported Mrs. Alford to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, alleging that fertiliser had been spread on the surrounding moorland. Mrs Alford was charged following a Defra investigation.

Defra regards uncultivated land as a very precious resource: “If anybody wants to agriculturally intensify land, to basically change its use, they need to complete an environmental impact assessment. That would highlight any of the adverse effects. If (the change) is deemed unsustainable for whatever reason … it is possible that it would not be allowed to go ahead. When someone cultivates the land without completing an assessment they could be prosecuted. We are talking about the heritage of the countryside.” Defra has powers to insist that illegally improved land must be returned to its original condition.

The Dartmoor National Park Authority has said that the case was between Mrs. Alford and Defra, and had nothing to do with the Authority. But: “The National Park Authority’s viewpoint is that we have been deeply disappointed by the withdrawal of public access to the Tor. We are looking forward to 2005 when public access will be resumed under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act.”

Sources: BBC News, Western Daily Press (7/9 December 2003)

A GROUP set up to protect and improve areas such as Ilkley Moor in the South Pennines has won a grant of nearly £1 million from the European Union.

The Standing Conference of Southern Pennine Authorities (SCOSPA) has picked up a grant of £850,000 after joining forces with partners from four other European countries.

But major improvements to Ilkley Moor will have to wait until the next round of grant awards, according to the town’s countryside boss.

SCOSPA is made up of nine local authorities in Yorkshire and Lancashire which have areas of South Pennine moorland within their boundary.

The group, which is chaired by Bradford environmental boss and Ilkley district and parish councillor Anne Hawkesworth, bid for the cash with 15 other groups from Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

One of the main projects will be to launch SCOSPA as a rural regeneration company next year so that it can attract a wider membership, which should make it easier to bid for extra funding.

If the expected new funding comes on-stream, a wide range of improvements on Ilkley Moor could result, according to Danny Jackson, Bradford Council’s countryside officer for Ilkley.

Mr Jackson said: “In the future, the fact that this company has been set up will allow it to get money for the Ilkley Moor management plan.”

That could mean more stone slabs being laid to prevent footpath erosion on the path across the moor to Bingley, the cutting back of bracken and surveys of wildlife to make sure that the moor was being managed efficiently. Bradford Council manages Ilkley Moor as a traditional grouse shooting area but without issuing licences.

There could also be more education work done to make sure locals and visitors appreciated the significance of archaeological sites on the moor such as the Twelve Apostles stone circle or the Swastika stone.

Countryside officers would like to see more interpretation boards in areas such as the Cow and Calf rocks car park.

Mr Jackson said: “We have a management plan to cover the next ten years but we can only do a certain amount with existing resources.”

The bid for European funding was made by the Netherlands for the whole of the group and the grant was formally accepted earlier this month.

As well as conservation work, the grant will also help a project to enhance economic activity in Southern Pennine areas by promoting markets for local produce.

Councillor Hawkesworth said: “I am thrilled that we have managed to secure this money to help protect some of the most wonderful open spaces in the country and I am also honoured to be representing SCOSPA.

“This is a very good example of what people with shared interests can achieve when they work closely together, pool their resources and share their experiences and expertise.”

SCOSPA was set up in 1974 as a Southern Pennine conservation body and as well as Bradford, its members include Calderdale, Kirklees, Rochdale, Oldham, Rossendale, Burnley, Pendle, Lancashire County Council, United Utilities, the Southern Pennine Association and Pennine Heritage.

Source: thisisbradford.co.uk/bradford__district/ilkley/news/ILKL_NEWS4.html

Posted Thursday 20 November 2003

A new book by an archaeologist from north-east England is set to reveal the sexually-symbolic landscape of Britain. Cathy Tuck, who has worked on the Time Team TV programme, chronicles 5,000 years of sexually significant sites in her book “Landscapes and Desire”.

Describing standing stones as phallic, and burial chambers as womb-like, the project started when she found a sexually-explicit grotto in a park in Buckinghamshire, England, while working for English Heritage as a landscape archaeologist.

Written over two years – during which time she covered 30,000 miles around Britain – the book includes a gazetteer of sexually-symbolic sites, which readers are encouraged to investigate – “If people open their eyes and take a look around them, it’s amazing what they will see.”

Source: The Journal (3 November 2003)

Source: Orkneyjar Archaeology News (24 October 2004)

For centuries scholars and antiquarians have had their own theories over the activities that once took place in Orkney’s World Heritage Site covering the Ness of Brodgar in Stenness. From druid enclosures to ancestral monuments, each era had its own ideas about the Neolithic ceremonial centre. However, despite the advances in archaeological knowledge, technique, and technology, there is still very little known about the area.

But this looks set to change, with the continuation of a project to use magnetometry to scan the entire Brodgar peninsula. Magnetometry is the technique of measuring and mapping patterns of magnetism in the soil. Ancient activity, particularly burning, leaves magnetic traces that show up even today when detected with the right equipment. Buried features such as ditches or pits, when they are filled with burnt or partly burnt materials can show up clearly and give us an image of sub-surface archaeology.

