[ad_1]
Archaeological work before the construction of a controversial road tunnel next door Stonehenge led to the discovery of ancient tombs, including one with the remains of a baby dating back over 4,500 years; a strange terrestrial enclosure; and prehistoric pottery, among other buried treasures.
Some of the finds may have been used by people who built the mysterious Neolithic monument, and all of the finds show that the area was inhabited by different ancient people for thousands of years.
“Collectively, [the finds] allow us to build an ever more detailed picture of what people did and how they lived in the area around Stonehenge, ”Matt Leivers, a consultant archaeologist for Wessex Archeology, told Live Science.
Related: In photos: a walk in Stonehenge
Before ushering in the $ 2.4 billion project to move a nearby highway underground, UK authorities tasked Wessex Archeology with conducting a full investigation of the land above. To do this, archaeologists scoured the fields and created trenches and pits to search for archaeological remains and artifacts along the 3-kilometer-long strip where the road tunnel is planned, Leivers said in an email. . The team were guided by aerial surveys and used geophysical survey equipment to search for earth disturbed by excavation and structures in the distant past.
Although the UK government approved the controversial Stonehenge tunnel in 2020, the project still faces legal challenges; opponents say it will damage one of the world’s most precious ancient landscapes. The latest finds were made during preliminary surveys of the area, before 18 months of full archaeological digs are expected to begin later this year, Leivers said.
Beaker graves
Among the latest finds are several tombs, unearthed just southwest of the Stonehenge circle, believed to be of the Beaker culture, which is named after their practice of burying the dead with pottery vessels shaped like a Bell. The Beaker people lived in Western Europe between 4,800 and 3,800 years ago, from the Chalcolithic period, when the first copper tools were used. In one of the graves, researchers found a simple jar next to a baby’s remains, although only the ear bones remain. Another nearby grave contains the remains of a woman who died in her twenties, her body crouched around a relatively ornate pot or beaker. The research team also found a fragment of a the copper awl or needle and a mysterious cylindrical shale object, possibly part of a stick or club, in his grave.
Related: 7 bizarre ancient cultures that history has forgotten
Both graves are believed to be around 4,500 years old, which would make them roughly the same age as the smaller “blue stones” around and in the main circle of the large sandstone “sarsens” at Stonehenge, Leivers said.
Buried caches of other ancient artefacts, including pottery vessels, flint, and deer antlers that could have been used for digging were also found along the route of the planned tunnel.
“Stonehenge was built over a very long period of time; even the individual phases of its construction could have taken years, if not decades,” he said. “It is quite conceivable that the people who left these things behind or who were buried nearby played a role in the construction of Stonehenge.”
Preliminary investigations also unearthed ditches to the southeast of the monument which may have been part of an Iron Age fort known locally as the “Camp of Vespasian” – named after the later Roman general. emperor, who led a military force in the area during the Roman period. invasion of Britain after AD 43. Despite this, there is no evidence that the fort had anything to do with it.
Archaeologists have also found a model of buried ditches south of the tombs that appear to form an enclosure. It appears to date from a period in the mid to late Bronze Age, after around 3,500 years, when there was a colony nearby, Leivers said. He added that the team found large amounts of burnt flint in the ground around it, possibly indicating dirty or smelly activities were taking place there.
Stonehenge Tunnel
Highways England – a state-owned company responsible for operating, maintaining and improving England’s highways and main roads – hired Wessex Archeology to study the site of the proposed Stonehenge tunnel, which is designed to finally clear the famous Neolithic road traffic site by reconstructing part of a nearby underground highway.
Stonehenge sits on otherwise vacant land, but the road has only traveled a few hundred feet south since the 19th century; cars and trucks on the road can be easily seen and heard from inside the stone circle.
Opponents say the project will cause irreparable damage to the ancient landscape and lead to the loss of thousands of prehistoric artifacts and archaeological remains. Among the proposed alternatives are bypasses south of the Stonehenge site that would remove most of the road traffic from the area.
Leivers said the tunnel past Stonehenge is the least archaeologically interesting part of the project, as the proposed method of drilling the tunnel deep underground will either have no impact on the artifacts or stay close to the surface. “It is only at the tunnel portals and along the road to the east and west that archeology will be affected,” he said.
Instead, full excavations slated to begin later this year will allow archaeologists to study a long transect landscape on both sides of the Neolithic monument. “These are the parts that people don’t look at as often, away from the stones themselves, so this is a very valuable opportunity to put Stonehenge into its larger landscape context,” he said.
Originally posted on Live Science.
[ad_2]
Source link