New Evidence for a Large Prehistoric Settlement in an Annular Geomorphological Structure in Southwest Morocco
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How to Tell a Cromlech from a Quoit ©
How to tell a cromlech from a quoit © As you might have guessed from the title, this article looks at different types of Neolithic or early Bronze Age megaliths and burial mounds, with particular reference to some well-known examples in the UK. It’s also a quick overview of some of the terms used when describing certain types of megaliths, standing stones and tombs. The definitions below serve to illustrate that there is little general agreement over what we could classify as burial mounds. Burial mounds, cairns, tumuli and barrows can all refer to man- made hills of earth or stone, are located globally and may include all types of standing stones. A barrow is a mound of earth that covers a burial. Sometimes, burials were dug into the original ground surface, but some are found placed in the mound itself. The term, barrow, can be used for British burial mounds of any period. However, round barrows can be dated to either the Early Bronze Age or the Saxon period before the conversion to Christianity, whereas long barrows are usually Neolithic in origin. So, what is a megalith? A megalith is a large stone structure or a group of standing stones - the term, megalith means great stone, from two Greek words, megas (meaning: great) and lithos (meaning: stone). However, the general meaning of megaliths includes any structure composed of large stones, which include tombs and circular standing structures. Such structures have been found in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, North and South America and may have had religious significance. Megaliths tend to be put into two general categories, ie dolmens or menhirs. -
Henges in Yorkshire
Looking south across the Thornborough Henges. SE2879/116 NMR17991/01 20/5/04. ©English Heritage. NMR Prehistoric Monuments in the A1 Corridor Information and activities for teachers, group leaders and young archaeologists about the henges, cursus, barrows and other monuments in this area Between Ferrybridge and Catterick the modern A1 carries more than 50,000 vehicles a day through West and North Yorkshire. It passes close to a number of significant but often overlooked monuments that are up to 6,000 years old. The earliest of these are the long, narrow enclosures known as cursus. These were followed by massive ditched and banked enclosures called henges and then smaller monuments, including round barrows. The A1 also passes by Iron Age settlements and Roman towns, forts and villas. This map shows the route of the A1 in Yorkshire and North of Boroughbridge the A1 the major prehistoric monuments that lie close by. follows Dere Street Roman road. Please be aware that the monuments featured in this booklet may lie on privately-owned land. 1 The Landscape Setting of the A1 Road Neolithic and Bronze Age Monuments Between Boroughbridge and Cursus monuments are very long larger fields A1 Road quarries Catterick the A1 heads north with rectangular enclosures, typically more the Pennines to the west and than 1km long. They are thought to the low lying vales of York and date from the middle to late Neolithic Mowbray to the east. This area period and were probably used for has a rural feel with a few larger ceremonies and rituals. settlements (like the cathedral city of Ripon and the market town of The western end of the Thornborough pockets of woodland cursus is rounded but some are square. -
The Landscape Archaeology of Martin Down
The Landscape Archaeology of Martin Down Martin Down and the surrounding area contain a variety of well‐preserved archaeological remains, largely because the area has been unaffected by modern agriculture and development. This variety of site types and the quality of their preservation are relatively unusual in the largely arable landscapes of central southern England. Bokerley Dyke, Grim's Ditch, the short section of medieval park boundary bank and the two bowl barrows west of Grim's Ditch, form the focus of the Martin Down archaeological landscape and, as such, have been the subject of part excavations and a detailed survey by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. These investigations have provided much information about the nature and development of early land division, agriculture and settlement within this area during the later prehistoric and historic periods. See attached map for locations of key sites A ritual Neolithic Landscape….. Feature 1. The Dorset Cursus The Cursus dates from 3300 BCE which makes it contemporary with the earthen long barrows on Cranborne Chase: many of these are found near, on, or within the Cursus and since they are still in existence they help trace the Cursus' course in the modern landscape. The relationship between the Cursus and the alignment of these barrows suggests that they had a common ritual significance to the Neolithic people who spent an estimated 0.5 million worker‐hours in its construction. A cursus circa 6.25 miles (10 kilometres) long which runs roughly southwest‐northeast between Thickthorn Down and Martin Down. Narrow and roughly parallel‐sided, it follows a slightly sinuous course across the chalk downland, crossing a river and several valleys. -
