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Roman bronze pots and pans buried with flowers
Here’s another great story from the new British Archaeology, which went live online today (February 8). Conservation of a hoard of late Roman bronze pots and pans found near Pewsey, Wiltshire, has revealed they were packed with plants, among which were bracken and knapweed flowers.
Eight mostly plain vessels had been carefully nested inside each other. There’s a bit of tinning on some of them, so I coloured the diagram silver rather than a reddish bronze.
The plants gave a rare radiocarbon date for a hoard, of AD380–550, placing its burial most probably in post-Roman (after AD410) or Anglo-Saxon times. It may be contemporary with a nearby early Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Blacknall Field.
Richard Henry, Wiltshire finds liaison officer, and Rachel Foster, assistant county archaeologist, excavating the hoard site in 2014. Photo Past Landscapes Project
Three men and a woman with metal detectors made the discovery in late 2014 (Tony…
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Other Sarsen Stones near Stonehenge and Woodhenge
Sarsen boulders lie scattered in substantial “drifts” across the landscape of the Marlborough Downs near Avebury.
By contrast, close to Stonehenge there are almost none. This is one of the reasons why most archaeologists believe that the large sarsens for the monument were not locally sourced.
There are, however, a few examples of substantial sarsens dotted about Salisbury Plain within a couple of miles of Stonehenge. And there are tantalising hints that others used to exist.
The most obvious, and easily accessible, is the Cuckoo Stone. This stone is about 2m long by 1.5m wide by 1.5m thick and lies in the field immediately west of Woodhenge.
The Stonehenge Riverside Project excavated around the Cuckoo Stone in 2007 and discovered that the stone once had been set upright right next to the hollow in which it had originally formed.
Close by were two neolithic pits containing pottery worked…
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Current Archaeology Awards 2017. Rethinking Durrington Walls: a long -lost monument revealed.
The 9th annual Current Archaeology Awards celebrate the projects and publications that made the pages of CA this year, and the people judged to have made outstanding contributions to archaeology. Research Project of the Year category includes;
Rethinking Durrington Walls: a long-lost monument revealed
(CA 320 – Stonehenge Riverside Project / Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project / National Trust)
Ongoing research at Durrington Walls has revealed a massive and previously unknown palisaded enclosure beneath the banks of the famous Neolithic henge. It is a discovery that is set to rewrite the site’s history.
To cast your vote, click here!
Voting closes 6 February 2017
Durrington Walls, two miles from Stonehenge, is named after the Neolithic henge that calls the location home. But with ongoing research revealing a massive and previously unknown monument hidden beneath its banks, the site’s history is set to be rewritten. Carly Hilts spoke to Vince Gaffney, Mike Parker Pearson, and Nick Snashall to find out more.
Looking towards Durrington Walls henge, over the concentric rings of posts that mark Woodhenge. Ongoing research has revealed huge post holes (inset) belonging to another wooden monument hidden beneath the prehistoric bank.
Around 4,500 years ago, hundreds of people gathered two miles from Stonehenge to build another massive monument, at a location known to us as Durrington Walls. The spot they had selected lay within sight of the celebrated stones, and had previously been home to a village that may have housed the community that erected them (CA 208). But now the short-lived settlement lay abandoned, and – perhaps motivated by a desire to commemorate its presence – the new group of builders punched through the living surfaces and midden material of their predecessors to complete their work.
Their efforts were not focused on raising the imposing earthworks of the henge that gives the site its modern name, however. Instead, their labour created a previously unknown earlier phase whose full extent is only now being revealed by ongoing research: as many as 300 huge wooden posts, evenly spaced 5m apart in a ring almost 450m across. It would have been an arresting sight, yet within a maximum of 50 years the monument had been decommissioned once more, its posts removed and their sockets filled in, before being covered over by the henge that we see today. All trace of the post circle would lie hidden beneath the banks of its successor for millennia – until it was brought to light once more by a series of excavations and the largest geophysical survey of its kind. Why did the site undergo such a sudden change in design, and what can we learn about the rise and fall of a long-lost monument? As analysis continues, intriguing clues are beginning to emerge.~
Full story here
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Woodhenge Henge Timber Circle – Amesbury, Wiltshire. A wooden version of Stonehenge?
“A little further on the right of the road leading to Amesbury, we see the mutilated remains of an enormous Druid barrow”
This is how Richard Colt Hoare described Woodhenge in the early 19th century, and it continued to be viewed as a disc barrow (with the name “Dough Cover”) until 30th June 1926.
On that day, Squadron Leader Gilbert Insall VC took an aerial photograph that showed a series of dark circular cropmarks inside the area enclosed by what had been regarded as the barrow’s ditch.
Insall’s photo is shown below, Woodhenge is just above left of the centre.
