Stone Pages - Archaeo News (Great Britain)

Fire scorches ancient Neolithic stones in Kent

Thu, 13 Jan 2022 15:20:51 +0100

Deep in the Kent (UK) countryside is an ancient wood known locally as Walderslade Wood. This area is rich in Stone Age artefacts (over 25 sites within a 4.5 km radius), such as Lordswood Barrow and Sarsen Stones, Impton Lane Stones and Aylesford Megalithic Long Barrow. The woods in question contain a group of sarsen stones which may be the remains of either a burial chamber or a stone circle, dating back to 4,500 BCE.
Local resident, Dr Tom Shelley, was walking through the woods with his wife recently, when he noticed that some of the stones appeared to show signs of scorch marks.
Dr Shelley had a theory as to how this occurred and is quoted as saying "I don't know who would do something like this, but I suspect pagans performing some kind of earth ritual. Fallen trees had also been dragged into position to start the fire, so it was definitely started deliberately".
A similar group of stones nearby, at a place called Kit's Coty (sometimes known as The Countless Stones), had also been in danger of damage and so a protective barrier fence had been installed.
The Parish Council of Boxley, where Walderslade Woods are located, is seriously considering erecting similar railings to protect these stones. Dr Shelley went on to add "Personally I don't care what religion people follow, I would just ask them not to damage ancient artefacts and not to start fires in woodland".

Edited from Kent Online (6 January 2022)

Stonehenge Exhibition at the British Museum

Tue, 11 Jan 2022 07:43:50 +0100

The UK's first major exhibition focusing on the story of Stonehenge opens next month at the British Museum in London, promising to place the monument in its wider social, cultural, environmental, and technological context. Displays will feature more than 430 artefacts from 35 institutions around western Europe, including new discoveries from the Stonehenge landscape and other key sites.
Starting in the Mesolithic, exhibits will explore religious ideas, astronomical concepts, and solar imagery. Among the attractions are elements of the 4,000-year-old Bronze Age Seahenge timber circle, conical gold hats from France and Germany, artefacts interred with the Amesbury Archer, and the first UK appearance of the Nebra Sky Disc.
The World of Stonehenge opens Thursday 17 February through Sunday 17 July 2022.

Edited from Current Archaeology-The Past (4 January 2022)

Iron age hillfort for sale in England

Tue, 11 Jan 2022 07:38:33 +0100

Hillforts are among the most striking monuments in northern Europe, built and occupied from about 900 to 100 BCE, when societies were defined by tribal territories. About 250 kilometres west-southwest of London, within the Blackdown Hills 'Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty', Hembury is considered the finest prehistoric hillfort in Devonshire. Built on the site of an earlier Neolithic causewayed enclosure, on a south-facing heathland promontory 40 metres above the surrounding plateau, the small multi-vallate Iron Age fort is currently under offer by Savills for a guide price of £100,000. The sale includes approximately 15.7 hectares.
The fort is protected on three sides by steep natural slopes, and preserves well-defined perimeter defences. People from the massive hillfort of Maiden Castle, about 70 kilometres to the east-southeast, apparently occupied the site around 50 BCE, and the Roman army was in possession by the middle of the 1st century CE.
Many artefacts discovered during excavations in the 1930s and 1980s are on display in the Royal Albert Museum in nearby Exeter. More recently a Geophysics survey was carried out by Bournemouth University in preparation more extensive survey at a later date.

Edited from Hembury Fort, Savills, Devon Online (20 October 2021), Country Life (22 October 2021), InEntertainment (26 December 2021)

200,000-year-old 'mammoth graveyard' found in Britain

Thu, 06 Jan 2022 11:09:07 +0100

Archaeologists in Britain have uncovered the largest mammoth 'graveyard' that showed the skeletal remains of five mammoths, an infant, two juveniles, and two adults. These five mammoths died during the last ice age close to Swindon where they were found next to stone tools crafted by Neanderthals that included a hand axe and smaller flint tools known as scrapers.
"Finding mammoth bones is always extraordinary, but finding ones that are so old and well preserved, and in such close proximity to Neanderthal stone tools is exceptional," Lisa Westcott Wilkins, the co-founder of DigVentures, said in a statement.
The site was originally discovered by Sally and Neville Hollingworth, two amateur fossil hunters, who discovered the graveyard and Neanderthal tools. Apart from the mammoth bones, other remnants were uncovered such as beetle wings, freshwater snail shells.
The site is dated to between 220,000 and 210,000 years ago, placing it towards the end of an interglacial period when Neanderthals were present in Britain. As the ice age ended, the Neanderthals moved further south.
"The findings have enormous value for understanding the human occupation of Britain, and the delicate environmental evidence recovered will also help us understand it in the context of past climate change," Duncan Wilson, the chief executive of Historic England, a British historical preservation body, said in a statement. "Through these finds and the research that will follow, we look forward to further light being shed on life in Britain 200,000 years ago."