The full article

The skeleton of a muscular 30-year-old, who could have been an ancient Iceni warrior, was found buried face down in earth that was part of rich Fen lands (Suffolk, England) and now is behind the fortified fence of an American base.
These human remains are only one of five that have so far been unearthed during a dig that has produced remnants of buildings, pottery, animal bones and flint tools, dating to between 2500 BCE and 410 CE.
Archaeologists say finds made at the 25,000 sqm site at RAF Mildenhall reveal significant detail about how different peoples co-existed in the turbulent times of the late Iron Age and early Roman era, when the conquerors brought their new culture and religions into the country.
Suffolk County Council’s archaeological service’s senior project officer for the dig, Andrew Tester, said it was an important excavation. “It has been a settlement from pre-history; particularly, it was well-used through the Iron Age and Roman times. They used to herd cattle here through the Iron Age and Bronze Age,” he said.
The team of 15 has found a pear-shaped corral and a watering hole, in which they found cattle bones. “We have excavated three burials – two were crouch burials, which are more traditional to Bronze Age and Iron Age. We found one that is a proper interment, and he was buried face down. According to our bone specialist, Sue Anderson, he was aged 30 and had a lot of muscle.” said Andrew Tester.
“In the early Roman, late Iron, Age there were many changes in religious practice and ideas.” added Mr Tester, “People were choosing to be buried in different ways. He was almost certainly Iceni and he could have been an Iceni warrior. This was an Iceni area and they were a traditional people. The Romans adapted and adopted other religions.”
Within a few weeks, the dig will be over and work will start on turning the site into a baseball pitch for USAF servicemen.

Source: EDP24 News (10 October 2003)

An estimated £300,000 will have to be spent over two years to make the case for turning the Lake District into a World Heritage Site, it has been claimed. The Lake District National Park Authority has been trying since 1985 to win World Heritage status by Unesco, which is part of the United Nations.
Organisers said it would bring the sort of kudos which might attract more visitors and help when getting finance from the government.

However, some people have expressed concerns it could lead to even stricter controls on development and damage the tourism industry.

Supporters have said that although the status would not attract money directly, the government would be more likely to give extra funding if the area had world status.

Inward investment

Paul Tiplady, from the National Park Authority, said the money would be well spent.

He said: “We believe the Lake District is the country’s finest landscape.

“We need the government to believe that too so that thy will start putting the resources into Cumbria that Cumbria desperately needs.

“One way of achieving that is to get the world to say that Cumbria has England’s finest landscape.

“World Heritage status gives a very simple marker that the area is very special.

“I estimate we would need something like £300,000 over two years to undertake the project work.

“Cumbria and the west coast needs more inward investment and £300,000 may be a very cheap way of getting it.”

Source: megalithic.co.uk/

Researchers at the University of Bristol (England) have developed the first direct method of dating ancient pottery, through analysis of animal fats preserved inside the ceramic walls. The new technique will allow more accurate determination of the age of pottery and, by extension, the age of associated artefacts and sites.

Although chemical analysis has, in the past, been used on residues found on the surface of pottery and shards, contact with the soil was always likely to produce corrupt data. Now research carried out by Richard Evershed, Ph.D and colleagues from the University has discovered that lipids (animal fats) are preserved through absorption into the material, in large enough quantities to allow radiocarbon dating. “Lipids are absorbed because most interesting pottery of any respectable age is unglazed,” says Evershed. “We’re taking a piece of pot and grinding it to a powder, and then extracting lipid that’s penetrated right down into the fabric.” A technique called capillary gas chromatography isolates the lipids. Purified compounds are then radiocarbon dated using an accelerator mass spectrometer at the Oxford University Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit.

Pottery is essential for dating archaeological sites. Although organic material can be dated by radiocarbon techniques, the results are not always reliable. Wood, for instance, can decompose over time; and animals often move bones around a site. Ceramics, on the other hand, have a long and stable lifespan. Later pottery can be easily dated by typology, but earlier ceramic material can be much harder because of its crude appearance. In the earlier research that led to the development of the new technique, Evershed’s team found the first direct evidence that people were dairy farming in Britain as long as 6,000 years ago. The prominence of fats in material from Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age sites is consistent with their wide range of uses in the ancient world: lubricants, waterproofing agents, cosmetics, ointments, perfumes, varnishes, etc.

The researchers have now analyzed 15 pieces of pottery ranging in age from 4000 BCe to the 15th Century AD. These were blind-dated using the new method and then compared with verified dates. In all cases there was good correspondence of blind and validated dates. Evershed and his colleagues now plan to study mummies. “A lot of mummies were exported out of Egypt by the Victorians, and they often applied modern treatments to preserve them.” The researchers hope to distinguish between modern treatment and the original embalming agent.

