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Stones Forum >> Artefacts and discoveries during development in Europe
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Artefacts and discoveries during development in Europe |
Andy B
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|  Posted 19-12-2011 at 23:22
More from Must Farm quarry, could do with a site page for these:
Bronze Age boats discovered at a quarry in Whittlesey
Bronze Age boats, spears and clothing dating back 3,000 years and described as the "finds of a lifetime" have been discovered near Peterborough.
Archaeologists from the University of Cambridge have unearthed hundreds of items at a quarry in Whittlesey.
The objects, discovered at one of the most significant Bronze Age sites in Britain, have been perfectly preserved in peat and silt.
It is thought the settlement burned down in about 800 BC.
David Gibson, project manager for the excavation, said: "It is giving us a 3-D vision of this community that we only see very rarely in the world, let alone in this country."
Ropes, buckets and wooden spoons as well as swords and spears with their handles intact have been found at the site, which lies along the old course of the River Nene.
Six boats hollowed from the trunk of an oak tree, some with extensive carvings, have also been discovered on the site.
'Finds of a lifetime'
Bronze Age boats The boats were discovered three metres below the modern-day surface
It is thought the community would have lived on the river, fishing for perch, pike and eels.
The remains of a nettle stew have been discovered in a wooden bowl.
"Convincing people that such places were once thriving settlements takes some imagination," Mr Gibson said.
"But this time so much more has been preserved - we can actually see everyday life during the Bronze Age in the round. These are the finds of a lifetime."
The discoveries were uncovered three metres below the modern-day surface in places as part of the university excavation, which started in August and is expected to end in February.
But the importance of the finds could mean the site will be investigated for several years to come.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-16113008
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Andy B
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| Posted 19-12-2011 at 23:24
[Can someone work out if we have 'Stadel cave' listed already?]
Solving the Mystery of a 35,000-Year-Old Statue
Archeologists have discovered previously unknown fragments of a figurine known as the "Lion Man," and are piecing it back together. Could the 35,000-year-old statue actually represent a female shaman? Scientists hope to resolve a decades-long debate.
Using a hand hoe and working in dim light, geologist Otto Völzing burrowed into the earth deep inside the Stadel cave in the Schwäbische Alb mountains of southwestern Germany. His finds were interesting to be sure, but nothing world-shaking: flints and the remnants of food eaten by prehistoric human beings.
Suddenly he struck a hard object -- and splintered a small statuette.
It was 1939 and Völzing didn't have much time. He had just been called up to serve in the military and World War II was about to begin. He quickly packed the pieces into a box and the excavation, which was being financed by the SS, was terminated on the same day.
For the next 30 years, little heed was paid to the pieces. But then, they were reassembled to create one of the most impressive sculptures of the Paleolithic Age.
Called the Lion Man, it is fashioned from the tusk of a mammoth and stands about 30 centimeters (12 inches) tall. Its creator polished it with saliva and leather -- and an experiment showed that it likely took the sculptor about 320 hours to carve the figure.
Copies of the famous ice age treasure are now on display in New York and Tokyo. The original, however, is heavily damaged -- and no one knows exactly what it looks like. Many fragments were overlooked in the cave when the prewar dig was so abruptly terminated. The figure achieved its current form in 1988. It consists of 220 parts, but about 30 percent of the body is still missing. Large segments of the surface have broken off.
The poor condition of the figurine has only made it more mysterious. Is it meant to represent a mythical creature, or a shaman hiding under an animal hide? Are the six stripes on the left upper arm meant to depict scarification marks or something else? And what was on the right arm, which is missing?
The genitalia are also unrecognizable. German archeologist and Upper Paleolithic expert Joachim Hahn has interpreted the small plate on the abdomen as a "penis in a hanging position." Elisabeth Schmid, a paleontologist, classified it as a pubic triangle.
It was the beginning of a bitter dispute over the gender of the small idol that erupted in the 1980s and continues to this day. The statue has been made into an "icon of the women's movement," says Kurt Wehrberger of the Ulm Museum, the owner of the precious object.
More, with photos at
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,802415,00.html
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Runemage
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| Posted 22-12-2011 at 22:25
Called the Lion Man
It's a lioness, lions have huge manes. Why would a male wear a female animal representation? Or were those species of lions as presumably figuratively depicted so vastly different to the ones we see today?
