Roman bridge put back together again

From Journal Live.

REMAINS of what was one of the biggest Roman bridges to be built in Britain have been reassembled on the banks of the River Tyne.

The 50ft long and 10ft high reconstruction is opposite Corbridge Roman site in Northumberland and near the spot where the ornate stone bridge spanned the river.

Excavations rescued stonework from the bridge which was threatened by river erosion.

The bridge carried Dere Street, the main South-North road, over the Tyne to the important Roman fort and supply base at Corbridge – and was built accordingly.

The excavations revealed that the bridge, built around 160AD, had between six and 10 arches and was probably highly decorated with columns, elaborate parapets, altars and statues of gods and the emperor and his family.

“It would have been a magnificent entry point to the Hadrian’s Wall area,” said Paul Bidwell, senior manager at Tyne and Wear Museums’ Archaeology.

“At the point of transition between the civil and military zone, the bridge, like many buildings in the military area, would have been a manifestation of the power of the emperor and would have made it obvious that this was the frontier area.

“Travellers coming up Dere Street, having passed through sparsely-populated areas, would have come down into the Tyne Valley and would have seen the military area spread out before them, and this huge bridge at Corbridge must have been an entrancing sight.”

Another stone bridge was built over the Tyne at Chesters fort at Chollerford, which Paul has excavated.

He said that no stone Roman bridges have been found in the south of England, with even the span over the Thames at London built in wood.

A ramp took the road up to the level of the Corbridge bridge, which was eight metres above the riverside.

Around the 5th Century, after the Roman occupation had ended, the ramp was undermined by river erosion and collapsed, which meant that the span went out of use.

Research also showed that the bridge was the source of the stones used in the construction of the crypt of the church built by St Wilfrid in Hexham in 674AD, which is now beneath Hexham Abbey.

Full story at Journal Live.

Grants used to support native woods

From Lake and Echo website.

PEOPLE in Cumbria and other parts of the North West are being offered another chance to apply for grants totalling £120,000 to help make the region even greener, thanks to a Forestry Commission grant scheme boost.

The Woodland Improvement Grant Scheme (WIG) aims to provide landowners with support for improving public access and biodiversity.

Projects include work that benefits the environment and the creation of new places for people to enjoy healthy exercise.

However, time is running out, as the deadline for applications is Friday, February 29.

Peter Fox, woodland officer, for the Forestry Commission, said: "The Woodland Improvement Grants enable people to open the site up to the public and manage the sensitive restoration of ancient and native woodland.

"This essential work not only improves access and social benefits for local people, but attracts a wide variety of wildlife."

A recent successful applicant for a biodiversity grant was the Woodland Trust, who manage Great Knott Wood at Newby Bridge in South Cumbria.
The Trust was awarded a grant to restore ancient woodland on the site through the sensitive removal of conifers and to create access points.

Forestry contractor Simon Lenihan and his team were drafted in by the Trust to use horse logging methods on the site.

The team strive to be at the forefront of environmental timber harvesting and have invested heavily in modern technology, including a horse drawn forwarder...

Full story at Lake and Echo website.

Ancient tomb art found in path of Irish highway

From the National Geographic website.

Tomb engravings dating back 6,000 years are among the latest discoveries unearthed on the route of a controversial highway under construction in Ireland. The historic site, at Lismullin in County Meath, was handed over to road builders last month, just weeks after the Stone Age art was found inside a medieval bunker.
he new find follows the discovery last spring of a prehistoric open-air temple nearby, causing construction along the 37-mile-long (60-kilometer-long) M3 highway northwest of Dublin to be temporarily suspended (see map).

The timber ceremonial enclosure was found just 1.25 miles (2 kilometers) from the Hill of Tara, once the seat of power of ancient Celtic kings.

The latest excavations at Lismullin revealed part of a large stone monument, or megalith, decorated with engravings dating to the Late Stone Age, according to archaeologists from Ireland's National Roads Authority (NRA).

Discovered some 165 feet (50 meters) from the temple's enclosure, the stone features a series of zigzags, concentric circles, and arcs.

"It's classic megalithic art," said Mary Deevy, NRA's chief archaeologist.

The engravings are similar to those that decorate other burial chambers in the region known as passage tombs, Deevy noted.

