No Atomic Blast. Fire Melted the Stones of Iron Age Forts Say Investigators

Ancient Origins

In Scotland, archaeologists believe that they have solved the mystery of an Iron Age fort in which stones had melted in a process termed vitrification. The team of experts studied the vitrified fort, known as Dun Deardail, in the Highlands, near Ben Nevis and have concluded that they can explain how its stones became molten and melted.

 Vitrified Forts
Dun Deardail has been dated to have been built around 500 BC, based on carbon testing. It was occupied by the Celts and later by the fierce Picts who used it as a fortress. The outline of the original fort can still be seen today as grassy embankments and it sits a-top a hill, that once had strategic significance in the area. It is perhaps one of the best known of the vitrified forts in Scotland, along with Ord Hill, and has fascinated people for centuries. Many people visit the spectacular site set in stunning landscape every year.

Dun Deardail. At the top of this hill is the vitrified Iron Age fort. ( CC BY SA 2.0 )

There are many similar vitrified forts in France and Ireland. It is estimated by the National Geographic that there are about 70 vitrified forts in Scotland and 200 in total in Europe. Scientists believe that to vitrify stone slabs that a heat of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit or 1,100 degrees Celsius , is required. The question as to how Iron Age people managed to ignite such conflagrations with their crude technologies and limited capabilities has only added to the mystery.

The experts from the Forest Enterprise Scotland, working with Stirling University and local volunteers, believe that they have solved the enigma, reports the Scotsman. They believe that a large-scale wooden structure over the stone walls was set alight and the blaze reached such a temperature that it burned the stones. Have the team solved the mystery of the vitrified forts?

Dun Carloway Broch, Lewis, Scotland. Another fort that has areas of vitrification. ( Public Domain )

Solving the Mystery
In order to solve the riddle of the vitrification of forts in Scotland and elsewhere in Europe, a series of investigations have been carried out since at least the 1930s. These tried to duplicate the conditions that would have led to stone vitrifying. None of their results were especially convincing and the reasons for the melting of stone forts continued to be a mystery. The failure to provide a satisfactory theory encouraged all kinds of wild speculation. For example, the popular author, Arthur C Clark argued that the stones were melted and fused by some Iron Age superweapon if not an early atomic bomb.

Now the team led by an archaeologist from the University of Stirling have offered what they believe is the most plausible explanation for the phenomenon of the vitrification of stone citadels. The study has shown that a timber superstructure, which included ramparts and towers, was set alight and the resulting blaze heated the stones. The fire was so intense that is was able to melt stones because of the anaerobic environment that developed as the flames burned down into the stones. The absence of oxygen in the anaerobic conditions, made the fire much more intense and allowed it to reach the temperatures that would have burned the slabs until they melted and fused

Fused stones. This was once part of a wall to the original hill fort at Dunnideer which gave the hill its name. ( CC BY-SA 2.0 )

The team is not only excited by the potential discovery of the cause of the vitrification process but also by the insights that it offers into the nature of Iron Age forts and society. The theory can help us to visualize what these forts looked like. They were impressive bastons with stone walls and according to Matt Ritchie, archaeologist with Forestry Enterprise Scotland they had ‘ roofed rampart walls many metres high’ . He also believes that the extensive wooden structures were used to store the precious food supply of the community.

 It seems that the archaeologists and the team of volunteers have explained one of the most perplexing mysteries from the Iron Age. They have offered a rational and plausible explanation for the vitrification of forts without the need for far-fetched theories. However, according to Ritchie ‘ of course the mystery of why the forts were burned remains unresolved’ . It has been speculated that they were burned during war, as part of a religious ceremony or to mark the death of a monarch.

Top image: Dunnideer Castle, built on the site of a hillfort with a remaining vitrified rampart. ( CC BY-SA 2.0 )

By Ed Whelan

Ancient British Bake Off? Cauldrons Fit for Feasting Found at Iron Age Settlement

Ancient Origins

The wealth of evidence found suggests there were many mouths being fed at an Iron Age settlement in the UK that looks to have developed into a regional center for ceremonies and feasting.

 A Unique and Unprecedented Collection of Iron Age Artifacts
 A team of archaeologists from the University of Leicester has announced the discovery of a unique collection of Iron Age metal artifacts found during an excavation at Glenfield Park, Leicestershire. The nationally significant hoard includes one-off finds for the region and reveals previously unknown information about feasting rituals among prehistoric communities.

As EurekAlert reports, the researchers came across a store of valuable and delightful ancient treasures at the site, including eleven complete, or almost complete, Iron Age cauldrons, fine ring-headed dress pins, an abstruse brooch and a cast copper alloy object known as a 'horn-cap', which they speculate was part of an official staff, highlighting the uncommon nature of the metalwork collection.

Iron involuted brooch ULAS. (Image: University of Leicester)

The conglomeration is considered to be exceptional and unequalled, as never before has an archaeological mission uncovered a treasure trove that includes such a great variety of findings in England.

"Glenfield Park is an exceptional archaeological site, with a fantastic array of finds that highlight this as one of the more important discoveries of recent years,”

John Thomas, director of the excavation and Project Officer from the University of Leicester Archaeological Services commented. He added,

“It is the metalwork assemblage that really sets this settlement apart. The quantity and quality of the finds far outshines most of the other contemporary assemblages from the area, and its composition is almost unparalleled.”

