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In 2006 Headland Archaeology (Ireland) Ltd recovereda curious gold object from a cremation burial nearTullamore in County Offaly. This was subsequentlyidentified as a Wessex-type bead or button cover whichis a unique find from an Irish archaeological context.The excavation was directed by Linda Hegarty and thefinal report from which this account is derived waswritten by Grace Corbett and Tom Janes.

The investigation was undertaken as part of the pre-development archaeological works for the TullamoreBypass in the townland of Mucklagh, near Tullamore.An isolated cremation pit was identified amongst agroup of later unrelated features on the brow of a lowhill. The cremated bone was contained in an oval-shaped pit which measured 0.8 x 0.6 m and 0.19 m

deep. Analysis of the bone by Carmelita Troy identifiedthe partial remains of two individuals, an adult femaleand a child aged between six and eight years. The entirecremation was sampled and sieved as per standardpractice for cremation burials. Two identifiableartefacts were retrieved during sieving, an antler awland the gold bead cover. Both objects were recoveredfrom the primary fill of the cremation. The awl wasmade of antler and recovered in several pieces. Thiswas heavily burnt and is believed to have been placedon the pyre with one of the cremated individuals.Traces of melted copper were also recovered from thesamples indicating that copper objects or personaladornments were also present. Charred cattle bone wasalso recovered. A sample of the cremated human bonewas radiocarbon dated by Queen’s University Belfastand returned a date of 1776-1601 cal BC (2 sigma),placing the burial in the Early-Middle Bronze Agetransition.

The gold object has been identified by Mary Cahill ofthe National Museum of Ireland as a Wessex-type beador button cover which would have encased aperforated bead, perhaps made of shale or lignite.Metallurgical analysis of the object by Dr PaulMullarkey confirmed that the composition of theobject was 91.00% gold, 8.26% silver and 0.073%copper. It had not been burnt on the pyre but wasadded to the bone post-cremation. This object is ahighly significant find. Although grave goods are not

NUMBER 69 November 2011

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE PREHISTORIC SOCIETY Registered Office University College London, Institute of Archaeology, 31–34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY

http://www.prehistoricsociety.org/

The copy date for PAST 70 is 2 March 2012. Contributions to Joanna Brück, School of Archaeology, NewmanBuilding, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. Email: joanna.bruck@ucd.ie Contributions on disc or as e-mail attachments are preferred (either word 6 or rtf files) but hardcopy is also accepted. Illustrations can besent as drawings, slides, prints, tif or jpeg files. The book reviews editor is Jacky Nowakowski, 4 Melrose Terrace,Campfield Hill, Truro, Cornwall TR1 1EZ. Email: jnowakowski@cornwall.gov.uk Queries over subscriptions and

membership should go to the Society administrator Tessa Machling at the London address above.

69 Reproduced with the kind permission of the National Museum

of Ireland (© National Museum of Ireland)

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unusual and gold objects are known to have beendeposited both in hoards and as single finds, thedeposition of a gold item with a cremation burial isvery rare in Ireland during the Early-Middle BronzeAge. This artefact is of particular importance as itbears considerable similarity to gold items of Wessextype from southern England. Other gold buttons havebeen found in hoards and burials in both Ireland andEngland; however, their morphology is typicallytriangular in shape, not the rounder shape of thisbutton cover. The closest parallel known at present is abutton cover discovered during excavations at BarrowHills, Oxfordshire, and examples have also been foundat Wilsford in Wiltshire. The button cover fromMucklagh is quite typical of the Wessex culture and canbe dated on typological grounds to the very end of theEarly Bronze Age.

Colm Moloney

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Part of an Early Bronze Age field system has beeninvestigated by Wessex Archaeology close to the edgeof the Isle of Thanet, near to the northern extent of theformer Wantsum Channel. Excavation revealed a seriesof co-axially aligned ditches representing at least six ormore fields and part of a possible settlement enclosureditch. The most complete field measured c. 35m by15m and was defined by 1m wide ditches. A number ofthe ditch fills contained burnt flint, struck flint andsmall quantities of prehistoric pottery. The dating ofthe pottery proved problematic, due to the small sizeand poor condition of the sherds, combined with theknown lengthy currency of flint-tempered fabrics inthis part of Kent. However, the pottery also included afew grog-tempered sherds of Early Bronze Agecharacter. Environmental sampling of deposits from theditch fills along with a single pit yielded relatively richcharred plant remains that have been identified asgrains of barley and grains and glume bases of hulledwheat (emmer and spelt) as well as a few barley rachisfragments. The more numerous presence of glumesrather than grains in these samples is indicative of thecharring of cereal processing waste. As such, theyindicate domestic activities.

Single grains or glumes from recognised in situ dumpsof material (i.e. likely to be the same age as the contextin which they were found and probably not reworked)were selected for radiocarbon dating from fourstratified deposits (the pit and three separate ditchsections). All four samples returned late Early BronzeAge dates (approximately 1900-1700 cal BC) and

provide a reasonable indication of when the ditcheswere open and activity was taking place. Modelling ofthe dates indicate that the first ditch infilling (at 95%probability) could have occurred within the date range1910-1750 cal BC (1880-1770 cal BC at 68%), withthe latest event, probably associated with the recuttingof the ditch, occurring between 1860-1690 cal BC(1870-1680 cal BC at 68%). There is some evidencethat parts of the field system were re-used during theLate Bronze Age. A single radiocarbon measurementon a charred grain of emmer wheat from the pit (thisfeature also contained spelt) returned a date of 1890-1690 cal BC (at 95% probability: SUERC-32250). Anear identical date was obtained on spelt glume basesfrom one of the ditch deposits (SUERC-328863470±30 BP 1890-1690 cal BC at 95% probability).

The radiocarbon dating identifies this as one of theearliest field systems within southern England. OtherEarly/Middle Bronze Age field systems have beenidentified at Westward Cross, Thanet, and have beensuggested for Fengate, Cambridgeshire. Early speltassociated with barley has also been recovered fromWestwood Cross, Thanet, and elsewhere in Kent. It isthought that the dates for spelt glumes from Monkton

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Road, at 1890-1690 cal BC, and for the field systemsat 1910-1750 cal BC provide well-dated evidence forboth, possibly at least a century or more prior to otherknown examples. However, further dating of otherfield systems and spelt remains on Thanet and insouthern England generally is required before thesignificance of the Monkton Road results can beevaluated. Whether the geographical position ofThanet close to mainland Europe is significant is amoot point.

