Anchient boats found in Egypt. In caves of course, where else. Not a Zahi in sight either.

Boston University

Ripon Gazette - 18/03/05

Henges: Tarmac gives moor pledge

By Lee Sobot.

A quarry firm has stated that it has no intention to extract sand and gravel from Thornborough Moor - home of the Thornborough Henges - within the next ten years.

Tarmac Northern Ltd is currently quarrying nearby Nosterfield Quarry and has applied to quarry Ladybridge Farm half a mile from the henges next year.

The application has upset archaeological campaigners who say Ladybridge Farm is part of the henges setting and fear Thornborough Moor may be next on Tarmac's list.

But on Wednesday Tarmac declared they will "not be seeking Thornborough Moor to be included for allocation in the forthcoming review of North Yorkshire County Council's minerals local plan".

The review covers the next ten-year period and is designed to ensure that the county can meet its supply quota to the local construction industry.

Tarmac Northern company estates manager Rob Moore said the decision was taken after listening to concerns expressed by local people.

He said "Some had mistakenly believed that the henges were under threat from the imminent minerals local plan review and believed that this allocation would be tantamount to permission to extract sand and gravel from beneath Thornborough Moor.

"We have said time and time again and repeat that the henges, which are scheduled ancient monuments within a scheduled protection zone, are not threatened by quarrying.

"We hope that this move will help to allay any fears and confusion that people may have in relation to our current planning application, remove the that there is time pressure to conserve the henges and allow time for a full conservation plan study for the henges."

George Chaplin, chairman of TimeWatch, said the news was "welcomed" but questioned Tarmac's commitment to staying away from Thornborough Moor long term.

He said "What we would like is an uncomplicated, unambiguous statement from Tarmac saying they have no intention ever of quarrying Thornborough Moor, that should be pretty straightforward."

While John Lowry, chairman of Friends of Thornborough, said Tarmac's declaration was "reassuring", he added "it is not relevant to the Ladybridge Farm application which is our main concern, I think it is a bit of a red herring.

"I suppose it is reassuring but we were never too worried about Thornborough Moor - the chances of Tarmac being given permission to quarry Thornborough Moor are pretty remote now that we have raised the profile. They could never quarry right up to the henges - they are internationally important recognised monuments."

* Tarmac is holding a public meeting on Wednesday at West Tanfield Memorial Hall at 7.30pm. The company will provide updated reports on archaeology, ecology and the proposals for Ladybridge Farm which, they say, have been substantially revised following feedback from local residents.

I'm told that the team from the MoL are due to resume their excavations on the "Saxon King" site at Prittlewell. This is to make sure thay haven't missed anything before road widening starts.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I was informed the TT special is due to be screened in June (but we know these plans sometimes alter)

Archaeologists working on the site of a natural gas terminal in Pembrokeshire have uncovered what they believe may be a medieval metal works.
Medieval works found at LNG site

Theory that Ireland could somehow be the remains of Atlantis gains momentum. Hold on, a book launch is involved. Forget it.


Based on similarity in geographic extent, Dr Erlingsson formulated the hypothesis that Plato based the description of the Atlantean Empire on the Megalithic Culture of Europe. He further reasoned that Atlantis then must have been Ireland. This inference he evaluated scientifically using statistical significance testing on the null hypothesis. The probability that “Plato based the geographic description of Atlantis on Ireland” was found to be 99.98%, leaving only a 0.02% possibility that the similarity is coincidental.

The rest of the book deals with archaeology and mythology. Both those fields reveal intriguing similarities between Ireland and Atlantis. For instance, archaeological textbooks confirm that Ireland features the choicest monuments of Megalithic Europe. The finest monument, Newgrange, is called Brugh na Boinne in Ireland, which means the ‘Palace of Boann’ – the river goddess of the Boyne. Plato called Atlantis’ finest temple the ‘Palace of Poseidon’, Poseidon being the Greek river god. Moreover, both temples are 85 m across, and decorated with stones of different colors.

The study is described in the book “Atlantis from a Geographer’s Perspective”, recently released ($16.95 hardcover, Lindorm Publishing, http://lindorm.com/books.html).

Prominent scholars who have read the book have been quite appreciative, describing it as “very interesting” and “definitely worth reading”. The foreword was written by the editor of the international scientific journal Geografiska Annaler, professor Wibjörn Karlén. He endorsed the study as based on “classical scientific methodology.”