Copper alloy horn-cap ULAS. (Image: University of Leicester)

  Character of the Site in Constant Progress
The excavation works at Glenfield Park, Leicestershire, were launched back in the winter of 2013, and since then archaeologists have found enough evidence to believe that the area was inhabited throughout most of the Iron Age and Roman periods. The remains of the settlement consist of several roundhouses, enclosures, 4-post structures and pits that occupied the southern slopes of a low spur of slightly higher ground at the northern end of the development area.

“Early occupation of the site during the earlier middle Iron Age (5th - 4th centuries BC) was relatively modest, consisting of a small open settlement that occupied the south-facing, lower slopes of the spur. Slightly later in the middle Iron Age, indicated to be in the 4th or 3rd centuries BC by radiocarbon dating, the settlement underwent striking changes in character. Individual roundhouses were now enclosed, there was far more evidence for material culture, and rituals associated with the settlement involved apparently deliberate burial of a striking assemblage of metalwork,” Thomas stated in a University of Leicester report.

The interior of one of the Iron Age cauldrons (Image: University of Leicester)

Cauldrons Indicate that the Settlement Was Used as a Host Site for Feasting
Of course, archaeologists were flabbergasted by the many cauldrons found at the site, which, according to the experts, emphasize the important role of the settlement as a possible host site for feasting, with associated traditions of ritual deposition of significant artifacts. “The cauldron assemblage in particular makes this a nationally important discovery. They represent the most northerly discovery of such objects on mainland Britain and the only find of this type of cauldron in the East Midlands,” an impressed Thomas said.

The cauldron enclosure where found to be deliberately buried. (Image: University of Leicester)

The majority of the cauldrons seem to have been purposely positioned in a vast circular enclosure ditch that surrounded a building. They had been laid in either upright or upside down positions, before the ditch was filled in, a fact that indicates that they were buried to commemorate the termination of activities associated with this part of the site. Other cauldrons were discovered buried across the site, indicating that important events were being marked over a long period of time as the settlement developed. "Due to their large capacity it is thought that Iron Age cauldrons were reserved for special occasions and would have been important social objects, forming the centerpiece of major feasts, perhaps in association with large gatherings and events,” Thomas explains as EurekAlert reports.

The cauldrons are made from several separate parts, comprising iron rims and upper bands, hemispherical copper alloy bowls and two iron ring handles attached to the upper band.

They appear to have been a variety of sizes, with rims ranging between 36cm (14.1 inch) and 56cm (22 inch) in diameter, with the total capacity of all cauldrons being approximately 550 liters, which illustrates their potential to provide for large groups of people that may have gathered at the settlement from the wider Iron Age community of the area.

Iron bands were attached to some of the cauldrons. (Image: University of Leicester)

CT Scanning of the Cauldrons Provides Valuable Information
Soon after the important discovery took place, the extremely fragile cauldrons were lifted very carefully from the site in soil blocks for transportation in order to be examined. After an initial analysis by Dr. Andrew Gogbashian, Consultant Radiologist at Paul Strickland Scanner Centre, scientists could finally estimate the original dimensions and profiles of the cauldrons, as well as figure out how they were created. Most importantly, the scans unlocked extraordinarily rare evidence of the beautiful decoration from the period, further complimenting the immense cultural and historical significance of the site.

Color rendered image of a cauldron showing possible decoration on top right of the iron band. (Image: University of Leicester)

Archaeologists noted that with the help of modern technology, they were able to recreate digitally an example of a complete cauldron, which has raised stem and leaf motifs on the vessels iron band, similar to the handle locations, which are similar to the so-called “Vegetal Style” of Celtic art (4th century BC). Ultimately, they mentioned that more detail and information from the cauldrons will only be possible through excavation and conservation, which is being undertaken by MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology).

An optimistic Liz Barham, Senior Conservator at MOLA, told EurekAlert, "Already we have been able to uncover glimpses of the detailed histories of these cauldrons through CT scanning, including evidence of their manufacture and repair, and have identified sooty residues still clinging to the base of one of the cauldrons from the last time it was suspended over a fire. During the upcoming conservation we hope to discover much more about the entire assemblage. If we're lucky, we may even find food residues from the last time they were used - over 2000 years ago." The results of the project to date are published in the current issue of British Archaeology magazine, which will be available from 6 December.

 Top image: L-R: An iron cauldron that was found at the site. (Images: University of Leicester)

By Theodoros Karasavvas

Iron Age House Fire Took Place When Neighbors Were Few and Far Between

Ancient Origins

A woman thumps a knocking stone in the kitchen to prepare grain in preparation for tomorrow’s big meal. Her family have all gathered and are busy at various tasks about the house – her husband has just sat down after putting some deer carcasses to smoke, their son is helping mend some fishing nets, and their daughter has taken a lamp to go upstairs and find out why the baby is crying. Suddenly she hears “Fire!” and everyone rushes out into the cool night… soon the Iron Age stone roundhouse has gone up in flames.

A team of archaeologists are trying to discover what happened at an Iron Age stone roundhouse located at Clachtoll broch in Assynt, Scotland. They say it appears the home was quickly abandoned after an accidental fire or arson, but they are unsure which even is more likely. The date for when the building caught fire and collapsed has been given as sometime between 150 BC and 50 AD.

Clachtoll Broch, Assynt Mid Excavation July 2017 by jamesmcc on Sketchfab

Clachtoll Broch, Assynt Mid Excavation July 2017 by jamesmcc on Sketchfab

The work at the Iron Age site is being led by AOC Archaeology and is considered a major project. As Graeme Cavers, head of surveys at AOC Archaeology, explained to The Press & Journal : “It is a conservation project we are doing. The site is right on the edge of the sea on a cliff edge and will be a bit unstable later.”