Must say it's a fabulous carving, I'd love to see the real thing.
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bat400
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| Posted 26-02-2012 at 22:14
Iron Age human remains have been discovered in a County Laois bog.
The remains, understood to be those of a young woman, were found by an employee of Bord Na Móna who was operating a milling machine in the Cul na Móna bog between Abbeyleix and Portlaoise on Wednesday evening.
Initial examinations of the prehistoric remains suggest the victim may have been a human sacrifice between 2,000 and 3,000 years ago. The National Museum of Ireland said the victim’s legs were well preserved but that the torso and head appeared to have been lost. The remains will be removed to the National Museum in Dublin for further examination in the coming days.
There have been over 100 bog bodies found in Ireland, but many were not well preserved.
According to Irish Peatland Conservation Council: “For thousands of years the bogs, through their extraordinary preservative qualities have kept ancient remains intact that would have otherwise perished on dry land; such as the bodies of unwary travellers trapped in the bog, or prehistoric track ways; and sometimes even whole villages and farms.”
Bogs can be treacherous places and it is likely that some of the bodies found in the peat were those of travelers who slipped into bog pools and were trapped. Other bodies found in bogs are deliberate burials.
The first time an opportunity arose to examine an Irish bog body in detail occurred in 1978 when a body was discovered in Meenybradden Bog, Co. Donegal. The body of a young girl aged between 25 and 30 years old was discovered during hand turf cutting in Meenybradden Bog, near Ardara, Co. Donegal in 1978. The naked body was wrapped in a woollen cloak, of a style worn in the Middle Ages, which served as a shroud. The body had been carefully placed in a grave that had been dug in the bog about 1m below the surface.
A body found in 1821 at Gallagh, near Castleblakeney, Co. Galway and was radiocarbon dated to 2,040 years old, indicating that it belonged to the Iron Age. The body of a man lay at a depth of 3m in the bog. It was not conserved at that time because the technology of freeze-drying which is used today had not been invented.
The National Museum of Ireland has two well-preserved Iron Age bog bodies on permanent display. The bodies were found at Oldcroghan, Co Offaly, and Clonycavan, Co Meath.
Thanks to coldrum for the link: http://www.irishweatheronline.com/news/history/archaeology/iron-age-body-discovered-in-irish-bog/31582.html
_________________________________________
And later, on 17 August 2011:
Experts at the National Museum of Ireland believe the body accidentally discovered in a bog in County Laois could be that of a sacrificed Iron Age Irish king. The body displays various cuts that show the man was killed in a ritual killing associated with kingship.
An expert in the field, Ned Kelly, spoke to the Journal about the new theories. He explained “Irish kings in the ancient period were replaced after a number of years. The old king would be sacrificed and a new king chosen. It ties in with their religious beliefs surrounding the solar deity (male) and the deity of the land (female). The king ties in with the solar cycle – the waxing and waning of the sun.
The idea was that the king was married to the sovereignty, or the land. The goddess would become old and withered and she would need a new young consort to return her to youth and vigor and beauty. So the old king would be killed and a new one take his place. They wouldn’t have been that old, either.”
The area where the body was accidentally found by turf cutters is of particular interest to historians and archaeologists as it is on the border of two ancient Irish kingdoms.
Kelly said “All of the other bog bodies were found on significant boundaries. The idea is that because the goddess is the land, by inserting bodies and other items relating to their inauguration as king along the boundaries, it gives form to the goddess.”
Initially the body was examined on site. They experts had believed that it was the body of a young woman and that her torso had been separated from her lower limbs. They had thought that her torso decomposed because it was wrapped in leather. However, once the body was removed from the bog and re-examined in cold storage at the museum they realized that the body was simply in a very contorted position. What they had thought was a leather bag was in fact the man’s torso.
Thanks to coldrum for the link: For more (and phots) see http://www.irishcentral.com/news/3000-year-old-bog-body-is-likely-sacrificed-Irish-king-127898048.html
[ This message was edited by: bat400 on 2012-03-10 17:52 ]
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bat400
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| Posted 10-03-2012 at 05:17
Mesolithic 'rest stop' found at new Sainsbury's site
Archaeologists believe the remains of burned oak uncovered at the site of the first Sainsbury's in the Highlands to be evidence of an ancient "rest stop".
