Pic: National Museum of Denmark

Passage graves are mysterious barrows from the Stone Age. New research from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen indicates that the Stone Age graves’ orientation in the landscape could have an astronomical explanation. The Danish passage graves are most likely oriented according to the path of the full moon, perhaps even according to the full moon immediately before a lunar eclipse. The results are published in the scientific journal Acta Archaeologica.

Claus Clausen, who graduated as astronomer from the Niels Bohr Institute, has also always been interested in archeology. There are many Stone Age graves in Denmark, where archaeologists estimate that around 40.000 large stone graves were built from around 3500 to 3000 BC. Only about 500 of the large passage graves, called giant tombs (in Danish Jaettestuer) are preserved today, but one of the great mysteries is their orientation in the landscape. Continue Reading »

Originally posted 2009-01-04 21:00:06. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Pictured L- R are Archaeological Geophysicist Kevin Barton, Juraj Papco, Igor Murin, Pavol Zahorec, Dr Conor Brady archaeologist with DkIT and Prof Roman Pasteka. Pic: Ciara Wilkinson.

The possibility that Newgrange could have a second passage tomb, which may also be aligned with a solstice event, is being explored by a team of Irish and Slovakian archaeologists who are using ground-breaking technology to probe the world-famous tumulus.Already part of the Bru na Boinne World Heritage Site, Newgrange is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Ireland and if a second chamber is uncovered, it will add to its already global iconic status.

Newgrange is synonamous with sunrise on the winter solstice but the possibility that it has another as yet unknown chamber is not being ruled out. Indeed, the neighbouring mounds at Knowth and Dowth each have two passages.

“The absolute best case scenario would be to demonstrate there is an undiscovered passage and chamber within Newgrange because, despite how it may look, the mound has not been fully excavated,”

explained Dr Conor Brady, archaeologist with Dundalk Institute of Technology.The north-west side of the mound has never been excavated so

“it is technically possible there is something there on that side of the mound”,

he said.

After a week battling high winds and stormy weather, Dr Brady said:

“The windy weather conditions prevented comprehensive coverage of the entire mound because the instruments are so sensitive. The early indications are that we did not identify another chamber of the same size as the existing one.
“There may still be a second chamber in the Newgrange mound, possibly smaller. We will know more later when the data collected are fully analysed. What we are absolutely sure about is the technique works and could be used to search for chamber in other mounds.”

Fuelling the speculation of another chamber are local stories of when the caretaker of the monument opened up the tomb some 40 or 50 years ago and heard a big crash. She went into the chamber expecting to find it collapsed but it hadn’t,

“and whether there was something else in the monument that had collapsed is the question,” Dr Brady added.
If the surveys do confirm another passage, Dr Brady said:

“It will change the way we think about Newgrange. It could be aligned with the winter solstice sunset; Newgrange will be a completely different entity after that”.

Read the full story at the Meath Chronicle site.

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The Mound of Hostages Pic: Dunechaser

The Irish people have just undertaken a survey whose results were released to coincide with National Heritage week. The results are somewhat surprising. Chief among the Irish heritage locations and landmarks respondents were most embarrassed at not having yet visited was the Hill of Tara. Listeners to our stories know how central and important the Hill of Tara is to the Heritage of the Irish Celts. The three most important sites voted for were Newgrange, the Burren and Glendalough in Co. Wicklow.

The Irish Times

The Irish Times – Friday, August 26, 2011, reported:

The three most popular heritage sites are Newgrange Co Meath, the Burren in Co Clare and Glendalough in Co Wicklow.
That is according to a new survey released to coincide with National Heritage week.
However, while 450 of the 600 people interviewed claimed heritage was important for tourism, many respondents expressed some shame at not having visited popular sites.
Chief among the Irish heritage locations and landmarks respondents were most embarrassed at not having yet visited was the Hill of Tara. In second place was the Rock of Cashel and in third position came Newgrange.

