Restoring the landscape surrounding Stonehenge
Plans for a new road which will help to restore the historical landscape surrounding Stonehenge, were unveiled by British Transport Minister Lord Whitty.
Preferred route status has been granted to the scheme, which will protect the route from development while more detailed plans are prepared. As well as placing the A303 underground to give visitors to the henge uninterrupted views of the stones, the road will bring a variety of benefits to the West Country.
Sir Jocelyn Stevens, chairman of English Heritage, which is responsible for the management and development of Stonehenge, commented: The proposals are an acceptable and affordable solution which recognises the exceptional environmental sensitivity of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. They combine the protection of the monument and the re-creation of the historic landscape of the World Heritage Site with the much-needed solution to the bottleneck on the A303
Source: Highways Agency Public Relations Department (25 June 99)
Bronze Age tomb discovered in Cyprus
When building a slurry lagoon in an area administered by British forces in Cyprus, some workmen have discovered a Bronze Age tomb full of human skeletons.
The tomb is composed by two intact chambers and contained 15 human skeletons as well as knives, ancient pottery, necklaces and bronze. A governmente archaeologist said that the find offered a valuable insight into life between 1400 BC and 1600 BC. The finds have been taken to a local museum for examination.
It is a transitional period from the early Bronze Age to the Middle Bronze Age and such finds are rare, said George Flourenzos of the antiquities department. He said the tomb was probably part of a previously unknown ancient necropolis in the southeastern Xylotymbou area of Cyprus.
The area comes under the jurisdiction of British forces which have had two military bases on Cyprus since the former colony gained independence in 1960.
Sources: CNN News, Reuters (10 June 99)
Seahenge removal postponed
The famous circle of waterlogged wooden posts found on a remote beach in Norfolk, England, (see Archæo News 3 and Archæo News 6) is transforming our knowledge of Bronze Age culture 4,000 years ago. The 55 posts, together with the up-turned stump of an oak tree in the middle, were first spotted on the beach at Holme, near Hunstanton, last November. They had become exposed after the peat dune covering them was swept away by winter storms.
The archaeologists say the find is unique in Britain, and the best preserved example in Europe. This is the first time we've ever found a timber circle intact in Britain, said Mark Brennand of the Norfolk Archaeological Unit. The sites of timber circles are not uncommon, but up to now all we have seen are the soil markings where the timbers once stood before they crumbled away. Here, the circle was built in water-logged ground so it's never dried out and the timbers have been preserved.
What really excited the archaeologists was the discovery of the large inverted oak stump in the centre of the circle. It is thought to have formed a sort of altar on which the bodies would have been placed to decay. The prehistoric belief was that allowing the flesh to rot from the bones in the open air would liberate the dead person's spirit.
Forty centuries ago Seahenge would have been further inland, rather than on the beach as it is now. An excavation by the Norfolk Archaeology Unit suggests that the circle was originally constructed on swampy ground up to a kilometre from the sea, which the waves covered at a later date.
However, the archaeologists have to work fast to save Seahenge. The circle is close to the low tide mark on the beach and could be destroyed by wave erosion now it has been exposed. English Heritage, the UK Government agency responsible for ancient monuments, is also worried about the numbers of sightseers and souvenir hunters visiting the site.
To protect the fragile remains it was decided to remove the timbers and take them away for analysis and conservation. Once lifted, they would be transferred to Flag Fen, near Peterborough, an archaeological centre which specialises in the study of prehistoric timber. But just a few timbers had been excavated when the archaeologists hit a snag. Not everyone wanted the circle moved.
Protestors, including self-styled druids and some local residents, launched a publicity campaign to obstruct the archaeologists' plans, arguing that much of the importance of the circle lay in its location, and that it should not be moved. The archaeologists have succeeded in getting a High Court injunction preventing some of the protestors approaching the site. The excavation work has been resumed but the transfer of the timbers to Flag Fen is has to be postponed to a later date.
After the timbers have been cleaned, examined and studied, it is hoped that Seahenge will be returned to a spot near its original site and go on public display.
Source: BBC News (8 July 99)
Excavations reveal Taplow prehistoric fort
Archaeological excavations carried out at Taplow Court (England) by the Oxford Archaeological Unit ahead of a building to be constructed on the site have uncovered the defences of a lost prehistoric hillfort.
More than 60m of two phases of defensive ditch has been revealed, each backed by the postholes of substantial and sophisticated timber ramparts. One phase of the rampart was burnt and some of the charred timbers are preserved, a rare and very significant discovery. One of the entrances to the fort has also been found, and behind the line of the ramparts are clusters of post holes from the timber houses of the fort's inhabitants.