The supermarket and a filling station are being constructed on the outskirts of Nairn, at a cost of about £20m.
Headland Archaeologists investigated the site ahead of building work. They radiocarbon-dated the hearth to the Mesolithic period, which started as the last Ice Age ended about 12,000 years ago.
In a report published on Highland Council's Historic Environment Record site, the archaeologists said the fire appeared to have been made to provide heat and not cooking, because no food waste was found.
They added: "The dating of a feature from charcoal is problematic since the wood that was being burned may have been felled a long time before it was used.
"Activity in the area during the Mesolithic period is known from the discovery of a number of small flint tools along the Culbin Sands in Nairn.
"The lack of any other Mesolithic dating on the site suggests that there was no settlement in the area, and that instead the hearth represents a temporary rest stop."
Nomadic hunter-gatherers may have been attracted to nearby Culbin Sands because of its woodland wildlife, or to fish along its shoreline, according Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS). FCS manage forestry in the area.
During the Mesolithic period, Britain was transformed from a peninsula to an island. It is thought that landslides in Norway - the Storegga Slides - triggered a massive tsunami when a landlocked sea burst its banks.
The water struck the north-east of Britain with such force it travelled 25 miles (40km) inland, covering low-lying plains in water or turning it into marshlands.
Sainsbury's is not the first supermarket chain to have ancient history uncovered at its building sites.
A Bronze Age burial site was found at the location of the first Asda supermarket in the Highlands. Archaeologists recorded an area of cremation pits surrounded by a ring ditch at Slackbuie, in Inverness.
Almost 2,000 flints were also recovered from the field on the city's distributor road where the store is being constructed.
Pieces of Neolithic pottery known as Unstan Ware were also discovered during digs led by Edinburgh-based NG Archaeology Services.
Thanks to coldrum for the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-14189794
[ This message was edited by: bat400 on 2012-03-10 17:53 ]
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bat400
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| Posted 11-03-2012 at 06:19
Iron Age people gave interiors of dwellings a decorative streak
Archaeologists in Saxony-Anhalt have discovered a 2,600-year-old wall painted in bright patterns. It reveals that Iron Age houses were not the drab constructions they were once thought to be.
The State Museum for Prehistory in the eastern German city of Halle put part of the prehistoric clay wall on display on Monday. The wall was apparently part of a sprawling, Iron Age human settlement.
“We know now that prehistoric times were not grey but rather that prehistoric houses were colourfully painted,” Saxony-Anhalt state archaeologist, Harald Meller, said. It was the greatest Iron Age wall painting discovered north of the Alps, he said.
The dominant colours are red, beige and white. For pigments, the prehistoric painters used substances such as iron oxide, which gives the reddish, ochre colour. The design shows typical ornamental patterns from the Iron Age such as triangles and S-shaped hooks, but also symbolic characters.
“The painted wall possibly decorated the front of an important house,” Meller said.
Archaeologists discovered the wall two years ago during an excavation of the site for a new high-speed train line, near the village of Wennungen, about 40 kilometres southwest of Halle.
The wall had been broken up into about 1,500 individual pieces over time. Experts have spent much of the past two years putting the pieces back together like a giant jigsaw puzzle. The final product is a section of wall two metres long and 1.5 metres tall.
The prehistoric site near Wennungen was spread out, once covering a piece of ground the size of more than 200 football fields.
One piece of the wall will be shown from 2012 as part of a permanent exhibition that also features the famous 3,600-year-old Nebra sky disc, a bronze object about 30 centimetres in diameter depicting celestial bodies in gold on a blue-green background.
Thanks to coldrum for this link: lhttp://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20110808-36825.html Go there for more information.
[ This message was edited by: bat400 on 2012-03-11 06:45 ]
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bat400
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| Posted 20-03-2012 at 18:55
A Bronze Age gold ring found in a Hampshire field has been declared as treasure by a coroner.
The 3,000-year-old double ring was found by Winchester artist Alan Cracknell in February 2010 in a field at Headbourne Worthy.
He was using a metal detector and thought the artefact was an old bottle top when he first picked it up.
Following the ruling at Winchester Coroner's Court, ownership of the ring passes to the Crown.
The ring is only 16mm in diameter and experts believe it was probably used to hold hair together 3,000 years ago.
Mr Cracknell said: "I think that's what's so fascinating is its age. It's been tossed around in the plough soil for many hundreds, thousands of years and it's still in the same place that it was lost."