When asked to choose the heritage property that most closely depicts Ireland’s history, participants chose round towers and monastic locations as the structure most in fitting with Ireland’s rich historical past. Ancient settlement sites ran a close second.
However, more than one-third of respondents (37 per cent) were unable to say whether sufficient efforts were being made to protect sites and properties.
Almost the same percentage of respondents believed more could be done (36.8 per cent) to preserve our properties. Meanwhile, the remainder, 26.2 per cent, believed that enough was being done to maintain heritage landmarks. In order of historical importance as deemed by respondents, the GPO was the only 20th century site mentioned, and came in in second place. Newgrange was top.
The survey was commissioned by Keane public relations, acting for the Ecclesiastical insurance company to mark heritage week. Ecclesiastical donates a significant proportion of its profits to charity.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0826/1224303005266.html

The Irish Examiner

Fergus Black, in the Irish Examiner, repiorted that:

IT is 5,000 years old, famously sees the light once every year, and has now been voted Ireland’s top heritage site and most important historical landmark. The Neolithic passage tomb in Newgrange — lit up by the winter solstice sunrise in December — has been crowned the nation’s favourite, knocking the iconic GPO in Dublin and the Burren in Co Clare off the top spots for the most historically important and favourite heritage site in the country.

The Entrance at Newgrange Pic: Kevin Lawver

Yet despite its ‘top of the spots’ popularity, almost one in ten people say the Meath attraction is the one that they are most embarrassed to admit having not yet visited.
Kerry is also given the thumbs up, topping the public’s preference as the most scenic county with just one eastern county, Wicklow, featuring among the country’s top six county beauty spots.
The findings are revealed in a nationwide survey which shows that three out of four people believe our heritage is vital to Irish tourism. More than 600 adults were polled as part of a nationwide survey by the Ecclesiastical insurance company to assess the public’s views on Irish heritage. Up to last week, the most up- to-date figures show there were more than 157,000 visitors to Newgrange, its visitor centre and to the nearby megalithic site of Knowth.
The Office of Public Works which manages Newgrange and other heritage sites said that last year’s ash cloud disruption had adversely affected visitor numbers across many attractions but this year’s figures were well up and had been boosted by the “free first Wednesday” initiative at many of its sites.
According to the survey, Newgrange headed the top 10 list as Ireland’s favourite heritage site ahead of the Burren, Glendalough and the Cliffs of Moher. It was also voted number one favourite heritage structure over such landmarks as the Rock of Cashel, — visited by Queen Elizabeth during her recent trip — Dublin Castle, Trinity College and the GPO.
Embarrassed
And it came out on top again in the favourite historical site category, beating the GPO and Hill of Tara.
Despite its apparent popularity however, Newgrange is ranked third of the top ten Irish heritage sites and landmarks people are most embarrassed at having not yet visited.
The Hill of Tara tops the list with one in eight of those surveyed saying they were most embarrassed about not having visited it yet, followed by the Rock of Cashel (9.93pc) and Newgrange (9.30pc).
While almost three in every four people believe heritage is critically important to Irish tourism, the survey also revealed that more than a third were not satisfied with the level of work being done to preserve heritage sites and a similar number were unaware of the work being done to preserve them.
Irish Independent

Read more:

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/newgrange-tops-heritage-site-poll-165466.html#ixzz1W7TOn3qU

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/newgrange-tops-heritage-site-poll-165466.html

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Pic: Antiquity Journal

In August 2007, holidaymakers discovered two pairs of polished jadeitite axeheads that had been set vertically in gravelly silt on the beach of Porh Fetan, at a location called Petit Rohu reports the Antiquity Journal. The shape and material of these axeheads allowed them to be identified straightaway as being of Alpine origin, in common with a number of axeheads found in the region (Bailloud et al. 1995; Pétrequin et al. 1997). Archaeological fieldwork, both on the land in the vicinity of the findspot and underwater, was subsequently carried out by the Laboratory of Archaeological Research (CNRS – Nantes University), in order to examine the context of the findspot and to try to delimit the extent of the site.