The Long Barrows and Long Mounds of West Mendip
Proc. Univ. Bristol Spelaeol. Soc., 2008, 24 (3), 187-206 THE LONG BARROWS AND LONG MOUNDS OF WEST MENDIP by JODIE LEWIS ABSTRACT This article considers the evidence for Early Neolithic long barrow construction on the West Mendip plateau, Somerset. It highlights the difficulties in assigning long mounds a classification on surface evidence alone and discusses a range of earthworks which have been confused with long barrows. Eight possible long barrows are identified and their individual and group characteristics are explored and compared with national trends. Gaps in the local distribution of these monuments are assessed and it is suggested that areas of absence might have been occupied by woodland during the Neolithic. The relationship between long barrows and later round barrows is also considered. INTRODUCTION Long barrows are amongst the earliest monuments to have been built in the Neolithic period. In Southern Britain they take two forms: non-megalithic (or “earthen”) long barrows and megalithic barrows, mostly belonging to the Cotswold-Severn tradition. Despite these differences in architectural construction, the long mounds are of the same, early 4th millennium BC, date and had a similar purpose. The chambers of the long mounds were used for the deposition of the human dead and the monuments themselves appear to have acted as a focus for ritual activities and religious observations by the living. Some long barrows show evidence of fire lighting, feasting and deposition in the forecourts and ditches of the monuments, and alignment upon solstice events has also been noted. A local example of this can be observed at Stoney Littleton, near Bath, where the entrance and passage of this chambered long barrow are aligned upon the midwinter sunrise1. -
Egypt's Central Eastern Desert Rock-Art
Durham E-Theses Predynastic & Pharaonic era Rock-Art in Egypt's Central Eastern Desert: Distribution, Dating & Interpretation LANKESTER, FRANCIS,DAVID How to cite: LANKESTER, FRANCIS,DAVID (2012) Predynastic & Pharaonic era Rock-Art in Egypt's Central Eastern Desert: Distribution, Dating & Interpretation, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5909/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Predynastic & Pharaonic era Rock-Art in Egypt’s Central Eastern Desert: Distribution, Dating & Interpretation Thesis submitted for the degree of Ph.D. Archaeology, Durham University, 2012 by Francis Lankester Dedication This thesis is dedicated to David Rohl-without whom it would never have been started, and to my mother-without whom it would never have been finished. Acknowledgements Above all, I would like to thank Margarita Díaz-Andreu and Penny Wilson for their tremendously hard work and necessary patience as my supervisors over the years of this study, and for guiding me in my academic research and writing. -
Download Date 30/09/2021 08:59:09
Reframing the Neolithic Item Type Thesis Authors Spicer, Nigel Christopher Rights <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by- nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>. Download date 30/09/2021 08:59:09 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10454/13481 University of Bradford eThesis This thesis is hosted in Bradford Scholars – The University of Bradford Open Access repository. Visit the repository for full metadata or to contact the repository team © University of Bradford. This work is licenced for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence. Reframing the Neolithic Nigel Christopher SPICER Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD Department of Archaeological Sciences School of Life Sciences University of Bradford 2013 Nigel Christopher SPICER – Reframing the Neolithic Abstract Keywords: post-processualism, Neolithic, metanarrative, individual, postmodernism, reflexivity, epistemology, Enlightenment, modernity, holistic. In advancing a critical examination of post-processualism, the thesis has – as its central aim – the repositioning of the Neolithic within contemporary archaeological theory. Whilst acknowledging the insights it brings to an understanding of the period, it is argued that the knowledge it produces is necessarily constrained by the emphasis it accords to the cultural. Thus, in terms of the transition, the symbolic reading of agriculture to construct a metanarrative of Mesolithic continuity is challenged through a consideration of the evidential base and the indications it gives for a corresponding movement at the level of the economy; whilst the limiting effects generated by an interpretative reading of its monuments for an understanding of the social are considered. -
An Introduction to Neolithic to Mid Bronze Age Prehistoric Pottery of Cambridgeshire