It will now be valued by the British Museum and Winchester Museum is hoping to buy the ring.
Mr Cracknell and the landowner will share a reward based on the value.
Thanks to coldrum for the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-17289513
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bat400
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| Posted 20-03-2012 at 19:32
MORE treasure has been found in Furness, in the form of a gold ring from the Bronze Age.
The find, believed to have been made by a local man within the past six months, was declared as treasure at an inquest on Friday. Mr Ian Smith, coroner for South and East Cumbria, acted on advice from the British Museum.
Having studied the ring, museum experts reported it was made of rolled-up gold sheet and dated back to between 1300BC and 1100BC.
Mr Smith said: “In their view, because of it’s precious metal content, and its age, it amounts to treasure. I accept that view.” The coroner could not say where in Furness the ring was found, as it could lead to copy-cat treasure-hunters scouring the spot.
The find will now go before the British Museum’s valuation committee, before a new home is found for it.
Because the ring is treasure, museums will be given the first option of expressing an interest in it, rather than it going to open auction.
Sabine Skae, collections and exhibitions manager at Barrow’s Dock Museum, said this was great news, as otherwise the museum could be priced out of the running.
She said: “The find is quite rare for this area. We’ve got a very strong archaeology collection, but we don’t have anything like this – it would definitely complement the collection well and we’d really like to get hold of it.
“We only collect things that have been found in this area, so we’re limited in that way. We’ve got a lot of fantastic axe heads, for example, but in terms of Bronze Age objects, we don’t have an extensive collection.”
Despite treasure finds being rare for Furness, this is the second time within a year a discovery has been made.
Over the Easter weekend last year, a Viking hoard of 92 silver coins and artefacts was found by a metal detectorist. Valued at tens of thousands of pounds, the find was the first of its kind in the area.
Ms Skae is working hard to bring it home. She said: “If we manage to get the Furness hoard back to Barrow, which is really important for me, I’d like to have an archaeology gallery. And who knows, this latest find could be on display there too.
Thanks to coldrum for the link: http://www.nwemail.co.uk/
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bat400
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| Posted 21-06-2012 at 17:55
World's 'oldest fish trap' found off coast of Sweden
Wooden fish traps said to be some 9,000 years old have been found in the Baltic Sea off Sweden, possibly the oldest such traps in existence. Marine archaeologists from Stockholm's Sodertorn University found finger-thick hazel rods grouped on the sea bed. They are thought to be the remains of stationary basket traps.
"This is the world's oldest find when it comes to fishing," said Johan Ronnby, a professor in marine archaeology.
The remains of seven basket traps were found in a submerged ancient river valley off Sweden's southern coast at a depth of 5-12m (16.5-40ft), Mr Sjostrom said. Many examples of similar traps had been found in other parts of the world, he added.
Only one of the baskets has been carbon-dated and is estimated to be around 9,000 years old, the Associated Press news agency reports.
Thanks to coldrum for the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18331340
[ This message was edited by: bat400 on 2012-06-21 17:58 ]
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bat400
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| Posted 01-07-2012 at 05:42
Ancient Graves Reveal When Elderly Gained Power
It's not easy to study the elderly in a society where life was all too often cut short by disease, childbirth and injuries. But new research on people living in the Bronze Age suggests the elderly began to gain power over a 600-year period in Austria.
The findings rely on skeletal aging and a comparison of objects placed in graves of individuals of different ages. As time passed in the small farming hamlets of lower Austria, researchers reported online July 15 in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology, older men began to be buried with copper axes, a privilege not granted to younger men. That might indicate that in some ancient societies, the elders were in charge, said study researcher Jo Appleby, a research fellow in archaeology and anthropology at the University of Cambridge.
"It also shows that within the past there was change in one small area in quite a limited time period," Appleby told LiveScience. "We can't assume that the elderly will have good status or bad status in any given context."
Researchers often assume that in ancient societies, the elderly had power. But Appleby noted that in modern life, older people are often shunted aside. We assume they're forgetful or degenerating, she said. The question was whether our ancestors would have thought the same, or whether they really did respect their elders.
Appleby used data from two cemeteries in the Traisen valley of Austria. These cemeteries were the final resting places for Bronze Age farmers that populated the region about 4,000 years ago. The older cemetery was used between 2200 and 1800 B.C., while burials at the more recent cemetery took place between 1900 and 1600 B.C.