Continue Reading »

Originally posted 2009-05-28 10:05:30. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Tara Grave Pic: Causes.com

A new cause has been started on causes.com to petition the Irish Government to re-bury the bodies dug up in constructing the M3 motorway through the Tara monuments in accordance with the World Archaeological Congress’s guidelines.   During excavations for the M3 Motorway which desecrated the Irish Valley of the High Kings at Tara, a large number of ancestral remains were removed from their Sacred Burial Grounds. Just one of our group’s many aims and objectives includes the recovery of the remains and artefacts unearthed during excavations of the M3 Motorway from the National Museum of Ireland.

World Archeological Congress  2008 (22/07)

The Vermillion Accord on Human Remains
Adopted in 1989 at WAC Inter-Congress, South Dakota, USA.

1. Respect for the mortal remains of the dead shall be accorded to all, irrespective of origin, race, religion, nationality, custom and tradition.

2. Respect for the wishes of the dead concerning disposition shall be accorded whenever possible, reasonable and lawful, when they are known or can be reasonably inferred. …

[source]

This call has received the backing of the World Archaeological Congress. We wish for the respectful reinternment of these ancestral remains and ask that you the reader, sign the petition just as Actor Stewart Townsend, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Muldoon, Musicians Laoise Kelly and Steve Cooney, along with thousands of others worldwide have done.

Sign the petition at this link and please pass it on.

http://www.petitiononline.com/taraeir…

1. www.taraskryne.com

Tara Skryne Preservation Group

About TSPG:
We are an allied group of stakeholders, campaigners and concerned citizens who wish to improve the Tara Skryne Landscape after the destruction wrought by the M3 Motorway through the most Sacred, Mythical, and Historical Valley of Ireland.

We are a volunteer, non politically affiliated organisation comprised of members of various groups who stood against the route of the M3 Motorway through the Tara Skryne Valley. Now that the Motorway has opened we stand together to demand the preservation of what remains of the Tara Skryne Valley ie. its protection against further inapproriate development as well as greater protection for our National Monuments and sacred places countrywide.

Read more about us, our aims and objectives and why we formed at www.taraskryne.comJust one of our group’s many aims and objectives includes the recovery of the remains and artefacts unearthed during excavations of the M3 Motorway from the National Museum of Ireland. This call has received the backing of the World Archaeological Congress. We wish for the respectful reinternment of these ancestral remains and ask that you the reader, sign the petition just as Actor Stewart Townsend, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Muldoon, Musicians Laoise Kelly and Steve Cooney, along with thousands of others worldwide have done.

Sign the petition at this link and please pass it on.

http://www.petitiononline.com/taraeire/petition.html

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Hunter Gatherer Pic: Hans S

Archaeologists in Southampton and Liverpool are investigating three island groups around Britain to help understand why people changed from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to farming the land.Academics from the Universities of Southampton and Liverpool are hoping to shed new light on the longstanding debate about whether this change around 4,000BC was due to colonists moving into Britain or if the indigenous population of Britain gradually adopted the new agricultural lifestyle themselves.

The archaeologists will be excavating three island groups in the western seaways – the Channel Islands, the Isles of Scilly and the Outer Hebrides – to understand what sailing across this area would have been like in 4,000BC.

The project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), will build on work at Southampton into how environments and the sea changed over the Neolithic period.

Dr Fraser Sturt, from the Centre for Maritime Archaeology at the University of Southampton, says:

“How people changed from hunter-gatherers to agricultural lifestyles is one of the big questions in archaeology.

“We know that the first signs of domestication occurred in the Middle East around 10,000BC and reached France by 5,000BC. However, it appears to be another 1,000 years before Neolithic farming activities reached Britain.

