What appears to be a Neolithic chambered tomb has been unearthed on the outskirts of Kirkwall (Orkney, Scotland) reports the Stone Pages news. The underground structure was discovered by John Hourie while ploughing. He reported it to his neighbour, archaeologist Caroline Wickham Jones, who contacted the county archaeologist Julie Gibson.
Julie explained:
“The structure is located in a field on the crest of the hill overlooking Kirkwall and Scapa. Soils are thin, are rarely ploughed – this year’s ploughing work was the first time in decades. Bedrock is apparent in places.
The structure itself is neat drystone construction, the wall curves round tightly and is beehived in by corbelling at the top. On the opposite side to the wall is a space topped by lintels, and indeed it was breaking one lintel that caused the site to be found. It’s early days yet, but it may be a Neolithic chambered cairn, some five or six thousand years old.”"
The Orkney College geophysics unit looked at the site as part of their research programme. Geophysicist Mary Saunders said:
“An area of approximately 0.3ha was investigated, on Wideford Hill, using earth resistance and gradiometer survey. The survey area was centered around the area of collapse over the suspected monument, in order to give a wider context to the feature. The magnetic data was extremely ‘quiet’ and due to the lack of the types of response usually associated with domestic activities, it is suggested that this was not an area of settlement. The earth resistance survey was used to try and identify discrete stone built structures but the results of this strongly suggest the presence of a large area of near surface bedrock. It would appear that the monument has been constructed into the hillside, thus giving no obvious geophysical response against a background of very similar material.”
Julie Gibson added:
“There is no doubt that Orkney’s archaeology is second to none. We don’t know what this is yet, but if this is indeed another underground tomb, like Crantit, it might well have material in it that has lain undisturbed for 5,000 years. I am very thankful that the landowner John Hourie is continuing a longstanding Orkney tradition of respect for the past by not putting any heavy machinery, or animals, on that piece of field for the moment, until something can be done with the monument.
Second Life is a virtual world when many people meet and socialise (as well as conduct business) as we’ve mentioned before, but here is an amazing place called the Faery Crossing to visit where you can meet and intermingle with the many fae that dwell within Second Life. As their website says:For the past few months a small group of dedicated fae have been busy constructing The Faery Crossing in a virtual world called Second Life.
This exciting and dynamic world has brought The Faery Crossing to life. Now you can walk within the Crossing, visit the Light Side of Faery, choose the Dark Path, or explore the Middle Road of Faery…. the path to Elfland. There are villagers who dwell in the hobbit homes in the Hollow Hills, trooping fae who live in gypsy tents and caravans, and wood sprites living in the trees. Continue Reading »
Anyone who starts to take an interest in the medieval texts relating to Ireland quickly picks up the idea that the country was divided into ‘fifths’. Indeed, the Gaelic word cuigeadh still means ‘fifths’ (singular coiced) and the modern-day Gaelic expression which translates literally as ‘the five fifths of Ireland’ refers to the political divisions of Ulster, Connacht, Leinster and Munster. Yes, you have counted correctly. There are only four ‘fifths’ in Ireland. The early legends subdivided Munster into east and west, but this is an artificial adjustment. The earliest clearly datable references to the cuigeadh relate to the kingdoms which emerged in the fifth and sixth centuries. At this date Ireland is considered to be divided into fifths but only four functional divisions are recognisable.
Ireland divided into four ‘fifths’ (adapted from Rees and Ress).
A region known as Midhe (perhaps meaning ‘middle’ or ‘neck’), which incorporated the royal centre at Tara, was regarded as having pre-eminent status and has for many centuries been popularly considered to be the fifth coiced. Yet, politically, from the iron age onwards, Midhe was under the domination of one or other adjoining kingdoms. Tara, with its impressive group of ditched earthworks and the Lia Fail (Stone of Density, used for the coronation of the High Kings of Ireland), indeed had enourmous prestige in the medieval literature yet, when the kings met annually (at Beltain), they did so at a natural outcrop known in recent years as Aill na Mireann, but probably traditionally as Carraig Choithrigi (the Stone of Divisions), which is situated near the less-impressive earthworks on the Hill of Uisnech. Furthermore, it is Uisnech, not Tara, which is the geographical mid-point of Ireland. For instance, it is claimed that a beacon fire on Uisnech can be seen over a quarter of Ireland [1]. Continue Reading »
Originally posted 2008-04-29 10:31:55. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
John Patterson MacLean was born March 12, 1848 in Franklin, Warren County, Ohio. He was a clergyman and studied at Normal University and St. Lawrence Seminary. He was ordained as a Universalist minister and preached in Ohio and other states until 1906. He wrote many books, articles, and reports on Scottish history and the Shakers. He died on August 12, 1939 in Greenville, Ohio and was buried in a Franklin, Ohio cemetery. [Wiki]Project Gutenberg has now made available his classic An Historical Account of the Settlements of Scotch Highlanders in America to us all.
Originally published in 1900, this important historic document is fully titled “An Historical Account of the Settlements of Scotch Highlanders in America Prior to the Peace of 1783 together with notices of Highland Regiments and Biographical Sketches“.
The Preface
An attempt is here made to present a field that has not been preoccupied. Continue Reading »
An awarding winning illustrator with a career spanning nearly forty years, Alan’s masterful watercolors and drawings have attracted world wide acclaim and defined the visual identity of numerous fantasy books, most notably J. R. R. Tolkien’s classic series, THE LORD OF THE RINGS. These illustrations attracted the interest of Australian director Peter Jackson and lead to Alan’s engagement as concept designer and art director for five years on the feature films for which he won an Academy Award in 2004 for Art Direction–Set Decoration (shared with Grant Major and Dan Hennah). Alan has also contributed concept designs to LEGEND, THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE and KING KONG.International best-selling illustrator and Oscar winning Conceptual Designer Alan Lee is the Guest of Honor at FaerieCon International, October 10-12 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.
