Boltby is a very important ancient site IMO. A gold “hair braid”, was found there, linking it to the Amesbury Archer, buried with two similar hair braids. This also provides a link to the founding of Stonehenge, which helps set a potential scene for a possible “zeitgeist”, of the day.
Category: Landscape feature
Nov 23
The Story of Boltby Scar
- Filed under Brigantes, Brigantia, Brigantia England, Britain, Bronze Age, Celtic Tribes, Defensive Dike, Defensive Walls, Dike, Europe, Fort, Hair Braid - Ring, Hill Fort, Iron Age, Landscape Archaeology, Linear Earthworks, Mining Landscape, Promontory fort, Stories of Brigantia
Swaledale
- Filed under Brigantia, Brigantia England, Britain, Cairn, Europe, Flint Scatters, Geology, Geomorphology, Hill Fort, Iron-Age, Megalithic, New Sites, Promontory fort, Ring Cairn, Rock Art, Univallet Hillfort
Swaledale occupies the long, sinuous valley carved by the River Swale on its 45-kilometre descent from Nine Standards Rigg (662 m) on the Pennine watershed to Richmond in lower Teesdale. The dale narrows between rough gritstone scarps near Keld, broadens to a patchwork of hay-meadows around Muker and Gunnerside, then opens into a tree-fringed flood-plain west of Reeth before the river cuts through the Carboniferous escarpment to meet the Vale of Mowbray.
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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? …
Millbarrow long barrow (Winterbourne Monkton)
- Filed under Animal Remains, Antler Pick, Barrow, Britain, Early Neolithic, Europe, Flint Scatters, Grooved ware, Human Remains, Landscape feature, Long Barrow, Mortlake ware, Neolithic, Peterborough ware
Millbarrow once stood on a low chalk spur 2 km north‑west of Avebury, just above the spring‑line where the Kennet valley opens onto the Marlborough Downs (NGR SU 0943 7221). From its east–west‑aligned crest the ground falls gently south to Windmill Hill and east into the Kennet valley, giving the mound clear sight of the Avebury monument complex, and easy access to water and pasture.
Horslip (Windmill Hill) Long Barrow, Avebury
- Filed under Barrow, Britain, Early Neolithic, Europe, Flint Scatters, Long Barrow, Neolithic
Sitting on the south‑east shoulder of Windmill Hill (grid ref. SU 086 070), 140 ft (43 m) above the Kennet valley, the Horslip long barrow commands the same chalk ridge that carries the famous Early‑Neolithic causewayed enclosure 400 m upslope.
Castro de Trona fort – Pontevedra, Spain
- Filed under Brigantia, Brigantia Espania, Castro Hillfort, Fort, Late Iron Age, New Sites, Roman, Terraces
Castro de Trona is an oval enclosure with significant terracing to the west and a large ditch to the east. This castro (a hillfort settlement) has an accepted date of around 600 BCE. Like many others in Galicia, this castro reached its peak during the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. It measures approximately 200 metres east to west by 150 metres north to south.
Roman Rig Defensive Works
- Filed under Brigantia, Brigantia England, Britain, Dark Ages, Dark Ages Brigantia, Defensive Dike, Defensive Structures, Dike, Europe, Iron Age, Late Iron Age, Linear Earthworks, Medieval, Petilius Cerialis
The Roman Rig is a defensive dyke built to defend against attack from the south. It runs from Sheffield, past Templeborough and carries on almost to Doncaster. If this is a Brigantian dyke it would certainly add weight to Websters definition of the Roman border in the period.
- Adwick-le-Street Roman Fort, Carl Wark, Cartimandua, Danes Camp, Defensive Earthwork, Defensive Works, Doncaster Roman Fort, Dunum, Dyke, Linear earthwork, Mam Tor, Petilius Cerialis, Roe Wood, Roman Rig, Scoles Coppice, South Yorkshire, Sutton Common, Templeborough Roman Fort, Venutius, Wincobank
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Kirkhaugh Cairns – Cumbria
- Filed under Barrow, Brigantia, Brigantia England, Britain, Bronze Age, Cairn, Europe, Finds, Funerary Urns, Hair Braid - Ring, Megalithic, Mining, New Sites, Rock Art
This mound is 22ft. in diam. and about 3ft high. It has been built upon a natural knoll which makes the barrow look larger than it is. Excavation showed that the mound has an earthy core with a rubble capping.
What might Stonehenge Mean? Dartmoor and Carnac add to the Picture
- Filed under Barrow, Bell Barrow, Britain, Bronze Age, France, Funerary Urns, Hair Braid - Ring, Landscape feature, Megalithic, Mining, Neolithic, News, Radiocarbon Dating, Smelting, Stone alignment, Stone Circle, Stone Row, Wales
Stonehenge has always been enigmatic, due to its use of those definitive morticed trilithons, all of which where squared of, more like the structures of the Maltese temples and other stone structures closer to Africa, as opposed to those of the rest of Britain and most of the wider North-west European ritual landscape.
