Skeleton unearthed at Stonehenge was decapitated
An ancient skeleton excavated from Stonehenge (England) has revealed a grisly execution at the famous site.
The skeleton was unearthed in 1923 but was thought to have been destroyed in 1941 by the Nazi bombing blitz on London. At that time, it was being held at the Royal College of Surgeons, which suffered three direct hits. However, the chance discovery of a letter by an archaeologist researching a book led to the skeleton's re-discovery in May 1999 at London's Natural History Museum.
Modern analysis techniques show that the skeleton belonged to a man aged about 35 who had his head cut off by a sword. The male skeleton dates anywhere from 100 B.C. to A.D. 1000, and it had been thought that his death was the result of natural causes. However, Jacqueline McKinley, of Wessex Archaeology, discovered a small nick on the lower jaw and a cut mark on the fourth neck vertebra. This clean cut from behind, and his single grave, suggest an execution with a sharp sword, rather than a death in battle.
A bone sample is being analyzed using carbon-dating techniques at Oxford University. Meanwhile, Paul Budd at the University of Bradford has analysed the ratios of lead, strontium and oxygen isotopes in the skeleton's tooth enamel to determine the geology of the victim's home territory. So far they have a picture of a thirty-something 1.65-metre man who grew up in southern England. He also had protruding front teeth.
The discovery has thrilled archaeologists who see it as compelling evidence that the prehistoric site remained a place of symbolic importance in Roman or Saxon times.
Archaeologist Mike Pitts - who helped relocate the skeleton - speculated the man could have been a local chief or Druid priest, symbolically executed by the Romans to make a political statement. Alternatively, he may have been a wrongdoer beheaded by the Saxons for political or religious misdeeds, suggesting that Stonehenge - the name derives from the Old English word Stanhenges, meaning "stone gallows" - was a judicial execution site.
Only one other complete skeleton from Stonehenge exists. It was excavated in 1978 from the ditch around the circle. The man had died in a hail of flint-tipped arrows.
Two other skeletons have been found. One was probably a Roman, and was reburied at Stonehenge in 1922. The other was excavated in 1926 from the centre of the circle and was possibly contemporary with the site, but has now been lost.
Sources: BBC News (9 June 2000), ABC News (13 June 2000), Fox News (14 June 2000), New Scientist (17 June 2000)
Swedish Rock Art site in danger
The rock carvings around Tanum in northern Bohuslän (in Sweden) runs the risk of being removed from the UNESCO World Heritage List. The reason is the plans by the Swedish National Road Administration (Vägverket) to build a motorway straight through the area.
These Bronze age rock carvings was included to the prestigious list of priceless natural and cultural environments five years ago. But now the UN organisation focus on Bohuslän and the organisation is ready to reconsider its decision, says Sveriges Radios Ekoredaktion. The National Road Administration have presented two alternative routes for the new road through the Tanum area. One of the alternatives cuts straight through the of rock carvings very dense area around Vitlycke.
"The connection with the surrounding landscape would be lost if the landscape should be divided by a motorway", says Anita Larsson Modin, the head of the rock carving museum at Vitlycke.
According to Per-Erik Winberg, the leader of the E6 project at the National Road Administration, the alternative that save the rock carving area is 230 million SEK (about US $ 24 millions) more expensive, and the road is also going to be longer. It is not yet decided which of the alternatives that the National Road Administration are going to choose. The final decision might depend on the choice of Swedish Minister of Industry Björn Rosengren. Leading local politicians in Tanum seems to think that the motorway is more important than the status of the area as World Heritage.
Sources: Göteborgs-Posten (14 June 2000), BRITARCH Mailing List (15 June 2000), Gunnar Creutz/Stone Pages Archaeo Forum (16-26 June 2000)
Unforeseen obstacles for the Millennium Stone project
Some experts believe bluestones from the Preseli Hills in southwest Wales were heaved 240 miles on sleds and boats to Stonehenge in about 2150BC. By 2000BC, sarsen stones were erected, with the largest weighing in at 50 tonnes. Within 150 years, the bluestones were rearranged in the horseshoe and circle seen today. Originally, there were 60 stones in the circle but many have since crumbled.
The ill-fated Millennium Stone project has attempted to recreate to journey of one of these stones from Pembrokeshire (Wales) to the ancient site in Wiltshire (England) but the bluestone's progress had been hindered by a series of unforeseen obstacles. Volunteers found dragging the stone harder than expected and managed about one mile a day rather than the three they had hoped for. The journey was further delayed by tired volunteers failing to turn up for towing duty. On the last leg of the 20-mile overland journey the sled was towed off in the night by pranksters, but was later recovered.
The project nearly stroke disaster when the stone, which was being carried on a platform between two replica Stone Age boats, broke its securing ropes in heavy seas and vanished into 60 feet of water. Dillwyn Miles, a Welsh historian and long-standing critic of the Millennium Stone project, said yesterday: "I'm not in the least bit surprised that this has happened. The whole thing is a complete fiasco, utterly insane and a total waste of money. The £100,000 ($151,000) grant from the Millennium lottery fund should have been spent on something deserving instead of this farce."
After ten days the three-ton stone was lifted from the sea. It was lying off Milford Haven and Royal Navy reservists winched it up using salvage vessels. The journey, organised by the rural development group Menter Preseli, had already been criticised as a waste of public money. Critics pointed out that the modern landscape was so different from that of prehistoric Britain that success would be virtually meaningless.
