Archaeology

Iron-age skeleton found at site
BBC, 13 August 2009

An Iron-Age skeleton has been unearthed at the site of an
archaeological excavation at an ancient hillfort near Monsal Dale in
the Peak District. The Longstone Local History Group is working at
the site which is thought to date from the Iron Age (700BC - 60AD).
The group was aiming to find out how and when the ramparts were
built, but during the work came across parts of a crushed skeleton in
a rock-cut ditch.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/derbyshire/8198985.stm

Excavations reveal Roman history
BBC, 18 August 2009

Archaeological excavations at the site of a former plant nursery, set
to be developed for housing, have found evidence of Iron Age and
Roman use. The dig at the former Unwins Nursery at Impington,
Cambridgeshire, found occupation dating from about 100BC with
evidence of an Iron Age roundhouse. The site was developed in Roman
times with a series of ditches and pottery found is from the 2nd and
3rd Century. The finds include high status Samian pottery imported
from Gaul. Some of the Samian pottery has the potter's stamp still
visible, enabling archaeologists to find the actual individual who
made the vessel about 1,800 years ago in France.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cambridgeshire/8207759.stm

Grave discovered at royal centre
BBC, 11 August 2009

Archaeologists have discovered an early Bronze Age grave and
artefacts at the site of a centuries old royal centre. The 4000-year-
old burial chamber was uncovered near Forteviot, Perthshire. Few
remains of the body were found, but the archaeologists said it would
have lain on a bed of quartz pebbles in sand, in a large stone
coffin. A bronze dagger with a gold band was discovered inside the
grave, along with a leather bag, wooden objects and plant matter,
which could be floral tributes. The discovery was made by
archaeologists from Glasgow and Aberdeen universities.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/
8195357.stm

See also The Scotsman:

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/As-old-as--the.5544397.jp

'Cathedral' as old as Stonehenge unearthed
The Scotsman, 14 August 2009

EVEN in an area as archaeologically rich as Orkney, it is being
hailed as the find of a lifetime. Experts have unearthed a Neolithic
"cathedral" – a massive building of a kind never before seen in
Britain – which has left them in awe of its scale and workmanship. At
82ft long and 65ft wide, it stands between two of Orkney's most
famous Neolithic landmarks, the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of
Stenness. While impressive in their own right, they would have been
dwarfed by the monumental building now uncovered and, in comparison,
may have been peripheral features in the islands' Stone Age
landscape. Nick Card, from the Orkney Research Centre for
Archaeology, who is leading the dig, said the building was
effectively a cathedral for the north of Scotland.

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/39Cathedral39--as-old-as.5554067.jp

Ship's weapon dug up from garden
BBC, 4 August 2009

A history enthusiast may have unearthed a rusting relic of Royal Navy "fire and sword" tactics from the 1700s while weeding his Highlands garden. John Hodgson found what is believed to be bar shot - metal balls, linked together by an iron bar - at his home in Morven. Retired marine archaeologist Dr Colin Martin said the ammunition was designed for tearing a ship's rigging. But he said it could be from one of two warships that attacked Morven in 1746

Short URL: http://snipr.com/pis0f

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8181404.stm

Cave bone hints at prehistoric Devon cannibals
The Guardian [UK], 7 August 2009

Deliberate cut marks on a 9,000-year-old human bone excavated in a west country cave more than a century ago suggest that prehistoric Devonians may have been cannibals. Scientists at Oxford University have examined a fragment of human bone from Kents Cavern, near Torquay in Devon, after a curator spotted it in a mass of animal bone in a museum store. They concluded that it was part of the forearm of a human adult, and that the seven cut marks were deliberately made with a stone tool around the time of death. The marks suggest that either the flesh was stripped or the body chopped into pieces – perhaps for ritual reasons or to make it more convenient to handle. The arm appears to have been fractured around the time of death. Evidence suggesting cannibalism has been found at a number of prehistoric British sites, including Cheddar Gorge, and bones apparently split to extract the marrow found at Eton in Berkshire.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/aug/07/cannibals-kents-cavern-bone

See also Sunday Express [UK]:
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/119025/Ancient-Britons-ate-each-other-