Appleby turned up some intriguing patterns. In the earlier period, older women tended not to be buried with certain objects that appeared more frequently in younger people's graves. But the elderly "[had] some of the richer objects, it was just that particular things weren't found with them," she said. For example, unlike their younger counterparts, older women didn't get buried wearing necklaces made of dog teeth.
Later, in the newer cemetery, this age differentiation vanished. Women wore different items than female children, but the age at which a woman died made no difference in her grave goods.
For men, age was at first irrelevant to jewelry and burial objects at both cemeteries. But over time, men who outlived their contemporaries seemed to gain a certain status. Unlike younger men, these older men were buried with bronze axes instead of stone ones. Metals would have still been rare and valuable at the time, Appleby said.
"There was this physical association where men who looked old and had certain types of injuries had access to these axes," she said. "We might see that as indicating that these people actually were the leaders."
Thanks to coldrum for the link. For more, See http://www.livescience.com/15400-ancient-graves-reveal-elderly-gained-power.html.
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bat400
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| Posted 10-07-2012 at 18:16
Excavation of a Solutrean campsite in Brantome (Dordogne), southwest France
Since November 2011, a team of archaeologists from L’Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (Inrap), have been excavating the site of a Solutrean hunters camp in Brantome (Dordogne), southwest France, prior to the construction of a waste management plant.
Archaeological evaluation, conducted in October 2010, revealed the presence of Palaeolithic activity buried more than two metres deep. Full excavation revealed a prehistoric hunters camp dated to the Solutrean period, during the last glacial maximum making it over 20,000 years old.
The extent of the site and it’s preservation – including a rich assemblage of lithic objects – is remarkable. Within the camp, on the south shore of Brantome Island archaeologists have excavated the remains of structures that were previously undisturbed and were able to identify areas of specialized activities in both the production and use of various tools.
Although any bone fragments have been lost due to soil acidity, it seems that this camp was the location for butchering, cutting and processing the carcasses of large herbivores, including deer and horses, hunted nearby.
Several thousand flints were unearthed by archaeologists, who have identified areas of production for sophisticated stone tools, such as the typical laurel leaf projectile points, notched blades and flat-faced points that are characteristic of the Solutrean culture.
As in other sites of the late Solutrean, the quality of some bifacial pieces, including the “laurel leave” type, show that the flint-knappers of this culture from the Upper Palaeolithic had acquired an expertise unrivalled during Prehistory; these pieces are thin and slender and have been crafted with extreme care – remarkable for both their symmetrical beauty and their cutting performance. The site has provided a large number of blanks and fragments, showing a large scale production of tools was taking place here.
Solutrean flint knappers had access to many quality materials on the alluvial terraces of the Island, including; flint nodules; pebbles of quartzite; dolerite and shale which was not only used for producing tools but also for construction of dwellings. The study of the lithic industry material from the camp at Boulazac highlights the origin of several non-local materials. Many tools come from Bergerac, about 50 km away, or Fumélois, on the right bank of the Lot more than 70 km away.
The site will become part of an interdisciplinary study by French and foreign specialists including geomorphology and stratigraphy and technological analysis of stone tools and materials, micro-morphological examination, along with thermoluminescence and carbon 14 dating.
Thanks to coldrum for the link. For more in including photographs, see http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/06/2012/excavation-of-a-solutrean-campsite.
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bat400
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| Posted 10-07-2012 at 18:31
'Inhabitants of Madrid' ate elephants’ meat and bone marrow 80,000 years ago
Humans that populated the banks of the river Manzanares (Madrid, Spain) during the Middle Palaeolithic (between 127,000 and 40,000 years ago) fed themselves on pachyderm meat and bone marrow. This is what a Spanish study shows and has found percussion and cut marks on elephant remains in the site of Preresa (Madrid).
In prehistoric times, hunting animals implied a risk and required a considerable amount of energy. Therefore, when the people of the Middle Palaeolithic (between 127,000 and 40,000 years ago) had an elephant in the larder, they did not leave a scrap.
Humans that populated the Madrid region 84,000 years ago fed themselves on these prosbocideans' meat and they consumed their bone marrow, according to this new study. Until now, the scientific community doubted that consuming elephant meat was a common practice in that era due to the lack of direct evidence on the bones. It is still to be determined whether they are from the Mammuthus species of the Palaleoloxodon subspecies.