The Iron Age roundhouse at Clachtoll broch in Assynt, Scotland. ( AOC Archaeology )

The AOC Archaeology Group’s blog on the site reports that most of the artifacts have been discovered in a layer of charcoal. They would have been typical for daily life in the Iron Age, and include items such as: mats or sacks, grains, animal bones and deer antlers, pottery fragments, iron pieces which may have been used in tools, stone whorls, and seven broken lamps. Mr. Cavers told BBC NEWS :

"One of the objects that is interesting is a knocking stone which is for the preparation of grain before it is ground into flour. We have found that stone in a state that it is filled with burnt grain. So that looks like it was in use on the day that the building caught fire."

A stone whorl found in the lower rubble layer. ( AOC Archaeology

) The Iron Age roundhouse at Clachtoll broch isn’t the only site of archaeological interest in Assynt. Actually, the location is better known for its Neolithic cairns which were likely used for burials and as family shrines. The area seemed to be less popular in the Bronze Age – only a few small cairns for single burials, some roundhouses in secluded valleys, and various burnt mounds have been identified.

Example of a Neolithic burial cairn at Camster, Caithness, Scotland. (David Shand/ CC BY 2.0 )

 But Assynt gained interest once again in the Iron Age and several large farmsteads have been found. According to the website Visit Sutherland :

 “Iron Age houses seem to have been deliberately isolated from their neighbours and were focal points surrounded by their own woods, fields, loch or burn and often with a beach suitable for landing a boat. The largest is Clachtoll Broch […] it collapsed in the last few decades BC and was never re-occupied, although there are signs of later habitation around it.”

 It is expected that work will finish at the site at the end of September.

 Top Image: Aerial view of the Iron Age roundhouse at Clachtoll broch in Assynt, Scotland. Source: AOC Archaeology Group

By Alicia McDermott

LIDAR Reveals 2,000-Year-Old Dwellings of Earliest Occupants of an Iron Age Hill Fort

Ancient Origins

A team of archaeologists has detected a conurbation of houses at a hill fort that once hosted some of the earliest occupants of a New Forest town, an area of southern England which includes one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Britain.

East ramparts of the Buckland Rings hilltop fort, Lymington (Public domain)

 Research Reveals Significant Archaeological Evidence
Buckland Rings is a spectacular embanked and ditched earthen fortress enclosing six acres within its triple ramparts. Until now, archaeologists have not been able to estimate the hillfort’s age accurately, but this could change very soon. A technologically advanced research at Buckland Rings Iron Age hillfort in Lymington, southern England, has divulged proof of 2,000 year old roundhouses within the fort’s ramparts as Heritage Daily reports. The geophysical research was directed by the New Forest National Park Authority with local volunteers and students from Bournemouth University. Seven pre-historic residences have been determined so far, which according to the experts were once home of hunters and farmers that occupied the lands of what is today Lymington. Archaeologists suggest that these ancient people lived in round wooden dwellings covered with a soil-based mixture and made a living by trading throughout Britain and across the sea.

Buckland Rings – artist’s impression, aerial view. (New Forest National Park Authority)

The Utility of Ancient Hillforts in Ancient Britain
As reported in a previous Ancient Origins article, British researchers undertook a large-scale project in 2013, in order to gather information on approximately 5,000 Iron Age hillforts scattered throughout the UK and Ireland. For those who might not know, hillforts are large circular defensive enclosures, protected by one or a series of steep ditches carved out of the earth, and are usually found on prominent hilltop positions, overlooking areas of strategic importance. While they were once thought to have been Roman constructions, archaeological excavations at the end of the 19th century revealed that they were entirely British in nature.

Some hillforts have been traced back to the Bronze Age but the vast majority were constructed in the Iron Age after 500BC. It was once thought that the hillforts had a purely defensive purpose, however, there is evidence to suggest that a wide variety of other activities took place there - domestic, cultural and industrial – suggesting that they functioned like defensible towns, or as administrative centers of a community, home to the local chief and prominent citizens. Interestingly, while hillforts can be found spread throughout the British Isles and Ireland, archaeologists have noticed that they are most prevalent in Southern and Western England.

Archaeologists Examine a Vast Area Covering Six Football Pitches
 Fast forward to 2017, the team of archaeologists has been using the incredibly revealing Lidar surveying equipment to conduct the recent survey at Buckland Rings Iron Age hillfort in Lymington, has also spotted medieval field systems, which have helped them to understand significantly better the progress and evolution of the Buckland Rings community from prehistoric hamlet to modern day Lymington.

Lidar 3D image of Buckland Rings (New Forest National Park Authority)

The team closely examined a wide area of 4.3 hectares or nearly six football pitches as Heritage Daily characteristically points out, in order to determine disparities in the earth’s soil that show ancient human activity. Lawrence Shaw, Archaeological Officer for the New Forest National Park Authority, told Heritage Daily, “Buckland Rings is a fantastically well preserved hillfort that would have once towered over Lymington and even been visible from the sea. This project has allowed us to look back at the origins of this historic town and see how people were living thousands of years ago. We hope to continue with our research to uncover more details of early Lymington and help the local community to find out more about this fascinating site.”

Ultimately, Josie Hagan, a Bournemouth University archaeology student who participated in the research, told Heritage Daily that the project was not just successful (from an academic point of view), but also fun for the participants, “This survey was a great success and we had a lot of fun over the six days. The volunteers and students worked extremely hard to get a lot of ground covered, and this looks great in the results. It makes it all worthwhile when you get to piece the results together and see features that haven’t been discovered before.”