Jigsaw Cambridgeshire Best Practice Users' Guide An Introduction to Neolithic to Mid Bronze Age Prehistoric Pottery of Cambridgeshire Sarah Percival December 2016 © Jigsaw Cambridgeshire Page 1 of 12 INTRODUCTION This short guide describes the types of pottery which were in use in Cambridgeshire from the Early Neolithic until the mid-Bronze Age. All pottery during this period was made and used in the household and was handmade, mostly formed using coil construction. The pots were fired in a domestic hearth, bonfire or clamp, at temperatures of 600 to 700 degrees centigrade. Based on evidence from ethnographic comparisons most archaeologists believe that clay collection, preparation and potting were undertaken by women. There were no pottery industries or production centres such as those found during the Roman or medieval periods however certain forms and fabrics were widely adopted during specific periods allowing pottery to be used for dating archaeological deposits. Prehistoric pottery may be found in both funerary and domestic deposits and archaeologists use pottery as evidence of trade and exchange and of the type and scale of activity present on an archaeological site. Characteristics used to identify the age of a pot include form (the shape of the vessel), decoration, and fabric. Fabric here refers to the clay of which a pot was made and the inclusions within it. Inclusions are materials within the body of the clay which may be present naturally or are often deliberately added as temper, to aid construction, firing and resilience of the pot or for cultural or social reasons. The colour of the finished pot tells archaeologists something of how it was fired. -
Two Middle Neolithic Radiocarbon Dates from the East Midlands
THE NEWSLASTetteR OF THE PREHISTORIC SOCIetY P Registered Office: University College London, Institute of Archaeology, 31–34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY http://www.prehistoricsociety.org/ Two Middle Neolithic radiocarbon dates from the East Midlands Earlier this year, radiocarbon dates were commissioned for awaiting confirmation of post-excavation funding. The two Middle Neolithic artefacts from the east Midlands. The bowl was originally identified as a Food Vessel. It has a fine first was obtained from a macehead of red deer antler from thin fabric, a concave neck, rounded body and foot-ring. Watnall, Northamptonshire, currently in the collections It is decorated all over with incised herring bone motif and of the National Museums Scotland who acquired it in certainly has a Food Vessel form. However the rim form is 1946/7. The macehead is No. 2 in Simpson’s corpus (PPS much more in keeping with Impressed Ware ceramics and 1996). It is of standard ‘crown’ type, it is undecorated, and the foot-ring has been added to an otherwise rounded base. unfortunately the circumstances of the find are unknown. Both the foot-ring and the decorated lower part of the vessel A radiocarbon date was obtained from the antler itself and are features more common in Food Vessels than in Impressed produced a result of 4395±30 BP (SUERC-40112). This date Wares. Could this be a missing link? Does this vessel bridge unfortunately coincides with a plateau in the calibration curve the Impressed Ware-Food Vessel gap? A later Neolithic or but nevertheless calibrates to 3097–2916 cal BC (95.4% Chalcolithic date was expected but instead the date is very probability) and is in keeping with the few available dates firmly in the Middle Neolithic – 4790±35 BP (SUERC- already obtained for these artefacts (see Loveday et al. -
A Neolithic and Bronze Age Monument Complex and Its Early Medieval Reuse: Excavations at Netherfield Farm, South Petherton, Somerset, 2006
02 Mudd:Layout 1 03/07/2013 08:49 Page 3 A Neolithic and Bronze Age Monument Complex and its Early Medieval Reuse: Excavations at Netherfield Farm, South Petherton, Somerset, 2006 andrew mudd and mark brett With contributions by Hugo Anderson-Whymark, Stuart Black, Sarah Cobain, Jonny Geber, Frances Healy, Nathalie Marini, E. R. McSloy, Elaine L. Morris, Kathryn M. Price, Sylvia Warman, Geoff Warren, Nick Watson, Keith Wilkinson and Tim P. Young An early Neolithic causewayed enclosure, a middle Neolithic long enclosure and an earlier Bronze Age open enclosure were among a group of prehistoric features discovered and examined by excavation at Netherfield Farm, South Petherton during archaeological mitigation work ahead of the construction of a natural gas pipeline between Ilchester and Barrington, Somerset, in 2006. Of particular interest were burnt deposits within the long enclosure ditches and a possible Bronze Age field system. Assemblages of pottery and flintwork contribute to the understanding of these features and a programme of radiocarbon dating has amplified the chronology of activity on the site. Evidence from a group of burnt and unburnt pits and a partial enclosure reveal the reuse of the site between the fifth and eighth centuries AD. INTRODUCTION The discovery and partial excavation of a group of prehistoric monuments at Nether - field Farm, South Petherton, in Somerset provides new information on the distribu - tion and use of monumental architecture in Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain. The group comprised an extensive spread of remains, including a causewayed enclo sure, a long enclosure and a linear arrangement of ring-ditches, and is the first of this type of complex to be found in Somerset. -