A hypothesis only survives until proven wrong. If it can not be proven wrong in rigorous tests, it is elevated to theory. A theory in science is something rather certain, whereas a hypothesis is what the general public calls a theory. Dr Erlingsson modestly called his proposal a hypothesis, but it may well be called a theory. The results make it appear virtually certain that the description of Atlantis was modeled on Ireland, and that the time was the Megalithic Culture of the Neolithic Period.

The discovery may enable us to decipher parts of a lost past. It seems that Irish mythology indeed preserves memories of historic events in the Stone Age. The mythical Thuata de Danaan, who became the fairy people, are associated with the Megalithic tombs in Irish mythology. According to Dr Erlingsson’s thesis the Megalithic tombs are Atlantean temples. This explains the book’s sub-title, “Mapping the Fairy Land”.

Even if deciphering five thousand years old historic data from the Stone Age is not deemed the most significant feat in the history of history, it is still remarkable. The monuments that are getting an explanation are the world’s oldest. They are not only the oldest monumental constructions, but the boulders themselves are of a size rarely used in later history. This suggests that they were built by a well-organized and technically advanced Stone Age society.

The thesis got widespread attention last August. However, the debate became uninformed since the book was not yet released, and too much was made of insignificant comments such as this, a statement from the National Museum of Ireland: “This theory seems to be based on geological information which we, as archaeologists, are not in a position to assess.” As a consequence, the author decided to temporarily cancel all interviews.

Now that the book has been released, Dr Erlingsson is issuing an open invitation to a debate around the thesis. The sign-up form can be found at http://lindorm.com/atlantis/debate.html

Well at least it was news to me and at least it was not another item about Atlantis.

The Scotsman 12 April 2005

CONTROVERSIAL proposals to site a burial ground next to one of the most imposing neolithic stone circles in Scotland have caused a storm of protest.

The circle at Cothiemuir Wood, a tranquil wooded glade on the Castle Forbes estate near Keig in Aberdeenshire, is widely regarded as one of the most spectacular ancient sites in the north-east of Scotland.

Flanked by seven upright monoliths hewn from red granite, the 20-tonne basalt recumbent stone at its centre is one of the largest in Britain. The distinctive markings on its outer face are known as the "Devil’s Hoofmarks".

Furious locals fear that the site could be destroyed by plans by Native Woodland, an Edinburgh company, to develop a natural burial ground at Cothiemuir Hill within 15 yards of the ceremonial site, a scheduled ancient monument.

Native Woodland, which has still to receive planning permission for its scheme, offering an alternative to the traditional cemetery, is already advertising Cothiemuir on its website as a "simply unique" burial ground, saying it is the only one of its kind in Europe.

The company is offering "rights of burial" for the interment of human ashes in plots to be laid out in concentric rings around the ancient site, and full interments in a dedicated grassland area to the east of the stone circle.

The plan has provoked an angry backlash from residents in the area, who are forming an action group to have the proposals thrown out by Aberdeenshire councillors.

One resident told The Scotsman: "What would happen if whoever owns the land surrounding Stonehenge went for a commercial burial scheme? It beggars belief."

The campaign against the burial ground plan is being led by Jo Stover, of nearby Auchnagathle Farm. She said: "We are a close-knit community here and I think that is why people are quite appalled and really quite upset about what is being planned.

"This is a commercial development which just doesn’t belong here. Local people are extremely alarmed and angry about what is being proposed.

"It has no sensitivity to the local area and the people here - quite the opposite. It would encourage the use of a remote graveyard by persons who have no connection to this area or to the people here."

She added: "The company claims the burial site will not physically damage the stone circle, but it will be changed for ever by this development."

The burial scheme is being backed by the local laird, Malcolm Forbes, the Master of Forbes, whose family has owned the estate incorporating the land surrounding the stone circle for about 600 years.

Colin Turnbull, another local resident, said: "This is being advertised as an up-and- running burial site when it is still at the planning application stage. I regard that as immoral."

Ian Walls, the director of Native Woodland, was unavailable for comment yesterday.

His letter to Aberdeenshire Council, in support of the planning application, states: "The site at Cothiemuir has been selected due to the outstanding natural and cultural setting.

"This being so, the main objective behind our proposals for the site is for the change of use to have as little impact on the landscape as is practically possible. We aim for the changes to be imperceptible."

Preparations underway for the return of Ethiopia's Axum Obelisk

BBC News

The current issue of Fortean Times contains a short article about the SS achaeological unit entitled "Himmler's Time Team".

The mind boggles!