Alistair J. Barclay, Chris J. Stevens and Sarah F. Wyles

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In recent years there has been a surge of interest in theprehistoric landscape around Stonehenge, notablythrough the work of the Stonehenge Riverside Project.There have even been two small excavations inside thehenge itself. But what of the upstanding parts of themonument – the earthworks and stones? Rathersurprisingly, there was until recently no modernsurvey of Stonehenge as a whole and its immediatesurroundings. Although a photogrammetric survey ofthe stones was undertaken in 1993, most publishedplans and elevations of the monument derive from thework of Flinders Petrie in the 1870s and the Ministryof Works in 1919. To rectify this, English Heritage setup the Stonehenge Landscape Project and now, asplans are developed for the new visitor centre and theclosure of the road that runs by the stones, it is timelythat the combination of an expert eye and 21stcentury technology are revealing new features at ourbest-known prehistoric monument.

The analytical earthwork survey of the monumentundertaken in 2009 has already revealed a number ofnew features – including the possibility thatStonehenge was once ‘Stonehedge’ (a full report canbe downloaded from http://research.english-heritage.org.uk/report/?14951). Here we wish toreport briefly on a further aspect of the StonehengeLandscape Project: high-resolution 3-D laserscanning, which was undertaken for English Heritageby the Greenhatch Group earlier this year, using avariety of modern survey hardware.

In fact, the work involved five separate surveys, whichhave been integrated into a single data-set. Firstly, the‘Stonehenge triangle’ – the area between the A344 andA303 – was surveyed using a long-range laser scannerwith a resolution of 100mm, in order to provide aterrain model to assist with interpretation of theearthwork survey; then the henge earthworks andinterior ground surface were surveyed with the sameinstrument at 20mm resolution. Next the stonesthemselves were recorded using three different

methods: the whole stone circle was surveyed with ahigh-speed, short-range scanner in conjunction with amotorised camera, providing a resolution of 1mm; theindividual stone faces were recorded using an ultra-high-speed laser scanner at a resolution of 0.5mm;and finally a photogrammetric survey of the tops ofthe stones, which could not be reached by the laserscanner, was carried out using a high-resolutioncamera on a portable boom, providing 1mmresolution of these inaccessible surfaces.

The use of the very latest survey technology hasprovided exceptionally high-resolution 3-D pointcloud data that will have numerous applications forresearch, presentation and management: newdiscoveries and exciting visualisations undoubtedly lieahead. The data quality is 50% higher than theresolution that can currently be presented on a PC, sothe scans will continue to provide new information asvisualisation techniques improve. Even at a lowerresolution, the laser scan data will take a long time tomanipulate and analyse, though a preliminaryassessment by Caroline Hardie of Archaeo-Environment Ltd has stressed the variety of uses itmay have: informing interpretation and education inthe new visitor centre; verifying our assumedknowledge of Stonehenge from earlier investigations;measuring erosion and rates of change to both stonesurfaces (including their lichen cover) and earthworkelements; and identifying previously unseen featureson the surfaces of the stones, including evidence fortheir working and dressing, further prehistoriccarvings and rock art, or more recent historicalgraffiti. In particular, the upper levels of the stones andlintels can now be inspected without the need forladders. The digital data will allow views ofStonehenge to be animated, rotated, textured,colourised and lit in different ways to facilitateresearch and enhance the experience of visitors,whether they are coming to the monument in personor viewing on-line. Fly-through animations and aerialperspectives, along with unobstructed 3-D views of

Using the Leica C10 Laser Scanner around the bank and ditch inconjunction with a high-accuracy total station to co-ordinate thescan field targets (photo by James Davies, © English Heritage)

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individual stones, will all be possible in the virtualenvironment (see http://www.english-

heritage.org.uk/about/news/3d-stonehenge-model-unveiled).

Since it is all geo-referenced to a common co-ordinatesystem, the laser scan data can also be integrated withother data-sets covering the triangle, includingLiDAR, aerial photographs, geophysical survey plotsand the recent earthwork survey. Features identifiedon the scan data will initially have to be verified in thefield to ensure they are not artefacts of the survey orreflections of the vegetation, so these are early days.Nevertheless, preliminary assessment is alreadythrowing up a few surprises, such as the enhancedvisibility of stone-dressing features when the lichenand surface colour variations are digitally removed.The search for more subtle features that may shedlight on the quarrying, transportation and erection ofthe stones will be an important aspect of futureresearch. And some of that work could potentially bedone by anyone with access to a computer: eventually,when improved open-source software to handle thevarious datasets becomes widely available, we hopeeveryone will be able to view, analyse and interpret thedata. Having every hump and bump on the groundand every facet and mark on the stones at one’s finger-tips will herald a new era of access to this most iconicof prehistoric monuments.

Jonathan Last, Paul Bryan, David Field and SusanGreaney (English Heritage)

Scan of Stone 59, showing marks of the working and dressingprocess (© English Heritage)

Meshed and colourised view of the stone circle (© English Heritage)

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In a previous issue of PAST (number 66, page 16),Jim Leary, David Field and Michael Russellchallenged flint knappers to replicate the long-tailedoblique arrowheads recovered from Marden henge,and in the last issue (number 68, page 2), BarryBishop, Jim Leary and Peter Robbins commentedthat no one had risen to the challenge. As a flintknapper, I felt compelled to change this situation andmy first attempt at manufacturing a long-tailedoblique arrowhead is shown here. This replicatedarrowhead is not quite up to the size or quality of theexamples from Marden (measuring only 74.5mmlong by 26mm wide and max. 7mm thick), but theknapping certainly surpasses the example fromSanton Warren and any future efforts will no doubtbe more refined due to the experience ofmanufacturing this point.

In terms of technology, the pressure flakingtechniques employed in the manufacture of thisarrowhead are no different to those used in themanufacture of a classic British oblique arrowhead(of which I have made numerous examples).However, for this long-tailed oblique arrowhead itwas particularly important to select a regular blankwith a single straight ridge that can be used to formthe axis of the arrowhead from the tip to the end ofthe barb. This ridge is particularly useful whenpressure-flaking the barb as it stops flakes from

overshooting and it facilitates the production of alenticular cross-section. The flake blank employedfor this example was too thick (c. 8 mm) and infuture a thinner blank will be selected (c. 5 mm) asthis will allow the production of a narrower andmore delicate barb. It is also noteworthy that whilemost oblique arrowheads, including comparativelyfine examples, take no more than 30 minutes tomanufacture, this long-tailed oblique arrowheadtook 4 hours to knap. The majority of this time wasspent carefully pressure-flaking excess flint from thetail end of the arrowhead and delicately shaping thebarb. Long-tailed oblique arrowheads are thereforecertainly a feat of knapping and further demonstratethe significance of style in Later Neolithicflintworking.

