Category: Archaeology

Aug 28

BN Anthropomorphism Research Thread V1

Filed under Archaeology

Guide – Archaeological Terms Glossary of Archaeological Terms Acheulian Later stages of Lower Palaeolithic culture defined by their particularly fine hand axes. Aeolian Deposited Read more Historic Publications Historic Publications Tacitus Tacitus grew up during a the reign of Nero, and may have been a teenager when Nero Read more Southern Roman Forts Map …

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Long Meg and her Daughters standing stone and stone circle

Filed under Agriculture, Archaeology, Medieval, Neolithic, ploughing, Stone Circle

Long Meg and her Daughters is a remarkable Neolithic monument located near Penrith in Cumbria, England.

Jul 21

Snake Iconography in the British Isles

Filed under Archaeology, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Mace Head, Neolithic, Passage Tomb, S-curved, Snake Mound

Syncretism through the ages Syncretism, the amalgamation of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought, has its roots in the ancient world. Thoughts on Celtic Religion – Raimund, Karl To begin with, lets first look at the sources available to us: There are quite numerous sources available, contrary to Read more Hillforts: Defence or Ritual? …

Bronze Age, Coiled Torcs, Iconography, Iron Age, Knowth, la tene, Loch Nell, Neolithic, Passage Tomb, Pennanular Ring, Pictish, Prehistory, Serpent, Serpent Mound, serpentiform, Snake, Snaked Headed
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Jun 27

Prehistoric mounds, cairns and boundary earthworks in Coverdale

Filed under Archaeology, Barrow, Boundary Marker, Brigantia, Brigantia England, Bronze Age, Burial Mound, Dark Ages, Dark Ages Brigantia, Early Christian, Early Medieval, Guide, Iron Age, Landscape Archaeology, Landscape feature, Motte and Bailey, Mound, New Sites, Roman, Terraces, Visible Remains

A gazetteer of probable prehistoric mounds, cairns and boundary earthworks in Coverdale. It is not complete and is still being researched.

Barrows, Boundary Markers, Bronze Age, Cairns, Coverdale, Ditches, Dykes, Earthworks, Iron Age, Medieval, Mounds, North Yorkshire, Yorkshire Dales
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Jun 16

Hillforts: Defence or Ritual? – Part 1

Filed under Archaeology, Brigantia, Brigantia England, Britain, Critical Thinking, Defensive Structures, Earthworks, Guide, Hill Fort, Univallet Hillfort, Vitrified Fort

Over the last five years Iron-Age specialists have been re-examining what British hillforts were really for. The question is no longer just “fortress or farm?” but whether many of them were built first and foremost as places of gathering, display and ritual.

Ad Gefrin, Barry Cunliffe, battle, Bowden, Castle Dykes, Ceremony, Debate, Defence, Hill Fort, Hill of Tara, hillfort, Iron Age, Julius Caesar, Maiden Castle, McOmish, Mortimer Wheeler, Northumberland, Paulinus, Ringforts, ritual, Ritual First, tacitus, Thornborough Henges, vitrified, Yeavering Bell
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Castle Dykes Henge, Thoralby – North Yorkshire

Filed under Archaeology, Brigantia, Brigantia England, Britain, Class I, Earthworks, Henge, Iron Age, Landscape feature, New Sites, Ritual Landscape

Castle dykes it is a small class one henge, 90m across, perched on the high ground up in the North Yorkshire dales. The bank survives up to 1.5 m high in places, and the ditch up to 3 m deep. Early 20th-century reports (1908) noted its intact form, and recent LiDAR-based surveys have confirmed its classic henge profile with minimal later disturbance.

Jun 11

Guide: Spoil Heaps

Filed under Archaeology, Guide, Industrial Heritage, Landscape Archaeology, Landscape feature, Mining, Spoil Heaps

These are artificial hills made from the unwanted rock, shale and tailings that come up with coal, metal ore, stone or clay when it is being mined or quarried. Because extractive industry is both deep and long-lived, single collieries or pits can generate tens of millions of cubic metres of spoil; pushed out by locomotive, conveyor or tippler wagon and dumped in successive layers, the piles quickly become a distinctive landform.

Bronze Age, dark ages, Extraction, Gold, Iron Age, metal, Minerals, Mining, Neolithic, Pateolithic, Quarrying, Rock, Roman, Spoil Heaps, stone, Waste Mounds
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Jun 10

Guide: Hillfort Mounds of Europe

Filed under Archaeology, Castro Hillfort, Contour/Plateau Fort, Europe, Guide, Hidden Remains, Hill Fort, Landscape Archaeology, Landscape feature, Multivallete Hillfort, New Sites, Oppidum, Promontory fort, Slavic Gord, Univallet Hillfort, Vitrified Fort

Guide: Common Features of Iron Age Hillforts This article attempts to serve as a guide for many of the features of the hillforts found in Britain, in Read more Guide: Iron-Age minting: Ceramic Pellet-mould trays This article explores the most tangible evidence we possess for indigenous minting north of the Humber: the smashed ceramic “pellet-mould” …

Jun 10

Guide: Barrows

Filed under Archaeobotanical, Barrow, Bell Barrow, Bowl Barrow, Bronze Age, Dark Ages, Disc Barrow, Europe, Guide, Iron Age, Landscape Archaeology, Landscape feature, Long Barrow, Neolithic, Ring Barrow, Ritual Landscape, Roman, Round Barrow, Square Barrow, Steppe Kurgan

A barrow is a mound of earth and/or stones raised over a grave or group of graves. Used from the Neolithic through to the Iron Age (roughly 4000 BCE to 500 CE), barrows were often constructed to honour elite individuals, such as tribal leaders, warriors, or chieftains. They are frequently found singly or in cemeteries known as barrow fields.

Jun 07

Guide: SAR Doppler Tomography

Filed under Archaeology, Geophysics, Guide, Hidden Remains, New Sites, Remote Sensing and Analysis, Reports

Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) already relies on Doppler shifts: echoes from scatterers in a side-looking radar beam have slightly different frequencies as the platform flies past, and focusing those micro-shifts yields a two-dimensional image.