"We've only got half a boulder, but we think originally it was probably a curbstone from a passage tomb," she said.

The stone would have formed a wall that kept the burial mound together, with the artwork displayed on the outer surface, Deevy said.

What the motifs symbolized remains a mystery, the archaeologist added.

Story continues the National Geographic website.

Explorator 10.38

Explorator 10.38

The latest edition of the excellent archaeological newsletter.

Wessex archaeology video of Boscombe Down Roman Coffin

From Wessex archaeology news.


Opening a Roman Coffin from Wessex Archaeology on Vimeo.

"In December we announced the discovery of a Roman stone coffin at Boscombe Down in Wiltshire. Inside were the remains of a woman cradling a child in her arms. The unique environment within the coffin had allowed the preservation of the leather and cork slippers of the lady, as well as the child’s calf skin shoes. This was an exceptionally rare find.

Finding a complete coffin with lid intact, and witnessing the removal of the lid was a momentous occasion for all of the archaeologists working on the site.

Fortunately, we were able to capture these exciting moments on video to share with you. This short film begins with our osteoarchaeologist Jacqueline McKinley removing soil from around the coffin, the first look inside the coffin with an infra-red camera, to the removal of the lid and the careful excavation and planning of the remains inside."

Rare Roman coins discovered at Bath

From the Bath Chronicle

A rare hoard of Roman coins has been found in Bath at the site of a new city centre hotel.

Around 150 coins have so far been unearthed in the run-up to work on the new Gainsborough Hotel and Thermal Spa.

But the Lower Borough Walls site is expected to yield more than 1,000 coins once the whole haul has been examined.

The find has been greeted with excitement by archaeologists because some of the coins are thought to date from the middle of the third century, one of the most poorly represented periods for coins in Britain.

The coins were discovered by Cotswold Archaeology while excavating the area around the site of the main pool of the new spa hotel, which is being created by Bath-based businessman Trevor Osborne.

Richard Sermon, head of archaeology for Bath and North East Somerset Council, said: "The coins give us a great insight into the Roman monetary system, and provide a glimpse of life in third century Bath, a time of political and economic crisis throughout the Roman Empire.

"The hoard reveals that the citizens of Aquae Sulis (the Roman name for Bath) were no different from people today - hiding their money under the mattress or floor boards."

Under the Treasure Act the find has been reported to the Avon coroner - who will decide on its ownership.

The copper and silver coins are described as being in mixed condition, with some stuck together as a result of corrosion.

But two of the best preserved coins have been provisionally identified as Antoniniani, used during the earlier and middle years of the third century AD.

One appears to be an issue of the emperor Phillip I, and was deposited against the inside face of a masonry wall in what is believed to be a small, oval pit, dug through the floor of a Roman building.

The coins would originally have been stored in leather or cloth bags.

Andrew Ryan, director of Bath Hotel and Spa Ltd, developers of the new hotel said: "We are delighted that such an important find has been made after extensive archaeological investigations on the site of the new Gainsborough Hotel. We hope that the discovery of the coins will further enhance knowledge of the history of Bath."

Avebury development proposal - failing to uphold world heritage site status?

This is going to be a runner that deserves attention. People need to live in houses, but heritage sites need protecting. There are plenty of other places to live, but only one Avebury. Expect heated exchanges...

From the Telegraph

Conservationists and locals all agree that that the dilapidated Bonds Garage, and the fleet of second hand vans that surrounds it, are an eyesore that does no credit to the picturesque village of Avebury.
But the proposal to knock down the 1930s garage and house and to replace them with five new houses has set the Wiltshire village (population 486) on a collision course with the most influential conservation bodies in the land and even the world.
The reason is that Avebury contains one of the largest megalithic monuments in Europe and the garage is sited within 200 yards of the outer rim of the stone circle thought to be 4,500 years old.
Houses have existed within Avebury's stone circle - far larger than the one at Stonehenge - since the Dark Ages, making it one of Europe's most remarkable prehistoric sites.

A number of cottages were knocked down in the 1930s by the Dundee marmalade magnate and archaeologist, Alexander Keiller, who also dug up and re-erected many of the stones.

More cottages were removed by the National Trust, current owner of the monument.