Sources: BBC News, Fox News, The Times (20 June 2000), The Stones Mailing List (30 June 2000)
Summer solstice celebration at Stonehenge
Amid the beating of drums, the sound of cheers - and, in fine English fashion, the pouring rain - thousands of revelers celebrated the summer solstice at the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge.
For the first time since 1984, English Heritage - which manages the circle of stones on Salisbury Plain in southern England - allowed observers to watch the sun rise on the year's longest day at the ancient monument, 80 miles southwest of London.
The sun was not forthcoming, but that didn't seem to bother the 6,000-strong crowd of druids, New Age followers and curiosity-seekers. Samba drummers mixed with robed druids, and thousands of revelers packed the center of the stone circle as dawn came at 4:44 a.m.
"People came here to party, to celebrate," said Stephen Wilson of the Council of British Druids. "It's the first solstice of the millennium."
In contrast to previous years, Wiltshire police, who had 40 officers at Stonehenge, made only two arrests during the eight hours the site was open. "It was most definitely a success," said an English Heritage spokeswoman. "We were delighted at the large turnout and we will consider more managed open access in the future."
Revelers were banned from holding solstice ceremonies at the 5,000-year-old site in 1985 after clashes with police. In 1998, English Heritage allowed 100 people to gather within the encircling rocks at dawn to celebrate the summer solstice as part of a step toward admitting larger crowds. Last year, Stonehenge was opened to 150 druids who planned a sunrise ceremony. But about two hundred people crashed the event, clambered on the stones and clashed with police. Sixteen people were arrested, and others remained there in defiance of police, prompting the cancellation of the druid celebration.
Sources: Washington Post (21 June 2000), Fox News (21 June 2000)
Waste plan threats Irish ancient site
Archaeology of "national and international importance" has been identified on one of the proposed sites earmarked for landfill in the draft Connacht Waste Management Plan, in Ireland.
According to a report carried out for Ballydoogan, Kilkrickle and District Heritage Group by archaeologist Mr Jim Higgins "Almost all" of the town land of Ballinahistle in east Galway has evidence of archaeological significance or potential, and any landfill development would cause "substantial damage" to a large number of features. Among these features are a newly discovered souterrain; a ring fort; a ring barrow or mound from the late Bronze or early Iron Age; ritual sites; hilltop burial cairns; holy wells; and two villages.
Mr P.J. Burke, a spokesman for the heritage group which commissioned the study, has called on the Galway county manager to adhere to the statutory obligations contained in Environmental Protection Agency guidelines, and EU directives on archaeology, in relation to site selection for landfill. The underground passage or souterrain discovered during the survey "could be the next Newgrange", he said.
Source: The Irish Times (29 May 2000)
U.S. prehistoric campsite excavated
Archaeologists are uncovering a possible camp site for prehistoric nomads thousands of years ago near Rock Springs (Wyoming, U.S.A.). "This one is just golden," said Terry Del Bene, U.S. Bureau of Land Management archaeologist and historian.
The site, a few miles northeast of the FMC soda ash plant, has been named the Blue Point Site after a prominent geological feature in the area. Digging began in the summer of 1999. No human remains have been found, Del Bene said. However, many remains of rabbits and different plants have been uncovered.
"This is an early site which has been occupied several times over thousands of years," he said. Dave Johnson, field supervisor for Western Archaeological Services, said artifacts found at the site date back 9,500 years, 8,200 years, 7,300 years, 6,400 years and 5,400 years.
Prehistoric humans probably kept coming back because the site used to be an intermittent lake that sustained plants and animals, he said. The prehistoric humans were nomadic, following their food sources and thus did not stay for extended periods in one area, Johnson said. Del Bene said the nomads' harsh lifestyle probably kept them from living much past their mid-30s. The Blue Point Site provides some evidence of domesticated dogs, although the issue is still being debated, he said.
The site was discovered during a survey by FMC in the early 1980s. Nothing was done until the company planned a pond expansion in the 1990s and further evidence of the site's significance was discovered.
Source: The Billings Gazette (20 June 2000)
Strategy for the future of Stonehenge
UK Culture Secretary Chris Smith launched the publication of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site Management Plan. The Plan, which is a formal requirement by UNESCO, provides a strategic framework for the management of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site landscape.
Launching the Plan Culture Secretary Chris Smith said: "The Stonehenge World Heritage Site Management Plan is vital to the future of the Stones and to the protection of the surrounding World Heritage Site. I am delighted that there has been such a positive response to the public consultation from so many interested bodies and local people. It illustrates how we are all working together towards a sustainable approach to the future management of Stonehenge and an approach which balances both archaeological and nature conservation with visitor access and farming."
The main aims of the Management Plan are to :
* provide objectives for the management of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site landscape to conserve its unique interest;
* outline a sustainable approach to the future management of the World Heritage Site encompassing archaeological and nature conservation as well as visitor access and farming;
* identify the economic and cultural benefits of Stonehenge without damaging the archaeological resource; and,
* promote the conservation, understanding and, where appropriate, improvement of the World Heritage Site for all those who visit Stonehenge and live or work in the area.
The publication of the World Heritage Site Management Plan serves to underpin the future developments to Stonehenge as outlined in the Stonehenge Master Plan. What the official press release doesn't say is that the Management Plan and the Master Plan are in obvious conflict with one another. The first aims to protect the world heritage site, the second to put a 50m wide trench staight across it.
Sources: DCMS press-office (6 June 2000), BRITARCH Mailing List (7 June 2000)