Faeriecon International is Alan Lee’s first US convention appearance. He will be presenting a slideshow talk featuring his work for THE LORD OF THE RINGS films and books on Saturday on the Main Stage as well as meeting fans and signing autographs at his booth each day. Alan will also be joined by his daughter, illustrator and sculptor Virginia Lee who worked on the film and sculpted some of the LORD OF THE RINGS plaques for Sideshow Collectibles. Continue Reading »
The Man called Anne (pictured left) has been running a superb blog reviewing quality podcasts for some time now and we’re lucky to have been reviewed several times. Most of his suggestions have been excellent and we have been able to follow up on them. His blog, Anne is a Man!, is always worth reading if you are trying to find something stimulating to listen to. Back in June, he found a brand new podcast about early German history. It is called German Cultural History and we have been watching it for a while. They cover the Goths, Germanic tribes, Gaul, Icelandic relatrions right up to the Merovingian dynasties. They seem to have podfased about September last year, but the episodes are still available and well-worth listening to.
Anne is a Man!
Anne said:
I have saved the best until the last. Here is an amateur podcast I am going to follow bit by bit. It only started recently (last May) and the maker, a student of history, may run out of time continuing to make the podcast, but even after five episodes, I have learned so much more about the early middle ages than I have in other podcasts, this alone will keep me going. Continue Reading »
Excavation of a proposed park-and-ride site in Taunton (Somerset, England) has revealed a possible Bronze Age sauna and one of the largest prehistoric roundhouses in Britain. The house dates from the Iron Age (400-100 BCE) and was constructed from wooden posts with a thatched roof and had a diameter of 17m (56ft).A mound of burned stones indicating a 2,500-year-old sauna has also been discovered as well as the remains of a Roman farm. The finds unearthed from the Cambria Farm site since December 2008 are to be displayed by the Museum of Somerset.
Archaeologists have spent more than three months on site. The first finds were unearthed in December last year, when evidence of Bronze Age fields were exposed. Other finds have included a pair of Roman shears, three Iron Age spearheads, loom weights and roman brooches as well as large amounts of pottery.
Experts said there were originally four houses on the site that were next to fields where mixed agriculture of cereal crop and sheep farming were practised. It appears that after the roundhouses went out of use, the site was used to bury the dead. A number of Roman graves have been excavated including some very unusual burials.
Steven Membury, historic environment officer at Somerset County Council, said:
“We think the site began about 2,500 BC with ritual use around a spring where the burned stones were found. The idea that the stone indicate ‘sweat houses’ is just one theory. We can tell that the huge roundhouse burned down but we think we have one surviving post which we will be able to carbon date. Another of the roundhouses dates from around 400-100 BCE, and we have found Glastonbury ware pottery inside.
It’s the first opportunity we have ever had to look at an Iron Age settlement like this.
The BBC reports that the legendary wizard Merlin has been added to a list of famous Glaswegians, it has emerged. The council included the wizard, who featured in Arthurian legend, on a list of well-known figures from the city. A council spokeswoman admitted that like most mythical figures, it was difficult to trace Merlin’s origins. But she said the wizard had been added to its website list after an amateur historian suggested Merlin had lived in the Partick area of the city.
He joins Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and comedian Billy Connolly on the list of famous characters, both real and fictional.
‘Glorious history’
Merlin has his very own category on the list – filed under wizard.
The council spokeswoman said:
Recently an amateur historian has pointed to the fact that the legendary Merlin lived a ‘comfortable life’, with his wife Gwendolyn, in Partick, not Camelot and I’m sure most Glaswegians think that’s just magic.
Tradition has it that King Arthur’s magician was either English or Welsh.
But in the book Finding Merlin: The Truth Behind the Legend, author Adam Ardrey claimed he actually hailed from Scotland. [Amazon]
Mr Ardrey, who spent six years researching the subject, told a newspaper he believed the wizard had lived in Partick “where the River Kelvin meets the Clyde”.
He told the paper:
I am thrilled that Glasgow has recognised Merlin as a Glaswegian and that almost 1,400 years after his death he can take an official place in Glasgow’s glorious history.
The Irish Times reports that a new project to protect the landscape and improve planning decisions nationally is to be piloted in the Tara Skryne valley, Co Meath (Ireland). The project, which will be carried out by the Heritage Council in conjunction with Meath County Council, will develop a landscape management plan and designate a landscape conservation area. Initial funding of €25,000 is being provided by the Heritage Council and the local authority. Further funding is expected from the Department of the Environment next year. The end cost is expected to be about €125,000.
The project will begin in the autumn and is expected to be completed in 18 to 24 months. It will examine current and potential land use and develop a plan for the area. The project will have community input and will be led by the county council. Heritage Council chief executive Michael Starrett described the project as an important step towards the realisation of a national landscape strategy. Continue Reading »
Originally posted 2008-08-12 11:29:22. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
The BBC reported this week that Archaeologists believe that bones discovered at Stirling Castle may have belonged to a knight killed in battle or during a siege in the early 1400s.
It is thought that despite the warrior’s relatively young age of about 25, he may have suffered several serious wounds from earlier fights.
Researchers thinks it is also possible he may have been living for some time with a large arrowhead in his chest.
The bones were discovered in a chapel at the castle in 1997. They were excavated when archaeologists were working in an area of the castle which turned out to be the site of a lost medieval royal chapel. Peter Yeoman, from Historic Scotland, said because the man was buried at the heart of a royal castle, it was indicative he was a person of prestige, possibly a knight. Continue Reading »
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