“We are investigating why this happened by looking at changing social practices, possible environmental impacts and the nature of maritime technology and communication.”

Recent archaeological findings, such as French pottery in Scotland, suggest that colonisation from the continent could be one possible explanation for this shift in lifestyle. Studies show that the first colonists are likely to have travelled across the western seaways but there has been very little excavation of the islands to prove this theory.

Dr Duncan Garrow, from the University of Liverpool’s School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, adds:

“Archaeological findings, such as the bones of farm cattle from the fifth millennium BC and European pottery, and advances in radiocarbon techniques have given new life to the theory that European colonists settled in Britain and brought farming practices with them. To understand how possible this could have been, however, we need to turn our attention away from the mainland and towards the seas that form an important travel link between the islands around Britain.

“We are excavating on the Channel Islands, Isles of Scilly and in the Outer Hebrides, which form part of an important maritime zone that surprisingly has been given little scholarly attention in the past. We are constructing a database of all known fifth and fourth millennium occupation sites in and around each island group and starting a programme of radiocarbon dating to understand the chronology of activity within the western seaways.

“Our oceanographic work aims to explore the environmental context within which this transition took place and how seafaring activities impacted on people’s lifestyles. We hope that the environmental data will also be valuable to oceanographers and geographers for studying how the sea has changed over the centuries.”

The team’s findings will also be available to school children and the general public through the development of a series of web resources, including a navigation game on prehistoric seafaring.

You can follow this project on Twitter @Neolithic_Steps or go to www.neolithicsteppingstones.org

Source

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Ned Kelly of the National Museum of Ireland examines the bog body found in Cashel Bog, Co Laois Pic: Irish examiner

JAMES O’SHEA reporter for IrishCentral.com reports:An expert has stated that the latest bog body found in Ireland has proven that belief that the Celts ritually sacrificed their kings to the Gods.The body also proves  they underwent horrible deaths, if the times turned bad under their reign.

The latest Iron Age bog body dating back to at least 2,000 BC was discovered near Portlaoise  in the Irish midlands by an alert bog worker and it bears the same hallmarks of ritual torture that two other famous bodies have.

Ned Kelly, keeper of antiquities at the National Museum of Ireland told the Irish Examiner that a clear pattern has emerged in each case.

“We do not think of these bog bodies in the same way as we do axes or implements that are found,” he says. “You have to remember that these are individuals and it is absolutely essential to deal with their remains in a dignified manner. There would be no justification in taking these bodies unless we do so with respect and with the serious intent to tell their stories on their behalf.”

“I am quite convinced we are dealing with an Iron Age male, one who was subjected to a ritual killing. There are cuts and marks on the body that indicate that this is somebody who was done to death.”

The body is linked closely to two other major finds, the discoveries of Old Croghan Man and Clonycavan Man, also found in Irish bogs both of whom were ritually sacrificed.

Human sacrifice was apparently a normal part of the Celtic rituals , especially of kings in hard times.

“The killings tend to be excessive,”

Kelly, said

“in that more is done to the bodies than would be required to bring about their deaths. Bog bodies may have their throats cut, been stabbed in the heart and have other cut marks. However, it is absolutely not torture, but a form of ritual sacrifice.”

“The king had great power but also great responsibility to ensure the prosperity of his people. Through his marriage on his inauguration to the goddess of the land, he was meant to guarantee her benevolence. He had to ensure the land was productive, so if the weather turned bad, or there was plague, cattle disease or losses in war, he was held personally responsible.”

At 6’6″, Old Croghan Man, who was killed between 362 BC and 175 BC, was a giant of a man. he bore every appearance of a nobleman from his well manicured soft hands to his diet, which was rich in meat.
Clonycavan Man was little more than 5 ft and used pine resin to keep his hair in place.

Kelly says Old Croghan Man died horribly, had had holes cut in his upper arms through which a rope was pulled through in order to restrain him. He was  stabbed repeatedly and he had his nipples sliced, before  he was finally  cut in half.