Top image: Buckland Rings - artist's impression from gates (New Forest National Park Authority)

By Theodoros Karasavvas

Was It Just a Boss Spying on His Workers? First Viking Age Tower Found in Denmark

Ancient Origins

Archaeologists have recently excavated a very tall structure that can only be elucidated as a tower, in Jutland, Denmark. The “tower” was placed next to larger hall-type buildings, and a possible ritual building. Experts consider it an extremely unique discovery from the Viking Age, as the high building is unknown to Danish archaeology and architecture.

 A Viking Age Tower That Could Be Seen from a Distance
The newly excavated site of Toftum Næs, Jutland and the special features – such as the unique and unfamiliar architecture – that have been registered there, have managed to impress local and international archaeologists. Kamilla Fiedler Terkildsen – an archaeologist and curator at Viborg Museum – and her colleagues from Viborg Museum were the first to unearth the tower in 2014, during excavations of a settlement from the Viking Age.

A drone image of the Viking Age tower (with pit-houses on top of the north wall) and north-south facing house. North is on the left-hand side. (Photo: Andree Gothe )

Impressed and excited with the rare discovery, Terkildsen told Science Nordic ,

“It could be seen from some distance away. It must’ve been an impressive landmark for the place and for the nobleman who lived there. It’s unique in its construction and would have required a great deal to build. I really wonder where they got the idea from.”

She also added that the tower is about ten meters (32.8 ft.) high and is based on large, heavy posts

The tower area with a fenced ceremonial house and a north-south facing house dating to the Iron Age and Viking Age. The tower is indicated by the red arrows. ( Illustration: Tom Lock )

 The Tower is Architecturally Unique for the Viking Age and Danish Archaeology
Terkildsen and her team realized quickly that they had unearthed a Viking Age tower, an extremely rare, possibly the first of its kind in Denmark; and they weren’t wrong. The tower was first noticed as cropmarks on aerial images of the landscape, before the excavation began. What made them curious about the high structure, however, was its distinctive construction and design, which they had never spotted or seen before in Danish archaeology. So, in order to find out more about the peculiar structure, they asked for advice from the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen, “They called and asked if I have ever seen something similar. I hadn’t,” co-author Mads Dengsø Jessen, an archaeologist at the Danish National Museum, who helped Terkildsen excavate the tower told Science Nordic .

A ‘Viking Village.’ ( Lukasz Wiktorzak/ArtStation ) Experts believe it would be extremely rare to find a tower in a Viking Age village.

Examining the Viking Age Tower
The tower is estimated to be around 1300 years old, dating back somewhere to the 700s, in the Iron Age. However, the entire site was active up until the end of the Viking Age, around 1000 AD. The archaeologists suggest that the tower was part of the entrance to a larger settlement with several spectacular halls, like others of the kind that have been found in just a few places in Jutland.

The discovery of foreign coins and jewelry imply that the site had contacts with Western Europe, while archaeologists also discovered a fenced house of worship, a type of ceremonial structure used for performing rituals. However, according to Terkildsen, the tower stands out the most, “The site itself is very interesting and one of the few examples of the presence of a chieftain in Jutland, but we emphasise the tower, because there’s nothing like it anywhere else,” she tells Science Nordic .

Coins ( Pernille Rohde Sloth ) and Viking jewelry ( Kamilla Fiedler Terkildsen ) discovered at the site of the Viking Age tower in Jutland, Denmark.

 Usage and Importance of the Tower in the Viking Age The materials discovered at the site indicate that the settlement belonged to a very wealthy nobleman, who possibly had many workers. As Jessen says :

 “You couldn’t see very far (from the tower), but you could monitor the river valley, which you can’t do from the ground. So the question is whether the pit houses were workshops or residential, or both. One could imagine that the owner wanted to keep an eye on the workers on site.”

Furthermore, the structural fluctuation of the site at Toftum Næs, in particular the changes that seem to have taken place during the main use-phase both at the site in question and with regard to the overall development of aristocratic sites with production areas and at the Viking Age towns, are now open for debate amongst Viking Age archaeologists and historians.

Top Image: Stampe 515 ( Public Domain ) and 516 ( Public Domain ) from a series called ‘Everyday Life in the Viking Age’ and the high-ground, southern part of the settlement at Toftum Naes, Denmark. The arrow indicates where the tower once stood. (Illustration: Kamilla Fiedler Terkildsen )

By Theodoros Karasavvas

'Oldest' Iron Age gold work in Britain found in Staffordshire

BBC

Two friends have unearthed jewellery which could be the oldest Iron Age gold discovered in Britain.

Mark Hambleton, who went back to metal detecting after advice from his late father, made the find with Joe Kania, on Staffordshire Moorlands farmland.

The three necklaces and bracelet are believed to be about 2,500 years old.

 Their find was declared treasure at an inquest led by coroner Ian Smith, who joked it was likely to be "worth a bob or two".

Julia Farley, of the British Museum, described the discovery, called the Leekfrith Iron Age Torcs, as a "unique find of international importance".

Dr Farley, the museum's curator of British and European Iron Age collections, said: "It dates to around 400-250 BC and is probably the earliest Iron Age gold work ever discovered in Britain.

"The torcs were probably worn by wealthy and powerful women, perhaps people from the Continent who had married into the local community.

 "Piecing together how these objects came to be carefully buried in a Staffordshire field will give us an invaluable insight into life in Iron Age Britain."

 The four torcs were found separately, about 1m apart, buried near the surface in Leekfrith last December.