The researchers found bones with cut marks, made for consuming the meat, and percussion for obtaining the bone marrow. "There are many sites, but few with fossil remains with marks that demonstrate humans' purpose" Jose Yravedra, researcher at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and lead author of the study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science points out to SINC.
This is the first time that percussion marks that showed an intentional bone fracture to get to the edible part inside have been documented. These had always been associated with tool manufacturing but in the remains found, this hypothesis was discarded. The tools found in the same area were made of flint and quartzite.
The team, made up of archaeologists, zooarchaeologists and geologists from UCM, the Institute of Human Evolution in Africa (IDEA) in Madrid and the Spanish National Research Centre for Human Evolution (CENIEH) in Burgos, collected 82 bones from one elephant, linked to 754 stone tools, in an area of 255 metres squared, in the site of Preresa, on the banks of the river Manzanares.
In the case of the cut marks on the fossil remains, these add to the "oldest evidence of exploiting elephants" in the site of Áridos, close to the river Jarama, according to another study published by Yravedra in the same journal. "There are few records about the exploitation of elephants in Siberia, North America and central Europe", the zooarchaeologist explains.
The internal organs were what the predator ate first, be they human or any kind of carnivore. The prehistoric signs of the banquet help researchers to find out who was the first to sit down at the table, as the risk of hunting an elephant posed the question as to whether humans hunted it or were scavengers.
"This is the next mystery to be solved" Yravedra replies, who reminds us that there is evidence of hunting in other smaller animals in the same site. However, due to the thickness of fibrous membranes and other elephant meat tissues, humans did not always leave marks on the bones. "And for this reason, sometimes it is difficult to determine if humans used their meat".
Thanks to coldrum for the link. For more, including the 'Holy Grail' of Palaeolithic diet, see http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-04/f-sf-om042412.php.
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bat400
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| Posted 02-09-2012 at 07:45
A leading archaeologist has described the discovery of what is a likely “prehistoric” antler hammerhead at a Burren cave as hugely exciting.
Dr Marion Dowd of IT Sligo said a 10-day excavation at a small cave on Moneen Mountain outside Ballyvaughan, Co Clare, also produced the “poignant” discovery of a skeleton of a teenager thought to have sought shelter in the cave.
Carbon dating found the skeletal bones date from the 16th or 17th century.
The skull of the skeleton and the antler hammerhead were discovered by cavers last June, prompting the National Museum Service to fund the excavation led by Dr Dowd last August.
She presented the results last night in the Burren village of Tubber at a Burrenbeo talk and said the cave was used in the Bronze Age or 3,000 years ago and again at the end of the medieval period.
Dr Dowd said “the discovery of the fabulous antler hammerhead is hugely exciting. I can’t find any other parallels in Irish archaeology.”
The antler came from a red deer stag aged over 6½ years old. She said the hammerhead “is likely to be prehistoric” but tests have yet to be completed to confirm the date.
Thanks to coldrum for the link: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0322/1224313701886.html
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bat400
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| Posted 02-09-2012 at 07:50
GRAVES from a Roman cemetery and buried prehistoric artefacts are among the discoveries identified in the latest searches by the South Yorkshire Archaeological Service
Experts from the service carry out examinations of proposed development sites around the county to ensure secrets from the past are not misses.
One of their latest discoveries involved checking aerial photographs of land earmarked for a new school and gospel hall on Todwick Road, North Anston.
In their report, archaeologists said: “A study demonstrates the application area sits within a landscape of later prehistoric and Roman features visible as crop marks.
“There is, therfore, potential for archaeological remains relating to these periods to exist on site.” The report recommends a search of the site for remains.
Meanwhile, excavations at Waterdale, Doncaster town centre, have found evidence of a Roman cemetery.
Archaeologists reported: “Between 20 and 30 individual burials were identified, along with a number of complete cremation urns, pottery, glass vessels and oil lamps. Bulk samples indicate evidence for feasting and votive offerings and some burnt material is suggested to be the site of a funeral pyre.”
Other findings include evidence of a possible iron age settlement and fields on a site at Goldthorpe Industrial Estate.
A trackway and Romano-British field boundaries, dating back about 2,000 years, were found buried beneath land at Outwood Academy, Doncaster.