Liz Henty University of Wales Trinity Saint David [email protected]
BOOK REVIEWS Jan Harding, Cult, Religion and Pilgrimage: Archaeological Investigations at the Neolithic and Bronze Age Monument Complex of Thornborough, North Yorkshire, with contributions by Lindsay Allason-Jones, Arnold Aspinall, Alan Biggins, Ed Dennison, Sarah Groves, Benjamin Johnson, Robert Johnston, Eva Laurie, Peter Makey, Simon Mays, Roger Martlew, Joshua Pollard, Armin Schmidt, Kristian Strutt and Blaise Vyner UK: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 174 (2013). Softback 250pp, 150 figs incl. colour. ISBN 9781902771977. £25. Liz Henty University of Wales Trinity Saint David [email protected] For archaeological interest you are spoilt for choice in the Thornborough landscape of North Yorkshire. Apart from its three impressive henges, there is a long cursus, groups of round barrows, oval and rectangular enclosures and a double pit alignment. It is a landscape that was used in prehistory from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age and thus it is a daunting task to establish chronology, motivations for use and changes in ideology and then produce a coherent synthesis. Yet this is what Harding has done, with contribu- tions from his colleagues. The Thornborough Research Report is based on the results of two field projects at the Neolithic and Bronze Age monument complex which set out a scenario for a new interpretation of this impressive site. The main focus visually is the line of three massive henges which together represent one of the largest earthmoving episodes in the late Neolithic period in Britain. These double-entranced henges were enclosed by double-ditches and associated with an earlier cursus. Their systematic investigation took place over a long ten-year period and the report charts Thornborough’s growth from a relatively modest fourth millennium monument into what Harding (p. -
Excavations at Upper Largie Quarry, Argyll & Bute, Scotland
Edinburgh Research Explorer Excavations at Upper Largie Quarry, Argyll & Bute, Scotland Citation for published version: Cook, M, Ellis, C, Sheridan, A, Barber, J, Bonsall, C, Bush, H, Clarke, C, Crone, A, Engl, R, Fouracre, L, Heron, C, Jay, M, McGibbon, F, MacSween, A, Montgomery, J, Pellegrini, M, Sands, R, Saville, A, Scott, D, Šoberl, L & Vandorpe, P 2010, 'Excavations at Upper Largie Quarry, Argyll & Bute, Scotland: new light on the prehistoric ritual landscape of the Kilmartin Glen', Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, vol. 76, pp. 165-212. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0079497X00000499 Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.1017/S0079497X00000499 Link: Link to publication record in Edinburgh Research Explorer Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Published In: Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society Publisher Rights Statement: © Cook, M., Ellis, C., Sheridan, A., Barber, J., Bonsall, C., Bush, H., Clarke, C., Crone, A., Engl, R., Fouracre, L., Heron, C., Jay, M., McGibbon, F., MacSween, A., Montgomery, J., Pellegrini, M., Sands, R., Saville, A., Scott, D., Šoberl, L., & Vandorpe, P. (2010). Excavations at Upper Largie Quarry, Argyll & Bute, Scotland: new light on the prehistoric ritual landscape of the Kilmartin Glen. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 76, 165- 212. General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorer content complies with UK legislation. -
How to Plan an Unforgettable Journey in Egypt (Pdf
1 | P a g e How to Plan an Unforgettable Journey in EGYPT Kenn Laya Director North America – EGYPT Tourism USA – New York, New York CEO / Product Development – Vuitton Travel & Luxury Lifestyle – New York, New York Edited By Maria Koehmstedt Cover Photography & Design Charls Lamber Contributor / Ferskov Communications 2 | P a g e To all the people of Egypt, this e-book is for you. By writing "How to Plan an Unforgettable Journey in EGYPT", it is my hope that the many people who read this work come to realize just how amazing it is to visit your incredible country. May they come to see your bountiful sites for themselves and then send their friends. And when they are there, it is my hope that they meet as many of you as is possible during their journey so that when they return, like myself, they can proudly say "I have friends in Egypt." To all of you who I already know in Egypt, and to all of you I have yet to meet, forever you will remain in my heart, as my friends. 3 | P a g e An Egyptian Journey immerses travelers in more than 7,000 years of history – ancient Egypt to the Roman Empire, Islamic dynasties to modern metropolises. With vast and beautiful deserts, fresh oases, simple villages, chaotic metropolises, tranquil Red Sea resorts, the palm-lined Nile and awe- inspiring, sand-swathed monuments, there’s a place for all personalities of traveler. While the country comprises a mixture of different cultures and religions, a unifying and omnipresent sense of hospitality runs deep in the blood of every Egyptian – a warmness toward one another and a kind embrace to all who visit her.