Durrington Walls: a Ceremonial Enclosure of the 2nd Millennium BC

Antiquity ◽  
1968 ◽  
Vol 42 (165) ◽  
pp. 20-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. J. Wainwright
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Outer Edge ◽  
The South ◽  
Double Row ◽  
Early 19Th Century ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Southern Sector ◽  
The North ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Dry Valley

Durrington Walls lies one quarter of a mile to the north of the outskirts of Amesbury in Wiltshire and 9 miles north of Salisbury (SU 150437). Stonehenge is situated 2 miles to the south-east and 80 yds. to the south of the enclosure is Woodhenge which was excavated by Mrs Cunnington in 1926-8. The much ploughed bank, which encloses a dry valley opening on to the River Avon, was initially recorded by Sir Richard Colt Hoare in the early 19th century (1812, 169), but until the recently completed series of excavations the only digging on the site was that carried out by Professor Stuart Piggott in 1952, despite recognition of the enclosure as being one of the largest henge monuments in the country. The 1952 excavations were in the nature of an exploration on both sides of a pipe trench where it intersected with the bank in its southern sector (Stone, Piggott and Booth, 1954). A double row of post-holes was recorded along the outer edge of the bank and a quantity of animal bones, flints and sherds of Grooved Ware was found on top of the old land surface which was preserved beneath it. Sherds of Grooved Ware and two small fragments of Beaker were recorded from domestic refuse overlying the bank talus. Radiocarbon dates of 2620± 40 and 2630 ± 70 BC were obtained from charcoal under the bank in its southern sector (Piggott, 1959, 289). These determinations were described by Professor Piggott as ‘archaeologically unacceptable’ as two small scraps of Beaker pottery were found in association with the abundant Grooved Ware.

A Neolithic Site at Abingdon, Berks.

1927 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 438-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Thurlow Leeds
Keyword(s):  
Fish Ponds ◽  
The South ◽  
South Side ◽  
The Road ◽  
Neolithic Site ◽  
The North ◽  
Gravel Pit ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Formed Part

At the end of April of last year the Rev. Charles Overy drew my attention to the presence of broken animal bones, flints, and sherds of pottery in a gravel-pit on the south side of the road from Abingdon to Radley, about a mile out of Abingdon (fig. 1).The pit lies on the very boundary of the parish of Abingdon in a field at about 200 ft. O.D., just over half a mile north of the Thames and some 30 ft. above the river. On its eastern and southern sides it is bounded by the wide trenches which in the days of the splendour of Abingdon Abbey formed part of the Abbey's fish-ponds ; on the north is the road, and on the east the ground drops to a little brook.

scholarly journals Hydrogeology of Brahmaputra Basin, India

2003 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barendra Purkait
Keyword(s):  
Ground Water ◽  
Water Table ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Flood Plain ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
The South ◽  
Drainage Pattern ◽  
The North ◽  
The World ◽  
Brahmaputra Basin