Burying treasures - Guardian

Burying treasures

There are no guarantees against development of land that is 'protected' or part of a national park. Paul Evans on how hundreds of sites are at risk

Wednesday April 13, 2005
The Guardian

Thornborough Henges, in the Vale of York near Ripon, is one of the largest complexes of megalithic sites in Britain. But the grassy ring of undulating earthworks - 5 metres high and some 250 metres in diameter, with other great rings beyond - is no Stonehenge. There are no signs guiding tourists to the site, no interpretation boards, ticket kiosks, or gift shops, just a fence and a locked gate.

You know when you get to this important archaeological site because of the sound of bulldozers. Thornborough Henges has Britain's largest quarrying operation on prehistoric land. Nosterfield Quarry - run by construction firm Tarmac Northern - produces more than 500,000 tonnes of sand and gravel each year and, until last week, the firm was planning to extend its activities all around and right up to the site.

Following protests, it has now agreed not to quarry sand and gravel from the nearby Thornborough Moor, but is applying to expand its existing quarry by 45 hectares (111 acres), which at its closest point will be half a mile away from the nearest of the three Thornborough Henges. A Tarmac spokesman this week said: "We are committed to the protection of the monument and have provided financial assistance to English Heritage for its conservation plan study."

Although the rings will not be damaged, much of the historical landscape around them has already been destroyed by generations of quarrying, - something inconceivable at Stonehenge or at many sites of far less historical importance in the south of England.

David Austin, a landscape archaeologist and co-editor of the journal Landscapes is appalled. "Thornborough Henges have had a presence in the landscape for 5,000 years and every fibre of that [wider] landscape can tell us something about deep histories. But if this is stripped out by quarrying, we lose that history. We're back to year zero. It's an archaeological Pol Pot." The problem is that landscape protection in Britain is arbitrary, eccentric and frequently unable to stop the bulldozers. Almost one in three of Britain's designated 7,100 sites of special scientific interest (SSSI) are not in their target condition, and national parks and many sites of historical, ecological and cultural value are under threat from large scale developments.

The Welsh assembly has recently demanded that sand and gravel beds in the Usk estuary, which has SSSI status, be protected from future mining. Morlais Owen, chair of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales says: "These potential sand beds have not been evaluated for their quality, nor has there been an environmental impact assessment."

In Britain SSSI have been obliterated to make way for the Newbury bypass, the Twyford Down road, the M6 toll road, Fairmile, Manchester airport, and the Cardiff Bay development. It seems that having legal protection is just asking for trouble.

The problem, says the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is that no government has had the guts to revoke the archaic planning system that 50 years ago handed out mineral extraction permissions. According to Andy Tickle, senior countryside campaigner at the CPRE, these "dormant" quarries in national parks are "ticking time-bombs".

A recent report by Friends of the Peak District National Park revealed that there are 119 permissions in national parks across England: including 46 in the Peak District, 27 in the Lake District, 16 on Dartmoor and 14 in the Yorkshire Dales. All could re-open at any time until 2042.

More than a third of these old permissions have not been reviewed and 20 quarries are still working without any modern environmental control. Moreover, progress on closing damaging quarries using "prohibition orders" has been poor.

"There are still quarry sites in national parks and elsewhere that have not been reviewed and are working with no environmental impact assessment or control because of a presumption that permission was given years ago. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has said it will bring these quarries back under control, but it hasn't done so yet," says Tickle.

At Backdale Quarry in Derbyshire's Peak District National Park, quarrying restarted in July 2003. The operator, Merrimans of Leicester, had been given permission to remove a small amount of limestone in order to reach a vein of mineral fluorspar. But 175,000 tonnes of limestone later - which was sold as construction aggregate - and the fluorspar is still there.

The national park authority ordered Merrimans to stop in January, but the decision is being appealed against and next week will go to a public inquiry.

Just a few miles from Backdale quarry at Stanton Lees, protesters have for five years been camped out to try to protect the bronze age Nine Ladies stones from quarrying. Operator Stancliffe Stone is taking the Peak District National Park authority to court over its classification of the quarry as dormant. Stancliffe claims the quarry is active and that working it would not impact on the ancient monument.

"If the national park loses it will be awful," says Dot McGahan, a CPRE director. "Stancliffe could start quarrying or trade the site for another."

The quarry industry is pragmatic. "To close quarries down would mean a local authority buying out the owners," says Duncan Pollock, planning director of the Quarry Products Association (QPA). "In the Peak District National Park it would mean the park authority buying 137m tonnes of the permitted reserves at £5 per tonne."

