The March/April 2009 Issue of British Archaeology Magazine

Submitted by Andy B on Monday, 16 February 2009 Page Views: 2376

In this issue: Woodhenge is a 5,000-year-old ritual site close to Stonehenge, excavated 80 years ago. It was similar to Stonehenge, after which it was named, but made of oak. Now a new Woodhenge has been found in Staffordshire, at Catholme near Alrewas. With five concentric rings of postholes that would have held 200 posts, this is the first such structure to be found outside Wessex – and at 50m across, it is the second largest known.

It did not stand alone. Nearby was a unique timber monument archaeologists are calling the Sunburst, with 12 lines of pits radiating out from a circular ditch. This was 60m across, and may have had a grave at its centre (bone did not survive). These timber monuments date to about 2500BC. Nearby was a ritual earthwork known as a cursus, built 1,000 years earlier.

ON THE COVER: WHERE STANDS BRITAIN’S ARCHAEOLOGY?
A pastiche of a 1947 Picture Post cover introduces a major feature by the director of the Council for British Archaeology on the state of archaeology in Britain. Picture Post was devoted to the country’s then economic crisis, and featured a Bill Brandt photo of Stonehenge in the snow – the weather was harsh then, too. With many jobs tied to the construction industry, archaeology is now suffering from the recession. As the government seems to lose faith in the significance of heritage, Mike Heyworth considers the recent achievements, and the new challenges, facing archaeologists who seek to protect and understand our heritage

WELSH FIND MAY BE KEY TO MYSTERIOUS MOUNDS
A rare bronze age (1500BC) wooden trough and water channel may hold the key to understanding one of Britain’s commonest yet least understood ancient sites, known to archaeologists as “burnt mounds”. Waterlogged conditions at the excavation at Porth Neigwl, north-west Wales, had preserved not only the timbers, but the residue from the trough’s last use – a small pile of burnt stones and charred debris.

THE BAD TEETH DIVIDEND
Plants have always been essential to human diet, but we imagine ancient people hunting, not collecting salads. And archaeologists find lots of butchered animal bones, but plant remains very rarely survive. Karen Hardy has been examining dental calculus, which is common on the teeth of excavated human remains, and has found it contains microscopic remains of eaten plant foods. This is a new science that could open up a lost world of food and eating in Britain and beyond

WROXETER
The first excavation at Wroxeter, a village in rural Shropshire that has given its name to the fourth largest town in Roman Britain, was 150 years ago. It is time to excavate there again, says Roger White, as he considers the work of earlier archaeologists. There is a all-day meeting about this at the London Society of Antiquaries on Friday February 6

REGULARS INCLUDE

* Spoilheap
Is it time to invest your pension in Odyssey Marine Exploration, the company that claims to have found HMS Sussex and HMS Victory?
* Mick’s travels
Mick Aston goes to Salisbury
* In view
Archaeology is popular in Europe: a recent German TV series had an audience of 30 million
* On the web
World Heritage Sites, and the new Council for British Archaeology website,
* My archaeology
Harrison Birtwistle talks about music and landscape

British Archaeology is a bimonthly members’ magazine that is also available by subscription, and in larger WH Smith stores, Borders and the best independent newsagents

You can also now read parts of the Jan/Feb 2009 Issue on the CBA web site.

Contributor Bio for Andy B: Megalithic Portal Founding Editor.

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