Out now, the September/October 2007 issue of British Archaeology

Submitted by Andy B on Saturday, 11 August 2007 Page Views: 2035

A classic British site under threat
Star Carr, near Pickering, Yorkshire is known to all archaeologists as the classic ancient European hunter-gatherer camp site, occupied around 11,000 years ago, before farming reached Britain. The camp's lakeside location, and its pioneering excavation in 1954, led to the survival and recovery of a unique collection of wood, bone and antler artefacts. Research in the area has continued to the present day, revealing that much of the site still remains below ground and that many other camps, some with further rarely preserved artefacts, are dotted along what was once the shore of a lake. However it now appears that the peat which preserved these artefacts is drying out. Within five years this unique insight into early Europeans could disappear.

Excerpts of this issue are online at British Archaeology

* Roman fort found in Cornwall
A Roman fort not far from Restormel castle, above the river Fowey, has been
confirmed by geophysical survey. It makes a pair with a very similar fort
already known at Nanstallon, above the river Camel. Though only 9km apart,
they are strategically sited to oversee traffic moving eastwest along the
ridge that separates the Bristol channel and the English Channel. The
magnetometer survey was conducted by members of the Saltash Heritage
(Tamarside Archaeology Survey)

* Full scale of ancient Welsh stone quarry revealed
Only six neolithic stone quarries are known in Britain, of which Mynydd
Rhiw, on the Llyn peninsula in north Wales, was thought one of the smallest.
New research has shown the quarried area to be at least 400m across, making
it a significant source of rock for stone axeheads. Radiocarbon dates the
quarry use to 37503100BC and again around 24002200BC

* Let Lucy sparkle
An icon of world heritage is soon to be displayed in Houston, Texas. Named
Lucy after a Beatles song, the 3.2 million-year-old fossil has had a huge
impact on our understanding of the anatomy and capabilities of the
australopithecines, one of the key groups that preceded the first Homo
species. Yet prominent anthropologists would stop the tour. Jill Cook,
deputy keeper of the Department of Prehistory and Europe at the British
Museum, argues against the view that only a chosen few might see the
evidence for the beginnings of humanity. Full text online

* Lifting the veil on Anglo-Saxon England
There is nothing new about Paris fashions or their influence on the English.
In the mid 6th century AD, the women of east Kent took up a clothing style
which they had borrowed from their neighbours across the Channel. This was a
front-fastening coat, made from diamond twill, with geometrically patterned
borders at the front edges and clasped by a pair of bow brooches. This was
discovered by Penelope Walton Rogers, who has undertaken a major study of
Anglo-Saxon graves and settlements, and found a surprising story: that of
clothes, textiles and the women who made them

* Solving the jade axe mystery
Neolithic jade axeheads, made over 5,000 years ago, are amongst the most
beautiful objects from prehistoric Britain. A few had been found here over a
century ago, and the number grew as the years passed. But where had they
come from? Alison Sheridan describes new work by French archaeologists using
reflectance spectroradiometry, that looks finally to have cracked the
problem, and traced their origins to rare stone quarries over 1,000km away,
high in the Italian Alps

* Archaeologist who fought for history¹s underdogs
Peter Ucko, one of the great and controversial achievers in world
archaeology, has died. We remember a controversial figure who changed
forever the worlds he touched, particularly in archaeological and indigenous
politics. Full text online

* Ambassador sees peace message in museum
At the recent launch of new archaeological galleries at the British Museum,
Rasoul Movahedian, Iranian ambassador to the UK, pleaded for 'peace and
friendship', suggesting that museums expressed 'a common message of human
cultural heritage'

* Walking archaeology
One of our most popular features is Mick's travels, in which Mick Aston
writes about the hidden archaeological stories behind some of the locations
he visits while filming with Time Team. With this issue we introduce a new
regular extra that picks up on Mick's theme and looks in more detail at some
of the places you can visit. Written by historical writer Jon Cannon, More
travels combines a gazetteer with insights into a region¹s historical
character. This issue: County Durham

* Excavating a unique prehistoric fort if tha'¹s what it was
At Sutton Common, South Yorkshire ancient earthworks stood in wet ground
that had preserved wooden posts in the postholes. In 1980 they were
bulldozed. Robert Van de Noort and Henry Chapman report on a vast excavation
designed to record what survived of a unique iron age 'marsh-fort'

* Barrows, bones and badgers
Last August with the help of a bomb disposal team Gwilym Hughes and
Polly Groom excavated an unusual cemetery in Pembrokeshire. It promised to
reveal much about early historic Wales, but badgers had been there before
them and scattered human remains all over the site

British Archaeology magazine is available bimonthly in larger WH Smith
stores, Borders and the best independent newsagents, and by subscription.

Excerpts of this issue are online at British Archaeology

Contributor Bio for Andy B: Megalithic Portal Founding Editor.

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