A Bronze Age hoard uncovered by a gardener on an island off Cornwall in 2009 is on public display.

The collection of 47 artefacts, found on St Michael’s Mount, is on display in the island’s castle.

Pieces – including axe-heads, daggers, ingots and a complete metal clasp – have been verified by the British Museum as being about 3,000 years old.

Archaeologists said the objects probably belonged to a blacksmith who had hidden them away for later use.

‘Stashed away?’

The objects were discovered by Darren Little when he was clearing ivy and found an opening in some rock.

“I first found a small axe head, and, after some more investigation, founds ingots, pieces of swords and chisels,” he said.

Although the age of the objects has been identified, archaeologists said they were not sure how they came to be where they were found.

National Trust archaeologist Jim Parry said: “They could have been stashed away when he was doing a deal and he didn’t want to bring them with him, or it could have been a safe bit of overnight storage.

“He could have had a smith’s working area in front of him and just tucked some pieces behind him, forgot about them and moved on.”

READ ORIGINAL ARTICLE AT BBC CORNWALL

Istanbul’s Sakip Sabanci Museum will showcase an exhibition on the civilization and culture of the Aegean Sea region 5,000 years ago with material provided by the Greek National Archaeology Museum in Athens and the N.P. Goulandris Foundation Cycladic Art Museum.

The new exhibition at the Sakip Sabanci Museum is expected to open at the end of May and is the first of its kind highlighting Cycladic Art in Turkey featuring a remarkable 600 pieces from Greece.

The exhibit “Karsidan Karsiya” (From One Side To Another) concentrates on the civilization and culture of the Aegean Sea region 5,000 years ago.

Between 3200 BCE and 1100 BCE the inhabitants of the Aegean islands known as the Cyclades produced unique marble figurines and vessels, bronze tools and weapons as well as ceramics. These physical items demonstrate the extensive commercial and cultural relations between both sides of the Aegean Sea through the islands during this period .

This significant Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age culture is best known for its schematic flat female idols carved out of the islands’ pure white marble, centuries before the great Middle Bronze Age (Minoan) culture arose in Crete, to the south.

The Cyclades are a group of islands in the southwestern Aegean of some thirty small islands and numerous islets. The ancient Greeks called them Kyklades, imagining them as a circle (kyklos) around the sacred island of Delos, the site of the holiest sanctuary to Apollo.

Each of the small Cycladic islands could support no more than a few thousand people in scattered communities. When the highly organized palace-culture of Crete arose, the islands faded into insignificance, with the exception of Delos, which retained its reputation as a sanctuary into the period of Classical Greece over a thousand years later.

The chronology of Cycladic civilization is divided into three major sequences: Early, Middle and Late. The early period, beginning ca. 3000 BCE merges into the less well understood Middle Cycladic ca. 2500 BCE. By the end of the Late sequence (ca. 2000 BCE) there was essential convergence between Cycladic and Minoan civilisation.

READ COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE.

“The Monkswood hoard was found in the St Catherine’s valley near Bath during the construction of a reservoir in the 1930s. It contains 38 pieces of Bronze age metalwork. This talk by Stephen Clews, Manager of the Roman Baths & Pump Room, looks at the objects in the hoard from the perspective of what they can tell us about people and society in the area around Bath nearly 3,000 years ago.”

Stephen Clews, of the Roman Baths and Pump Room, said: “Two of the hoards have been found very recently whilst one was found in the 20th Century.

“They range in date from the late Bronze Age to the medieval period and each of these talks, arranged by Bath and North East Somerset Council, has a very different story to tell, reflecting changing times and circumstances over more than 2,500 years.”

The Roman hoard discovered near Thornbury included 11,460 small coins from the Constantine period, known as nummi.

The Monkswood hoard contains 38 pieces of bronze age metalwork and was discovered during the construction of a reservoir.

The Guildhall, Bath
Tuesday 17 February 2009, 1.10- 1.45pm
Refreshments on sale from 12.45pm
Admission free

LECTURE: The Invisible Stone Circle: To See or Not to See

2:30 pm, Saturday, 21 March, 2009 at the Wiltshire Heritage Museum

A lecture by renowned archaeologist Aubrey Burl.

There are hundreds of stone circles in the British Isles. Every year hundreds of thousands of people visit them. Sometimes there is a sign, usually uninformative, occasionally inaccurate. There may be stones in a ring, tall stones, small stones, fallen stones – but nothing else. Just silence.

Yet, it is untrue. The stones tell their own story, unshaped but intentionally chosen to record the beliefs of the people who erected them. The stones are the literature distant, illiterate people left for us to read. One stone circle shows how it can be read ……

A member of the Society, Aubrey Burl was at one time Britain’s best selling archaeological author. His books on Stone Circles have been published and reprinted in many editions (with slight variations of title), and he is well known for challenging the theory that the bluestones were brought to Stonehenge from Preseli by man and has written extensively too on Avebury. For many years as principal lecturer in archaeology at Hull, he now works as an archaeological consultant and writer. He was quite particular about the choice of date for his lecture ……

Booking:

Recommended. Contact the Bookings Secretary on 01380 727369, or click here to send an e-mail.

