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<< News >> Ancient henge [timber circle] discovered near city

Submitted by PaulM on Tuesday, 04 January 2005  Page Views: 5833

Neolithic and Bronze AgeCountry: England County: Cheshire Type: Timber Circle

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Poulton Timber Circle
Poulton Timber Circle submitted by blingo : Digging of post holes (Vote or comment on this photo)
Wiltshire may have Stonehenge but now Cheshire has a wooden henge after archaeologists made the discovery near Chester. Researchers working at Poulton, on the Duke of Westminster's land, were amazed to find the Bronze Age burials they had been investigating were preceded by a much earlier 'ritual' presence.

A circle of holes indicated the existence of the wooden henge together with a large hole in the centre which was potentially a form of 'totem pole'.

Now Durham University is to undertake both soil analysis and the dating of wood fragments.

Site director Mike Emery said: 'This will firmly place the burial ground and the timber circle in their proper historical context, as well as providing valuable environmental evidence, which will help to recreate what life was like thousands of years ago.'

Mr Emery said examples of such circles were more commonly located in the south, and had been interpreted as ritual monuments that were the precursors of more famous monuments, such as Stonehenge.

He added: 'The uncovering of the site of a timber circle, possibly a 'henge' monument, is of great and rare importance in the north-west.'

Mr Emery said this earliest phase was currently under excavation and a more detailed report would be given in 2005. 'What can be stated is that the Poulton site was part of a ritual/religious landscape that was established some 5000 years ago,' he commented.

Archaeologists have discovered evidence of human activity at the site from several periods of human history. And the 2004 excavations have proved to be the most successful to date.

Work on the Bronze Age Burial Ground (1600-1000BC) is now complete. Cremated human bone has been found along with coarse, hand-made pottery and animal bone fragments.

The causeway into the area is aligned to the position of Orion's Belt in the summer sky. It also aims, unerringly, for a gap in the Cheshire Sandstone Ridge.

It is now evident that the ring-ditch is one of several, others being located close by.

Mr Emery says the importance of the Poulton Bronze Age 'barrow' group cannot be underestimated. 'The existence of such a burial group opens up the unique and exciting prospect of locating a Bronze Age village, nearby,' he said. 'Such settlements are rare.'

Within the medieval graveyard (1153-1600 AD) 63 complete, or partial, skeletons were excavated to the west of the Chapel Tower. One group of burials was particularly poignant. This consisted almost entirely of children, two of whom had their hands clasped together.

Further evidence of the Romans (90-410AD) was unearthed consisting of a mass of pottery and building material.

Mr Emery said test-trenches suggested the remains of a substantial Roman building lies 'tantalisingly close by'. A planned programme of more extensive geophysical survey will aim to pinpoint the focus of Roman activity.

Source: icCheshire, 4 January 2005

Note: New photos of the dig from Blingo

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"Ancient henge [timber circle] discovered near city" | Login/Create an Account | 8 News and Comments
  
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Re: Ancient henge [timber circle] discovered near city by astronomer on Wednesday, 05 January 2005
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Which just goes to show what I have been saying, archaeoastronomy is alive and well in Cheshire. By the way, Orion is a winter constellation, cant be seen in summer.

There is also the curious association between Poulton Abbey and its astronomically orientated henge and the Bridestones, 5 miles from Leek's double sunset solsticial alignment and Diulacres abbey...relocated from Poulton in 1214.

Looks like the Cistercians were attracted to prehistoric sites.
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Ancient henge [timber circle] discovered near city by Anonymous on Wednesday, 05 January 2005
    a leading astronomer has backdated the night sky in our area of the midlands to what it would have been 9,000 years ago, would it if possible to put this to all sites ? I am not an astronomer.arthur, burbage,leicestershire.
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      Re: Ancient henge [timber circle] discovered near city by astronomer on Sunday, 09 January 2005
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      Hi Arthur. Allowing for precession of the equinoxes, from the present back to the prehistoric past, the sky would have been essentially the same across the British Isles within about a 5 degree variation from southern England to the north of Scotland. To compute the sky back to 7000BC is asking a lot. It can be done, but most available software only goes back to around 2000BC. It becomes rather academic before then.
      [ Reply to This ]
    Re: Ancient henge [timber circle] discovered near city by astronomer on Sunday, 09 January 2005
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    Slight mod to the above coment. In 2000BC Orion rose just south of east at about 2am in early August.
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Ancient henge [timber circle] discovered near city by PaulM on Tuesday, 04 January 2005
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Simple answer is no - not at the moment. I have emailed the project to find out about any open days - I'll take it from there.
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Re: Ancient henge [timber circle] discovered near city by Andy B on Tuesday, 04 January 2005
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Do you have a grid ref to put it on the map?
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Re: Ancient henge [timber circle] discovered near city by PaulM on Tuesday, 04 January 2005
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For more on the Poulton Project visit:

http://srs.dl.ac.uk/arch/poulton/index.shtml
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Re: Ancient henge [timber circle] discovered near city by PaulM on Tuesday, 04 January 2005
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Excellent discovery in an area rich in archaeology.
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