These marks later proved to be the surface traces of six concentric rings of postholes, uncovered by Maud and Ben Cunnington in their excavations between 1926 and 1928. These posts date to between 2600 and 2400BC.
When their excavations were over, they installed short concrete markers to show…
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The Blick Mead excavations have transformed the understanding of the Stonehenge landscape.
In the early 2000s, Professor David Jacques was researching the estate records of Amesbury Abbey and realised that the archaeology around the Iron Age hillfort known as Vespasian’s Camp had probably not been obliterated by landscaping of the parkland in the 18th Century, as had previously been assumed.
The subsequent excavations, from 2005 onwards, around the spring pool at Blick Mead have transformed the understanding of the Stonehenge landscape.
Archaeologists at the University of Buckingham, led by David Jacques found the ancient site in October 2014, which is around one-and-a-half miles (2.4km) from Stonehenge
The earliest datable “monumental” activity at Stonehenge comes from pine charcoal found at the bottom of two of the three enormous post pits that were discovered in the late 1960s when the old car park was being extended.
Radiocarbon-dated to around 7,500 – 7,900 BC these almost 1m diameter pine posts were erected back…
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2017 Stonehenge Private Guided Access Tours departing from Salisbury
Be one of the few people to walk amongst the inner stone circle at Stonehenge on our exclusive special access trips.
What better way to experience the magic and mystery of Stonehenge than with a private viewing at sunrise or sunset. On our popular exclusive private guided tours from Salisbury, guests will be able to access the historic stone circle, and explore the surrounding area rich in history, myths and legends. We are proud to be the longest established Stonehenge Tour Company operating the very 1st special access tours into the monument. Please view our exclusive Stonehenge inner circle tours
“Being able to walk amongst the stones at dawn without the crowds and without the rope barrier is a truly magical experience”
Our exclusive entry into the stone circle allows you to wander in and around the heritage site and experience an up close and personal look at this iconic monument. We have scheduled small group tours and arrange custom private tours. Please visit our travel website for details.
Stonehenge at Sunrise or Sunset
In the evening after Stonehenge is closed to the public, or at dawn before it is open, we can arrange for you to visit this awe-inspiring prehistoric monument and walk among the giant sarsen stones towering 6.4 m high and weighing up to 50 tonnes. Marvel at how stones of such monumental scale were quarried, transported and erected 5,000 years ago when the only tools available were made of wood, bone and stone.
For those of you who have not visited Stonehenge, we should mention that the complex is roped off. Visitors observe the stones from a distance and are not permitted within the Stone Circle which can be somewhat frustrating. Our private special access tours allow you to be amongst the stones.
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8 Images of a Frosted England
Baby, it’s cold outside!
Our Archive collection of over 9 million images is a window into the history of England’s archaeology, historic buildings and social history. You can use the archive to learn about your local area, and research well known historic buildings and sites. We hold some of the earliest photography ever taken.
Keep warm this winter with our pick of 8 archive images of the historic environment covered in a blanket of snow:
1. Rievaulx Abbey, Ryedale, North Yorkshire
© Historic England
At one time one of England’s most powerful Cistercian monasteries, the impressive ruins of Rievaulx Abbey is managed by English Heritage and is Grade I listed.
2. Highgate Cemetery, London
MF001673/09 © Historic England
The resting place of many famous residents and the home of some of the finest funerary architecture in the country, Highgate Cemetery is Grade I listed on the Register of Parks and…
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Virtual Reality Helps Scientists Recreate The Sounds Of Stonehenge
Stonehenge may have been a centre of ritual musical activity.
A team of researchers has borrowed technology from the architectural and video games industries to bring the ruins of Stonehenge to life. The end product of the group’s endeavours is a virtual reality tour of the ancient site that recreates what it what have looked and sounded like several thousand years ago.
Though the purpose and origins of Stonehenge are still shrouded in mystery, researchers such as Rupert Till from the University of Huddersfield believe it probably served as a venue for ritual musical activity.
Mathematical reconstructions of the site and its acoustics have indicated that it may once have been capable of resonating at low frequencies when the wind blew or when percussive instruments were played within the circle of stones. Till and his colleagues suggest that the brainwaves of those present may have become synchronized with these frequencies – a phenomenon known as entrainment – in order to generate altered states of consciousness and even send people into a kind of trance.
Unfortunately, many of the stones have been eroded or removed over the past few millennia, so experiencing this first-hand is no longer possible. Yet the new virtual reality reconstruction of the site offers the next best thing, by digitally recreating the sights and sounds of Stonehenge as it was back in its heyday.
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The lost sounds of Stonehenge. Hidden sounds of prehistoric site revealed on new app
There are many questions surrounding the ancient stone circle of Stonehenge but might sound help in the search for answers?
