Dover boat reconstruction due to set sail in 2010

THE OLDEST cross-Channel ferry in the world will set sail again in 2010, giving archaeologists a glimpse into the lives of Bronze Age seafarers.

Based on the 3,550-year-old vessel discovered beneath Dover town centre 16 years ago, the replica boat, lashed together from planks of wood, waterproofed with beeswax and moss, will carry up to ten men to France.

It is being built by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust, and researchers hope the voyage will help them glean invaluable information about how our ancestors conquered the sea.

The venture will also help archaeologists understand how people in Dover lived more than three millennia ago.

Peter Clark, from the Canterbury Archaeology Trust, who is masterminding the project, said: “The boat was made and used by people living three and a half thousand years ago.

“It was to better understand these people, their society and the world they lived in that was as much a focus of the analysis team’s work as the study of the vessel itself.”

Full story from Your Canterbury

Holme timber circle finds home

LYNN Museum is closing to the public from today for several weeks while the Seahenge timbers from Holme are installed into the new Bronze Age gallery.

The gallery is the final part of the £1.2 million Lynn Museum redevelopment funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Norfolk County Council.

Half of the 4,000-year-old timber circle will be on display together with a reconstruction of how the circle might have looked when built.

The Bronze Age monument has been well-travelled since it was lifted from the shoreline at Holme in 1999.

Full story here

New edition of 'British Archaeology' magazine available

Featuring, amongst other things...

Stanway: a Druid's grave

Between 1987 and 2003, archaeologists excavated a series of unique graves in a gravel quarry at Stanway, near Colchester, Essex. Study of the finds is now finished, revealing a story of powerful, rich people who would have seen emperor Claudius invade Britain, and some of whom may have been close relatives of Cunobelin and his famous sons Togodumnus and Caratacus. One grave, containing a unique game board with pieces in place, divining rods and a set of medical equipment, is thought to have been that of a Druid.

British Archaeology magazine

You can also view the November/December edition online.

If you fancy subscribing to this rather good magazine, I can recommend becoming a full member of the Council for British Archaeology (CBA) - an archaeological organisation not without some political clout. And with the amount of funding being withdrawn from 'culture' and poured into 'sport' for the upcoming olymics, we need all the help we can get. The subscription is only a few quid more than the magazine subscription, and you get the magazine included in the package.

Roman cemetary found in Lincoln

Full story from This is Lincolshire

Remains of a Roman settlement have been found on the proposed site of a new cemetery.

The findings were unearthed during a recent archaeological dig at the so-called Baker's field site near Long Leys Road in Lincoln.

Fragments of pottery, gullies for farming and animal bones were discovered during the survey, suggesting that the site was once a Roman-era farm.

Local opponents of the cemetery plan had hoped that the discovery might derail it but this now seems unlikely to happen.

Lincoln City Council's archaeologist Dr Mick Jones said that, although the find was interesting, nothing outstanding had been unearthed.

"What we have found is not of sufficient importance to stop the development going ahead," he said.

Full story from This is Lincolshire

Latest edition of Explorator available...

Explorator 10.42

Commons exchange about the PAS from theyworkforyou.com

Full exhange at theyworkforyou.com

The portable antiquities scheme is funded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. In recognition of the scheme's importance, the MLA intends to maintain current funding for the next financial year while it undertakes a review, with the British Council and other stakeholders.

Full exhange at theyworkforyou.com