A team of geologists from Britain have pinpointed the exact quarry that Stonehenge’s innermost circle of rocks came from. It’s the first time that a precise source has been found for any of the stones at the prehistoric monument.

Robert Ixer of the University of Leicester and Richard Bevins of the National Museum of Wales painstakingly identified samples from various rock outcrops in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

For nine months the pair used petrography — the study of mineral content and textural relationships within rocks — to find the origins of Stonehenge’s rhyolite debitage stones. These spotted dolerites or bluestones form the inner circle and inner horseshoe of the site.

They found the culprit on a 65-metre-long outcropping called Craig Rhos-y-Felin, near Pont Saeson in north Pembrokeshire. It lies approximately 160 miles from the Stonehenge site.

READ COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE

A STONE AGE burial chamber in Orkney has yielded a gruesome haul of more than 1,000 human bones, it was revealed June 13, 2011.

Drawing the north cell lintel of Tomb of the Otters. Photo: © ORCA

The 5,000-year-old human bones – numbering at least 1,000, but possibly as many as 2,000 – were found in just one of the five chambers of the Banks Tomb on South Ronaldsay.

The burial chamber, also known as the Tomb of the Otters because large numbers of otter remains were also found there, was discovered last year by a local farmer working the land. In December, archaeologists recovered the remains of eight people from the tomb.

New research, in which two separate cells in the tomb were investigated, has almost doubled this number to at least 14, though it is very likely this number will end up much higher.

The narrow passage of Wideford Hill, one of the many portal “tombs” across the Orkneys, the most famous of which is the spectacular Maes Howe. The bones were preserved in several layers on the bottom of the stone-lined cell, or cist, which were divided by layers of silt, which might indicate that the tomb had been used over different periods of time and fell out of use in the intervening years. Archaeologists now hope that these finds will help them determine how long the tomb was in use. They also hope, through DNA research, to be able to discover more about the people who were buried there. Team leader Dan Lee, projects officer with the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (Orca), said: “To find 1,000 human bones, and possibly as many as 2,000 – there are still layers and parts of the cell to fully uncover – in just one cell, is absolutely amazing. “We have discovered an incredible assemblage of disarticulated human bones. All parts of the human skeleton were represented, including tiny bones such as finger bones, sternums and kneecaps.

One of the skulls recovered from the west cell of the Banks Tomb. (Picture: ORCA)

“They covered all age ranges, from very young children, perhaps even babies, to adults.

“We have managed to identify 14 individuals, but it is very likely that this number will turn out to be much higher.

“This gives us a really good indication of what to expect in the tomb’s other cells and an opportunity to study the people who lived and died in Orkney so many years ago.

“The next stage will be to fully excavate the passageway and the entrance, and we hope to get back to continue working on this fascinating piece of Stone Age archaeology.

“Unfortunately, because the conditions are changing inside as we’ve taken out the mud, silt and water, there is now a real danger that we’re going to lose key information.”

The archaeologists also hope to be able to get more information about the significance of the otter remains found in the tomb – if they have any.

Mr Lee added: “We’ve found otter droppings and bones, which proves that these animals have been using the tomb, and certainly the cell we’ve excavated, throughout the entire life and use of the tomb.

“It doesn’t seem to have been a problem that the otters were living in this tomb at the same time as the Neolithic people that built it, or to those who later used it and buried their dead here.

“The otters used it as part of their territory – they basically used it as their toilet.”

The Tomb of the Otters is just a few yards away from the larger Tomb of the Eagles, where remains of dozens of people were found.

Recent studies concluded that some of the people buried there may have suffered violent deaths.

Some of the human bones found in the Tomb of the Eagles

The Tomb of the Eagles

There is no evidence that this was also the case for the people who found their last resting place in the Banks Tomb.

Mr Lee said: “We really can’t say anything about the use of the Banks Tomb yet.

“There is no evidence that they died of violence, but we only excavated a small part of the tomb, and it is really hard to tell what we will find in the future.”

ORIGINAL ARTICLE AT AXIS OF LOGIC

A new technique lets archaeologists reconstruct the past in greater detail

THAT economic expansion leads to building booms seems to have been as true 6,000 years ago as it is now. When agriculture came to Britain, it led to a surge of construction as impressive—and rapid—as the one that followed the industrial revolution.

Which is all a bit of a surprise to archaeologists, who had previously seen the arrival of the Neolithic as a rather gentle thing. But that may be because of the tools they use. Radiocarbon dating provides a range, often spanning 200 years or more, rather than an exact date for a site. Stratigraphy, which looks at the soil layers in which artefacts are found, tells you only which ones are older and which younger. None of these data is precise. They do, however, limit the possible range of dates. And by using a statistical technique called Bayesian analysis it is possible to combine such disparate pieces of information to produce a consolidated estimate that is more accurate than any of its components. That results in a range that spans decades, not centuries.

A team led by Alex Bayliss, from English Heritage, a British government agency, has just used this technique to examine digs from hundreds of sites around Britain. The results have caused them to reinterpret the Neolithic past quite radically.