Edited from BBC News, Live Science (19 December 2021)

DNA reveals large-scale migrations into Bronze Age Britain

Tue, 04 Jan 2022 17:00:38 +0100

The Middle to Late Bronze Age was a time when settled farming communities expanded across southern Britain, and metal ores essential for producing bronze moved along extensive trade networks. Two major new studies based on the examination of DNA from 793 ancient individuals trace the movement of people into southern Britain during the Bronze Age, offering fresh insights into ancient habits of dairy consumption, and significantly strengthening the case for the appearance of Celtic languages in Britain in the Bronze Age.
The largest genome-wide studies to date involving ancient humans show that people moving into southern Britain around 1300 to 800 BCE were responsible for around half the genetic ancestry of subsequent populations.
Modern English populations inherit more DNA from early European farmers than from the people who lived in England about 4,000 years ago. Combined DNA and archaeological evidence suggests that the genetic structure of the population changed through sustained contacts between mainland Britain and Europe over several centuries, and became thoroughly mixed into the population by 1000 to 875 BCE.
The data also indicate population movements between different parts of continental Europe, confirming that the Late Bronze Age was a period of intense and prolonged contacts between many diverse communities.

Edited from Eurasia Review (23 December 2021), PhysORG (26 December 2021)

Iron Age settlement found in Malvern Hills

Sun, 02 Jan 2022 09:38:36 +0100

An Iron Age settlement dating from around 2,250 years ago was recently discovered on the site of a planned new roundabout near Upton-upon-Severn, about 180 kilometres northwest of London. First spotted on aerial photos, initial investigation revealed Middle Iron Age pottery, and an unusually large ditched enclosure. Only the area being disturbed by construction was fully excavated, revealing about a third of the enclosure. The remainder is under a ploughed field near the northeast edge of town.
The surrounding ditch had an entrance gap to the east with large gate posts on either side. Within was a waterhole, a small enclosure, and field boundaries. Pottery confirmed that the site had been occupied sometime between 300 and 100 BCE. Analysis of the finds continues, with many theories proposed about how and why the site would have operated - one suggesting a distribution centre for cereal grain.

Edited from Worcestershire City Council (21 December 2021), BBC News (22 December 2021)

Family tree revealed in 5,700-year-old tomb

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 18:40:57 +0100

A research team has examined DNA of bones and teeth from a Neolithic tomb about 140 kilometres west-northwest of London. Results show 27 of the 35 individuals were biological relatives from five continuous generations of a single extended family. The majority were descended from four women who all had children with the same man.
Of the Cotswold-Severn type, the Hazleton North long barrow was built around 3700-3600 BCE, some 100 years after cattle domestication and cereal cultivation had been introduced from continental Europe, and 700 years before construction started on Stonehenge.
Completely excavated from 1979 to 1982, the tomb had two separate entrances, each leading to an L-shaped chamber. Whether individuals were buried in the north or south chamber initially depended on the first-generation woman from whom they were descended, suggesting these first-generation women were socially significant. Men were generally buried with their father and brothers, implying that descent was patrilineal. Males who we would call stepsons were adopted into the lineage. While two of the daughters of the lineage who died in childhood were buried in the tomb, the absence of adult daughters indicates their remains may have been placed either in the tombs of their partners or elsewhere. The architectural layout of other Neolithic tombs might reflect how kinship operated in comparable groups.

Edited from University of York, The Guardian (22 December 2021)

The great Durrington ring

Thu, 23 Dec 2021 12:47:59 +0100

Explored in a recent Channel 5 television documentary titled 'Stonehenge: The New Revelations', a new study proves the roughly 2 kilometre diameter ring of pits discovered last year surrounding the Neolithic site of Durrington Walls were human-made. Dug into the landscape almost 4,500 years ago at the end of the Neolithic period, the "Great Durrington Ring" may be the world's largest Neolithic monument, and the very last in Britain. Durrington Walls sits precisely at its centre, about 2.5 kilometres northeast of Stonehenge.
All the pits are similar, about 10 metres across and 5 metres deep. Archaeologist and study leader Professor Vince Gaffney and his team examined 9 of some 20 surviving pits, declaring them the largest prehistoric structure found in Britain. Tests date the pits to around 2400 BCE, and show they were used from the late Neolithic until the middle Bronze Age, long after the monumental building phases of Stonehenge. Then they were left to fill naturally.
Extracting soil samples from deep within the pits, Gaffney's team was able to date the chalk, soil, bones, and other animal remains to the period coinciding with the construction of the enclosed Durrington Walls 'superhenge'. Previous studies at Durrington Walls have revealed ancient house structures, suggesting the people who first lived there would have been involved with the erection of Stonehenge's sarsen stones 500 years after that monument's initial formation.

