Flesh on the Bones: Animal Bodies in Atlantic Roundhouses

This volume presents the state of research across Europe to illustrate how comparable interpretative frameworks are used by archaeologists working with both prehistoric and historical societies

Stonehenge remodelled

We are pleased to present the latest account of the sequence of burial and construction at the site of Stonehenge, deduced by its most recent excavators and anchored in time by the application of Bayesian radiocarbon modelling. Five prehistoric stages are proposed, of varied duration, and related by our authors to neighbouring monuments in the Stonehenge environs. While it may never be possible to produce a definitive chronology for this most complex of monuments, the comprehensive and integrated achievement owed to these researchers has brought us much closer to that goal. It is from this firm platform that Stonehenge can begin its new era of communication with the public at large

Border parasites: schistosomiasis control among Uganda's fisherfolk

Copyright @ 2012 Taylor & Francis. This article has been made publically available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.It is recognized that the control of schistosomisais in Uganda requires a focus on fisherfolk. Large numbers suffer from this water-borne parasitic disease; notably along the shores of lakes Albert and Victoria and along the River Nile. Since 2004, a policy has been adopted of providing drugs, free of charge, to all those at risk. The strategy has been reported to be successful, but closer investigation reveals serious problems. This paper draws upon long-term research undertaken at three locations in northwestern and southeastern Uganda. It highlights consequences of not engaging with the day to day realities of fisherfolk livelihoods; attributable, in part, to the fact that so many fisherfolk live and work in places located at the country’s international borders, and to a related tendency to treat them as "feckless" and "ungovernable". Endeavours to roll out treatment end up being haphazard, erratic and location-specific. In some places, concerted efforts have been made to treat fisherfolk; but there is no effective monitoring, and it is difficult to gauge what proportion have actually swallowed the tablets. In other places, fisherfolk are, in practice, largely ignored, or are actively harassed in ways that make treatment almost impossible. At all sites, the current reliance upon resident "community" drug distributors or staff based at static clinics and schools was found to be flawed.The Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, Imperial College, under the auspices of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

A Late Bronze Age ring-forst at Bayvil Farm, Pembrokeshire

A 70m-diameter circular ditched enclosure identified as a cropmark in 1996 at Bayvil Farm, Eglwyswrw, north Pembrokeshire, was initially thought to be a segmented-ditched enclosure, an early type of Neolithic henge. Geophysical survey in 2012–13 and partial excavation in 2014 has shown it to be Late Bronze Age ring-fort dating to the eleventh-tenth centuries BC and subsequently occupied during the Early Iron Age. Late Bronze Age circular enclosures of this kind are well known in eastern England but this is the first such ring-fort to be discovered in Wales. A medieval corn-dryer identified by geophysical survey was also excavated which is probably to be associated with the probable traces of the medieval settlement of Bayvil, associated with the redundant St Andrew’s Church which has possible medieval origins

Excavations at Castell Mawr Iron Age hillfort, Pembrokeshire

Castell Mawr is a small hillfort in the community of Eglwyswrw, Pembrokeshire. Thought to have been built on a Late Neolithic henge, it was investigated with four trenches in 2012–13. These excavations revealed that Castell Mawr’s main period of construction and use was in the Earliest/Early Iron Age during the late eighth–late fifth centuries BC with hints of an earlier human presence on the hilltop in the Late Mesolithic and Bronze Age. No definite evidence of any Neolithic activity was found, however, and the earthworks all date to the Iron Age. The hillfort’s Iron Age sequence started with a roundhouse, followed by a pair of concentric timber palisades built during the late eighth–late fifth centuries BC. An enclosing rampart was constructed around the hilltop, followed by a cross-bank. The final activity post-dating the cross-bank dates to the fifth century BC, slightly earlier than or contemporary with initial construction at nearby Castell Henllys. The Castell Mawr/Castell Henllys sequence confirms Murphy and Mytum’s (2012) model for long-term processes of settlement development in west Wales