Hugo Anderson-Whymark

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This year’s Europa day and lecture was held atDurham University on the 14 May and took on thenot inconsiderable theme of ‘Eurasian Interactions4000-1000 BC’. The day itself was preceded by ahighly successful postgraduate conference entitled‘The Tyranny of the Tell: Settlement and Society inthe Bronze Age’, including guest speakers DrCameron Petrie (Cambridge) and Professor KristianKristiansen (Gothenberg). The Europa daypresentations ranged from the Neolithic to the BronzeAge and from Atlantic Europe to India, before afascinating lecture from Europa prizewinner DrNatasha Shishlina of the State Historical Museum inMoscow. Her work focuses on the remarkablenomadic traditions of the Eurasian steppe during theBronze Age and the lecture provided a fitting end to awonderfully eclectic event.

Dr Volker Heyd of Bristol University delivered theopening lecture and set the scene for the day bycovering two thousand years, from the mid-fifth tothe mid-third millennia, and the entire Carpathianand Baltic regions in just under half an hour! Hetraced the development of successive material cultural‘complexes’ from the Late Neolithic through the LateChalcolithic and Bronze Ages, and showed how thesecould be linked to the arrival of successive waves ofpastoralist groups from the Eurasian steppes. Thisregular influx of people with profoundly differentways of life must, Heyd argued, have had a significantimpact on human-animal relations, settlementsystems and the whole system of ideas in prehistoricsocieties. This approach was strongly supported by

Professor Kristian Kristiansen’s talk which was, ifanything, even more ambitious in scope. Kristiansenfocused on the possibility of large-scale movements ofpeople at a continental level, relating many of theattributes of Bronze Age societies in Northern Europeto technological innovations and ideologiesdeveloped in the Near East and Greece. He gave theexample of the two-wheeled war chariot, the rapidadoption of which can be traced across Europethrough iconography and material culture during thesecond millennium BC, and he also investigatedhomologies in institutional and cosmologicalorganisation across Eurasia.

A swift break for coffee later, we left northern Europefor the Mediterranean and Near East. Professor TonyWilkinson of Durham University highlighted thetension between narratives at different scales througha discussion of early states and exchange systems inNorthern Mesopotamia. Recent studies of a fourthmillennium obsidian processing centre at Hamoukarin Northern Syria show both Anatolian and southernArabian sources were in use simultaneously. Whilstexchange may occur at a pan-regional level andencompass the movement of objects over vastdistances, it is important to retain a focus on localconditions and personal agency. Sofia Voutsaki(Groningen) brought a similar view to her study ofnetworks in the Aegean Bronze Age (3000-1000 BC),using the finds of a shipwreck and the burialassemblage of a single individual to demonstrate theinterconnected nature of the Mediterranean world.

After a hearty lunch, at which I can safely vouchsafeevery plate was cleared and much prehistorydiscussed, our attention once again shifted westward.Professor William O’Brien of University College Corkbegan with a discussion of metallurgy in AtlanticEurope during the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages.O’Brien showed how the spread of metallurgicaltechnologies, including the fahlerz technique and theadoption of tin-bronze, meant different metal sourcesfrom Spain to Ireland rose to prominence at differenttimes. This in turn could be linked to the spread of theBeaker culture in the region during this period. Thefinal speaker, Dr Tim Taylor (Bradford), examinedthe relationship between textual and archaeologicalsources in the steppe zone during the Iron Age. Healso pointed out the tendency for implicitassumptions related to modern sedentary living tocreep into our interpretations of nomadic ways of life,such that statelessness, enslavement and peripheralityare ‘written out of history’. There followed a livelydiscussion session, with the main emergent themebeing that whilst grand narratives were both usefuland important, the local agenda should not be left out.

The general matters of the AGM over, attentionturned to the presentation of the Europa Prize bySociety President Alison Sheridan to Dr Natalia

Shishlina, and to the Europa Lecture. Dr Shishlinapresented a vast amount of new data andinterpretations derived from her current research onthe Steppe Archaeological Project. She showed howsuccessive societies exploiting a specific economicniche produced very different material culture anddemonstrated that, far from being devoid ofsettlement, the steppe-lands represent an incrediblyrich and remarkably diverse archaeologicallandscape. The different burial practices through timewere particularly interesting, with large scalemonumental tombs providing some arresting imagesin the slide-show. A few choice anecdotes of herinteraction with the modern nomadic occupants ofthe region peppered the presentation, and it wasrather wonderful to hear someone talking with realpassion about a landscape and way of life she soclearly loved and understood.

Overall this was another highly successful EuropaDay, or perhaps Europa weekend with the studentconference! Our thanks must go to Dr John Chapmanand Dr Jennie Bradbury for organising the events.

Dan Lawrence, PhD Student, ArchaeologyDepartment, Durham University

AANN EEAARRLLYY MMEESSOOLLIITTHHIICCCCEEMMEETTEERRYY AATT GGRREEYYLLAAKKEE,,SSOOMMEERRSSEETT,, UUKKRadiocarbon dating of two human skulls hasprovided evidence of an early Mesolithic cemetery ona small island in the floodplain of the Somerset Levelsand Moors in southwestern England. The remainswere discovered in a sand quarry in the earlytwentieth century.

The island at Greylake is situated in the central Parrettvalley (ST3894 3360) just off the northeast corner ofa larger island that contains the settlements of Othery,Middlezoy and Westonzoyland. The kidney shapedisland of c.16ha is roughly 700m north-south by justover 300m east-west at its widest, southern, end. Itconsists of a significant depth of Burtle Bed sanddeposits overlying Mercia mudstone. The island issurrounded by Holocene peat deposits, the top ofwhich have been dated to the later Bronze Age in onelocation. At the northern end of the island was a smallsand quarry that appears to have encompassed anarea no greater than approximately 140m by 140m.