The location is almost 50 miles away from where the £3m Anglo Saxon Staffordshire Hoard was discovered by a metal detector enthusiast in 2009.

The inquest heard the torcs' gold content was at least 80%, with each piece weighing between 230g (8oz) and 31g (1oz), prompting Mr Smith to say: "Even as scrap, that's still worth a bob or two."

A formal valuation will now take place at the British Museum.

To be declared treasure, an item must be more than 300 years old, or have a precious metal content greater than 10%.

"This must rank as one of the most exciting treasure finds I have ever dealt with - not quite in the same league as the Staffordshire Hoard, but nevertheless exciting," Mr Smith said.

 Mr Hambleton said he was just about to give up for the day when his friend said he thought he had found something.

"He pulled this big torc out of his pocket, and dangled it in front of me," he said.

"When I'd got some air back into my lungs, my head had cleared and my legs had stopped wobbling, I said 'do you realise what you've found there?"'

He said the pair were "speechless".

He said he kept the gold next to his bed that night "to make sure it was safe" before handing it to experts the following day.

The jewellery was handed to the Portable Antiquities Scheme, which is administered by Birmingham Museums, but will be displayed at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke for the next three weeks.

The friends said they would share any proceeds with landowner Stuart Heath.

Now confirmed as treasure, the haul is the property of the Crown. The Treasure Valuation Committee will offer a value to the finders, landowner and any museum wanting to acquire it.

Once all parties agree, the museum has to raise the money to pay them.

Iron Age Burial Ground in Yorkshire Yields 150 Skeletons and Valuable Grave Goods

Ancient Origins

A “hugely important” find of the burial ground of an Iron Age community in England has turned up many artifacts, including jewelry and brooches, spears, swords, hundreds of amber and glass beads, and pottery.
..
Archaeologists working for a developer of a planned subdivision in Pocklington, East Yorkshire, came across the burial ground last year and halted work so the site could be excavated. They have discovered 150 skeletons of people buried in 75 square barrows or tombs. The archaeologists estimate the bodies were buried almost 2,000 years ago by people of the Arras Iron Age culture.

The archaeologists have discovered 150 skeletons of people buried in 75 square barrows or tombs. (David Wilson Homes)

An article in The Yorkshire Post says one body had a broken sword by his side, four spears along his spine and another near his groin. He was a young warrior, about 17 to 23 years old at death, and was ritually speared to release his spirit, according to the Post.
Another of the skeletons, also a man, was lying on a shield.  That skeleton was found last year, and Ancient Origins had a report on it.

Map Archaeological Practice Ltd staff member Sophie Coy holds a spear head that was found at the site. (Yorkshire Post)

The Guardian says experts are hailing the site as one of the largest and most significant finds from the Iron Age in recent years.  Experts say the site is of international significance.

• Archaeologists find ancient skeleton of a man buried with a shield in England
• Decapitated Skull Holds Remarkable Find - Oldest Preserved Brain in Britain
• Animal-bitten, Wounded, and Decapitated—Who were these Roman-era Men Buried near York?

The Iron Age in Britain lasted from about 800 BC to the Roman conquest of 43 AD. Researchers think the site was occupied during the Iron Age.

A Bronze brooch with coral decoration found at the site. (MAP/PA Wire)

“We are hoping that these findings shed light on the ritual of iron age burial – and, as we can assume from the shield and sword burials, these were significant members of society, so our understanding of culture and key figures of the time could be really enhanced,” site director Paula Ware told The Guardian.
Mrs. Ware told The Yorkshire Post: “We wouldn’t have known about this site if it had not been for this development. Developers get a bad press, however as archeologists we are thankful because that is how we are employed.”

The site of the dig. (MAP Archeology)

Archaeologists will spend several years excavating and studying the site, its burials and analyzing the bodies to determine whether the people were indigenous, what they ate, and what trauma or stress they faced in life. DNA analysis will show whether the people were related.
The site WorldHistory.biz says burials of this type, in square barrows, are unique in Britain. The Arras Culture burials differ from others of the time in Britain outside Yorkshire and resemble those of the La Tene Culture on the Continent.

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Other Arras Culture burials in Yorkshire have been in square barrows, and some of the men were buried with their chariots. Unlike on the European continent, however, the chariots were disassembled. As in Pocklington, these burials range from about 500 BC to the Roman conquest.

Example of an Iron Age ‘chariot’ burial by the British Museum at Wetwang. (The Landscape Research Centre)

In May 2015, Ancient Origins reported on the Arras Culture burials in Pocklington, including the man buried on the shield. The Arras Culture is named after a cemetery called Arras on a farm in East Yorkshire that was excavated from 1815 to 1817 by a group of gentry and later by another man.
 More than 100 barrows were identified at Arras, four of which contained chariots. It has been suggested that the purpose of the chariots was to convey the deceased – presumably someone of high rank – to the afterlife. Other graves consisted of a skeleton along with grave goods such as metalwork, ceramics, and animal remains.
One of the most impressive finds to date was a warrior burial (a male inhumation accompanied by warrior’s weapons) containing “probably the finest Iron Age sword in Europe,” according to The British Museum. The 2,300-year-old iron sword, known as the Kirkburn sword, has an elaborate hilt, assembled from 37 separate pieces of iron, bronze, and horn, and decorated with red glass. Analysis of the skeletal remains revealed that three spears had been plunged into the warrior’s chest.