Clonycavan Man was disemboweled and struck  three times across the head with an axe and once across the body and also had his nipples cut.

Cutting the nipples was more than torture, the aim  was to dethrone the king.

“Sucking a king’s nipples was a gesture of submission in ancient Ireland,”

says Kelly.

“Cutting them would have made him incapable of kingship in this world or the next.”

“By using a range of methods to kill the victim, the ancient Irish sacrificed to the goddess in all her forms. This manner of death is peculiar to the ritual killing of kings. It means that a king was being decommissioned.”

“I think it is important we treat them with respect. They have come down to us with a story to tell and it is our duty to tell that story on their behalf. If we do that, it will give added meaning to their lives.”

Source

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Acoustics of Stonehenge Pic: vgm8383 & tjmwatson

BBC’s Radio 4 is currently playing a documentary about the archaeo-acoustics of Stonehenge. Sadly, the BBC do not allow their recording to be played within the US but for UK listeners this is a fascinating programme and demonstrates how the stones have their own resonant frequency. They attempt to reconstruct a ritual that may have occurred 4,000 years ago. As the drum moves amongst the stones the resonance fades in and out producing an eerie sound, that Ruthie likened to a babies’ heartbeat when observed by an Ultra-sound scan. Incredible!

Hearing the Past

Visitors to Stonehenge in Wiltshire rarely experience the historic site without the rumble of traffic noise from the nearby A303. But UK researchers have managed to recreate the sound of a ritual there, as heard by our ancestors 4,000 years ago.

The research – which starts in an echo-free recording chamber and uses latest computer modelling techniques – has also been used to recreate the acoustics of Coventry Cathedral before it was destroyed in World War II.

The same work is also being used to design better buildings of the future – with the acoustics of Stonehenge for instance, helping to inspire modern concert venues. It is also influencing the way museums use sound to give visitors a sense of history, such as the hustle and bustle of railway stations during the age of steam.

For BBC Radio 4, Prof Jim Al-Khalili went to investigate the sounds of the past. The good news is that the programme should be on the BBC’s Documentary of the Week podcast which you should find on Friday on the Podcast page here.

Hearing the Past can be heard on BBC Radio 4 at 1102 BST on Monday 12 September, and on BBC iPlayer.

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Avebury Pic: Avebury Cosmos

In June this year (2011), Nicholas Mann released a fascinating book called Avebury Cosmos which looks at the mystery of Avebury from the astronomical or Cosmological viewpoint. He shows how the constellation known as the Southern Cross is intimately related with the development of the monument.

The Avebury and the Cosmos of Our Ancestors Lecture

Back in 2009, Nicholas was forming his theories and gave the following lecture (available in WMV format, just click on the link and the hour long lecture will play).

Play and Watch Avebury Lecture

Nicholas Mann reveals the reverence of the Neolithic people of Britain to Sun, Moon and stars and offers the most complete perspective on Avebury yet, balancing archaeology with astronomy.

A book is due to be published on the results of his extensive research into the links between Avebury, the cosmos, anthropology and the ancient wisdom of the Neolithic people. This lecture was given at the Stars & Stones Forum, Bury St Edmunds, UK in November 2009.

The book came out in June 2011.

Nicholas comes up with some real surprises in Avebury Cosmos. Taking advantage of the newly established dates for Avebury, its avenues and Silbury Hill, he has used astronomical software to obtain a picture of what the Neolithic builders were looking at in the sky.

As Professor Ronald Hutton of the University of Bristol says,

“the sky is the one part of the prehistoric landscape which can be reconstructed with real accuracy, and Nicholas Mann’s painstaking research shows how archaeology, astronomy and anthropology can be brought together to produce a plausible hypothesis regarding the nature of one of the world’s greatest prehistoric monuments.”

This groundbreaking research, made possible by computer ware unavailable to previous researchers, shows just how sophisticated our Neolithic British ancestors really were.

