 |
October 1999 | |
 5,500 year old tomb discovered in Ireland
Archaeological excavations on the south-eastern edge of the Burren in Co Clare (Ireland) have revealed one of the most extensive and well-preserved prehistoric landscapes in Europe.
At the Roughan Hill site archaeologists have uncovered a megalithic tomb over 5,500 years old. It is in a preserved prehistoric landscape set among contemporary neolithic/early Bronze Age farmsteads, settlements and field walls. According to Dr Carlton Jones - director of Burren Archaeology Research, a private company - the excavation of the system, which includes five settlements, could be hugely important in revealing the prehistoric rural lifestyle of Ireland's first farmers.
Dr Jones said that the excavation was very significant in a European context to uncover a whole visible, preserved prehistoric landscape. He said the prehistoric site at Roughan Hill formed part of a thriving farming community that lived here from about 4000 B.C. through 2000 B.C.
The archaeologist said Ireland's earliest farmers chose the south-eastern Burren because of the light, welldrained soil and the gentle typography. The site contained the densest concentration of neolithic wedge tombs in the country, which date from 2400 BC to 2000 BC. The oldest monument on the hill was a court tomb dating from 3500 BC. The findings also suggest that the Irish settled down earlier than people from other "Atlantic fringe" countries, such as Denmark, Germany, France and Portugal.
To date, two of the three chambers in the court tomb - the name derives from a large forecourt in front of the entrance - which measures 15 metres in diameter, have been excavated. The third chamber is to be opened up next year.
Within the excavated chambers, the archaeologists found leaf-shaped arrowheads, a bone bead from a piece of jewelry, tools called scrapers that may have been used to scrape cow hides, sherds of coarse ware pottery and human bones mixed with animal bones. A cow skull was found at the base of one of the stones in the forecourt. "These are the very first farmers in Ireland and so their identity is wrapped up in being farmers, so the occurrence of human bone and animal bone together in the tomb is more representative of what is important to them in life." Dr Jones added that within the tomb piles of bones could be found, though they were not full skeletons. "The bodies seem to have been left elsewhere until they turned to bones and the selected bones are then taken to the tomb where they are placed in patterns."
Dr Jones estimates that excavation on the tomb will take another two years, while there are plans to extend the excavation.
Sources: The Irish Times (8 september 99), ABC News (18 october 99)
News from the Miami stone circle
In July of 1998, Florida archeologists began a routine excavation after being notified that a developer wanted to build a $126 million apartment complex on a potentially important archeological site. What they found at the mouth of the Miami River was a pattern of a circle cut into the limestone bedrock - evidence that a prehistoric culture lived at the mouth of the Miami River about two thousand years ago. The Miami-Dade county seized the land and blocked the development of the construction site after the discovery of the stone circle.
Within the 38-foot diameter stone circle, were post holes, two hand axes and several hand axe fragments. There's no consensus on the inhabitors, nor the use of the site. Thought to belong to the ancestors of the Tequesta Indians, indigenous to South Florida, some say the structure was for sacred ceremonies, while others believe it was the site of a native chief's house. But now, an analysis of the stone tools is refining the interpretations.
Geologists at the University of Miami studied fragments from the hand axes to determine their origin. Archeologists knew right they weren't from the Miami site originally, because the tools were made of basalt, a hard, volcanic rock. The only stone native to the area is limestone. A thorough examination of the hand axes revealed that the rocks contained low levels of titanium, sodium and potassium. With this information in hand, the scientists were able to pinpoint the source of the tools - to central Georgia, near Macon, 850 kilometres away.
"Rocks can't fly. The axes had to be traded here from outside the state," says Christopher Eck, director of the Miami-Dade Division of Historic Preservation. And just like the downtown Miami site is now used as an international port, the same location most likely served as a port of trade, hundreds of years before the Europeans arrived. The trading, however, didn't just occur at the 'port', but up the Florida coast and into the northern states, probably through intermediary tribes. Copper is not native to Florida, and is typically found in the Great Lakes region.
"They might have traded to a tribe further up into Florida and from there, that tribe traded on to another and made its way to Georgia. And then from there, to say, some place like the Great Lakes for the copper," explains Eck. "So, what you see is that there is this linkage between the people here in Florida and in Georgia and elsewhere." This knowledge is significant, says Eck, because it shows that the prehistoric peoples were not living in isolation, but reaped the benefits of civilized interactions between tribes.
"I think a lot of peoples' perceptions of what prehistoric people were like, is that they were these very uncivilized, perhaps superstitious, very unsophisticated people. What this shows is that there was a level of trade sophistication, and concern with items that were not locally available - that they could get by interacting with people from beyond."