According to Evershed, his method could be used to date any material that has preserved organic compounds. “You could even isolate individual amino acids by this preparative GC approach, but no one’s tried that. That’s the next step.” Evershed’s findings were featured ‘Analytical Chemistry’, the journal of the American Chemical Society.

Stone Pages
Source: American Chemical Society (29 September 2003)

It will soon be a shrine to the modern age of commercialism, where shoppers park their cars as they head into the city. But excavation work on the new park-and-ride site at Harford, south of Norwich, has revealed an insight into a rich and intriguing period of the area’s ancient history.
The discoveries made at the site, next to the junction of the A140 and A47 Southern Bypass, have been described as “one of the most important” finds ever recorded in Norfolk.

As well as evidence of settlements from a number of different ages, exciting finds relating to the Neolithic age between 4000 and 2300BC were made. Among them was a Neolithic timber structure.

Gary Trimble, project manager, said: “We already knew this was a very rich Bronze Age site but this is the first time we can push back time to the Neolithic age. It is tremendously exciting and a once-in-a-lifetime dig.”

Archaeologists were also excited by the discovery of what is believed to be a mortuary site – the first of its kind in Norfolk. Massive holes show where huge wooden poles would have been and indents reveal where timber walls would have run alongside.

The find has great similarities with a site discovered in Hampshire in the 1950s but, unlike that one, there was no mound at Harford, although it is possible it has been ploughed away.

Another major find was a rectangular enclosure, about 35-40m by 60m, which is also thought to have been used in mortuary activity. At the southern entrance there was a pit containing a broken flint axe.

And the finds did not end there. The dig took place over four months during spring and early summer this year, and items unearthed have now been removed from the site for restoration and cataloguing.

According to David Gurney, principal archaeologist for Norfolk Museum Service, what is particularly exciting about the site was the time-scale covered by the finds.
“It would have been good to have found just the Neolithic finds but to get the rest from the Bronze and Roman Age too is just remarkable. It is the sort of find you get once every 100 years,” he said.

Arrowheads and examples of Beaker pottery dating back the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age were also found, as was a cremation burial site containing two bronze axes and bits of burnt bone.

Close to the burial at the highest point of the site was the remains of a Roman aisled building that was possibly used for storage.

Mr Trimble, whose special interest lies in prehistoric archaeology, said the immediate area of the finds, close to a confluence of rivers, was very sensitive, with Arminghall Henge and the Roman fort at Caistor St Edmund nearby.

“I think it was when we found the mortuary structure that we realised we had something very significant and exciting because it was so different for the region. This was an important area where people would probably meet to trade and congregate or for a multitude of different reasons,” he said.

But he said it was difficult to be precise about the lifestyles of people from the Neolithic era from these finds. “What the settlement looked like is more complicated than we first thought and it is difficult to know how people lived,” he said.

It is now his job to write up his finds in a book. The site is currently being turned into a 1100-capacity car park and in January, the area of land which has been rich in archaeological pickings will begin its new phase.

megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146411134

Source: Norfolk Now 02/10/2003

A Quarry worker could have discovered proof of prehistoric life close to the River Trent (England). Part of a skull was found at a working gravel pit off Pasture Lane, Long Eaton, by a worker from RMC Aggregates (Eastern). Initial tests date it back to the prehistoric age.
After finding the skull, worried workers phoned the police and the site was closed, as officers began a search and investigation. But the investigation took on more of a historical angle when tests indicated the skull was thousands of years old. DS Rohan Catlow, based at Long Eaton, said: “We had experts come to the site and they believe it is a human skull from the prehistoric age, or maybe a primate, such as an ape.” The skull was taken to Long Eaton police station, where experts are due to examine it in more detail.

stonepages.com/news/#341 Source: Evening Post (25 September 2003)

The Welsh version of Stonehenge is under construction. Tim Halewood from the Vale of Glamorgan is constructing the area’s first solar lunar circle. The ancient timepiece, designed to act as a solar lunar calendar, is being built from stone by the local community at Coed Hills Rural Art Space in St Hilary.

“This will be one of the only working solar lunar calendars in the UK,” said Mr Halewood, who studies sacred geometry. “It is a similar concept to Stonehenge but ours will be fully functional. It will act as a great communal focus point for St. Hilary and it will be something the whole community can work together on as we study it.” The event is the result of months of research by Tim and a volunteer group exploring ancient sacred geometry and the study of solar lunar circles.

Monica Mahoney, community support worker at Wales Council for Voluntary Action said, “There are about 250 active Millennium Award projects in Wales. Tim’s scheme is a great example of how these awards can benefit the whole community. The potential for the grants is wide-ranging. We are always open to new ideas like Tim’s, so if anyone has anything in mind, they should apply for a You and Your Community Millennium Award.”

The Vale of Glamorgan project qualified for an award from the programme which offers people grants to improve their lives and benefit themselves and their community.

From stonepages.com Source: The Western Mail (21 September 2003)