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Sites under Threat: Experts probe Iron Age horse burials at Nosterfield Quarry
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Submitted by PaulM on Sunday, 10 October 2004 Page Views: 3172
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  The skeletal remains of four Iron Age horses are helping archaeologists to shed new light on the history of a village. The horses were discovered lying nose-to-tail in a ritual burial during excavations at Nosterfield Quarry, near Ripon, North Yorkshire reports This Is The North East.
The results of carbon-dating tests show they date back to about 50AD, shortly after the Romans set foot in Britain.
Archaeologist Mike Griffiths, whose team has been carrying out investigations funded by Tarmac Northern, said: "Ritual multi-burials of horses are rare and a find of this nature helps us to know more about the Iron Age people who lived in this area 2,000 years ago."
The burial pit - or barrow - containing the remains was discovered earlier this year as archaeologists from Field Archaeological Specialists, based at York University, watched over the removal of topsoil at the sand and gravel quarry.
Zooarchaeologist Steve Rowland, who made the find, said: "Two of the skeletons were virtually intact, but the other two had been damaged through ploughing of the land in previous years and it was only after further investigation that we were able to confirm the full extent of the burial and understand its ritual significance."
Details about archaeological discoveries at Nosterfield can be found on the website www.archaeologicalplanningconsultancy.co.uk/mga/projects/noster
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| "Experts probe Iron Age horse burials at Nosterfield Quarry" | Login/Create an Account | 4 comments |
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Re: Experts probe Iron Age horse burials at Nosterfield Quarry (Score: 1)
by PaulM on Sunday, 10 October 2004
(User Info | Send a Message) | From the Ripon Gazette
Horses find shows that we are not riding roughshod through archaeology -
Tarmac
Quarry firm Tarmac has faced bitter criticism from campaigners fighting to
protect the prehistoric Thornborough Henges and has been accused of
destroying archaeological remains in the same area. But nothing could be
further from the truth, the company tells Lee Sobot.
Earlier this year, the skeletal remains of four horses were discovered at
Nosterfield Quarry, near West Tanfield.
A fragment was sent for carbon dating in Scotland and the recently revealed
results tell us that the horses date back to the Iron Age - in this case
about 50AD.
The horses were lying nose to tail, suggesting something remarkably
ritualistic about the find. The skeletons are now being stored at Kings
Manor in York, part of the University.
Discoveries like this are rare, highly significant and of major
archaeological interest.
So who discovered them? It was Tarmac, the firm that stands accused not
caring about the archaeology of the area.
Tarmac say discoveries like these are proof they want to preserve
archaeology, quite the opposite of destroying it.
"Quarrying in the UK has provided us with a massive amount of archaeological
finds" says Mike Griffiths, the site's archaeologist employed by Tarmac.
"I have been doing this since the 1960's and I am happy to say that more
archaeological information has come through quarrying than any other
source".
Mr Griffiths began looking at the Nosterfield Quarry and Ladybridge Farm
sites ten years ago. He is paid by Tarmac to ensure they are not quarrying
land containing significant archaeology. He must also ensure any archaeology
found is removed and recorded.
Over the years, field walking, test pitting, trial excavations, geophysical
surveys and sieving and sampling have been among the performed by Mr
Griffith's team.
The discovery of four Iron Age horses at Nosterfield Quarry proves that
Tarmac and Mr Griffiths are doing their job and the skeletal remains are by
far the most significant discovery on the site.
But Mr Griffiths says he can assure campaigners, including Friends of
Thornborough, that similar finds are unlikely to exist at Ladybridge Farm,
set to be quarried in 2006 if planning permission is granted. After years of
research he says he knows best.
"The Iron Age horses are a significant find and are probably connected to
the Romans," he says.
"But there is not as much archaeology here as people say. We have done the
work, we have done the topsoiling and we know. I get really annoyed when
people say Tarmac are not bothered about archaeology and just want to
bulldoze their way through - people have misconceived what Tarmac are
about."
"We strip the area first to check for archaeology and every single discovery
is recorded and reported."
Mr Griffiths says that, unfairly, he and Tarmac are on a loser as regards
any archaeological investigations, despite the fact that Tarmac have spent
£420,000 researching the archaeology of Nosterfield Quarry and Ladybridge
Farm. If archaeology is found "we told you so" will be the response from
campaign groups like the Friends of Thornborough. If not, Tarmac will be
seen to be quite literally, hiding the facts.
"Now we are producing the results of our archaeological studies and we are
not producing the picture that people want to see," says Mr Griffiths.
"But we are producing the real picture. A lot of emotion has got into this
but we are producing the facts and it is time that some of that emotion was
d
Read the rest of this post... | [ Reply to This ]
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Re: Experts probe Iron Age horse burials at Nosterfield Quarry (Score: 1)
by coldrum on Tuesday, 19 October 2004
(User Info | Send a Message) | | Here we go again.......... | [ Reply to This ]
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Re: Experts probe Iron Age horse burials at Nosterfield Quarry (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Wednesday, 30 March 2005 | Whatever they say
Whatever they do
They just don't love it
Like me and you
Come for Beltane and show them how much we love it | [ Reply to This ]
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