Agriculture seems to have arrived fully formed in what is now Kent, in the south-east, around 4050BC. The new culture spread slowly at first, taking 200 years to reach modern-day Cheltenham, in the west, but over the following five decades it penetrated as far north as Aberdeen. Soon afterwards, causewayed enclosures (circular arrangements of banks and ditches hundreds of metres across—see picture) began springing up all over the country.

Until now, archaeologists had assumed that these were built over the course of centuries. Dr Bayliss’s work suggests they were the product of two booms, each just a few decades long—for the Neolithic seems to have seen its share of busts, too.

The team’s work offers such a sharp picture of the past that it is possible to trace the histories even of individual communities, such as one in Essex whose inhabitants built, used and then abandoned an enclosure within the span of a single generation.

English Heritage now plans to apply the technique to another murky era of British history, the early Anglo-Saxon period between 400AD and 700AD. In principle, the method can be applied to any archaeological site, and several groups of researchers around the world are working on similar projects. But, fittingly for a discipline that deals in centuries and millennia, the revolution will be a slow one. Unlike traditional radiocarbon dating, which can be bought off the shelf, Dr Bayliss reckons it takes between three and four years to train a graduate researcher to use the new technique properly.

READ ORIGINAL ARTICLE AT THE ECONOMIST

For generations, it has been scrambled up with pride by students at Marlborough College. But the mysterious, pudding-shaped mound in the grounds of the Wiltshire public school now looks set to gain far wider acclaim as scientists have revealed it is a prehistoric monument of international importance.

After thorough excavations, the Marlborough mound is now thought to be around 4,400 years old, making it roughly contemporary with the nearby, and far more renowned, Silbury Hill.

The new evidence was described by one archeologist, an expert on ancient ritual sites in the area, as “an astonishing discovery”. Both neolithic structures are likely to have been constructed over many generations.

The Marlborough mound had been thought to date back to Norman times. It was believed to be the base of a castle built 50 years after the Norman invasion and later landscaped as a 17th-century garden feature. But it has now been dated to around 2400BC from four samples of charcoal taken from the core of the 19 metre-high hill.

The samples prove it was built at a time when British tribes were combining labour on ritual monuments in the chalk downlands of Wiltshire, including Stonehenge and the huge ditches and stone circle of Avebury.

History students at the college will now have the chance to study an extraordinary example just a stone’s throw from their classroom windows. Malborough’s Master Nicholas Sampson said: “We are thrilled at this discovery, which confirms the long and dramatic history of this beautiful site and offers opportunity for tremendous educational enrichment.”

Article continues at THE GUARDIAN …

A new walking path links Britain’s two greatest prehistoric sites, Avebury and Stonehenge, and is as epic as the Inca Trail

The Great Stones Way is one of those ideas so obvious it seems amazing that no one has thought of it before: a 38-mile walking trail to link England’s two greatest prehistoric sites, Avebury and Stonehenge, crossing a landscape covered with Neolithic monuments.

But like any project involving the English countryside, it’s not as straightforward as it might seem. The steering group has had to secure permission from landowners and the MoD, who use much of Salisbury Plain for training. They hope to have the whole trail open within a year, but for now are trialling a 14-mile southern stretch, having secured agreement from the MoD and parish councils. The “Plain & Avon” section leads from the iron age hill fort of Casterley Camp on Salisbury Plain down the Avon valley to Stonehenge. Walkers are being encouraged to test the route, and detailed directions can be found on the Friends of the Ridgeway website.

It’s an area all but the boldest have avoided: negotiating the MoD areas needed careful planning. Few walkers come here and not a single garage or shop along the Avon valley sells local maps. The Great Stones Way should change that.

What makes the prospect of the Great Stones Way so exciting is the sense that for more than a millennium, between around 3000 and 2000BC, the area it crosses was the scene of frenzied Neolithic building activity, with henges, burial barrows and processional avenues criss-crossing the route.

At Casterley Camp, high on Salisbury Plain, it takes me a while to realise what is strange about the landscape, as wild and empty as anywhere in southern England, and with a large burial mound directly ahead. Then it hits me: this is perfect high grazing country, but there’s not a single sheep. Maybe they have read the MoD notice which points out that “‘projectile’ means any shot or shell or other missile or any portion thereof”, and that over much of what you can see you’re liable to be hit by one. You can also be arrested without a warrant. But the trail cleverly and legally threads its way past the firing ranges towards a delightful and ancient droving road that plunges down between cow parsley to an old farm.

Five minutes in we are passed by a lone woman wearing Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses and heading determinedly towards the shooting area, where the red flags are up to signify that it’s a “live” day. In a Kensington and Chelsea accent, she tells us that she regularly drives down from London as it’s one of the few places “where you don’t run the risk of meeting anybody else”. I murmur that this might be because they know they’ll get shot at. “Oh, I love all that. It gets my endorphins going. I got back to the car once and found it ringed by military police. When I told them that I just enjoyed the walking, they didn’t believe me. They said, ‘How can you claim to enjoy walking when you don’t have a dog?’”

