Prehistory
project: Island of the dead? The buried Neolithic landscape of Herm (Channel Islands)
Grant Holder: Prof Chris Scarre
This project seeks to study the relationship between the cluster of megalithic tombs (5th-3rd millennium BC) at the northern end of the small Channel Island of Herm, in the Guernsey archipelago. The tombs came to light during quarrying activity in the 19th century, and several of them were excavated at that period. Those excavations made [read more]
project: The Beaker isotope project: mobility, migration and diet in the British Early Bronze Age
Grant Holder: Prof M. Parker Pearson
Were the `Beaker people´ immigrants or indigenous to prehistoric Britain? Nineteenth century antiquarian barrow-diggers observed that the wide-headed (brachycephalic) skulls of Beaker burials were distinguishable from the narrow (dolichocephalic) skulls within Neolithic long barrows, and attributed these to different populations. Since then, theories of a migrant `Beaker folk´ have been contested by alternative theories which interpret the distinctive material culture as part of a Europe-wide `Beaker package´ or cultural pattern adopted by local communities. [read more]
project: Magnetic moments in the past: Developing archaeomagnetic dating for application in UK archaeology
Grant Holder: Dr Cathy Batt
This project follows on from a previous collaboration which established a methodology for using measurements of the past magnetic field of the Earth for dating archaeological materials in the last 4000 years in the UK. The primary aim of this project is to realise the potential of this research by developing its practical application in UK archaeology. There is increasing interest in using archaeomagnetic dating as part of the suite of chronological tools available to archaeologists. However, it has yet to be adopted routinely. [read more]
project: The Prehistoric Stones of Greece: a resource from field-survey
Grant Holder: Professor Clive Gamble
The Prehistoric Stones of Greece (SOG) set out to enhance the research value of survey projects conducted in Greece that had recovered Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic materials. SOG’s focus was to establish a database of stone tools and prehistoric lithics generally and by drawing this material into a common format enhance the resource for a variety of archaeological purposes; in particular academic research and heritage management. [read more]
project: The first farmers of Central Europe - diversity in LBK lifeways
Grant Holder: Professor Alasdair Whittle
The Linearbandkeramik culture (LBK), was the first Neolithic culture in many parts of central Europe. Dating to roughly 5600-4900 cal BC, it stretched from Hungary to the Paris Basin and from southern Germany into the northern Polish and German plains and Holland. Apart from introducing a farming way of life, the LBK is most notable for the construction of monumental wooden houses, which form the first permanent villages in the area. [read more]
project: Microliths and Mortuary Practices: late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers and landscapes in the Azraq Basin, Jordan.
Grant Holder: Dr J T Stock
Our work presents critical insights into the timing and nature of the first sedentary villages, early animal domestication, the role of animals in social life, prehistoric health, mortuary practices, and the first cemeteries. It also raises questions as to whether the characteristics of `Uyun al-Hammam are unique, or indicative of broad trends in Epipalaeolithic behaviour. The research aims to test these questions through a combined programme of excavation, at the sites of Kharaneh IV and Ayn Qasiyah, and analysis of archaeological evidence for behavioural change in the Epipalaeolithic. [read more]
project: Breaking through rock art recording: three dimensional laser scanning of megalithic rock art
Grant Holder: Dr Margarita Diaz-Andreu
The project Breaking through rock art recording was led by Dr Diaz-Andreu(Durham University). It aims to test the novel technique of 3D laser scanning for the recording of prehistoric rock carvings. The main objectives were to assess the reliability, accuracy and precision of this technique for recording purposes and to evaluate its capacity to discover new carved motifs invisible to the naked eye. [read more]
project: The excavation of WF16, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site in southern Jordan: acquiring new evidence for the origins of sedentary farming communities
Grant Holder: Professor Steven Mithen
WF16 is located in the spectacular Wadi Faynan area of Southern Jordan. The excavation will use a single context recording system (based on the MoLAS system) and will use a purpose built archaeological database (supplied by IADS York) to create an easily accessible site archive. Material remains at the site indicate that settlement occurred during the Pre Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period, with a suite of radiocarbon dates indicating occupation between 11,600 and 10,200 BP. [read more]
project: The role of shell middens in the Mesolithic settlement of Western Scotland and the transition to the Neolithic: A technological study of chipped stone
Grant Holder: Professor Steven Mithen
The first people to live in Scotland arrived around 9000 years ago and lived by hunting and gathering within woodlands that had colonised the landscape after the end of the ice age and on the coasts where many resources including shellfish, fish, sea mammals and seaweed could be exploited. The principal type of Mesolithic evidence for archaeologists is the stone tools and the waste from their manufacture. [read more]
project: Technologies of Enchantment: Celtic Art in Southern Britain in the Middle and Late Iron Age
Grant Holder: Dr Duncan Garrow
This project aims to investigate the artefacts found in Britain between about 300 BC and 150 AD which have come to be known as ‘Celtic Art’. The project seeks to understand why Celtic Art objects were made in the first place, how they were used and why they often seem to have been intentionally deposited in rivers or under the ground. The first task has been to compile a comprehensive database (in Excel, downloadable from the website) of all Celtic Art ever found in Britain. [read more]