- amesbury, Anglesey, archer, boltby, Boltby Scar, britain, Bronze Age, Carnac, Dartmoor, France, Gold Tresses, Great Orme, Hill Fort, Kirkhaugh, Llanymynech, Nabta Playa, nenthead, Neolithic, North Yorkshire, Parys Mountain, Powys, Rouslton Moor, Shropshire, Stonehenge, Tabular Hills, wales, Yorkshire Moors
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Oval Barrow east of Ulshaw Bridge
- Filed under Brigantia, Brigantia England, Burial Mound, Landscape feature, Long Barrow
This unexcavated and undated barrow matches many of other Late Neolithic / Early Bronze-Age round barrows (c. 2400–1500 BC) dotted along the flanks of the Yorkshire Dales.
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Announcing: The Brigantian News!
- Roman Road to the West uncovered under Manchester Street 16 July 2025
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An incomplete cast copper alloy Roman Colchester derivative brooch of the Harlow double-lug type, dating from c. AD 20-100. The wings, which are C-shaped in section, the spring and approximately half of the bow survive; [...]
A fragment of a cast copper alloy button probbly of post-medieval date. The button has a simple line around the outer edge; no other decoration is visible. The reverse is slightly concaved and the edge [...]
An incomplete iron mount of probable medieval date. The mount is formed of a thin sheet of iron; the rearward end is now broken and distorted. The mount is broadly triangular in plan with the [...]
A complete but now crushed pressed copper alloy mount of probable modern date, c. 19th / early 20th century. The mount was originally cruciform in shape, with each arm terminating in an equal armed cross with [...]
A cimplete cast copper square coin weight dating to the late Georgian period, c. 1760-1773. The weight has 10:6 stamped on one side, representing 10 shillings and six pence - interestingly the 1 is upside [...]
A complete flint scraper of Neolithic to early Bronze Age date, c. 4000-2100 BC. The scaper has been formed on a tertiary flake of a mottled blue/black flint which has limited surface re-patination. The striking [...]
A silver Scottish cut farthing of William I 'The Lion' (AD 1164-1214), dating to the period c. AD 1205-1230 (Short Cross Phase B). Stuck in Roxburgh. Spink 2003 no. 5023. [...]
A silver cut farthing of Henry II (AD 1154-1189) dating to the period AD 1180-1185. Class 1a-1b (probably the latter). Struck by the moneyer Rodbert/Rodberd at an uncertain mint. North N962-963. [...]
A cast copper alloy Medieval annular brooch, circa 13th-15th century. The frame is 22mm in diameter, plano-convex in cross section and decorated with seven moulded oval lobes; an eighth lobe is divided by a constriction for a pin, [...]
An incomplete cast copper alloy Roman brooch of Trumpet type (Mackreth (2011) Chapter 5, Part 1, TR 3.3a, Plate 86 number 14176) dating to c. AD 80 - 200. The head is missing; the bow [...]
A copper-alloy Roman nummus of Constantine II (AD 317-337) dating to AD 324-5 (Reece Period 16). PROVIDENTIAE CAESS reverse type depicting camp gateway with two towers and star in between. Mint of London. RIC Vol 7( p.116) No. 296.Note: [...]
A worn silver soldino of Doge Tommaso Mocenigo of Venice (AD 1414 - 1423). Venice mint, mint control mark: star above F. S MARCVS VENETI reverse type depicting the winged lion of St. Mark facing within a [...]
A Medieval silver groat of Edward III (1327 - 1377), dating to AD 1352-3. Fourth coinage, pre-treaty, series D. Mint of London. North (1991: 50) No. 1152.The coin was restored by the finder before recording. [...]
A copper alloy buckle plate of Medieval to post Medieval date, comprising a rectangular strip of metal which was folded around the strap bar on the buckle frame (now missing). The plate was retained with a [...]
A Roman copper alloy nummus of Constantius II, dating to AD 347-348 (Reece Period 17). VICTORIAE D D AVG GQ NN reverse type depicting two victories holding wreaths, standing facing each other. Mint of Trier. AS LRBC Vol I [...]
An Early Medieval silver Primary Phase sceatta of Series D (type 2c D210) dating c. AD 700-715.Obverse: crude radiate bust right, with V O behind head. Reverse: cross pommee with pellets in angles, Vs around. I O [...]
Medieval copper-alloy annular brooch, featuring two raised collets with missing glass or gem settings. The frame is otherwise complete and a little over half of the pin survives in situ. The frame is oval and [...]
An incomplete copper alloy post medieval pipe tamper of a pedestal style or an incomplete spoon handle, dating to c. AD 1700 - 1800. Only the terminal remains, which is flat, circular and undecorated. Below this is circumferential collar, this expands [...]
A complete copper alloy plain double looped 'spectacle' buckle frame of Medieval to Post Medieval dating, circa AD 1350 -1650.The buckle consists of a double looped frame with a narrow strap bar. The outer face has bevelled edges. [...]
An incomplete iron socketed arrowhead dating to the Medieval period, c. 1250 - 1500. The head is a long triangular shape and in longitudinal section it narrows from the tip which is 1.4mm to 9.4mm at [...]
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