Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Prehistoric stone circle discovered in Yorkshire
A stone circle that was once part of a prehistoric cairn has been discovered by a group of amateur archaeologists on Ilkley Moor, Yorkshire, England.A cairn is a large pile of stones that marked the grave of an important individual in prehistoric times. These stones were often taken away by later farmers for building walls or cottages, and sometimes all that's left is a circle of stones from the base, as is the case here. The team says the cairn measures 27 by 24 feet. It would have been pretty high back in its glory days.
One stone had a man-made circular impression archaeologists call a cup mark. These are found all over prehistoric Europe singly or in groups, but nobody knows what they mean.
The UK countryside is full of ancient remains. When I was hiking along Hadrian's Wall and the East Highland Way I brought along Ordnance Survey maps not only to find my way but because many prehistoric sites are marked on them. I passed stone circles, Anglo-Saxon ring forts, crumbled castles, and much more. Take these maps along to make your walk through the countryside a walk through history.
The Yorkshire team has made numerous discoveries in recent months. Archaeology is understaffed and underfunded, and dedicated groups of amateurs help take up the slack. Archaeological societies exist in many towns throughout the world and are a great way to learn about the past. While members are amateur in the sense that they don't make their living as archaeologists, they're often well trained and knowledgeable. This is important so that when they make their discoveries they don't harm the very sites they are trying to study and preserve.
[Photo of Mölndal cairn in Sweden courtesy Wikimedia Commons. No image of the Ilkley Moor cairn is available. It's not as well preserved as the Mölndal cairn.]
Filed under: History, Learning, Europe, United Kingdom
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Amy @LivinOnTheRoad Jun 13th 2011 1:52AM
This sort of thing is why I'm longing to visit Europe. We're travelling Australia and had an amazing day visiting ruins along the Oodnadatta Track (remote area in the middle of the desert). These ruins are all *gasp* over 100 years old -- and then I read about these finds in England that are measured in 4 digits.
JohnDriskill Jun 13th 2011 6:03AM
Agriculture and animal husbandry were developed at the end of the last "ice age." Before this humans were hunter-gathers and needed to migrate with the herds to hunt them.
http://nuescience.posterous.com/nue-science-cell-revival-review-does-it-work
Paul Curnow Jun 14th 2011 1:53AM
The person travelling in Australia has obviously not seen the remains left by Aboriginal Australians that date to at least 40,000 years old! To talk about ruins left by Europeans in Australia that are only 100-years old is a typically Eurocentric view of the world. Modern Homo sapiens occupied much of Australia before much of Europe was even colonised by them (unless you want to include the Neanderthals). Additionally most cave art in Australia pre-dates European art by at least 10,000 years.