Thanks to coldrum for the link: http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/news/local/prehistoric-and-roman-remains-are-discovered-1-4339119" TARGET="_blank"> http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/news/local/prehistoric-and-roman-remains-are-discovered-1-4339119>
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bat400
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from South Central Indiana, US
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| Posted 31-01-2013 at 18:08
Storms expose iron age skeleton
SHETLAND’S pre-Christmas storms have revealed remains of an iron age building and a human skeleton believed to be 2,000 years old. Archaeologists said a structure was briefly exposed at Channerwick before being buried again by a rockfall over the festive period.
Before it disappeared from view, police officers and archaeologists were able to investigate the site and take a bone sample for radiocarbon dating.
Shetland Amenity Trust assistant archaeologist Chris Dyer said: “The skeleton, initially reported by a local resident, looked as if it were contemporary with the Iron Age remains.
“The original burial now lies under several tons of fallen bank and the Iron Age structures have also disappeared from view.”
County archaeologist Val Turner added that during the investigation she and freelance colleague Samantha Dennis discovered evidence of at least one, and possibly two other burials.
In South Nesting as much as a metre has been lost of an Iron Age site at Gletness.
And a Viking site above the beach at the Easting on Unst, originally excavated and consolidated by the Unst Archaeology Group and Glasgow University, has been partially lost to the sea.
“Shetland Amenity Trust’s archaeology section would be keen to hear from anyone who knows of other sites which may have appeared or been eroded by the storms," Turner said. “We are hoping that once we have an indication of just how great a problem has been created in the last few weeks, we will be able to formulate an action plan.”
Not exactly "during development." Thanks to coldrum for the link. For more, see http://www.shetnews.co.uk.
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bat400
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from South Central Indiana, US
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| Posted 01-02-2013 at 18:29
Neolithic pottery at Culduthel section of Inverness flood scheme
Neolithic pottery excavated ahead of work on a £16m flood scheme has added to archaeologists' understanding of a city's past.
Pits containing fragments of ceramics were recovered from the site in the Culduthel area of Inverness.
Archaeologists were brought in ahead of construction of phase three of the city's south west flood relief channel.
Iron Age weapons and a Romano-British brooch have been found previously at other sites nearby.
Ross and Cromarty Archaeological Services carried out an assessment of the flood scheme site between December 2010 and January 2011.
The archaeologists' report on what they found has been published online.
Six Neolithic pots were identified and fragments of pottery from the early to middle Neolithic and later Neolithic grooved ware were recovered.
Other finds included a piece of polished stone axe, half of a stone ball and a possible fragment of an anvil stone.
Between 2005 and 2007, significant finds were made at Culduthel Mains Farm, which is now a housing development.
A high-status Iron Age metal-working site with well preserved roundhouses and iron-smelting furnaces was recorded there.
Glass beads, iron weapons and a Romano-British brooch were found along with evidence of an oval-shaped palisade enclosure nearby.
In its report, Ross and Cromarty Archaeological Services said the latest discoveries were "important evidence" to add to what was already known about Culduthel's past.
Thanks to coldrum for the link. For more, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news.
[ This message was edited by: bat400 on 2013-02-01 18:30 ]
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ryszard
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from Canada
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| Posted 08-02-2013 at 20:22
How often is GPR (Ground penetrating radar) used in investigating incidental archeological finds during present day so-called "development" in Europe?
Its advantages and difficulties are well summarized here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-penetrating_radar
How expensive is it?
Surely not more expensive than the halting of work for the traditional and somewhat primitive "dig"?
Is anyone aware of any rules concerning such finds and further development of a site in Britain or the rest of Europe? In Rome in years past, & I suppose now, any find of archeological significance immediately stopped further work on the site. This was given as a reason for no modern development on any great scale in the city.
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davidmorgan
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from The New Forest
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| Posted 08-02-2013 at 20:58
How often is GPR (Ground penetrating radar) used
I guess it's used sometimes, but, as you say, it has limitations. It appears to be catered for in the Valletta Treaty:
Article 3
To preserve the archaeological heritage and guarantee the scientific significance of archaeological research work, each Party undertakes:
iii. to subject to specific prior authorisation, whenever foreseen by the domestic law of the State, the use of metal detectors and any other detection equipment or process for archaeological investigation.
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