The Iron Age sword discovered at the site in Pocklington. (Pocklington Post)

Featured Image: Bronze bracelet with coral decoration discovered at the site in Yorkshire. Source: MAP Archeology
By Mark Miller

Knossos Thrived Well into the Iron Age and Was Much Larger than Once Believed

Ancient Origins

Current research on the ancient Greek city of Knossos in Crete suggests that it not only recovered from the Bronze Age collapse that brought down many of the Aegean palaces, but actually flourished into the Early Iron Age.
The Greek Reporter writes that Knossos was “a cosmopolitan hub of the Aegean and Mediterranean regions” and “rich in imports and was nearly three times larger than what was believed from earlier excavations.”
These were some of the results of fieldwork by Prof. Antonis Kotsonas, of the Univ. of Cincinnati. Kotsonas recently presented his research at the 117th annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America and Society for Classical Studies (which was primarily focused on terracotta figurines).
Kotsonas serves as a consultant on the Knossos Urban Landscape Project , and it was his studies with them that brought him to the fields covering ruins of housing and cemeteries in Knossos. The excavation has been thorough and revealed some important details of Iron Age Knossos, including the fact that the site was three times larger than previously believed. According to Kotsonas:

Distinguishing between domestic and burial contexts is essential for determining the size of the settlement and understanding the demographic, socio-political and economic development of the local community. Even at this early stage in detailed analysis, it appears that this was a nucleated, rather densely occupied settlement.

Artist’s representation of the Palace at Knossos. ( Mmoyaq/ CC BY SA 3.0 )

Knossos is reported as Europe’s oldest city and scholars have been studying life in Knossos during the Bronze Age remains for centuries. It is only recently, however, that attention has turned to the city’s development in the Iron Age - around the 11th century BC.  It is also a site that is steeped in myth - one of the most famous of which being that of the famed labyrinth created by King Minos to contain the legendary Minotaur.

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The researchers studying Knossos have found that the real site is as exciting as the stories of legend. Many new artifacts - bronze and other metals, jewelry, pottery, ornaments, and all sorts of status symbols have been unearthed. Most of these materials were recovered from burial sites. These artifacts have provided evidence for the researchers’ belief that Knossos was a wealthy community during this period.

“Larger concentrations of better preserved material from the fringes of early Iron Age Knossos typically suggest a fairly recently disturbed burial context.” ( Todd Whitelaw )

The last decade of the Knossos Urban Landscape Project has really enhanced researchers’ collection of Iron Age artifacts. They have excavated a large section of the settlement from that period and found that with time there was an increase in the quantity and quality of its imports originating from mainland Greece, Cyprus, the Near East, Egypt, Italy, Sardinia, and the western Mediterranean. "No other site in the Aegean period has such a range of imports," Kotsonas stated in a press release .

Pithoi (large storage containers) at Knossos, Crete. ( CC BY SA 3.0 )

More news will certainly arrive in the future as the Knossos Urban Landscape Project aims to document and analyze the development of the site from 7000 BC to the 20th century. Kotsonas adds that the popularity of the site could also work against archaeologists in the future. He has said that although the “Knossos Urban Landscape Project works to inform the community about the importance of preserving the area that has history yet to be uncovered, history that could be lost if future development destroyed unexplored parts of the site.”
Featured Image: Artist’s rendering of the palace of Knossos. Source: Ancient Images/CC BY NC SA 2.0
By Alicia McDermott

Pre-Viking Iron Age settlement will give a glimpse of life in Norway 1,500 years ago

Ancient Origins

Archaeologists have discovered a pre-Viking Iron Age settlement dating back around 1,500 years ago on the Trondheim Fjord on Norway’s coast as they excavated the area prior to expanding an airport for jet fighters.
The strategically located site includes three large longhouses arranged in a U shape, one of which had several fire pits possibly used for cooking, keeping warm and for handwork, says a press release from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The longhouses may have been used for community gatherings, to honor the chief of the settlement and possibly to store food.

“This was a very strategic place,” Ingrid Ystgaard, project manager at the Department of Archaeology and Cultural History at NTNU University Museum, said in the press release. “It was a sheltered area along the Norwegian coastal route from southern Norway to the northern coasts. And it was at the mouth of Trondheim Fjord, which was a vital link to Sweden and the inner regions of mid-Norway.”

Ystgaard says the site is unique in Norway because many bones of animals, birds and fish are preserved in the site’s garbage heaps or middens. The soil in the areas is composed of seashells and so is not acidic, unlike much of the soil in Norway. The acid in the soil at other sites breaks down bone and other organic matter so that it is unusual to find bones from before the medieval era. Usually at such old sites archaeologists only find ceramics, beads and metal.

Synne H. Rostad operates a standing sieve to sift out smaller bones and objects from the dirt. (Photo: Åge Hojem, NTNU University Museum)

“Nothing like this has been examined anywhere in Norway before,” Ystgaard said.

The bones are plentiful enough that researchers can compare wild and domestic varieties of that time with those of today.
“The middens have also provided others surprises,” the press release states. “One was a delicate blue glass bead and several amber beads, too, suggesting the former residents liked their bling. Another was the remains of a green drinking glass that was characteristic of imports from the Rhine Valley in Germany. This last is also a testament to how well off the former residents of this area were, Ystgaard said. “’It says something that people had enough wealth to trade for glass.’”
Ystgaard said she and her team expect outside the site are graves and a harbor with boathouses.

“There was a lot of activity here,” Ystgaard said of the site. “Now our job is to find out what happened here, how people lived. We discover new things every day we are out in the field. It’s amazing.”

About 2,000 years ago the Ørland peninsula was recovering from the last Ice Age, and the land was depressed by the weight of the ice. A bay resulted, but the land has since risen and formed dry land today.

