Isle of Man Bronze Age dig ahead of schedule

From BBC News.

Archaeologists who uncovered part of a Bronze Age village beneath the Isle of Man's airport have finished the first phase of their excavations early.

Their dig began in May, when human remains and artefacts were found by workers on a stretch of the proposed taxiway extension at Ronaldsway.

Experts who were called in found a human skull, rubbish dump and evidence of skull burials and funeral pyres.

Excavations finished nearly two weeks early ahead of schedule.

The artefacts have now been removed for study and conservation.

A preliminary report will also be prepared by Oxford Archaeology, who worked on the site along with staff from Manx National Heritage (MNH).

Andrew Johnson, field archaeologist at MNH, said: "Because of the known archaeological richness of the area, these works were required under planning conditions put in place when the go-ahead was given for the runway project at the airport.

"Construction areas have been stripped of topsoil and checked for archaeological remains before being handed over to Balfour Beatty."

He added: "In total we've checked and signed off a massive area of ground - equivalent to about 20 football pitches."

The dig focused on an area near the north-east end of the airport, where an extension to the northern taxiway was being prepared.

Archaeologists believe the Bronze Age village they found is a continuation of a site first revealed in 1935.

The team are expected to return in the spring when construction work focuses on the eastern end of the airport where the promontory is to be built.

Airport Director Ann Reynolds said: "I understand that no archaeological project of this scale and complexity has ever been undertaken on the island before in the course of a major construction contract.

"It has been a major achievement for all concerned."

Read more here.

Explorator 11.16

Explorator 11.16

Buckland's house recieves a blue plaque

From BBC News.

A blue plaque has been unveiled to commemorate a geologist, lecturer and churchman who "revolutionised the teaching of science in Oxford".

The memorial to William Buckland, born in 1784 and widely regarded as an eccentric, was put up at the Old Rectory in Islip where he lived.

Buckland attended Oxford University before being ordained a priest and appointed Canon of Christ Church.

He later became Dean of Westminster Abbey and rector of Islip.

A blue plaque is a permanent sign that links its location to an historic person or event.

Buckland's sign was awarded by the Oxfordshire Blue Plaque Board. It was the 41st blue plaque to have been unveiled in Oxfordshire.

Prof Jim Kennedy, director of Oxford University Museum of Natural History, said: "William Buckland revolutionised the teaching of science in Oxford, and was the most charismatic teacher of his day.

"His collections are housed in the University Museum of Natural History, and we are delighted to be associated with the installation of this blue plaque commemorating such a distinguished academic, cleric, and eccentric."

Full story here.

Stonehenge Boglemen perpetrators step forward. . .

From the Guardian.

It should have been a poignant reunion, when Bob and Bruce Bogle met their maker at Stonehenge - but they just stared blankly ahead. But then it was quite hard to recognise the student perpetrators of an outrageous stunt among the grey haired, or bald, retired professionals assembled among the stones.

They last all met up at dawn on an icy day in February 1966- and have kept the secret of that meeting ever since. "We never put any money in the collecting box when we went in over the fence all those years ago, so we were a bit worried about owning up," Martin Bergs, a retired chemist, said.

Now it can be told: the infamous 1966 Bogle invasion of Stonehenge, a story that went around the world, was a Manchester student rag-week publicity stunt which went spectacularly wrong since nobody outside the gang of plotters had the faintest clue what it was all about. All the world knew 42 years ago was that staff arrived to find the ancient monument invaded by 16 lifesize wooden stick men. Each had painted Beatles moptop hair, a name on their skinny chest and clutched curious implements. Bruce, Bob, Boris Bogle and their brothers stood, sat, or - having blown over in the wind despite cord supports and sacks of sand weights - sprawled on the stones like students sleeping off a heavy night.

Before the horrified caretakers gathered up and burned them, Austin Underwood, a local school teacher, arrived and photographed the Bogles in situ - images which appeared in many national papers including the Guardian.

By then the plotters, faces still blackened like paratroopers on the advice of a fellow student with a - military background, were scoffing a large breakfast at Bergs' sister's flat in Bristol, before driving back to Manchester in his ancient Ford Popular - bought for £50 after a summer's hard work - and a battered former post office van requisitioned from one of students with wheels.

Full story here.