The larger ditch is 8-9m wide, with near vertical sides and a flat bottom nearly 3m deep. Only part of one side of the hillfort entrance lies within the excavation, so evidence for the massive gates or guard chambers sometimes found is limited. These entrances, however, were often marked by ritual burials in the ditch terminals, and at Taplow the crouched burial of a man was found in a shallow grave just beyond the terminal of the larger vertical-sided ditch.
No scientific dating has yet been carried out, but ramparts with jointed timber-reinforcing like that at Taplow usually date from the Early Iron Age (between 800 and 400 BC). The earlier (smaller) ditch, and the palisades, could even date to the Late Bronze Age (1000-800 BC), the date of the first hillforts to be constructed.
The later ditch appears to have remained open in the Roman and Saxon period, and the siting of the famous Taplow Burial Mound may have been influenced by the presence of the ancient fort.
For further information please contact Robert Samuels on (+44) 01628 591215.
Source: SGI-UK (16 June 99)
Avebury stones under vandals' attack
Two of the ancient standing stones at the Avebury World Heritage site in Wiltshire (England) have been damaged by vandals in what may have been a protest against genetically-modified (GM) crops.
The attack happened on the eve of the summer solstice, when Avebury stone circle becomes a shrine for hundreds of Druids from all over the UK. Historian Professor Ronald Hutton said the attack was "appalling" and was akin to desecrating a church on Good Friday.
An anonymous caller to the BBC in Manchester said the attack was undertaken as a protest against GM foods. He said the stones were painted red to represent giant "freak" tomatoes. The stones were actually painted red, green and white by a gang who struck in the early hours of June 18th morning. A National Trust spokeswoman said the two stones in question had been "wrapped" to prevent further damage.
It is thought Avebury may have been targeted because of the proximity of the site to the first farm-scale trial of GM crops. The week before, the farmer who volunteered to use his land at Hannington, Wilts, as a test site destroyed the crop on the orders of the farm's trustees. Captain Fred Barker said he had been keen to examine the possibilities of GM crops but his trustees were opposed to the government-run trials and were unhappy that other crops on the farm were to lose their organic status because of the trial. The 26-acre crop of GM rapeseed was planted at Easter. The company which developed the GM crop seeds, AgrEvo, said it was "deeply disappointed" at the trial being aborted.
Prof Hutton, a professor of history at Bristol University said the protesters had no doubt targeted the site because it would be high profile with the coming of the solstice. But he said: They have damaged part of our history while demonstrating about our future, which is crazy.
Two years ago strange symbols were painted on the stones by vandals. Prof Hutton said removing the paint would be costly and would damage lichens on the stones which were of great biological interest. He said Avebury, which is situated in the middle of a village, was a large site which was more difficult to fence off than Stonehenge. Fencing off the site would be impractical and tragic, he said.
Source: BBC News (18 June 99)
Summer solstice clash at Stonehenge
New Age travellers invaded Stonehenge on June 21st, spoiling Summer Solstice celebrations before British riot police moved in to clear the ancient stone circle and arrested 22 people.
Under cover of darkness, hundreds of travellers stormed through the fence surrounding the prehistoric monument and police in riot gear, backed by dogs and horses, responded by evicting some 1,000 people from the site. They literally trampled down the fence and ran into the stones, jumping over them, sitting on top, hurling all sorts of objects at police, said a spokeswoman for Wiltshire police in southwest England. They were throwing all kinds of things and we believe there has been some damage to the stones themselves, she said.
There is a history of violent clashes between police and New Age travellers, whose alternative lifestyle often leads to mass congregations at summer festivals, ecological protests and anti-authority demonstrations. The travellers have been angered by tough new laws that enable police to crack down on mass gatherings in the name of maintaining public order. They believe police use the laws to victimise them and punish them for leading a non-conformist life.
Police, since the 1980's, have banned revelers from holding solstice ceremonies at the ancient ring of stones. But last year, for the first time in a decade, the druids were allowed to gather inside the ring to mark the longest day of the year. English Heritage had believed that limited access would help defuse tension and prevent some of the trouble seen in recent years. However, the storming of the circle, which had been signalled in underground magazines and on the internet, forced the 150 people allowed onto the ancient site in Wiltshire, including Druids and astrologers, to abandon their solstice rituals.
English Heritage director of Stonehenge, Clews Everard, said a small group of people had ruined the organisers' hard work. These people were not celebrating the solstice, she said. What they were doing had nothing to do with spirituality, they're just a minority that has ruined it for the majority.
There's a disappointment and also a great sadness, Emma Restell-Orr, joint chief druid of the British Order of Druids, told BBC radio. The greatest sadness is perhaps seeing people standing and dancing on top of the stones. It's not only dangerous for them, it's desecration of a sacred site.
Druids, a pre-Christian religion of the Celts, have long been drawn to Stonehenge, one of a number of prehistoric monuments on Salisbury Plain.
Sources: Associated Press, BBC News, CNN News, Reuters (21 June 99)