Sources: Discovery Channel, Nando Media (24 september 99)
A London bridge 3000 year old
Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a massive 3000-year-old oak bridge on the Thames foreshore at Vauxhall. Wide enough to let two carts pass, the structure was built in the middle of the Bronze Age, a millennium and a half before the Romans erected what was always thought to have been the original London Bridge a couple of miles downstreamin what is now the City.
The remains - the most significant prehistoric find in London - were unearthed during the three-year Thames Archaeological Survey. The oak posts are up to two feet in diameter and likely to have weighed several hundred pounds each. They are set in the ground pointing inwards between 12 and 14 degrees from the horizontal. Archaeologists believe the posts crossed diagonally in a scissors construction in order to support a platform perhaps 15ft wide. The bridge might have led from land to a midstream island or been part of a crossing of the entire river.
Source: London Evening Standard (17 september 99)
Ancient face carved on Stonehenge
Has the face of the creator of Stonehenge been staring at us unrecognised for over 4000 years? Terence Meaden, a British archaeologist with a fascination for the ancient megalithic monuments of Britain, claims to have recognized a face carved into the side of one of the mighty stones at Stonehenge.
It is the first face ever seen on the Neolithic monument and one of the oldest works of art ever found in Britain. "I just happened to be there at the right time of day because only when the light is right you can see it properly. During the summer months it is only obvious for about a hour each day around 14:00" says Meaden. It is amazing that it has never been recognized before, but Dr Meaden believes that it was missed because previous researchers concentrated on the fronts of the standing stones and not their sides. The particular viewing conditions to see it at its best will have also played a part in it not being seen. "But once you see it it's obvious," he says. The carved face seems to carry a serious expression, almost a frown, as it looks across the Salisbury plain.
Stonehenge was built about 2450 BC but why does Dr Meaden believe the carving was made at the time and was not done much later? "Why would anyone do that?" he asks. "The type of stone, sarsen, is one of the hardest stones known to man. It would have taken hundreds of hours working on a platform to do it. Why bother?"
Meaden's photographs are being evaluated by other archaeologists. He also claims that other faces can clearly be seen on the Avebury stones not far from Stonehenge.
But who is the face of Stonehenge? "We will never know," says Meaden. "He could be the patron of the monument or even its architect. Perhaps the designer of Stonehenge has been looking at us for four thousand years and we didn't see him."
Source: BBC News (15 october 99)
The unlucky barber comes back to Avebury
One of Britain's best known archaeological finds, thought destroyed in the Second World War, has been rediscovered tucked away in a museum storeroom. The barber-surgeon skeleton dates from more than 500 years ago and was found during an excavation of the giant stone circle at Avebury, Wiltshire, in 1938.
The skull and upper torso of the tradesman, found with his medical probe, scissors and 13th century coins, provide a link to a crucial moment in the Neolithic monument's history, as it faced destruction in the Middle Ages. He was killed by a falling stone, as the circle was being demolished.
The rediscovery was made in a storeroom in London's Natural History Museum by Michael Pitts, the former curator of the Alexander Keiller Museum at Avebury. He told BBC Radio Four's Today programme: "It is very exciting, it is a most extraordinary thing. I was actually looking for something different, a skeleton from Stonehenge. But when I found it, I discovered it was stored with 100 other skeletons, one of which was the barber-surgeon."
The skeleton was sent for analysis to the Royal College of Surgeons, shortly after it was found. But the college sustained three direct hits during a wartime bombing raid in 1941 and archaeologists feared the skeleton had been destroyed. But research by Mr Pitts revealed that the college actually transferred some of its materials to a safe underground store in the Natural History Museum, and he was able to locate it, still undamaged.
He added: "During the 1938 excavations it was discovered that some of the stones had been buried in the Middle Ages, and some of the stones broken up." Archaeologists believe this may have been to clear land for farming, but a more favoured theory is that the stones were broken up because the church disapproved of their Pagan associations.
Source: BBC News (19 october 99)
English Iron Age fort discovered
An Iron Age fort has been discovered in the heart of a huge housing estate in Valley Park at Chandler's Ford (England).
Archaeological excavations in Zionshill Copse have unearthed bone and pottery dating from between 400 to 50 years BC. That means the Valley Park site forms the remains of a middle Iron Age sub-rectangular settlement which was constructed at a comparable time with the famous Danebury Hill Fort on the outskirts of Stockbridge, near Winchester.
The system of ditches and banks was discovered during an archaeological earthwork survey of Valley Park woodlands, west of Knightwood Road, at the end of last year.
Dr Roy Entwhistle of Berkshire Archaeological Services was commissioned to undertake recent excavations to establish whether it dated from the Iron Age or was the remains of a medieval hunting lodge.
Local councillor Alan Dowden said: "An Iron Age settlement in Valley Park has officially been established. It is about 100 by 120 metres. It is right in the woodland and, obviously, there is general public access. They are going to have to do a lot more work now."