The website of Nicholas Mann and Philippa Glasson tells us much miore about the valuable work they are doing and is well worth a read.

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One of the skulls recovered from the west cell of the Banks Tomb Pic: ORCA

National Geographic news reports:Thousands of human bones have been found inside a Stone Age tomb on a northern Scottish island, archaeologists say.The 5,000-year-old burial site, on South Ronaldsay in the Orkney Islands, was accidentally uncovered after a homeowner had leveled a mound in his yard to improve his ocean view.

Authorities were alerted to the find in 2010 after a subsequent resident, Hamish Mowatt, guessed at the site’s significance.

Mowatt had lowered a camera between the tomb’s ceiling of stone slabs and was confronted by a prehistoric skull atop a muddy tangle of bones.

“Nobody had known it was an archaeological site before that,”

said Julie Gibson, county archaeologist for Orkney.

Partial excavation of the site, called Banks Tomb, has confirmed it as the first undisturbed Neolithic burial to be unearthed in Scotland in some 30 years, Gibson reported in June.

“It’s certainly unusual to find one whose contents are so well preserved,”

the archaeologist said.

“We have got the assorted remains of many, many people who have been deposited in this tomb at different times

The 5,000-year-old human bones – numbering at least 1,000, but possibly as many as 2,000 – were found in just one of the five chambers of the Banks Tomb on South Ronaldsay.

New research, in which two separate cells in the tomb were investigated, has almost doubled this number to at least 14, though it is very likely this number will end up much higher.

The bones were preserved in several layers on the bottom of the stone-lined cell, or cist, which were divided by layers of silt, which might indicate that the tomb had been used over different periods of time and fell out of use in the intervening years.

Archaeologists now hope that these finds will help them determine how long the tomb was in use. They also hope, through DNA research, to be able to discover more about the people who were buried there.

Team leader Dan Lee, projects officer with the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (Orca), said:

“To find 1,000 human bones, and possibly as many as 2,000 – there are still layers and parts of the cell to fully uncover – in just one cell, is absolutely amazing.

“We have discovered an incredible assemblage of disarticulated human bones. All parts of the human skeleton were represented, including tiny bones such as finger bones, sternums and kneecaps.

“They covered all age ranges, from very young children, perhaps even babies, to adults.

“We have managed to identify 14 individuals, but it is very likely that this number will turn out to be much higher.

“This gives us a really good indication of what to expect in the tomb’s other cells and an opportunity to study the people who lived and died in Orkney so many years ago.

“The next stage will be to fully excavate the passageway and the entrance, and we hope to get back to continue working on this fascinating piece of Stone Age archaeology.

“Unfortunately, because the conditions are changing inside as we’ve taken out the mud, silt and water, there is now a real danger that we’re going to lose key information.”

The archaeologists also hope to be able to get more information about the significance of the otter remains found in the tomb – if they have any.

Pic: ORCA

Mr Lee added:

“We’ve found otter droppings and bones, which proves that these animals have been using the tomb, and certainly the cell we’ve excavated, throughout the entire life and use of the tomb.

“It doesn’t seem to have been a problem that the otters were living in this tomb at the same time as the Neolithic people that built it, or to those who later used it and buried their dead here.

The Tomb of the Otters is just a few yards away from the larger Tomb of the Eagles, where remains of dozens of people were found.

Recent studies concluded that some of the people buried there may have suffered violent deaths.

There is no evidence that this was also the case for the people who found their last resting place in the Banks Tomb.

Pic: ORCA

Mr Lee said:

“We really can’t say anything about the use of the Banks Tomb yet.

“There is no evidence that they died of violence, but we only excavated a small part of the tomb, and it is really hard to tell what we will find in the future.”

Source1  Source2

You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Appbrain at http://www.appbrain.com/app/celtic-myth-show/tv.wizzard.android.celticmythpodshow841 or by using the QR code opposite.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.