Edited from The Guardian (23 November 2021), Express (11 December 2021), Sci News (22 June 2020)

Revealing the prehistoric origins of Scotland

Wed, 22 Dec 2021 15:14:12 +0100

Hadrian's Wall is often given the brunt of the blame for the division of Ancient Britain, but newly published archaeological research shows that the divide of Scotland and England was already underway before the Romans arrived, culturally speaking.
This has been proven through an array of brochs, duns, crannogs and souterrains, which are found widely throughout Scotland but have not been proven in northern England or further south. "The underlying implication of the settlement distribution patterns is that Iron Age societies across Scotland were open to the building and occupation of brochs, crannogs, duns and souterrains but that Iron Age societies further south were not," said GUARD Archaeologist Ronan Toolis, who conducted the research. "This was the result of cultural choices taken by households and communities, not environmental constraints, and suggests that Iron Age societies north and south of the Tweed-Solway zone were perceptibly dissimilar."
This archaeological division is interesting because it proves that much of the division happened long before the arrival of the romans between the 4th and 2nd centuries. Apart from this, Dr. Toolis notes that the differences in culture follow the Anglo-Scottish border rather than Hadrian's Wall, which is believed to have been placed from a strategic standpoint rather than as a tool of division. This is even further underlined by the late 'adoption' of Roman culture in the 5th century CE by the Scots.
"This only occurred when Iron Age society in Scotland had become hierarchical," said Dr Toolis. "The evidence implies that far from being passive participants in acculturation, it was only with their active participation and likely at their own instigation and on their own terms, that communities in Scotland truly adopted aspects of Roman culture."
The archaeological evidence suggests then that the construction of Hadrian's Wall was not caused by the cultural difference, but rather the effect of these cultural differences between the peoples of the two regions. This division continued well into the medieval period where the separate trajectories led to the formation of the two kingdoms, independent of Hadrian's Wall.

Edited from GUARD Archaeology (7 December 2021)

Scottish farmer fined for digging up ancient burial cairn

Wed, 22 Dec 2021 15:12:53 +0100

A farmer has been fined £18,000 (around 21,000 euros) for destroying a Neolithic site on Skye (Inner Hebrides, Scotland) after using the earth from Upper Tote Cairn to help build a new shed on his land. The 59-year-old had previously pled guilty to the destruction of the protected monument, which he had been contacted about three separate times by Historic Environment Scotland.
Andy Shanks, procurator fiscal for Grampain, Highlands and Islands said: "As the owner of the land this ancient monument sits on, it was [the owner's] duty to help protect it. Instead, he showed a complete disregard for its importance when he dug for soil and damaged Upper Tote Cairn."

Edited from BBC News (15 December 2021)

Digging down into the past with Mesolithic Deeside

Thu, 16 Dec 2021 09:03:10 +0100

The article details a reporter coming to an archaeological excavation with the archaeology group Mesolithic Deeside for an excavation at Milton of Crathes (Aberdeenshire, Scotland). The site the author visits is a veritable hotspot for prehistoric activity, were over 1,200 Mesolithic tools were unearthed earlier in the year.
At the test pit, the author gains an overview of the site from Site Director Ali Cameron who says: "We found more than 1,200 flints [pieces of worked stone] when we were field-walking here in March. The site has been known for a while - a retired biochemist, Dr John Grieve, collected flints here in the 1970s, and further west on the south side of the Dee, a lady who lived there, Hilda Paterson, is said to have filled her pockets with flints. We've dug test pits looking for evidence of people from 6,000 to 10,000 years ago. They dropped pieces of flint here when they were making or repairing tools."
Apart from the large variety of finds, the archaeologists collect the finds and measure them inside the test-pit grids to show finds concentrations across the site.
Mesolithic Deeside is always looking for more volunteers and there is a ton of reasons to get involved with the project. "We all really enjoy doing this sort of work," says Ali. "We love being outside, meeting people, we enjoy digging, finding flints, the social aspect, home baking - all sorts of different things. This project helps broaden our understanding of early prehistoric human activity in Deeside; we like knowing we're contributing to finding out what this area was like in the past. And we're always looking for new fields to explore!"