It was Keiller who paid for Bonds Garage to be removed from the circle of stones in the 1930s and relocated to its present site north of the village, where it is now backed by a mobile home park.

It remains, however, within the Avebury World Heritage site and that is what has drawn objections to the proposed new homes from English Heritage, the National Trust, the Avebury Society, the county council's world heritage site officer and Icomos-UK, the body which advises the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) on the creation of world heritage sites.

Kate Fielden of the Wiltshire Archaeological Society, which is also objecting to the proposal, said: "What is there at present is an eyesore but the only way the planning system allows the mistakes of the past to be rectified is when another planning application comes along. What is proposed now is too big and will spoil the approach to Avebury - which can only be spoilt once.

"These houses will be there for hundreds of years and could provoke similar development in an internationally protected site. They will stand out like a sore thumb. The planners should be seeking to put something better there rather than something equally obtrusive."

Avebury parish council and residents of the mobile home park behind the garage, however, are wholly in favour of the proposed new homes.

Jennifer Baldry, chairman of the parish council, who has lived in the village all her life, said: "This site has been a problem site for some time. It is run down and scruffy and five smart houses would look far better than what's there at present.

"We are fed up with being told we cannot change. We have lost our village school. We are on the list for the closure of our post office and we are afraid of what will happen if we don't allow the village to move on.

"It might affect the odd view but so do other places. I take the view that we do need some new people because the village is going to pot. Keiller used dynamite to move the trees growing in the stone circle. Now you are not allowed to touch anything."

The parish council voted unanimously in favour of the plan - after two members and the parish clerk, who had an interest in the development because they lived in the mobile home park, had left the room.

The proposal now goes before Kennet district council on Thursday with an officer's recommendation for approval. Conservationists warn there is still a possibility of it being "called in" for public inquiry or the council being taken to judicial review for failing to uphold the statutory protection of the world heritage site.

Salmond makes a move on chessmen - a serious effort at repatriation? Or is he coughing loudly to cover up the Trump incident?

The Guardian are running a Lewis Chessmen story (this has the hallmarks of a runner) and point out that it was a Scotsman who purchased the Elgin marbles in...

Our Chessmen were taken, but Scotland is heaving with stolen art.

The fight to reclaim national treasures is fought the world over, and is rarely successful

Ian Jack
Saturday January 12, 2008
The Guardian

National causes can be made of small things - one thinks of Jenkins' Ear - but few can have had such a charming and witty source as the collection of small objects known as the Lewis Chessmen that have since the mid-19th century delighted visitors to the British Museum. The chessmen inspired the stories of Noggin the Nog; Harry and Ron Weasley played a game with replicas in the first Potter film. People take a great shine to them: the queens with their hands to their cheek looking so wise (or so bored), the wardens or rooks furiously biting their shields (the "berserkers", the soldiers of Odin).

Now they have been registered as a political grievance. Scotland's first minister wants them back. On December 19, Alex Salmond made a speech outlining the Scottish government's proposals to preserve the Gaelic language, and containing the following two sentences: "I find it utterly unacceptable that the Lewis Chessmen are scattered around Britain in a bizarre parody of the Barnett formula. And you can be assured that I will continue campaigning for a united set of Lewis Chessmen in an independent Scotland." This isn't quite the same thing as Captain Robert Jenkins showing off his pickled ear to the House of Commons in 1738, prompting a war against Spain that lasted nine years. Nevertheless, the war of the Lewis Chessmen threatens to run and run.

The comparison with the Barnett formula, which sets the level of Scottish subvention from the UK Treasury, is unclear, but the pieces are not "scattered around". The British Museum holds 67 chessmen and the National Museum of Scotland 11. They were made from walrus ivory in the 12th century, most probably in Norway. Chess had reached Norse civilisation not long before, after its slow journey from India to southern Europe via Persia and Arabia. Europe had humanised the abstract form of the Oriental pieces, even feminised one of them by turning the vizier into a queen, and military Christianity had replaced princes or "leapers" with bishops with mitres and croziers. To quote the excellent monograph written by a British Museum curator, James Robinson, the chessmen are "unique survivals ... no other visual record survives that documents so perfectly the full range and variety of arms and armour used in 12th-century combat". The likeliest speculation is that these beautifully crafted luxuries were on their way to princes or traders in the Norse-held territories of Ireland or the Isle of Man when, for reasons unknown, they were buried in the sand dunes of western Lewis.