Cost: £4.00 (£3.00 for WANHS members)

BRAG 2009 will be held on Sat 9 May at the International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies (ICCHS), Newcastle University. Depending on interest, a trip to visit rock art panels in the region may be organised on the following day.

Circulation: Please circulate this announcement to colleagues and students who might be interested in attending and presenting a paper.
Papers: Colleagues are invited to present papers on ongoing and completed work in Britain and other parts of the world.
Costs: The fee has not yet been set but it will be nominal to cover costs.
What you need to do: Please let me know whether you:
- would like attend;
- wish to present a paper (If yes, can you please provide me with a provisional title by Friday 6 March);
- are interested in visiting rock art panels on the Sunday. (You will need your own transport for this).
We look forward to hearing from you and hosting you in the North East.
Regards,
Aron Mazel

International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies
Newcastle University
Tel: 0191 – 2227845
Email: a.d.mazel@ncl.ac.uk

Standing With Stones :
A Journey Through Megalithic Britain

Sunday 14 December 2008, 2-6 pm, at:
The Synergy Centre, 220 Farmers Road, off Camberwell New Road,
London SE5 0TW. www.thesynergycentre.org

2pm for delicious, healthy vegetarian food from Ollie and The Sattva Cafe
3pm Film + Q&A with Michael.

Shaun Kirwan (of ‘Megalithomania.com’) – geomancer, dowser and builder of stone circles hopes to be there to contribute and discuss meeting with stones.
Finish around 6.00pm.
A contribution of £3 on the door will be greatly appreciated,

“Beautiful…. the true stars of this film are the stones themselves.”
“A superb and wonderful film – you took us on a wondrous journey.”

How many Neolithic sites can you name? Stonehenge … Avebury … the Rollrights …?
Britain has tens of thousands of stone circles, henges, barrows and dolmens, each with its own fascinating story. Whether you’re familiar with most of them or have only a passing acquaintance with a few, STANDING WITH STONES was made for you.

Across the length and breadth of the British Isles lies a breathtaking richness of archaeological heritage. This is a new film made by two dedicated men who took years to plan and complete a journey through the British Isles and Ireland, starting at the tip of Cornwall and ending on the Scottish Isles, visiting over 100 Neolithic and Bronze age monuments en route.

Produced and directed by documentary film-maker Michael Bott and presented by naturalist and explorer Rupert Soskin (son of Henry Lincoln, one of the authors of Holy Blood and Holy Grail), the warmth and directness of his commentary leaves us with an increased respect for our ancient stone sites no matter how knowledgeable we might already be.

Beautiful to look at (the British Isles have seldom looked this good) and managing to be enlightening, entertaining and deeply moving, the film explores the diversity and wonder of these extraordinary enigmatic structures. It also looks at some of the theories and nonsenses which attach to them.

“Standing With Stones” is designed to encourage a culture of awakening to the connectedness of all life, all humanity. As we increase our awareness we also acknowledge that these stones are astounding indications of a great historical and archaeological heritage – as well as a profound mystery.

Please visit:  www.standingwithstones.com/ www.standingstones.tv If really necessary contact Raga on 07886346223 or email: ragawoo@gmail.com

However, if you click on the image below you will be treated to the opening sequence from the 2001 pilot – all shot at Scorhill stone circle.

“When you step into the Out of the Ordinary Festival you are stepping into another dimension – a place of ancient knowledge, healing, inspiration and love.

The OOTO crew are bringing ‘Ootopia’ back to you this year with a combination of healing events and ceremonies, amazing talks and workshops, live music on the Brighton Flux, Radio Reverb stage, healthy food and drink and an incredible vibe, all set in the beautiful fields and woodland of the Sussex Downs.

Be part of history and join us in celebrating the autumn equinox full moon as it rises over the peace circle.

OOTO is about healing, education and entertainment

OOTO is a family and community event

OOTO is powered by the Sun, wind, people, pure plant oil and love

OOTO has a zero waste policy, and we ask attendees to take all waste home with them

OOTO is a flagship for sustainable living, promoting local, green and ethical businesses”

Mor more information go to: http://www.outoftheordinaryfestival.com/home.html

Speakers were, on Saturday: myself; Peter Marshall; Jay Wakefield & Reinoud de Jonge; Chris Morton & Ceri Louise Thomas; Tony Perrot; Tom Graves; David H. Childress, and on Sunday: Kate Masters; Philip Coppens; Nicholas Mann & Philippa Martin; Sam Samir Osmanagich; David Furlong; Hamish Miller.

What was fascinating in the end was that a conference, ostensibly with the purpose of discussing what I referred to as “lumps of rocks in fields”, becomes a philisophical debate about the nature of being human and how we exercise our responsibility in the world.

Amazing.

Details of the event – and, I’m sure in the fullness of time some photos – can be found here.