The area in yellow on the Trondheim Fjord is under excavation and was the site of a settlement 1,500 years ago. The area in green was dry land then. (Map by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology)

The sheltered bay and fertile fields were a great place for the settlement, says the press release. Archaeologists had suspected Ørland would be a rich archaeological site, but they found the excuse to dig there when the Norwegian Air Force decided to purchase 52 F-35 jets and expand the airport.
Before construction begins on Norwegian soil, the law requires a preliminary archaeological examination of the site and further study if any significant finds are made.
More than 20 archaeologists and workers will dig and study at the site for 40 weeks. The budget for the project is Norwegian Krone 41 million ($4.6 million), but that doesn’t include excavating machines and room and board for workers.
The operators of the big earth-moving machines will remove the top layer of soil and can be very precise. “The excavator operators are incredibly skilled,” Ystgaard said. “You can ask them to remove 2 centimeters of soil and they can do it.”
Featured image: A blue glass bead at least 1,500 years old is among the finds archaeologists have made at the Ørland Main Air Station dig. This bead was found in a garbage layer and was probably lost by its owner. (Photo: Åge Hojem, NTNU University Museum)
By: Mark Miller

Archeologists discover Ancient Celtic village with more than 150 roundhouses

Ancient Origins

Archaeologists and students from Bournemouth University in England have unearthed an ancient Celtic village at Duropolis, which is named after the Celtic Iron Age Durotriges tribe that lived in the settlement in the 1^st century BC. The remains of 16 roundhouses have been unearthed and more than 150 other roundhouses have been identified through geophysical surveys. It is one of the earliest and largest open settlements ever unearthed in Britain.
The students unearthed the previously unknown village in East Dorset in southern England, as part of their studies this year. It is customary for university students from many institutions around the world to go on digs as part of the archaeology curriculum.
“The Durotriges Big Dig, hosted yearly by Bournemouth University, gives students a hands-on experience with a live archaeological site. In previous years, students have uncovered Roman villas and skeletal remains, as well as a host of archaeological artefacts,” says a press release from the university.
Researchers hope the dig will reveal what the fate was of inhabitants of Maiden Castle when they moved out of that hill fort about 2,100 years ago.
This settlement is among the largest found in Britain from before the Roman invasion of the 1^st century AD.  The village appears to differ from other settlements of the time because it's not in a hilltop fort and it didn't even have defensive palisades. Archaeologists leading the dig hope it will give some insight into life in that part of Britain before the invasion.

The boundaries of England and Wales; the territory of the Durotriges tribe is overlaid in red. (Map by Jbp1201/Wikimedia Commons)

“We’ve exposed remains of 16 roundhouses in the two trenches we’ve dug,” said archaeologist Miles Russell of  Bournemouth University, co-director of the dig. “They are pre-Roman house structures, the last that inhabitants would have been living in before the Romans arrived. We know that there are around 200 of these across this area, so we’ve got ourselves a prehistoric town or proto-urban settlement. What we’ve discovered is extremely significant for the whole of Southern Britain because in the past archaeologists have tended to look at really obvious sites, like the big hill-fort of Maiden Castle near Dorchester. What we have here is an extensive open settlement, not a hill fort, so it wasn’t visible as a settlement from the earthwork on the landscape. What we’ve discovered is one of the earliest and largest open settlements in Britain.”
Paul Cheetham, the other co-director and also an archaeologist at the university said:

“What this suggests is that there are other big centres of occupation before the Roman arrival, this is a big open settlement, probably one of the first that the Romans encountered when they arrived. It exposes the myth that everyone lived in protected hill forts – these inhabitants lived in this fertile farmland, away from the traditional hill forts we are all used to hearing about.”

In addition to the roundhouses, students have excavated animals bones buried in strangely combined configurations, including with a woman who'd apparently been sacrificed, which made news earlier this month. They've found quern stones used for grinding, spindle whorls used for weaving and evidence of working in iron, copper and lead.
The Celtic inhabitants of the small, industrious Iron Age settlement apparently sacrificed the young woman by slitting her throat and then buried her body in a curious arrangement of animal bones. Her head rested on animal-skull fragments, and her legs rested on animal leg-bones.
The team is also excavating other burials of hybrid animal bones at the site that recall myths from the Mediterranean and Near East about bird-woman harpies, goat-lion chimeras, eagle-lion griffins, man-goat satyrs, man-bull minotaurs and man-horse centaurs. Ancient peoples imagined combining various animal and/or human parts into one fantastic and sometimes grotesque beings. Some were understood as monsters, others as wise counselors or guardians of shepherds and the countryside.

A sheep with its own head that was fragmentary plus the head of a bull on its rear end has been excavated along with other animal combinations at a farm in Dorset, England.

“The discoveries are helping to transform our understanding of key aspects of Late Iron Age Britain – the type of society that existed just a couple of generations before the Roman conquest,” said Russell.

“Our investigations at the site suggest that life there was peaceful and prosperous. Although the settlement was relatively large, there appears to have been no defensive palisade or ramparts. The sacrifice of so many animals and the unusual treatment of their bones is likely to shed totally new light on Iron Age belief systems – and may suggest that the Ancient Britons had beliefs or mythologies which involved hybridized animals, just as the ancient Greeks had.”

Featured image: Archaeological dig site near Winterborne Kingston in Dorset. Credit: Bournemouth University.

