| £25,000 Roman dig bid for Cockermouth Posted: 07 Oct 2011 08:01 AM PDT A £25,000 plan for a three-year Roman excavation project in Cockermouth will be drawn up. Grampus Heritage has been given the cash by the Heritage Lottery Fund to work up the proposal. Mark Graham, archaeologist for the non-profit organisation, said the aim was to build a picture of the Roman heritage along the banks of the River Derwent at Cockermouth and Papcastle. The group will begin 12 days of excavation work on Monday on land below Papcastle, owned by Robert and Edmund Jackson. Read the rest of this article... |
| Iron Age gold coins discovered in Kimbolton Posted: 07 Oct 2011 07:58 AM PDT The 67 Iron Age coins were discovered by a metal detector in October last year but details of the find, described as significant by a curator at the British Museum, were only made public last week. The coins were subject to an inquest at Lawrence Court in Huntingdon on Thursday (September 29), where it was down to the deputy coroner of Cambridgeshire, Belinda Cheney, to determine if the hoard should be officially classified as treasure. After their discovery, the coins were sent by a local finds liaison officer to the British Museum in London, where they were examined by the curator of Iron Age and Roman coins, Ian Leins. In his report to the inquest, Mr Leins expressed his opinion that the coins were treasure, as defined by the 1996 Treasure Act. The inquest heard that the coins were discovered by Andrew Thomas, from Loughborough, in a field owned by John Williams, on October 26. The find included 67 gold coins known as staters, and a single quarter-stater coin. Read the rest of this article... |
| Bronze Age boat sets sail on Euro mission Posted: 07 Oct 2011 07:55 AM PDT THE official launch of a European project with the Dover Bronze Age Boat as its centrepiece has taken place in France. Boat 1550 BC Bronze Age Maritime Communities, funded with £1.7million of European Interreg cash, is a three-year education and exhibition project. It is jointly run by the Dover Bronze Age Boat Trust and Canterbury Archaeological Trust, the University of Lille 3 and European Social Sciences and Humanities Research Institute (MESHS), Canterbury Christ Church University, Ghent University, INRAP (the French national archaeology service), the Conseil general du Pas-de-Calais, the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer and the British Museum. Read the rest of this article... |
| Converting the Isles Posted: 07 Oct 2011 07:52 AM PDT On Friday and Saturday 23 - 24 September 2011, the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (University of Cambridge) hosted a two-day interdisciplinary conference on conversion to Christianity in North West Europe. It featured papers by an international group of historians, archaeologists and philologists, who were given a unique forum in which to explore conversion comparatively by focusing on different parts of Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and Iceland in the early and central middle ages. The combination of places chosen for the discussion reflects our wish to establish a wide comparative framework, covering areas that are of significance to the study of conversion in both the pre-Viking and the Viking era. The talks were recorded and audio podcasts will be posted online soon. Read the rest of this article... |
| Bluestonehenge: An ancient alignment revealed Posted: 07 Oct 2011 07:47 AM PDT igital archaeologist Henry Rothwell was working on graphics for a smartphone app about the world famous monument of Stonehenge and the wider landscape, and required imagery for the Bluestonehenge section. What followed was a discovery that shines new light onto the ancient alignments of the henge monuments. Using an image by archaeological photographer Adam Stanford, taken during the excavations on The Stonehenge Riverside Project, Rothwell created a digital circle of stones and overlaid the images. In discussion with Adam Stanford, he realised that a stone hole had been missed from the reconstruction on the far right. This prompted Henry to return to the digital model and increase the circumference to take in the 'extra' hole, however it looked too large and no longer fitted well with the other stone holes. Read the rest of this article... |
| Archaeologists make rare discovery during Crossrail excavations in Royal Oak Posted: 07 Oct 2011 07:44 AM PDT Prehistoric animal bones have been uncovered by archaeologists as they carried out excavations for a Crossrail tunnel in Westbourne Green. The remains, found near Royal Oak station, include those of bison, deer and the auroch, a large ancestor of modern cattle. Some of the bones appear to have small marks on them which may suggest butchery by humans. They will now be cleaned and studied before they are incorporated into the Natural History Museum's permanent collection. Read the rest of this article... |
| Melting Glaciers Reveal Ancient Artifacts Posted: 07 Oct 2011 07:42 AM PDT A well preserved male hunter's coat from around the year 300 A.D. was found this summer in the Breheimen National Park, making it the oldest piece of clothing in the country. The coat was found in the rock bed left by a melting glacier. The warmer weather caused by climate change provides archaeologists, researchers and museums with new opportunities to find artifacts dating back hundreds of years. A new exhibition at the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo will feature all finds from the melting glaciers, most of which date back to Roman times. Read the rest of this article... |
| Prehistoric Teen Girl's Grave Found Near Henge Posted: 07 Oct 2011 07:39 AM PDT The finding of the 17-year-old girl's grave adds more evidence that henges were linked to death rituals. Four to five thousand years ago, a wealthy teenage girl was laid to rest in a grave at what archaeologists believe is a newly found henge in Kent, England. The discovery of the 17-year-old's grave -- along with a unique prehistoric pot inside of a ringed ditch near two other women -- strengthens the idea that important death-related rituals took place at many of these mysterious ancient monuments when they were first erected. Read the rest of this article... |