Quarrying is believed to provide up to 10% of the UK's GDP. According to the QPA, each person in the UK generates 4 tonnes of aggregates a year (about 240m tonnes in total) and every new house uses 60 tonnes of quarry products. The Treasury's recent review of future housing needs by Kate Barker suggests that for supply to meet demand, 140,000 new houses must be built every year. That means some 8.4m extra tonnes of stone will have to be quarried annually.

Despite the demand being talked up in government plans, the QPA does not believe that there will be a significant increase in aggregate extraction. "During the construction boom of the 1980s the UK market was being supplied with 300m tonnes of aggregate," explains Jerry McLaughlin, a spokesman for QPA. "Today, the market is 200m tonnes of extracted aggregates and 65m tonnes of recycled material."

Although the association has a four-point plan that aims to control or phase out extraction from protected areas, it believes that if it is forced out of quarrying reserves in the Peak District and North Yorkshire, the industry would have to exploit other areas such as the East Midlands and Wales.

Not surprisingly, the QPA is not in favour of the aggregates levy, a tax on quarry companies to provide funds for communities suffering from thundering lorries, noise and dust from quarrying on their doorsteps. "The levy is a way of collecting money for the Treasury," says Pollock, "and is no incentive to improving local operations."

Back at Thornborough, it is not the henges that sit as ruins on the landscape; they have weathered the past 5,000 years. Instead, it is the landscape that is ruined.

The printed article includes a large image of the central henge credited to www.timewatch.org

http://society.guardian.co.uk/environment/story/0,14124,1457896,00.html

Birminghams 'gun quarter'.
Anyone interested in arms manufacturing should check out this months Shooting and Conservation.A very good section on the history of the trade with fascinating photos.

THE SCOTSMAN 18 APR 2005

'Lost' classical manuscripts give up their secrets after 9,000 years

ALASTAIR DALTON

A VAST array of previously unintelligible manuscripts from ancient Greece and Rome are being read for the first time thanks to infra-red light, in a breakthrough hailed as the classical equivalent of finding the holy grail.

The technique could see the number of accounted-for ancient manuscripts increase by one fifth, and may even lead to the unveiling of some lost Christian gospels.

A team at Oxford University is using the technology to bring back into view faded ink on thousands of papyrus scrolls salvaged from an ancient rubbish dump in the 19th century.

The "multi-spectral imaging process", which is also used in producing images from satellites, uses infra-red light to reveal ink invisible to the eye.

The collection, taken from the now-disappeared town of Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, has been stored in the Sackler library in Oxford, where it is the largest of its kind in the world.

Material ranges from the 3rd to the 7th centuries BC and includes work by classical writers such as Sophocles, Euripides and Hesiod. But many of the manuscripts have decayed and blackened over time.

Those uncovered so far include parts of the Epigonoi, (Progeny), a long-lost tragedy by Sophocles, the 5th century BC Greek playwright, and part of a lost novel by Lucian, a 2nd century Greek writer. There is also an epic poem by Archilochos, a 7th century successor of Homer, which describes events leading up to the Trojan war.

Dr Dirk Obbink, who is leading the imaging work, said it had far-reaching significance.

He said: "The Oxyrhynchus collection is of unparalleled importance - especially now that it can be read fully and relatively quickly.

"The material will shed light on virtually every aspect of life in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt, and, by extension, the classical world as a whole."

Christopher Pelling, regius professor of Greek at Oxford University, said the works were "central texts which scholars have been speculating about for centuries".

Oxyrhynchus, situated on a tributary of the Nile 100 miles south of Cairo, was a prosperous regional capital and the third city of Egypt, with 35,000 people. It was populated mainly by Greek immigrants, who left behind tonnes of papyri upon which slaves trained in Greek had documented the community’s arts and goings-on.

Oxford’s researchers started salvaging 100,000 fragments of papyri from the town’s rubbish dump in 1897 and shipped some 800 containers back to Britain. About 2,000 pieces of the papyri have been published and mounted in glass, but the rest has remained in boxes. According to the current research team, "the mass of unedited material represents the random waste-paper of seven centuries of Greco-Egyptian life".

Some 10 per cent of it is literary, the fragmentary remains of ancient books, with the rest documents of public and private life, such as census returns, tax assessments, court records, wills, horoscopes and private letters.