The Mesolithic evidence is derived from the quarryand consists of human bone, flint and chert. Thehuman remains were discovered on the 1st of June1928, although there is a suggestion that they hadbeen discovered during earlier quarrying on the siteand had been re-interred in the area being quarriedthat year. Harold St George Gray, the curator of theSomerset County Museum, visited the site on the 8thof June and saw five skulls in the quarry shed, two of

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which he took back to the museum along with someother long bones he collected 2 feet below the surfaceof the sand. The latter still exist in the collection andconsist of four tibiae fragments.

A local man, Mr Martins, had taken ‘all the best ofthe long bones’ before Gray arrived and he seems tohave gone back to get the remaining three skulls aswell because in 1929 he donated them all to theAdmiral Blake Museum in Bridgwater. One of theBridgwater skulls and both the skulls collected byGray were sent to Sir Arthur Keith of the RoyalCollege of Surgeons but it appears that none wereever returned. They may have been destroyed duringbombing of the RCS in World War II.

During the 1930s a large collection of flint wascollected from the quarry by H.S.L. Dewar, a localamateur archaeologist. A much smaller number offlint tools were also recovered by Arthur Bulleidaround the same time. Dewar’s collection is now inthe County Museum and consists of approximately4,000 flint and Greensand chert items. The collectionappears to date exclusively to the early Mesolithicperiod and consists of both tools (microliths,microburins, scrapers and an axe) and waste (around83% of the assemblage) including cores, coretrimmings, blades, primary flakes, chips and spalls.

The two remaining skulls in the Bridgwater collectionand an associated mandible have been brieflyexamined by Katie Tucker of the University ofWinchester. Both are in fairly good conditionalthough there were modern spade marks and thecrania remain filled with the compacted sand of thequarry. Skulls E22 and E23 both consist of the frontalbones, part of both parietals, both temporals, thesphenoid and part of the occipital bone. Part of ametacarpal or clavicle partially encased in the sandhas been noted in crania E23. There is no evidence forpathology or trauma on either skull.

The crania are both probably young adult malesalthough it is not possible to be certain about the sex.The mandible fragment, which contains three teeth(M1-3), is also probably from a young adult male butcannot be associated with either cranium.

Sir Arthur Keith identified the skull sent to him fromBridgwater as a female. His measurements of thatskull survive but there is no record of anyobservations he made on the two skulls sent by Gray.

The four tibiae fragments in the County Museumwere briefly examined by Jacqui McKinley. Theywere all short fragments with modern breaks at theends and recent damage (presumably duringquarrying). They consisted of two right proximaltibiae, one possibly female and one probably male,and two left distal tibiae, also one possibly female andone probably male.

Radiocarbon dating was undertaken by Dr FionaPetchey of Waikato University as part of the ‘LostIslands of Somerset’ project funded by SomersetCounty Council, Leader, Defra, SWRDA and theEuropean Union. The dating results for crania E22were 8445-8360 cal BC (19.2%) and 8355-8260 calBC (76.2%) (Wk-30930: 9118 +/- 37BP) and for E238460-8275 cal BC (Wk-30931: 9134 +/- 37BP).These dates are very similar to most of those from thenumerous human remains from Aveline’s Hole caveon the Mendip hills just 15 miles to the north.

The presence of at least five individuals and themention of associated long bones suggest thatcomplete bodies were being buried on the sand island.Both males and females appear to be present. Theflint remains suggest that the island was also a focusfor activities other than burial. The setting of thecemetery and the association with a significant flintcollection are unique in the early Mesolithic in theUK. The Mesolithic interface of the island with thefloodplain must still be deeply buried under laterHolocene deposits. This raises the possibility thatwaterlogged evidence may be present on the site.Several other islands of hard geology in the floodplainhave produced Mesolithic flint, raising the possibilitythat this site type might not be so uncommon as itcurrently appears.

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One of the crania, still filled with compacted sand and showingevidence of modern damage

The mandible fragment

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A staged programme of investigation is beingprepared for the site involving dating of the tibiae,sampling of the bones for isotope and ADNA analysisand conservation of the bone. Analysis of the Dewarflint collection will also be undertaken as willpalaeoenvironmental investigation of theneighbouring Holocene deposits to determine theenvironmental setting of the site. Subsequentfieldwork is intended.

Richard Brunning (Somerset County CouncilHeritage Service) and Hannah Firth

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This was the inaugural year of the PrehistoricSociety’s Award for the best undergraduatedissertation on a prehistoric topic. There were 12entries and all the dissertations were read by threejudges: Nicky Milner, Niall Sharples and AnnWoodward. We were unanimous in our choice of thewinners. We were also very impressed by the overallstandard of the submitted entries and gainedconsiderable pleasure from reading thesedissertations.

The three runners up, who each won a year’smembership of the Society, were: Emily Wright (University College London), forTesting the Waters: Ship iconography and socialchange in the Aegean 1400-800 B.C.; Mark Lawson(University of Newcastle), for Understanding theorientation of Neolithic radial cup and ring motifsand penannular motifs - a comparative study of MidArgyll and north Northumberland; and Alex Davies(University of Cardiff), for Hoards of Power: Areinterpretation of Bronze Age hoards, deliberatedeposition and the introduction of iron.

The winner, whose prize consisted of a cheque for£100, three years’ membership of the Society and avolume of her choice from the Prehistoric SocietyResearch papers series, was: Nicola Bray (Universityof Reading), for The Campanian Ignimbrite eruptionand hominin interaction at the Middle to UpperPalaeolithic Transition.

Next year’s competition will be launched in thespring of 2012. In the meantime, if any Memberwould care to sponsor the winner’s cash prize, theSociety may consider naming the Award in thatperson’s honour.

Niall Sharples

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The problem of Ham Hill. How do you interpret thelargest hillfort in Britain?Niall Sharples (Cardiff University)County Hall, Exeter, Thurs 26 January 2012, 7.30pmwine reception followed by lecture at 8pm (jointlecture with the Devon Archaeological Society)

The long view: place and prehistory in the ThamesValleySociety of Antiquaries, London, Saturday 25February 2012

This conference concludes our series of period-baseddayschools on the archaeology of the Thames Valley.This event will look at the long-term histories ofparticular places or parts of the valley. The aim willbe to explore the differing trajectories of settlement,land-use and ritual activity in different localities fromthe Mesolithic period onwards. One topic ofparticular interest is the contrast between placeswhich were intensively used during virtually everyperiod, and those which were used more sporadicallyor less intensively at certain times. A booking form isincluded with this issue of PAST - all the previousevents in this series have been sold out so book early!