Carn Goedog medieval house and settlement, Pembrokeshire

This report describes the investigation in 2011 and 2015 of two groups of relict houses on an upland common on the north flank of the Preseli hills in North Pembrokeshire. Their locations, along with medieval records, provide strong indications that these were seasonal settlements. Excavation of one subrectangular building (House C) produced finds that included medieval pottery and a spindle whorl with Romanesque decoration. A radiocarbon date of cal. AD 1030–1200 at 95.4% confidence from charcoal in the hearth of this building provides the earliest firm date identified as yet for hafodydd (‘seasonal settlements’) in Wale

Radiocarbon dating results from the Beaker People Project, 2007: Scottish samples

The Beaker People Project is a major interdisciplinary five-year research programme, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and led by one of the authors (Mike Parker Pearson of Sheffield University). It aims to investigate patterns of diet, mobility and health in British Beaker-associated skeletons (and in contemporaneous non-Beaker associated skeletons) to help address long-standing issues of identity, such as: are the people who were buried with Beaker pottery any different from their contemporaries who were not? Are possible immigrants identifiable, as was the case with the Amesbury Archer? The Project will investigate 250 sets of remains, from five geochemically-contrasting areas – namely eastern Scotland, Yorkshire, the Peak District, Wessex and Wales – using osteology, dental microwear, histology and pathology, and isotopic analysis of tooth enamel and bone (with carbon and nitrogen in bone providing information about diet, strontium and oxygen in tooth enamel providing information about mobility, and sulphur in bone providing information about coastal vs. non-coastal residence). A subset of the 250 individuals is to be radiocarbon-dated, to improve our understanding of Beaker chronology

Isotopic analysis of faunal material from South Uist, Western Isles, Scotland

This paper reports on the results from stable isotope analysis of faunal bone collagen from a number of Iron Age and later sites on the island of South Uist, in the Western Isles, Scotland. This preliminary investigation into the isotopic signatures of the fauna is part of a larger project to model the interaction between humans, animals, and the broader environment in the Western Isles. The results demonstrate that the island fauna data fall within the range of expected results for the UK, with the terrestrial herbivorous diets of cattle and sheep confi rmed. The isotopic composition for pigs suggests that some of these animals had an omnivorous diet, whilst a single red deer value might be suggestive of the consumption of marine foods, such as by grazing on seaweed. However, further analysis is needed in order to verify this anomalous isotopic ratio

Long-distance landscapes: from quarries to monument at Stonehenge.

Stonehenge is famous for the distances moved by its stones, both sarsens and bluestones. In particular, the bluestones have their geological origins in West Wales, 225km away. Recent excavations at two of these bluestone sources – one for rhyolite and one for spotted dolerite – have identified evidence of megalith quarrying around 3000 BC, when Stonehenge’s first stage was constructed. This remarkable movement of bluestones from Wales coincided with a decline in regional cultural distinctions between west and east, suggesting that building Stonehenge may have served to unify the Neolithic populations of Britain

Cycles in Stone Mining and Copper Circulation in Europe 5500–2000 BC: A View from Space

The authors of this article consider the relationship in European prehistory between the procurement of high-quality stones (for axeheads, daggers, and other tools) on the one hand, and the early mining, crafting, and deposition of copper on the other. The data consist of radiocarbon dates for the exploitation of stone quarries, flint mines, and copper mines, and of information regarding the frequency through time of jade axeheads and copper artefacts. By adopting a broad perspective, spanning much of central-western Europe from 5500 to 2000 bc, they identify a general pattern in which the circulation of the first copper artefacts was associated with a decline in specialized stone quarrying. The latter re-emerged in certain regions when copper use decreased, before declining more permanently in the Bell Beaker phase, once copper became more generally available. Regional variations reflect the degrees of connectivity among overlapping copper exchange networks. The patterns revealed are in keeping with previous understandings, refine them through quantification and demonstrate their cyclical nature, with additional reference to likely local demographic trajectories