Virtual reality allows new ways to examine Stonehenge’s history
Thomas Hardy said it had a strange “musical hum”. Tess of the d’Urvbervilles ends at Stonehenge and features the “sound”. Modern-day druids also say they experience something special when they gather at Stonehenge and play instruments within the stone circle.
However, Stonehenge is a ruin. Whatever sound it originally had 3,000 years ago has been lost but now, using technology created for video games and architects, Dr Rupert Till of the University of Huddersfield has – with the help of some ancient instruments – created a virtual sound tour of Stonehenge as it would have sounded with all the stones in place.
Arriving at 07:00 on a decidedly chilly January morning, I was sceptical. Dr Till had arrived with a…
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Archaeological team made new discoveries that rewrite Stonehenge landscape
Archaeologists working near the Stonehenge World Heritage Site have discovered important new sites that rewrite the Stonehenge landscape.
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Some sites predate the construction of Stonehenge itself. The remains, found at Larkhill and Bulford, were unearthed during excavations ahead of the construction of new Army Service Family Accommodation.
The dig at Larkhill has found remains of a Neolithic causewayed enclosure – a major ceremonial gathering place some 200 m in diameter, and dating from around 3650 BC has been found.
About 70 enclosures of this type are known across England, although this is only the second discovery in the Stonehenge landscape, with the other further to the north at Robin Hood’s Ball on the Salisbury Plain Training Area.
In Wessex they occur on hilltops and along with long barrows are some of the earliest built structures in the British landscape. They were used for temporary settlement, as ceremonial gathering places, to manage and exchange animals, including the first domesticated cattle and sheep and for ritual activity, and disposal of the dead including by exposure.
The Larkhill enclosure has produced freshly broken pottery, dumps of worked flint and even a large stone saddle quern used to turn grain into flour. The Neolithic period saw the first use of domesticated crops and this find provides evidence of this. Early farming would have caused significant localised change across the landscape as small fields were created for the first time. Human skull fragments were also found in the ditch, probably reflecting ceremonial practices and religious belief.
The Larkhill causewayed enclosure is around 700 years older than Stonehenge, and is part of a landscape that included long barrows and cursus monuments. Long barrows may have served as markers within the landscape, often commanding key positions that overlooked areas of downland and only occasionally containing burials. Cursus monuments are possible processional ways, one of which known as the `Lesser Cursus` appears to align on the new enclosure at Larkhill.
The Greater Cursus, an earthwork nearly 3 km in length, is the longest structure. It connects and divides parts of the landscape, and separates the Larkhill causewayed enclosure from the place that became Stonehenge. The eastern end of the cursus terminates just short of the large Amesbury 42 long barrow.
The people who built the causewayed enclosure are the ancestors of the builders of Stonehenge and were shaping the landscape into which the stone circle was placed. Their work shows that this was a special landscape even before Stonehenge was constructed. People were already living and working within what we now call the Stonehenge landscape and they were building the structures that would culminate in the Stonehenge complex of stones and earthworks.
The Larkhill site shows that they had the social organisation necessary to come together to build significant earthworks and the resources to support the work, as well as the people to carry it out. The offerings in the ditches also show the rich religious life they had created.
Dr Alistair Barclay of Wessex Archaeology said “this is an exciting new find and one that transforms our understanding of this important monumental landscape.”
While part of the site has been investigated the majority of the monument remains undisturbed within the Larkhill Garrison.
At nearby Bulford archaeologists have found further evidence of prehistoric activity. Although henges are well-known across the landscape, Bulford has a double henge, the only one known in Britain. Each henge is formed by an open space enclosed by a ditch. The earliest phases were created around 2900 BC with the enclosures formed by ditches dug in segments with openings to the north. This form was altered when both were enclosed within further ditches in the Early Bronze Age (2000 BC), perhaps showing that their function changed or because they had been closed down.
From one of the Bulford henges a skull from a large dog or wolf, maybe a working companion, a trophy from the hunt, or even a totemic symbol, was recovered.
Martin Brown, Principal Archaeologist for WYG said “These discoveries are changing the way we think about prehistoric Wiltshire and about the Stonehenge landscape in particular. The Neolithic people whose monuments we are exploring shaped the world we inhabit: They were the first farmers and the first people who settled down in this landscape, setting us on the path to the modern world. It is an enormous privilege to hold their tools and investigate their lives.”
Archaeological work on both sites is being managed and directed by WYG on behalf of Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), with fieldwork undertaken by Wessex Archaeology.
The sites’ development is part of wider plans to accommodate the 4000 additional Service personnel plus their families who will be based on and around Salisbury Plain by 2019 under the Army Basing Programme. In total, the MOD is planning to invest more than £1 billion in the area which will provide more than 900 new homes for Service families, over 2,600 new bed spaces for single soldiers and the construction, conversion or refurbishment of 250 other buildings within bases, such as offices, garages, workshops and Mess facilities.
News source: WYG.
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