Europa Conference and Lecture 2012University of Reading, Saturday 9 June 2012

The 2012 Europa recipient is Professor RichardBradley, who will be celebrating his (nominal!)retirement, and we present a conference celebratingsome of the many strands of his research interestsunder the title Landscape, Monuments and Society,to be followed by the Europa Lecture, Houses ofcommons, houses of lords: domestic dwellings andmonumental architecture in prehistoric Europe. Ourdistinguished speakers are: Mike Parker Pearson,Colin Richards, Joakim Goldhahn, Billy O’ Brien,

The winners and runners-up of the 2011 Prehistoric SocietyUndergraduate Dissertation Award. Left to right: Rob Hosfield

(representing the winner, Nicola Bray); Alex Davies; Mark Lawson;Emily Wright. To their right: Professor Tim Champion (presenter

of the Award) and Dr Alison Sheridan (President).

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Ramón Fábregas, Colin Haselgrove, Marc VanderLinden and Leo Webley. There will be a charge for theconference but the Europa Lecture itself is free to all.As in previous years, the conference will be preceded,on Friday, by a seminar presenting current andrecently completed post-graduate research on arelated theme. Full details and booking forms tofollow soon but get the date in your diary now!

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We note with regret that Prof. Grahame Clark’s namewas mis-spelt in the obituary for Prof. MarekZvelebil that appeared in the last edition of PAST.

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Free to a good home: PPS vols 68-75 inclusive,available for collection from Ham, betweenRichmond and Kingston. For further information,please contact Elizabeth Blishen: emailliz@aob1932.f2s.com

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Philip Rahtz died in June 2011 at the age of 90. Hewas a member of our Society for many years,although he was best known as a specialist in theDark Ages and the medieval period. Recentobituaries in the national press have praised thiswork, but have not mentioned his considerablecontributions to the study of British prehistory. Philipfirst pursued careers as a professional portraitphotographer and school teacher in his home city ofBristol. Having dabbled in a few sites on theMendips, he was engaged by the Ministry of PublicBuildings and Works (now English Heritage) toexcavate sites in advance of a new reservoir in theChew Valley. Here, underneath two Roman villas andvarious medieval sites, he excavated a Neolithichouse, interesting Beaker pits and burials and alsoIron Age sites. He went on to dig prehistoric sites allover England, including round barrows, hillforts andlinear ditches. Notable sites include theNeolithic/Beaker settlement at Downton, Wiltshire;an Early Bronze Age tree-trunk coffin at LittleOuseburn, North Yorkshire; and a well-preservedIron Age house at Whitsbury Castle Ditches,Hampshire. Outstanding, however, were twometiculous programmes of investigation in Dorset. AtShearplace Hill, he excavated an iconic Middle BronzeAge settlement (PPS 28, 1962) – a site which isillustrated in many a textbook of British prehistory –while the complex site at Hog Cliff Hill (PPS 53,1987) comprised a group of Earliest Iron Age housesites set within a large enclosure.

Philip was appointed as a lecturer in archaeologywithin the Department of History at the University ofBirmingham in 1963, and became the first Professorof Archaeology at York in 1978. He was a brilliantexcavator, skilled in on-site interpretation, andproduced all his reports (mainly unpaid) duringevenings and weekends, against a background of veryloud classical music. Philip lived life to the full, asimplied in the title of his 2001 autobiography LivingArchaeology. When not writing, he was always readyto entertain and support his family and a multitude offriends, colleagues and students. He was a greatraconteur, complete with an armoury of very bad

Philip Rahtz while digging at Downton in 1955 © Philip Rahtz archive

Little Ouseburn, 1958: cairn within the Early Bronze Age round barrow © Philip Rahtz and University of York

jokes, but, more seriously, he was an inspiring andinnovative teacher and contributed in a major way tothe founding of rescue archaeology in the early 1970s.The influence of theory is well illustrated in his Yorkinaugural lecture of 1980 which was entitled The NewMedieval Archaeology, and he was always keen tokeep up-to-date with theoretical advances inprehistory. However, as always, he was ahead of thegame, promoting the concept of structured depositionand exploring the role of relics at the Somerset hillfortof Cadbury, Congresbury, back in 1971. Philip isburied on the edge of the North York Moors, at StGregory’s Minster, Kirkdale. This fitting location wasthe subject of his last major campaign of excavation,and lies across the beck from the famous ‘Bone Cave’,investigated by William Buckland in 1821.

Ann Woodward, Vice-President

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A revised third edition of The Study of PrehistoricPottery: General Polices and Guidelines for Analysisand Publication, Occasional Papers 1 and 2, is nowavailable as a download from the PCRG websitehttp://www.pcrg.org.uk/

Essential reading for anyone wanting to know howto record, analyse, publish and understandprehistoric pottery from Britain, Ireland and beyond!

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Answer: when it’s a segmented, embanked pitalignment. Although the analogy of calling a spade a‘long-handled, square-bladed, delving implement’springs to mind, there is logic to this descriptiveneologism applied by the Royal Commission on theHistorical Monuments of England (RCHME) – nowmerged with English Heritage – to a distinctive groupof earthworks found on the North York Moors. Theseconsist of double pit alignments accompanied byflanking banks. Attention was drawn to thesemonuments some 30 years ago by Donald Spratt, withexamples located on Danby Rigg and on UgthorpeMoor. Together with further cases at Middle Rigg onEasington High Moor, these were surveyed by theRoyal Commission in the early 1990s (see PPS 59).

To this small corpus can now be added a cropmarkexample mapped as part of the North York MoorsNational Park National Mapping Programme (NMP)

project, recently completed by ArchaeologicalResearch Services Ltd in partnership with EnglishHeritage and the National Park Authority. Located onthe western edge of Hambleton Down in the parish ofBoltby (SE 511850), the monument is defined by twoparallel rows of pits, situated at intervals ofapproximately 2m. The pits themselves appear to beroughly oval in plan and number a conjectured totalof 10, although only nine could be mapped withcertainty from the available aerial photography. Anirregularity in their spacing suggests that the pits mayhave been created in stages, the four to the northperhaps dug at an earlier or later date than the five orsix that extend to the south. Although noaccompanying banks could be discerned from aerialphotography, the earthwork examples cited abovesuggest that these segmented pits would formerly havehad flanking banks, now plough-levelled.

