British Archaeology (119)

During excavations in advance of construction at a site on the southern edge of Salisbury Plain, Wessex Archaeology have uncovered a shallow heap of bones, mainly from cattle but including the remains of sheep, a pig and a horse as well as much of the left-hand side of an adult man. The bones speak of a spectacular ceremony held at the time when a defensive enclosure was built around a previously undefended Iron Age settlement, in about 400BC. Analysis of the animal bones suggests they were an offering rather than the remains of a feast. The human burial emphasises the significance of the event. LD

Round-up of archaeological news from around Britain, as well as an item on the analysis of Neanderthal remains from the Caucasus, undertaken by the University of Oxford and University College Cork in collaboration with the Laboratory of Prehistory at St Petersburg, Russia. LD

Discusses the emotive connection with the past that farmers have, following the recent broadcast on Radio 4 of a discussion on archaeological stewardship during its daily programme Farming Today. LD

Seven archaeologists and film makers write about their personal choice of movie with content or a theme relevant to archaeology. Featured films are: The Eagle, The Mummy, Planet of the Apes, Battle of the Somme, Soldier, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Cave of Forgotten Dreams. An introduction focuses on 2001: A Space Odysssey and Planet of the Apes, both released in 1968. LD

Current knowledge of a Roman villa complex that lies beneath the precincts of the Norman minster at Southwell, Nottinghamshire, suggests that it is highly significant. Parts of the site were excavated in the 1950s, whilst an evaluation undertaken in 2008-09 as part of a condition of planning consent revealed surviving Roman and medieval deposits and the remains of a monumental wall in an area where the archaeology was previously thought to have been destroyed. A new application for development is currently being considered, but is opposed by a number of heritage groups who argue that the area is too important to be built on. LD

Wessex Archaeology have been investigating an area of the sea bed off Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, known as Area 240. The project involves an assessment of existing records for the area, geophysical surveys, the collection of mechanical samples from the sea floor, and the integration of all the results with detailed palaoenvironmental analysis and scientific dating. It was instigated by the discovery of ice age animal remains and flint tools, including handaxes, amongst piles of gravel that had been dredged from the area. The picture emerging from the project is complex, with identifiable features and deposits of potential archaeological interest ranging in date from more than 735,000 to around 7,800 years ago. Some of the handaxes found in the dredged gravels seem most likely to have come from a deposit dated to the early middle Palaeolithic, and were thus probably made by Neanderthals. LD

The author of this article has been directing major excavations of Anglo-Saxon remains at Bishopstone, East Sussex and Lyminge, Kent. He compares the results of the two projects, and asks what light they throw on the origins of the modern English landscape.

Mick Aston visits the western side of Dartmoor, an area rich in prehistoric monuments and settlements as well as medieval sites, the latter including evidence of rabbit farming, tin working, and the Benedictine abbey at Tavistock. LD

Describes the branding behind the 'Zahi Hawass menswear collection', named for the Egyptian antiquities director and originally assumed by the author to have been a spoof. Moves on to discuss the facts behind a March 2011 press release concerning the discovery in Jordan of up to seventy sealed books dating from the time of Christ. An example sent to expert Peter Thonemann [at the University of Oxford] was found to be a forgery, and some details pertaining to the original claimant's career published on his agent's website were inaccurate. The article questions coverage by the BBC which had not challenged the claims made concerning the books. LD