Complete story here.

Stonehenge Lidar animation available from Wessex Archaeology

"We have recently finished creating a short animation for the exhibition “Making History: Antiquaries In Britain, 1707–2007” at the Royal Academy in London. The three minute video demonstrates “Stonehenge revealed through digital technologies”.

It incorporates a fly-through of the Stonehenge landscape in 3D, based upon Environment Agency LIDAR (airborne 3D scanning) data, high resolution panoramas, and a new animation of the prehistoric dagger and axe carvings on Stone 53 at Stonehenge itself, from data collected by Archaeoptics Ltd.

During production of the animation, we turned the LIDAR data into a solid 3D model of whole landscape surrounding Stonehenge. Aerial tours of the most famous sites and monument groups were animated in HD (720i) resolution. What is exciting is that much of the upstanding archaeology, from well-preserved barrows to the subtle earthworks of prehistoric field systems, are clearly visible."

More (including video) at Wessex Archaeology

Hadrian Exhibition at the British Museum

British Museum announces major exhibition on Roman Emperor Hadrian and iconic bronze head of Hadrian to tour Britain
24th July – 26th October 2008

Following on from the unprecedented success of ‘The First Emperor’, the British Museum’s major exhibition for 2008 will focus on another great world leader, the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Hadrian: Empire and Conflict, supported by BP, will be the first major show dedicated solely to the life and legacy of Hadrian who ruled the Roman Empire at its height between AD117 – 138. Bringing together over 180 loans from 31 countries – from Italy to Georgia, Israel to Newcastle – the exhibition will display dramatic sculpture, exquisite bronzes and architectural fragments, many of which will be seen for the first time in the UK. The show also includes objects from the Museum’s own collection including the famous Vindolanda tablets from Hadrian’s Wall. Following First Emperor, the exhibition will be the second to be held in the Museum’s historic Round Reading Room, the dome of which has been compared to the Pantheon in Rome, one of Hadrian’s architectural masterpieces.

More of this story from finds.org

ADS release Later Prehistoric Pottery Collection Database

How many later prehistoric pottery collections are there in England? This simple question was the basis for a survey funded by English Heritage at the instigation of the Prehistoric Ceramics Research Group. The goal of the survey was to create a register of all the collections which date between the Late Bronze Age and the Late Iron Age, c 1000 BC-AD 50, and to complement this with a bibliography of published collections.

From January 1996 to October 1998, a team of 21 surveyors from across the country was engaged in the desktop recording of as many collections as they could find. This recording was conducted using a single-page proforma which requested the following information about each collection: date of record, survey area, name of collection, county, parish, NGR, SMR, Scheduled Ancient Monuments code, type of site using the RCHME Thesaurus of Monument Types (1995), current location of collection, final curatorial location, method of recovery (excavation, fieldwalking, evaluation, pipeline, causal pick-up, watching brief, other, no information available), size of collection, date range, and whether the collection had been published. Museums, units, amateur groups and individual collectors were contacted by the local surveyor.

Go to ADS catalogue

Hadrian heads out...

A bronze head of Roman emperor Hadrian which has not left the British Museum since it was fished out of the River Thames almost 200 years ago will travel to both ends of Hadrian's Wall as part of an exhibition about the legendary leader.

Hadrian: Empire and Conflict, at the British Museum, will be the first major show dedicated solely to the life and legacy of the man who ruled the Roman empire at its height.

The summer show has contemporary resonance - Hadrian's first act as emperor was to recognise that there had been imperial overreach and withdraw Roman troops from Mesopotamia, modern day Iraq.

Story from icScotland

PAS Talk in Bruton Museum, Somerset

Bruton Museum, Dovecote Building, 26 High Street, Bruton, Somerset.

Starts at 7.30pm, to last c. 45 minutes.

No entry charge but people are encouraged to give £3 which includes a glass of wine or alterative refreshment.

The Dovecote Building
26 High Street
Bruton
BA10 0AA
Somerset
England

Contact details
General information (Tel) : 01749 812851
General information (Fax) : 01749 812851