Ebbor gorge reveals a new cave

From the Wells Journal

The chance discovery of a new cave in Ebbor Gorge, near Wookey Hole, is helping scientists uncover the secrets of prehistoric man.

In 2005 workers in the reserve clearing a fallen ash found that behind the tree, what had previously been described as a small gully was in fact a deep and previously unexplored cave.

There are 30 caves in Ebbor Gorge ranging in size from crevices in the rock little more than a few feet in length to much larger caves that were once inhabited by prehistoric man.

Scientists have been exploring the Ebbor caves for more than 100 years but the first excavations were often clumsy affairs.

Smaller items, such as the tiny teeth from long extinct mammals which are now considered important to science, were often overlooked.

Scientists are excited by the new cave, which is one of the few in this area never previously explored.

In 2001 the Leverhulme Trust, an educational charity funded by Unilever, awarded a grant of £1.2 million to a multi-disciplinary team of experts from the British Museum, the Natural History Museum and three British universities to undertake a nine-year study into the evidence for early man in Britain in a project known as the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain.

Dr Danielle Schreve, from the Department of Geography at Royal Holloway University, in London, is leader of a team studying the new cave at Ebbor as part of the project.

She said: "It is early days yet, but so far we have found bones from wild horses, Arctic hare and other cold weather mammals (in the cave), as well as thousands of jaws of small rodents, including some species that became extinct in Britain after the last Ice Age - about 12,000 years ago.

"Later this year the team will move deeper into the cave and hopefully uncover evidence of early man."

Nicky Venning

Community correspondent

Wells museum announces events and exhibitions for the year

From the Wells Museum website

January-August ‘Palace Intrusions’

A changing exhibition by the Palace Intrusions Project, held at differing locations throughout the museum.
Free entry.

12^th January-10^th February ‘ Westbury Skies’

A photographic exhibition of sky-scapes taken in the Westbury-Sub-Mendip area. Held in the museum foyer.

24^th-31^st May Art House Exhibition and Sale

A mixture of artwork, sculpture, textiles and photography by this artists co-operative.
Free entry in the exhibition room.

1^st-9^th July Wells Painting Group Exhibition and Sale

A collection of artwork by local artists. Held in the lecture hall. Free entry.

12^th-20^th July National Archaeology Week

Program of events to be announced.

13^th-20^th September Somerset Art Weeks Art Exhibition and Sale by Caroline May

Held in the foyer. Free entry

PAS announce Archaeology '08 schedule

From the PAS website

The schedule for the conference which has been brought to you by Current Archaeology magazine and the British Museum’s Department of Portable Antiquities and Treasure has now been announced and features some great talks. The Scheme features regularly through out the event, with our speakers being:

1. Michael Lewis
2. Adam Daubney
3. PJ Walton
4. Sally Worrell
5. Daniel Pett (that’s me - although I think I’ll only have an audience of 3….)
6. Kevin Leahy
7. Roger Bland

Other speakers I am quite looking forward to, include my favourite lecturer from the Institute of Archaeology - the amazing Mark Hassall, Tim Schadla-Hall, Ken Dark and Jeff Spencer (I am hoping he shows some of his Google mapping work of the Nile Delta.) I think that there is something for everyone in this conference. If you haven’t got tickets, get in quick to avoid disappointment! And whilst you are checking out the new Current Archaeology website, vote on their opinion pieceURLs in the near future!

Archaeology 2008 conference schedule and hopefully they will sort out their URLs in the near future!

Bronze age site discovered in Cambridge

From EADTonline

ARCHAEOLOGISTS digging in the grounds of a Cambridge University college have unearthed the first hard evidence that the area of the ancient city was occupied during the Bronze Age.

The remains were discovered during a dig at Fitzwilliam College, off Huntingdon Road, and probably belonged to a farmstead which thrived 3,500 years ago.

Plenty of Bronze Age remains have been found elsewhere in Cambridgeshire - notably in the Addenbrooke's and Peterborough areas, and the lower reaches of River Great Ouse - but this is the first time that anything from the period (3500 to 1100 BC) has been found in the city of Cambridge itself.

Researchers from the Cambridge Archaeological Unit, which is part of the university, made the discovery during an archaeological survey ahead of the building of the new library in the college grounds.

The remains comprise a series of ditches, in which the team found pieces of antler working, flint tools, pottery, animal remains and other scattered debris dating from about 1500 BC.

Christopher Evans, from the Cambridge Archaeological Unit, said: “The site is extremely intriguing and looks rather incongruous amid the modern college buildings.

“It appears to be the remains of an agricultural settlement.

“We know this area of Britain was extensively occupied during the Bronze Age and this is an important find that helps us to fill in that picture.

“It will also help us understand the early development of Cambridge's early hinterland.”

The site at Fitzwilliam also features a number of later, Roman remains, which add to a Roman find unearthed in the early 1990s during digging at a neighbouring university college, New Hall.

Prehistorians also know there was an Iron Age settlement nearby, at Castle Hill, during the 1st century BC. The same site was later used by the Romans, who established the town in the mid 1st century AD.

Fight is on to save crofters’ grazing land

Should the burden of renewable energy fall to the few?

From The Herald

Imagine the public outcry if the government of a modern European country sanctioned a controversial planning application, from a giant multinational company, that would deprive indigenous farming people of thousands of acres of their common land - in the process destroying history, heritage and archaeology of national, if not international, importance - in order to turn the land into an industrial wasteland.

That would never be allowed, I hear you say. Never? That is precisely what would happen if the Scottish Government consented to the application by Amec, in the name Lewis Windpower, to build a giant 181-turbine windfarm on the Isle of Lewis. The Lewis peatlands, being Amec's chosen site for the windfarm, also happen to be the common grazings shared by hundreds of crofters.

Amec has no respect for this land, or the indigenous people on the land. Amec cares only about the wind that blows across it, and the vast amount of money it would stand to make from "harvesting" this wind.

But the crofters don't share Amec's contempt for their grazings, and last year more than 730 of them wrote to the Scottish Government, and to the Scottish Land Court, making their opposition and objections clear.

The reality, therefore, is that if the government consented to this development, an unprecedented legal battle would ensue. The developer would attempt to force hundreds of crofters off their land to make way for the windfarm; but the crofters have already told the government they will take their fight to protect their rights - enshrined in the 1886 Crofting Act - to the courts. And another major battle is also very much on the cards, as the RSPB has confirmed it would take its objections to the windfarm to the EU courts.

Surely SNP ministers, who are so committed to the future of crofting, and to the preservation of the natural heritage and environment, would never sanction the destruction of thousands of acres of unique crofting landscape, and the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of Lewis crofters and their families... would they?

Dina Murray, 49 North Galson, Isle of Lewis.

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.