The position of the segmented pit alignment withinthe local prehistoric monumental landscape isespecially interesting. This plateau of the HambletonHills was a preferential location at least from theBronze Age. Boltby Scar promontory fort is situatedsome 750m to the north where at least two roundbarrows and pottery evidence provide indication ofpre-Iron Age activity. The Cleave Dyke runs roughlynorth-south along the highest ground accompanying anumber of round barrows that may have acted as anearlier territorial divide. The pit alignment is located c.65m west of the Cleave Dyke and 30m south of aBronze Age round barrow which was excavated in1961 and found to contain a Beaker burial. In fact, thepit alignment appears to lead to the barrow andalthough this is potentially coincidental, a similarfocus is exhibited at the segmented pit alignmentssurveyed by the RCHME. However, a subtledifference is discernable: the other examples areconsistently aligned tangentially to the outer edges ofbarrows, whereas the pit alignment on the HambletonHills leads to the centre of its corresponding barrow.It might therefore be asked if this was the originalbarrow on which it was aligned or if there wasanother barrow, as yet unidentified, located to the

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Two potential phases to the segmented pit alignment on Hambleton Moor

south, upon which the feature was aligned. Whateverthe case, there is clearly a significant associationbetween segmented pit alignments and barrows,suggesting that they may have played a role in theburial rite. What that role comprised remains,however, open to conjecture.

Acknowledgements I am grateful to Graham Lee for kindly sharing hisextensive knowledge of the archaeological resourcewithin the National Park. The North York MoorsNational Park Resource Assessment and ManagementProject was funded by the National HeritageProtection Commissioners Programme (NHPCP).

Tara-Jane Sutcliffe, Archaeological Research ServicesLtd. Email: tara-jane.sutcliffe@english-heritage.org.uk

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IntroductionIn July 2011, with the aid of a Coles Award from the

Prehistoric Society, I was able to visit the KilmartinValley in Argyll, southwest Scotland, as part of mycurrent postgraduate research. Kilmartin plays host toone of the richest concentrations of cup-and-ring stylerock art in Britain with a wealth of highly decoratedstone surfaces literally preserved within a prehistoriclandscape. Although the dating of these ‘enigmatic’rock art sites remains problematic, these sites formedan integral part of a culturally understood landscape.Elements of the natural world such as extensive view-sheds or specific viewpoints are frequently associatedwith rock art localities, while sites may reference, orare subsequently referenced by, monumentalarchitecture.

The often highly specialised nature of carved imagerywitnessed in the Kilmartin Valley may have (at least inpart) been influenced by the physical rock surfacesselected for decoration by prehistoric communities. Byrecording the various surfaces selected for decorationand those which were apparently disregarded at majordecorated panels, the role of geological attributes inthe creation and composition of rock art sites can beexplored and any selection processes identified. Thefieldwork undertaken in Kilmartin forms part of anongoing research project concerned with the extentand character of rock art in the north of Ireland andits place in the wider rock art tradition of AtlanticEurope.

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ANY 169/8 23-JUL-1984 © North Yorkshire County Council Heritage Unit

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Geological features and rock artA variety of characteristic rock art sites wereexamined to determine if specific rock artcompositions could be related to the physicalappearance of the rock surfaces selected. Althoughhighly distinct, the same decorative devices are usedthroughout the cup-and-ring tradition whichcommonly includes cupmarks, concentric rings andradial lines. At the major panels visited it becameapparent that the presence and character of glaciallyderived striations on the rock surface seemed toinfluence the presence and organisation of certainrock art motifs. Additionally both the slope andaspect of surfaces were considered as activeinfluences in the appearance of rock artcompositions.

The highly specialised sites of Achnabreck, Ormaigand Poltalloch, for instance, utilise rock surfaceswhich are literally criss-crossed with natural grooves,forming angular zones of rock. These small sectionsof rock are frequently crowded with carvings whichin some instances are physically delimited by thenatural grooves, the effect being most striking at themain Ormaig site. It is on these highly striatedsurfaces that we see the more specialised motifs suchas the enclosed rosettes and spiral variations. Thecrowding and associated superimposition of motifsdemonstrates the longevity of these places, with rockart accumulating over time. At both of these sites

smoother rock surfaces are present in the vicinity butthese are frequently ignored, or decoration is of a ‘lesscomplex’ appearance.

Elsewhere the occurrence of largely horizontalgrooves results in a distinctly tabular surfaceappearance. This surface type tends to inform muchmore open compositions of a ‘simpler’ nature. At thelower of two decorated outcrops at Cairnbaan, thesurface is characterised by deep, horizontal grooves.These rarely bisect each other and delimit long,tabular areas of rock, but several sections are furthersubdivided with the addition of anthropogenicgrooves. Decorative motifs are characterised by cupsand cup-and-ring marks with the frequent addition ofa long radial line or tail which follows the naturalslope of the rock surface and continues into thenatural grooves. While apparently simple decorativedevices are employed here, the geological character ofthe surface actively informs and defines specific areasof decoration.

The site of Kilmichael Glassary provides evidence oftwo decorative approaches. This terraced outcrop ismuch flatter in its upper portion which is decoratedwith plain and extended cupmarks, while the lowerportion slopes to the east and is dissected by longhorizontal grooves. As seen at Cairnbaan, the use oflong grooves and extended motifs in this area acts tosubdivide and define particular areas of the rocksurface.

The main panel at Ormaig: here, the crisscrossed nature of thesurface is used to divide the often highly specialised motifs,

resulting in crowded zones of carving, with many motifs delimitedby the natural grooves (author’s photo).

Rock art at Baluachraig, central area looking west: here, the rockart is most crowded in areas with bisecting grooves (author’s photo).

At other sites including Baluachraig, where surfaceswere much more open, motifs were frequentlyobserved to cluster around, and even become morespecialised in the areas most constricted by oftencrisscrossing glacial lines and natural breaks in therock surface.