Discovery of Pictish Fort Reveals Iron Age Look-Out post for Sea Raiders

Ancient Origins



In the fifth or sixth century AD, Picts on the eastern Scotland coast set up a fort on a stone outcrop just offshore, possibly to hold sway over the seas. The ancient people had a reputation for ferocity and were one reason the Romans never established a lasting presence in what is now Scotland.
The fort on what is called a “sea stack” may have been one of a series of forts along the coast, archaeologist Gordon Noble of Aberdeen University told the Press and Journal. This particular fort, near Stonehaven, may have been a precursor to medieval Dunnottar Castle, just a few hundred meters (yards) away, on a headland onshore.

 

Dunnottar Castle, Scotland (Wikimedia Commons)

Excavations by Professor Noble and his team showed the fort was inhabited for extended periods, so it may have been an important place to the Picts.
“The Picts were known as sea raiders and forts like this may have helped cement that naval power. It is quite an impressive site. It was pretty hairy climb to get up there and at high tide it is completely cut off. Resupplying the fort when it was inhabited would have been a challenge,” Professor Noble told the Daily Mail.
The Romans called Picts “Pictii” because they painted themselves blue when going into battle. No one knows what the Picts called themselves. They lived in east and north Scotland during the late Iron Age and early in the medieval era. They overran Roman positions several times by 200 AD and kept the Romans at bay in Scotland north of the Clyde and Forth.

 

 

A Pict looking out to sea as depicted in a 19^th century book (Wikimedia Commons)

“The Roman name ‘Pictii’ means “painted ones,” and the Romans believed the Picts were little more than naked savages. However, it is now thought that this is an exaggeration. Given Scotland’s climate, it is unlikely that the Picts spent a lot of their time undressed. It is believed that they wore clothes colored with natural dyes and used leather for footwear and jackets. The Picts were also thought to be excellent farmers, growing crops and keeping animals for food and clothing. Certainly, horses were important to the Picts as they are depicted on many of their carved stones,” says an article at the BBC website.

 

“The Painted Ones”: Hand-colored version of Theodor de Bry’s engraving of a Pict woman (Wikimedia Commons)

Picts didn’t have writing, so what we know of them comes from ancient Greek and Roman texts and archaeological digs like the one at Dunnicaer sea stack.
The fort on the sea stack at Dunnicaer became known after youngsters climbed it and found rocks with markings on them. They threw some of the rocks into the sea, but one boy went back and retrieved one from the water, the Daily Mail says.

 

Stone with Pictish carving found at Dunnicaer hill fort (megalithic.co.uk)

It’s possible the Picts built a wooden bridge to the sea stack to give regular access, Noble said. The stones of the fort were not local, so it seems likely they had some way to transport them to the sea stack, whether by a wooden bridge or by lifting them with ropes.
The team from the University of Aberdeen’s Northern Pict Project excavated what may have been a house and a hearth with some charcoal intact at the site. The house was inside the fort.
Noble speculated that there was a community living on the shore near the sea stack, but he said because Picts built their homes from wood it is not possible to find remains of their dwellings.
A professional rock climber scaled the sea stack and put ropes in place for Professor Gordon and his team, who did a five-day excavation at the site.
Featured image: View over Dunnicaer Promontory Fort from the neighboring clifftops. Credit: Les Hamilton.

 

 

 

Impressive Tomb of Celtic Prince Found in France

by Rossella Lorenzi

Discovery News

 

 

An Iron Age Celtic prince lay buried with his chariot at the center of a huge mound in the Champagne region of France, according to the country’s National Archaeological Research Institute (Inrap).
Standing near the small village of Lavau, in northwestern France, the mound, 130 feet across, has been dated to the 5th century BC. The 2,500-year-old tomb has at its center a 150-square-foot burial chamber, housing the deceased and his chariot.
“This exceptional tomb contains unique funerary artifacts, which are fitting for one of the highest elite of the end of the first Iron Age,” Inrap, who has been excavating the site since October last year, said in a statement.
Photos: Excavating a Celtic Prince's Tomb
The major find so far has been a large bronze-decorated wine cauldron, most likely made by Greek or Etruscan craftsmen.
The cauldron measures about 3.2 feet in diameter and has four circular handles which are decorated with bronze heads that depict the Greek god Acheloos. The river deity is represented horned, bearded, with ears of a bull and a triple mustache.
More decorations are found around the edge of the cauldron. These include eight lioness heads.
Chariots, Gold Found at Bronze-Age Burial Site
Inside the cauldron, the archaeologists found a ceramic wine vessel, called oniochoe, decorated with black figures. Decorations include the god Dionysus, lying under a vine and facing a woman.
“It’s likely a banqueting scene, which is a recurring theme in Greek iconography,” Inrap said.
The Greco-Latin wine set, the northernmost found so far, is typical of an aristocratic Celtic banquet.
The wine cauldron not only represents the deceased’s wealth and power — it also reflects the growing interaction between the Celtic elites and the Mediterranean world, Inrap said.
Intricate Treasures From Stonehenge Burial: Photos
Between the end of the 6th century and the beginning of the 5th century BC, Greek and Etruscan city-states, in particularly Marseille, experienced strong economic growth.
Mediterranean traders, seeking slaves, metals and other precious goods such as amber, came into contact with continental Celts who controlled the main communication routes along the Seine, Rhône, Saône, Rhine and Danube.
The Celts greatly benefited from the exchanges.Some of their prestigious objects of Greek and Etruscan origin have been found in other monumental mounds in Heuneburg and Hochdorf, in Germany, and in Bourges and Vix, France.
Excavation at the site is expected to finish at the end of the month.
Image: Lioness head on the edge of the wine cauldron. Credit: Denis Gliksman/Inrap