One animal practising its duck-and-cover technique here is the remarkable great bustard, recently reintroduced to the UK after its local extinction two centuries ago. At 40lbs, the male bird is one of the largest flying animals in the world, so it’s unmistakable even for the most hesitant birdwatcher. As we reach an isolated farm building, we pass a Land Rover full of enthusiasts heading off to track some down.

The trail curves below to cross and then follow the Avon, a river that loomed large in the affairs of Neolithic man. It was along the Avon that the bluestones of the Preseli hills in Wales are thought to have been transported by boat to Stonehenge, after being moved an almost unimaginable distance around both the Pembrokeshire and Cornish peninsulas to the river mouth at Christchurch.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE CONTINUES AT THE GUARDIAN …

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

An archaeology group has called for the site of a 3,500-year-old settlement in the Vale of Glamorgan to be protected.

The remains of a Bronze Age village at Bendrick were first uncovered near the Atlantic Trading Estate near Barry in the 1980s.

Archaeology Cymru says the site is rapidly deteriorating due to off-road biking and other activities by people who may be unaware of what is there.

The county council, which owns the land, said it would investigate.

Archaeology Cymru director Karl-James Langford said he first became aware of the significance of the site when working as a volunteer excavating the land 25 years ago.

He said the remains of a Bronze Age roundhouse were still visible today.

But he said with no signs to warn people what was at the site nothing was being done to protect it.

“The destruction is immense. The archaeology has been badly damaged and very soon it will be gone,” he said.

READ FULL ARTICLE AT THE BBC

Husband and wife team Duncan and Linda Lunan have formed a new organisation, Friends of the Sighthill Stone Circle, to promote and further plans to renovate and complete the astronomically aligned stone circle in Sighthill Park, Glasgow, the first of its kind in the UK for 3000 years.

The Sighthill circle was designed by Duncan and erected by the Glasgow Parks Department Astronomy Project, as part of the Jobs Creation/Special Temporary Employment Programme, 1978-79. It was dedicated to four prominent experts in the field of ancient astronomy, all with close connections to Glasgow. Following the change of government in 1979 the circle was never completed, and it has never become the local and visitor attraction which was intended. Four unused stones lie on the site to this day, the stones are partly buried following incorrect landscaping in 1982, and there is nothing to tell visitors who put them up, to whom they’re dedicated or how the circle works.

Following a public lecture and mass visit to the circle at the summer solstice in 2010, the existing paths around the circle have been cleared by Land and Environment Services. The aim now is to erect the final stones, install a plaque to explain the circle’s origins and function, restore the stones to full height and provide better footpath access. This will highlight its links to the past and the future of the area and to other astronomical attractions in the city and beyond.

Duncan and Linda invite those interested in progressing this work to contact them at: Friends of the Sighthill Stone Circle, www.sighthillstonecircle.net or tel: 0141 221 7658 or to attend the next meeting in the Ogilvie Centre, 25 Rose Street, Glasgow G3 6RE on Wednesday 22 June 2011 at 7.30pm. This will be followed by a visit to the Stone Circle in time to see the sunset there and get an understanding of how the circle works.

READ ORIGINAL ARTICLE AT GLASGOW LOCAL NEWS

The Anglesey Rock Art Project recently extended their programme to include excavation and recording of megalithic rock art on a stone at Llwydiarth Esgob Farm. The stone, made from a distinctive localised hornblende picrite, stands within the garden of the farmhouse and was moved there by the noted antiquary Thomas Pritchard at the beginning of the 20th century.

CLICK HERE TO READ COMPLETE ARTICLE AT PAST HORIZONS

STAFF at Aberdeenshire’s troubled prehistory park will lose their jobs today – but talks will be held later this week to try to rescue the tourist attraction.

The last four workers at the Archaeolink centre were to have been made redundant at the start of this month – the day it should have opened for the new visitor season.

But they were kept on for a further fortnight as discussions continued between the Archaeolink Trust and a potential investor.

Last night, Mid Formartine councillor John Loveday, who sits on the board of trustees, said: “I am still hopeful that Archaeolink can be saved.

“I did say things were going right down to the wire last week but it isn’t over yet.”

Mr Loveday said the trust remained determined to do everything it could to preserve the prehistory park at Oyne, and staff had made every effort to help achieve that.

But he added: “The situation now is that the talks that have been continuing over these past weeks have hit a complication.

“Unfortunately, we just cannot hold on to the staff any longer for financial reasons. We simply would not have enough cash remaining now to meet bills coming in and to meet the redundancy terms.

“They will get the package agreed but it does mean the staff redundancies will have to take effect.”

It is understood that discussions with the one remaining party to have shown an interest in taking over the site broke down because of a legal issue involving the terms of the deed of trust agreement.

READ FULL ARTICLE AT PRESS & JOURNAL