DiscussionOne area focused on during this research is thegeological character of rock art sites, both on a macroand micro scale, which has tended not to form anintegral element of previous projects. While certainlynot the only factor influencing the selection andappearance of rock art sites, it is felt that the formand tactile qualities of the rock surface certainly hadan active role at individual sites. Specifically thegeological character attracted and informed rock artcompositions. Accordingly certain geological featuresbecame integral design elements in their own right,like the incorporation or elaboration of naturalgrooves to divide, delimit or connect certain areas ofthe rock surface. In this way the physical act ofcarving draws directly from the natural surface andthe two cannot be separated with ease.

Rebecca Aroon Enlander, Postgraduate ResearchStudent, Queens University, Belfast

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The late Bronze Age saw marked changes in landscapeuse across much of southern Britain and a newexceptionally rich site type, frequently termed amidden, developed. These distinctive sites arecharacterised by thick artefact-rich deposits andsubstantial dark earth layers. Although not a definingfeature, the size of many middens is their most strikingcharacteristic. For example, one of the largestmiddens, Potterne, excavated by Andrew Lawson inthe 1980s, covers approximately 3.5ha and has 1-1.5m thick deposits across much of its area.Consequently, excavations of even relatively smallareas of these sites yield vast quantities of materialculture. Feasting was central to the accumulation ofthese mounds and fragmentary animal bone isinvariably the most common find. These faunalassemblages often have a substantially higherproportion of pigs than other later prehistoricsettlements. For example, at the smaller midden (c.0.3ha) at Llanmaes in South Wales, recently excavatedby Adam Gwilt of Amgueddfa Cymru - NationalMuseum Wales and Mark Lodwick of the PortableAntiquities Scheme, 70% of identified specimens werepig (total fragments 80,000). An even more unusualfeature at Llanmaes was a pronounced preference forright forequarter elements.

This unusual pattern of porcine procurement raisesquestions surrounding how these large numbers ofpigs were raised. Pigs are adapted to omnivorousforest foraging, but as woodlands were rare within thelargely deforested landscape of Late Bronze Agesouthern Britain, these animals were either importedto the area or novel feeding strategies developed. AtLlanmaes the prevalence and structured modes ofprocessing, selection and deposition of pigs indicatesthat they were of clear symbolic significance and it isplausible that they were raised by specialist producersand fed a prescribed diet. Alternatively, pigs couldhave been raised by individual households spread outacross the surrounding landscape and fed on a diversediet, utilising woodland resources where possible,combined with waste from meals and also excreta.

To address these issues and to gain greater insightsinto the nature of animal husbandry at the contrastingmiddens of Llanmaes and Potterne, a programme ofcarbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopic analysiswas undertaken funded by the Prehistoric Society andthe Cambrian Archaeological Association. Whilst pigsare the principle focus of feasting at both sites, the dietof the other food species can reveal if these animalswere also subject to special treatment in terms of dietor trade. The ratio of the stable isotopes of carbon andnitrogen in bone collagen is useful for reconstructinga long-term average of the diet of past populations. Intemperate environments such as Northern Europe,which lack C4 photosynthesising plants, the carbonvalues indicate the proportional contribution ofterrestrial and marine sources of dietary protein, witha reliance on marine-derived protein indicated by highδ13C values. The δ15N value reflects the trophic levelof food sources, with high values demonstrating areliance on products from higher in the food chain(e.g. meat, fish or dairy protein).

A total of 87 samples from Llanmaes and 59 fromPotterne from individual adult animals were analysed.The majority were pigs (60 for Llanmaes and 36 forPotterne) but substantial caprine and cattle baselinedatasets were also generated. Stable isotope values for

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Cauldron fragments from Llanmaes suggest that feasting took place at this site (photo by kind permission of the National

Museum of Wales)

all three taxa were exceptionally wide-ranging at bothsites especially in terms of nitrogen, as demonstratedby the error bars representing 1 standard deviation(see graph). The isotopic ratios for pigs and caprinesare particularly heterogeneous.

The results indicate a diverse diet for pigs, with someindividuals almost entirely herbivorous and othersconsuming a substantial proportion of animal protein(as meat, dairy or excreta). Woodland fodder wasmore important for pigs at Potterne where isotopevalues demonstrate enrichment in carbon, probablydue to a diet containing some proportion ofsaprotrophic and mycorrhizal fungi from woodlandenvironments. At Llanmaes, the higher nitrogenvalues suggest a more varied diet with increased levelsof animal-derived protein. However, at both sites thenitrogen values for the herbivorous caprines, likely tobe sheep, are only slightly lower than those of pigs andhave a similar range. This suggests that sheep andcattle were subject to different husbandry regimes atboth sites. As nitrogen isotopes are higher in manuredpastures, it is possible that the practice of sheepfolding, with sheep kept in fields to improve thefertility and structure of the soil, began at this time.Whilst the exploitation of the sparse forest resourcesby pigs continued, with Neolithic woodland-basedhusbandry practices still in use, the wide range ofvalues indicate that new husbandry methods wereintroduced. The isotopes suggest a greatercontribution of animal protein to the porcine diet, astrategy which became more widely established in theIron Age.

This diversity of values indicates that no prescribedmodes of raising pigs for feasting were adhered to,specialist production strategies had not developed andnot all pigs were raised in the immediate vicinity of themiddens. Instead small-scale, household levelhusbandry is likely, and with households spreadacross different landscapes and ecosystems, access towoodland forage and the nature of household wastewould vary, resulting in diverse values. Indeed, pigssupplied to the middens may have been husbandedbeyond the surrounding areas. The diverse range ofresults for herbivores, particularly sheep, also suggestsnon-local procurement. Our recent analysis ofstrontium isotopes from a small number of pigs atLlanmaes and Potterne has identified individuals withnon-local signatures. These techniques are beginningto shed new light on the nature of ceremonial activityat these sites, providing evidence that peopleconverged on these focal points in the landscape fromfar and wide with animals in tow, as formalisedcontributions to the festivities.

In the light of this suggestion of localised householdrearing, the high degree of adherence to sociallycircumscribed practices in the butchering and selectivedeposition of skeletal parts in the midden seems all themore remarkable. The question of whether pigs werekilled and butchered in the household or at thefeasting site is a crucial issue and will be a major focusfor future research.

Richard Madgwick, School of Applied Sciences,

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Graph showing the mean isotopic results from fauna from Potterne and Llanmaes. Error bars indicate 1 standard deviation.