Edited from The Courier (25 November 2021)

Neolithic pits near Stonehenge were human-made

Thu, 16 Dec 2021 09:01:27 +0100

Originally described as being a natural occurrence, new findings have proven that the series of deep pits discovered near Stone Henge were man made. Together these pits form a circle spanning 2 km (1.2 miles) and form the largest prehistoric structure in Britain.
One interpretation put forward by archaeologists is that it formed a boundary, guiding people to a sacred site, such as the Durrington Walls, among Britain's largest henge monuments, is located in the center of this circle.
Prof Vincent Gaffney, of Bradford University, an archaeologist who headed the team that made the discovery, said science had proved that this was indeed a huge neolithic monument. "Some of the debate about the discovery and Stonehenge seemed bonkers to me," he said.
While not all the cirlces had survived, nine of the pits were analyzed scientifically. "We've now looked at nearly half of them and they're all the same. So effectively this really does say this is one enormous structure. It may have evolved from a natural feature, but we haven't located that. So it's the largest prehistoric structure found in Britain."
This new evidence also shines light on that the prehistoric people of Britain could count and track hundreds of paces to measure out these pits. The pits can now also be found using special remote sensing technology and then dated using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), which can date the last time the soils were exposed to sunlight. The tests were conducted by Dr Tim Kinnaird, of the school of earth and environmental sciences at the University of St Andrews, who said: "These proved beyond doubt that the pits date to around 2400 BCE."
Gaffney, who has studied Stonehenge for 20 years, said: "There's a real revolution in dating technology happening with OSL. You date the sediments directly. Traditional dating relies on us finding a bit of bone or charcoal and then we date that. We don't date the soil. OSL does that."

Edited from The Guardian (23 November 2021), Mail Online (24 November 2021)

Stonehenge builders' eating habits explored

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 17:02:14 +0100

Recent evidence shows that seasonally foraged sweet and savory snacks were part of the winter diet of inhabitants of the nearby ancient settlement of Durrington Walls, a large henge monument about 3 kilometres east-northeast of Stonehenge where the stone circle builders may have lived. Archaeologists with the Stonehenge Riverside Project uncovered clues that Neolithic people were collecting and cooking hazelnuts, crab apples, sloes, and other fruits. Charred plant remains suggest they might have followed recipes to preserve the food. Nuts and fruit may have been cooked with meat fats to make something like pemmican - a staple of indigenous peoples of North America which continues to fuel peoples who require energy-dense foods, such as explorers in harsh arctic and mountain conditions.
Two types of stones make up the colossal Stonehenge monument: the larger and more local sarsens - up to 9 metres tall and 22.6 metric tons on average - and the smaller bluestones up to 4.5 metric tons brought from quarries 290 kilometres away. When construction was underway between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago, around 2500 BCE, moving such enormous stones would have been a daunting task. In 2016 a group of university students dragged a sled carrying a 0.9 metric ton stone block over wooden tracks, with an average hauling speed of about 1.6 kilometres per hour. Moving the slab required just 10 students - fewer than expected - which meant the construction work on Stonehenge might have progressed faster than previously thought.

Edited from The Guardian, BBC News (1 December 2021), LiveScience (2 December 2021)

3D model of ancient neolithic village online

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 17:01:45 +0100

As part of a project to digitally document over 300 Scottish heritage sites and their collections, a model of the neolithic village at Skara Brae on Orkney (Scotland) lets people explore Europe's most complete late stone-age settlement from a web browser.
Partly exposed by a storm in 1850 and slowly revealed by decades of careful excavations, the 5,000 year-old site comprises ten rooms linked by passageways. The digital tour includes access to House 7, the best-preserved house at Skara Brae, not normally accessible to the public. Virtual visitors can explore Skara Brae through time from its discovery just over 170 years ago to coastal erosion from rising sea levels and extreme weather events.
Spatial data from ultra-fast high-resolution laser scanning combined with hundreds of overlapping images of the site were used to create the model. Since 2010, Skara Brae and the surrounding bay have been laser scanned every two years to monitor coastal change and inform management and maintenance of the site.

Edited from The Herald, Engineering & Technology (1 December 2021)

Bronze Age hoards found on Hertfordshire farm

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 17:00:24 +0100

About 200 artefacts have been unearthed after two Bronze Age hoards were found by metal detectorists. A 13-year-old girl on her third detecting trip uncovered 20 pieces from an eventual total of about 65 items, including an assortment of incomplete pieces such as socketed axe heads, winged axe heads, cake ingots and blade fragments dating from about 1300 BCE in a field near Royston, around 65 kilometres north of London. Other detectorists on the same organised trip identified a second potential deposit nearby. Archaeologists were immediately called to excavate the two sites the following day.
The hoards could be related, and both are being treated as potential treasure. All the finds have been sent to the British Museum for expert examination. The museum manages archaeological finds made by the public through its Portable Antiquities Scheme.
The caches date to the Middle Bronze Age. In accordance with the 1996 Treasure Act, a museum may decide to the purchase the artefacts after they've been assessed and valued. If offered any money for the hoard, the young metal detectorist plans to split the proceeds with the field's owner.

Edited from Smithsonian Magazine (29 November 2021), BBC News (1 December 2021)