Featured Title:
Journey to the Stones |
|
|
The Seven Wonders of the World £4.50+p&p |
|
|
Login |
Don't have an account yet? You can create one. As a registered user you have some advantages like your own Home Page, configurable settings and your contributions link to your page. |
Who's Online |
There are currently, 88 guests and 2 members online.
You are an Anonymous user. You can register for free by clicking here |
Instant Chat |
| | | Registered users can chat here, live! | | |
|  |
Feature Articles: Scientific dating gives prehistoric past a human face
|
Submitted by Andy B on Tuesday, 14 August 2007 Page Views: 1806
|
External Links:
   Comparison of Neolithic Burials submitted by Andy B
More precise dating of human bones previously discovered at a prehistoric site has suggested that the Neolithic Age was marked by more violence than traditionally imagined.
Wayland’s Smithy, a chambered long barrow 2km from the Uffington White Horse, Oxfordshire, consists of two monuments. In the 1960s the remains of 14 people, three of whom were probably killed by arrowshots, were discovered inside the smaller and earlier mound. Dating research carried out by English Heritage with the help of Cardiff University and University of Central Lancashire is now able to narrow the date of their burials to within a decade or so, between 3590 and 3560BC. This opens up the possibility that these people could have died together as a result of a massacre, possibly in a scramble for land or a cattle raid.
Michael Wysocki, Senior Lecturer in Forensic and Investigative Science at the University of Central Lancashire, said: “We know one person was shot through the lower abdomen because we have found the tiny tip of a flint arrowhead embedded in their pelvic bone. We also know that the bodies of two people were scavenged and partially dismembered by dogs or wolves before their remains were buried in the monument. All this new evidence suggests that the period between 3625 BC and 3590 BC may have been one of increasing social tension and upheaval.”
This ground-breaking dating programme also helps to dispel the traditional view that Neolithic long barrows such as Wayland’s Smithy were used over centuries. Instead, their use is now revealed to be short lived and intensive. Few barrows were used for more than three to four generations. Wayland’s Smithy was probably used for under a decade. Such short timescales support the impression of small communities keeping alive memories of their immediate kin and people they know, rather than some tribal ancestors or past heroes.
Most importantly, the programme throws light on the differences in which communities treated their ancestors. The end of the active use of four Neolithic sites in South West England – Ascott-under-Wychwood, Hazleton, West Kennet and Fussell’s Lodge - was previously thought to be separated by centuries. By combining radiocarbon dates with archaeological information using Bayesian statistics, researchers have now been able to reveal that these sites, which are long barrows used as burial chambers, all ended their burial within a decade or so of 3,625BC.
Because each of the sites were closed differently and human remains were deposited in diverse ways, archaeologists have up to now tried to explain their differences as proof of changing customs over time. By showing these sites to be contemporary, the research provides a dramatically new window on the Neolithic period, suggesting that societies then were much less homogeneous and static than previously thought.
The differences are stunning and reveal the choices made by different communities within the same generation. At Fussell’s Lodge the wooden chamber was consumed by fire; at Ascott-under-Wychwood the entrances were blocked; at Hazleton burial ended, but people returned to place offerings in the passages; at West Kennet, burial simply stopped.
Alex Bayliss, radiocarbon dating expert at English Heritage, said: “Prehistorians till now have only been able to assign the people whom they study to imprecise times. As a result, prehistory is often seen as a fuzzy period, a timeless stretch in which nothing changes for long periods. With this research, we can now think about the Neolithic period in terms of individuals and communities and make useful and revealing comparisons between their choices and behaviour in the remote past.
“This dating programme demands a revolution in our thinking about prehistory—and not just that of early Neolithic burial monuments in southern Britain. Finally, we can now think about Neolithic history – ideas, events and people at specific times over 5,000 years ago.”
Radiocarbon dating has been available to archaeologists for more than 50 years, with high-precision calibration based on wood dated by dendrochronology available for the Neolithic period in England for the last 20 years. On its own, this method provides reliable yet broad ranges for the dates of individual samples, usually spanning 250 years or more. But when combined with Bayesian statistics, a method in which samples are studied and interpreted in their archaeological context (their appearance in different layers in the soil, for example), the span can be narrowed sometimes to within a few decades.
Alasdair Whittle, Professor in the Cardiff School of History and Archaeology at Cardiff University, said: “Up to now prehistorians have tended to emphasise long-term change, in search of long-running or underlying processes at the expense of shorter- term events and succession. This dating programme will help direct the study of prehistory to get much closer to people.”
Source: University of Lancashire Press Release
|
|
 | |
The Old Straight Track, Alfred Watkins |
|
|
Auto-Translation (Google) |
|
Translate from English into:
|
|
| "Scientific dating gives prehistoric past a human face" | Login/Create an Account | 3 comments |
|
| | Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content. |
Re: Scientific dating gives prehistoric past a human face (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Friday, 17 August 2007 | | It seems that using a term like "Violent" when describing an age of mankind is inappropriate, especially when one is only describing three individuals, I guess someone just loves those sensationalist "headlines" to get your attention, and make a point for those "Brutish Brits" (that time before we became Roman slaves). | [ Reply to This ]
|
Re: Scientific dating gives prehistoric past a human face (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Saturday, 18 August 2007 | | Dosn't sound any more "violent" than modern humans! What will future achaeologists make of today's remains? It'll probably seem like an absolutely barbaric era. | [ Reply to This ]
|
|
Main News
