scholarly journals Beyond Newgrange: Brú na Bóinne in the later Neolithic

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Stephen Davis ◽  
Knut Rassmann
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
World Heritage ◽  
Geophysical Survey ◽  
World Heritage Site ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
New Evidence

The Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site, Ireland is best known for its megalithic monuments, in particular the great developed passage tombs of Knowth, Dowth, and Newgrange, and its abundance of megalithic art. However, our understanding of the wider Brú na Bóinne landscape has changed beyond all recognition in the last decade owing to the application of modern, non-invasive survey technologies – in particular LiDAR and large-scale geophysical survey – and most recently as a result of the hot, dry summer of 2018 which revealed a series of remarkable cropmarks between Newgrange and the River Boyne. Despite a lack of excavation it can be argued, based on their morphological characteristics, that many of the structures revealed belong within the corpus of late Neolithic ritual/ceremonial structures, including earthen henges, square-in-circle monuments, palisaded enclosures, and pit/post-alignments. These display both extraordinary diversity, yet also commonality of design and architecture, both as a group and with the passage tombs that preceded them. This paper provides an up-to-date survey of the late Neolithic and presumed late Neolithic landscape of Brú na Bóinne. It provides new evidence and new insights from ongoing survey campaigns, suggesting parallels within the British Neolithic but also insular development within some monument classes.

scholarly journals The Army Basing Programme, Stonehenge and the Emergence of the Sacred Landscape of Wessex

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt Leivers
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
World Heritage ◽  
World Heritage Site ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Dry Valleys ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Sacred Landscape ◽  
Heritage Site

Recent excavations for the Army Basing Programme on the periphery of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site have revealed extensive evidence of Early, Middle and Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age activity, including a causewayed enclosure, burials, occupation, pit groups, henges, post alignments and circles. Several of these either incorporate or refer to features of the landscape such as solution hollows, dry valleys, hilltops and rivers, as well as to astronomical phenomena. An appraisal of this evidence alongside other recent programmes of research around Stonehenge suggest an accreting pattern of development of this landscape that begins in the 38th century BC, and which throws new light on the location and meaning of several of the ceremonial earthworks, including Stonehenge itself.

scholarly journals Impact of early Polynesian occupation on the land snail fauna of Henderson Island, Pitcairn group (South Pacific)

1998 ◽  
Vol 353 (1367) ◽  
pp. 347-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Preece
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
World Heritage ◽  
Land Snail ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
World Heritage Site ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Terrestrial Species ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
Terrestrial Biota

Henderson Island, an uninhabited raised coral atoll in the Pitcairn group, has recently been designated a World Heritage Site because of its unique and relatively undisturbed ecosystem. The island is believed to have been uplifted and subaerially exposed during the last 275 kyr. This therefore provides the maximum age for the terrestrial biota that includes several endemic taxa. Henderson today supports 16 strictly terrestrial species of snails, about half of which are endemic. Analyses of sediments beneath Polynesian occupation horizons dated between the 11th and 17th centuries AD, have yielded 11 species of land snail present in the modern fauna, together with at least six (and possibly as many as eight) further species that no longer occur on the island. These extinct taxa are illustrated and formal descriptions provided for five ( Pleuropoma hendersoni , Orobophana carinacosta , Minidonta macromphalus , Philonesia pyramidalis , P. weisleri ); a sixth, known only from broken shells, appears to belong to the genus Hiona . The two remaining taxa are ‘tornatellinids’ that have not been recognized among the modern fauna. Radiocarbon dates from bones of associated extinct land birds confirm their occurrence on Henderson before the first signs of Polynesian settlement. The extinction of these taxa seems to coincide with the Polynesian occupation and evidence for large-scale burning, at least around parts of the plateau margin, suggests that their demise can be linked with habitat destruction. At least three species, Gastrocopta pediculus , Lamellidea oblonga and Pupisoma orcula , first appear in Polynesian occupation horizons. Their status as prehistoric introductions is therefore confirmed but G. pediculus no longer lives on Henderson. Pacificella variabilis , Tornatellides oblongus parvulus and Elasmias sp., all previously thought to have been other prehistoric introductions to Henderson, were recovered from pre-Polynesian levels and are therefore native.

scholarly journals Conservation of reef manta rays (Manta alfredi) in a UNESCO World Heritage Site: Large-scale island development or sustainable tourism?

PLoS ONE ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. e0185419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Thomas Kessel ◽  
Nasreldin Alhasan Elamin ◽  
David James Yurkowski ◽  
Tarik Chekchak ◽  
Ryan Patrick Walter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Sustainable Tourism ◽  
World Heritage ◽  
World Heritage Site ◽  
Unesco World Heritage ◽  
Manta Alfredi ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
Unesco World Heritage Site

Combining EMI and GPR for non-invasive soil sensing at the Stonehenge World Heritage Site: the reconstruction of a WW1 practice trench

2014 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 166-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Saey ◽  
M. Van Meirvenne ◽  
P. De Smedt ◽  
B. Stichelbaut ◽  
S. Delefortrie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
World Heritage ◽  
World Heritage Site ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Heritage Site

scholarly journals EDITORIAL

Antiquity ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 92 (362) ◽  
pp. 281-288
Author(s):  
Robert Witcher
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
World Heritage ◽  
World Heritage Site ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
The City

Thirty years ago on a London street, an excited young teenager stood in a queue the likes of which he had never previously seen. The wait, however, was worth it, for the reward was the opportunity to see a small detachment of warriors from the Terracotta Army on their first visit to the city. For this particular young archaeologist, it was a glimpse of a foreign civilisation that made the local Roman ruins look desperately provincial by comparison. But it was not just I who was impressed; public interest in the event was extraordinary. With hindsight, it is easy to overlook the novelty that the warriors represented at that time. Fewer than 15 years had passed between the discovery of an army guarding the tomb of the Emperor Qin Shi Huang, large-scale excavations at the mausoleum complex and its inscription as a World Heritage Site, and the arrival of the exhibition in London at the start of an endless global tour as the new face (or faces) of Chinese cultural heritage.

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