Bournemouth UniversityJacqui Mulville, School of History, Archaeology andReligion, Cardiff UniversityRhiannon Stevens, McDonald Institute forArchaeological Research, Cambridge University

RROOCCKK AARRTT AANNDDLLAANNDDSSCCAAPPEE IINN TTHHEEMMOONNGGOOLLIIAANN AALLTTAAIIMMOOUUNNTTAAIINNSSIn June 2011, I participated in an ongoing researchproject investigating the ancient landscapes of theMongolian Altai Nuruu (Altai mountains) in BayanÖlgii province, western Mongolia. The project focusesupon the rock art and archaeology of an area directlyeast of Khoton Nuur (Khoton Lake) in the AltaiTavan Bodg National Park close to the border ofXinjiang province, China. The rock art team was ledby Dr Richard Kortum of East Tennessee StateUniversity, while the archaeological excavations wereconducted by Dr William Fitzhugh, director of theArctic Studies Center at the Smithsonian Institution(Washington, D.C.). They collaborated withMongolian archaeologists from the National Museumof Mongolia (Ulaanbaatar) led by BayarsaikhanJamsranjav and also with the rock art specialist DrTserendagva Yadmaa from the Mongolian Academyof Sciences’ Institute of Archaeology (Ulaanbaatar).The aim of the research project is to explore thedynamic interactions between rock art, archaeologyand landscape within the vicinity of Khoton Nuur.

Rock art research focused upon the hills of Biluutsituated in the northeastern part of Khoton Nuur. Onthe opposite side of the lake there are the beautifulsnow-capped mountains of the Altai which divideMongolia from China. The natural landscape wasscoured by glacial activities during the laterPleistocene and when one looks at the distant upperterraces it is quite clear to see that the gradual meltingof glaciers produced them. Erratics ranging fromgigantic to small boulders litter the landscape andclearly demonstrate that during the last glacialmaximum the entire region was covered completelyby ice. Glaciers, probably deriving from the northernAltai Mountains, created an expansive basin withterraces and after melting away left a string of lakes,including Khoton Nuur. Additionally, when oneclosely examines exposed bedrock surfaces numerousfine striations derived from the scouring movement ofthe ice are visible.

The petroglyphs of Biluut are found on numeroussurfaces along the sides of three large hills which, inturn, are part of a series of hills and moraines thatextend eastward from Khoton Nuur. They werediscovered in 2004 and initial surveys had indicatedthere were over 8000 individual images carved intoexposed surfaces of bedrock, which consists of shales,conglomerates and sandstones. The fieldwork carriedout in June 2011 focused upon documentingpetroglyphs on the third hill designated as Biluut 3.Over 3600 individual rock art images were recorded.Scenes were photographed and tracings were madeonto plastic sheets. Their motifs and pictorial context

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Location of the Biluut rock art complex (illustration: K. Lymer; GIS data: D. Cole)

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were noted, dimensions measured and precise GPScoordinates located. Additionally, the contours of theterrain were assigned point data that will be used toreconstruct the local topography in ARC GISsoftware. Post-fieldwork data processing will theninvolve the spatial plotting of rock art andarchaeological GPS points onto computer-generatedterrain contours.

The petroglyphs were pecked, carved and incised andfeature a wide variety of subjects including deer, bulls,ibexes, horses, horse riders, dogs/wolves, humanfigures and occasional two-wheeled vehicles. At themoment absolute age techniques cannot be utilisedand dating was achieved through stylistic comparisonsbased on the well-established chronological sequencefor Mongolian rock art. The Biluut petroglyphs rangefrom the pre-Bronze Age, Bronze Age (2nd millenniumBCE) and Iron Age (1st millennium BCE) to the timeof the Early Turkic kaganates (6th-8th centuries CE)and up to the present. Unfortunately, recent activitiesinclude the carving of new scenes and graffiti whichhave damaged several prehistoric images. Thediversity of the ancient imagery, however, emphasisesthe fact that the hills of Biluut were re-discovered timeand time again by numerous communities fromvarying cultural backgrounds since deep prehistory.Overall, when all three hillsides (Biluut 1, 2 and 3) aretaken into consideration, this is a remarkableconcentration of petroglyphs that is intimatelyconnected to localised and transitory occupations asrock art and archaeological monuments have beeninextricably interwoven into the landscape bycountless peoples over the centuries and millennia.

The Biluut rock art research was complimented byarchaeological investigations that targeted monumentsfrom different time periods in close proximity to thehills. In particular, a khirigsuur burial on a terrace ofBiluut 1 was excavated that features a cairn of stonespiled over a shallow grave. It is surrounded by asetting of small stones in the form of a circular fencethat surrounds the cairn, but in plan it looks like awheel as four radial ‘spokes’ of rocks connect thecentre to the ‘rim’. Khirigsuur monuments are a Late

Bronze Age phenomenon and they are mainlydistributed across central to western Mongolia.Additionally, Iron Age burials at Biluut 2 wereexcavated as well as an Early Turkic ceremonialstructure near Biluut 3.

The most evocative archaeological monuments ofMongolia are the so-called deer stones, standingstones adorned with highly stylised images of stagsthat were undoubtedly related to ancient religiousbeliefs (see also PAST 54, 2006). In addition to deer,these also feature images of boars, weapons, circlesand linear stripes which are used in varyingcombinations. Deer stones were erected in directassociation with the khirigsuur monuments andtogether they form the Deer Stone-KhirgisuurComplex (DSKC) which flourished in Mongoliaaround 1350-750 BCE. Few deer stones are known tooccur in western Mongolia and one hot summerafternoon we headed out to visit our closest examplewhich was 10 km north of Biluut in the floodplainbelow the rock art site of Aral Tolgoi. Interestingly, wefound one tall deer stone that had been removed fromits former resting place in the earth and re-erectedupside down. It is also worth noting that the hillsidesof Aral Tolgoi hold scenes of previously recordedpetroglyphs which are similar to the ones found atBiluut.

All in all, after the data collected from our summerfieldwork at Biluut has been fully processed, we willbe able to present more results that will hopefullyimprove our understanding of the prehistoric art andarchaeology of not only Mongolia but alsoneighbouring areas of central Asia and southernSiberia.

AcknowledgementsI would like to thank Richard Kortum and WilliamFitzhugh for their help and guidance in thepreparation of this summary. GIS topographical datawas kindly supplied by Dan Cole (SmithsonianInstitution, Washington, D.C.)

Kenneth Lymer

The upside-down deer stone (right) of Aral TolgoiBronze Age scene of deer from Biluut 3