A Test Valley Council spokesperson said: "The preservation condition of the site is excellent and the evidence that has been produced indicates an important site".
Source: Southern Daily Echo (15 october 99)
The Iceman found in Canada isn't very old
Initial testing indicates artifacts found with an iceman frozen in a Canadian glacier are about 550 year old, not thousands as many people had originally speculated.
Archeologists are still very interested in the discovery, announced with much fanfare in August, because the remains still predate regular contact between Europeans and North American natives.
"Human remains in a frozen state dating to precontact times are extremely rare, as are the associated well-preserved artifacts made with organic materials", officials said in a news release about the preliminary radiocarbon test results.
Scientists conducted the initial tests on the artifacts - including an animal fur cloak and weaved wood-fiber hat - found with the human remains, because the testing of the body itself is a more complicated process. Archeologists believe people have lived in that region of North America for at least 10,000 years, leading to widespread speculation the remains were significantly older than they now appear to be.
Source: Reuters (30 september 99)
Britain's stalest bread unearthed
Two pieces of Stone Age bread baked more than 5,000 years ago have been found at an archaeological dig at Yarnton in Oxfordshire.
The oldest bread found in Britain, it appears to have been accidentally burnt and thrown into the bottom of a pit. The same pit contained a large flint knife and other tools, fragments of pottery and charred hazelnuts. Carbon dating of the bread by independent laboratories in Oxford and New Zealand determined that it had been made some time between 3620 and 3350 BC. The tiny pieces of bread, less than half an inch across, were found during a dig by the Oxford Archaeological Unit at a quarry.
Gill Hey, the senior archaeologist at the unit, said the bread was discovered when the soil was rinsed with water. "Because it had burnt, the bread was very light and floated to the surface."
The bread is made of coarsely ground grains; only barley can be clearly identified. Dr Mark Robinson of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History said the grains would have been mixed to produce flour, which was made into dough and baked, probably on stones over an open fire.
Source: The Times (8 october 99)
Pagans protest against a Christian burial
Pagans have protested against a decision to give the bones of a Bronze Age man a Christian burial. They claim that, since the man was born at least a thousand years before Christ and probably worshipped trees and animals, it was wrong to "inflict" the ceremony on his remains.
The 3,000-year-old skeleton was uncovered in 1943 in the back of one of the three main caverns, since named the Bone Cave, in South Wales and has been on display to the public ever since, alongside a few crude grave goods found with him. Its and other remains belonged to members of a Bronze Age community that would have been 30 or 40 strong and who, for most of the year, lived in wooden huts outside the caves, kept animals and farmed the land.
The young man, who is believed to have died of injuries inflicted during a battle with a rival tribe, was reinterred in a 2ft wooden casket at a ceremony performed by a Church in Wales vicar. The box was laid to rest in the centre of a stone circle recently erected at the Dan-yr-Ogof show caves as part of the complex's millennium celebrations, alongside a "time capsule" containing work by local schoolchildren.
Welsh pagans, who prefer druidical rites, are disappointed that they were not invited to participate in the reburial because they believe that they have more in common with the prehistoric warrior than the Rev David Phipps, minister of the nearby parish of Abercrave. Mark Kay, a member of a local Celtic pagan group, which calls itself Isis Brigantia, said: "This man lived a millennium before Christ and would have been beyond any doubt a pagan who worshipped a number of animal gods. His belief system was completely different from that of Christians. There would be a hell of a stink if Christian remains were dug up and given a pagan burial."
Dr Phipps insisted that he had made the ceremony as "sensitive" and as brief as possible. He said: "We live in a Christian culture and, at the end of the day, we all believe in a God. Pagans are of course entitled to their views, but I personally think they are wrong."
Source: The Times (22 october 99)
Bronze-Age site found in Lebanon
An archeological site from 2000 BC was accidentally unearthed in Wadi Khaled, Lebanon. The discovery was made by workers installing a water pipeline in Rajm last week after accidentally digging through a tomb believed to date back to the Bronze Age. Notified about the finding by local authorities, the government office dispatched archeologist Samar Karam to inspect the site.
Karam ordered the site closed and asked that digging on the pipeline be diverted; the new site will be monitored by local police.
The agency's acting director-general, Asaad Saif, said the Directorate-General of Antiquities was now carrying out a survey on all antiquities and archeological sites in Lebanon. The results will be published by the government agency when the studies are completed. "The publication will be issued after the survey and will serve as an archeological map of Lebanon," he said.
The project is the first of its kind in Lebanon. Saif said the study would permit archeologists responsible for managing their heritage to do precise work with spot excavations, hopefully shedding light on different historical periods in Lebanon.
Source: The Daily Star (27 september 99)
|
|