Melvyn Bragg, the peer, author and broadcaster, who presents In Our Time, on the history of ideas, on Radio 4, also hailed the breakthrough. He said: "It’s the most fantastic news. There are two things here. The first is how enormously influential the Greeks were in science and the arts. The second is how little of their writing we have. The prospect of having more to look at is wonderful."

Owain I have read the article, and agree with your view.I remember going to the gun quarter in the early seventies to try and get an apprenticeship.Most of the 'companies' were one or two oldish men ,who wished me well but were either too near to retiring or not wanting to train an outsider. A real window into the Victorian world.Wish I had taken a camera

Not exactly news but a very good Egyptology article by Bob Brier describing the treasures of Tanis in the latest issue of Archaeology Magazine

Tanis Treasure

Check your attic out is case you have the missing Saxon bowl up there

BBC

BBC News Tuesday, 26 April, 2005, 12:59 GMT 13:59 UK

Major Bronze Age haul unearthed


A large haul of Bronze Age artefacts has been uncovered by a gardener. The 145 items, dating from about 800BC, were found by Simon Francis as he landscaped the grounds of a house in Cringleford, near Norwich.

Norfolk County Council archaeologists say the haul is one of the largest and most significant they have known.

Curator of archaeology Alan West said: "The items are in good condition and the more items we find the better knowledge we can develop of the era."

He said the items, one of the biggest finds in Norfolk, had been buried in a shallow pit.

"I would have thought the items were buried there as it was a safe area and they planned to return to recover them at a later date but, for whatever reason, that never happened," Mr West said.

Since the first 135 items were found on Friday, archaeologists have revisited the site and found more, including a Viking brooch.

Mr West said: "It is very unusual to find items from two completely different eras all on one site."

The haul included axe heads, spear heads, sword parts, tools and ingots.

Mr West said the coroner would now decide if the find qualifies as treasure.

It is hoped the artefacts will eventually go on public display

BBC story

Rather nice room from a bathhouse found in Colchester


See Here

Romps leave castle in ruins

May 1 2005

Nathan Bevan, Wales on Sunday


SEX romps and drinking binges in the ruins of a medieval castle in Bridgend have led to it being closed to the public.

The historic remains on Newcastle Hill are a popular spot for local teenagers to congregate but the recent spate of used condoms and beer cans strewn across the site proved too much for councillors.

"I had a report of youngsters using the area for illicit acts," said former Town Mayor Margaret Bertorelli.

"But last weekend the place was disgusting, there were condom packets all over the ruins."

As a result, heritage watchdog Cadw has sealed off the area, which dates back to Norman times. The gates were previously open to the public 24 hours a day, until further notice.

"I went there for a walk recently and it was littered with beer cans, broken bottles and used condoms," said Charles Thorpe, of Bridgend Civic Trust.

"That's not the purpose the castle should be used for."

A spokesperson for Cadw said: "The Newcastle monument has been temporarily closed as a result of the concerns raised.

"Cadw will look further into the reported problems before any reopening takes place."

quote:

Originally posted by Chris D:
Rather nice room from a bathhouse found in Colchester


See Here

They say they also found wooden water pipes. Unusual as they normally (as far as I am aware) only find the rust marks left from the iron rings which held the pipes together.
..............................................



The tiled floor of the bathhouse is still intact as is a wooden pipe which fed water from an underground stream which is still active.

A few weeks ago the remains of a Roman circus were found during the dig.

Ben Holloway, of Colchester Archaeological Trust, said they were surprised to find the bathhouse.

"We had expected to find a cellar or something and we got a bathhouse instead - which is pretty unusual," he said.

"The wooden pipe is rare because it is intact and in situ. Wood does not normally survive very well."

Pagan ritual used by campaigners

Opponents say the plans threaten the 'Stonehenge of the North'
More than 100 pagans joined a fight against proposals to extend quarrying at a historic site in North Yorkshire.
Tarmac Northern wants to extend its present operations close to the Thornborough Henges ancient earthworks near Ripon.

The druids met at the site to mark the May Day ritual of Beltane, a pagan celebration of the height of spring.

Local archaeologists also joined the protest. The group claims the Henges are under threat from the quarrying.

The area has the greatest concentration of late Neolithic and early Bronze Age sites in the UK.

It also boasts the country's largest quarrying operation on prehistoric land, Nosterfield Quarry, which produces more than 500,000 tonnes of sand and gravel each year.

The firm says it is not seeking to quarry on the earthworks which form the three 5,000-year-old circles which may have been a ceremonial meeting place.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/4505191.stm