The Ganga-Brahmaputra river system together forms one of the largest deltas in the world comprising some 59570 sq km. The waterpower resources of the Brahmaputra have been presumed to be the fourth biggest in the world being 19.83 x 103 m3s1. The entire lower portion of the Brahmaputra consists of a vast network of distributary channels, which are dry in the cold season but are inundated during monsoon. The catchment area of the entire river is about 580,000 sq km, out of which 195,000 sq km lies in India. The maximum discharge as measured at Pandu in 1962 was of the order of 72800 m3 s-1 while the minimum was 1750 m3 s-1 in 1968. The drainage pattern in the valley is of antecedent type while the yazoo drainage pattern is most significant over the composite flood plain to the south of the Brahmaputra. The Brahmaputra valley is covered by Recent alluvium throughout its stretch except a few isolated sedimentary hills in the upper Assam, inselbergs/bornhardt of gneissic hills in the Darrang, Kamrup and Goalpara districts and a few inlying patches of Older Alluvium in the Darrang and Goalpara districts. The basin is very unstable. The present configuration of the basin is the result of uplift and subsidence of the Precambrian crystalline landmasses. Four geotectonic provinces can be delineated in the N-E India through which the Brahmaputra flows. These are bounded by major tectonic lineaments such as the basement E-W trending Dauki fault, a NE-SW trending structural feature of imbricate thrusts known as 'belt of Schuppen' and the NW-SE trending Mishmi thrust. Hydrogeologically, the Brahmaputra basin can be divided into two distinct categories, viz(a) dissected alluvial plain and (b) the inselberg zone. The first category is rep resented in the flood plain extending from the south of Sub-Himalayan piedmont fan zone in the north to right upto the main rock promontory of Garo Hills and Shillong Plateau. The inselberg zone is characterized by fractured, jointed and weathered ancient crystalline rocks with interhill narrow valley plains, consisting of thin to occasionally thick piles of assorted sediments. From the subsurface lithological data, two broad groups of aquifers are identified. These are i) shallow water table and ii) deeper water table or confined ones, separated by a system of aquicludes. The shallow aquifer materials, in general, consist of white to greyish white, fine grained micaceous sand and the thickness ranges from 1.2 to 10.3 m. The sand and clay ratio varies from 1: 2.5 to 1:26. The bedrock occurs at depth ranges of 30.4 to 39.5 m. The materials of the deeper aquifers comprise grey to greyish white, fine to medium grained sand. The sand and clay ratio varies from 1:2 to 1:7. The effective size of the aquifer materials varies from 0.125 to 0.062 mm with uniformity co-efficient around 4.00, porosity 38 to 42%, co-efficient of permeability 304 to 390 galls per day/0.3m2. The ground water is mildly alkaline with pH value 6.5 to 8.5, chloride 10 to 40 ppm, bi-carbonate 50 to 350 ppm, iron content ranges from a fraction of a ppm to 50 ppm. Total dissolved solids are low, hardness as CaCo3 50 to 300 ppm, specific conductance at 25 °C 150 to 650 mhos/cm. The yield from shallow aquifers is 1440 litres to 33750 litres/hour and for deeper aquifers ~ 1700 litres/hour at a drawdown of 13.41 m, specific capacity 21 litres/minute. The temperatures of ground water are 23°-25° C during winter, 24°-26° C during pre-monsoon and 27°- 28° C during peak monsoon. The general hydraulic gradient in the north bank is 1:800 whereas in the south bank it is 1: 300-400 The Tertiary sediments yield a range of water from 200 to 300 l.p.m whereas the yield from the Older Alluvium is 500 to 700 1.p.m. The estimated transmissibility and co-efficient of storage is of the order of ~ 800 1.p.m/ m and 8.2 x 10-3 respectively. Depths to water levels range from 5.3 to 10m below land surface (b.l.s). In the Younger or Newer Alluvium, ground water occurs both under water table and confined conditions. Depths to water levels vary from ground level to 10 m b.l.s. Depth to water ranges from 6 m b.l.s. to 2 m above land surface. The yield of the deep tubewells ranges from 2 to 4 kl/minute for a drawdown of 3 m to 6 m. The transmissibility of the aquifers varies from 69 to 1600 l.p.m/m and the storage co-fficient is of the order of 3.52 x 10-2.

scholarly journals I. On the extension of the coal-fields beneath the newer formations of England; and the succession of physical changes whereby the coal-measures have been reduced to their present dimensions

1871 ◽  
Vol 19 (123-129) ◽  
pp. 222-223
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Coal Field ◽  
The South ◽  
Late Professor ◽  
The North ◽  
North Wales ◽  
Central Ridge ◽  
Physical Geology ◽  
Physical Changes ◽  
Coal Measures

In this paper the author, embodying with his own the observations of previous writers on the physical geology of Great Britain, especially those of Murchison, Godwin-Austen, Ramsay, Phillips, and the late Professor Jukes, showed that the Coal-measures were originally distributed over large tracts of England, to the north and to the south of a central ridge or barrier of Old Silurian and Cambrian rocks, which stretched across the country from North Wales and Shropshire into the Eastern Counties, skirting the southern margin of the South Staffordshire Coal-field. This barrier, or ridge, was a land-surface till the close of the Carboniferous period.

scholarly journals Trial excavation of a terrace-edge enclosure at North Mains, Strathallan, Perthshire

1991 ◽  
Vol 120 ◽  
pp. 45-53
Author(s):  
Gordon J Barclay ◽  
Myra Tolan-Smith ◽  
Coralie Mills ◽  
J Barber
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Outer Edge ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The North ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc

A small part of the terrace edge enclosure at North Mains was excavated to test the hypothesis that it was contemporary with one or other of the Neolithic/Early Bronze Age ceremonial monuments immediately to the north. Two cropmark ditches and an entrance through them were confirmed by excavation. The inner ditch was very steep sided; postholes were found on the inner edge of both ditches. Possible postholes were also noted on the outer edge of the outer ditch. Traces of a number of structures were located in the interior, including what may be the slight wall-trench of a circular house. The results of radiocarbon dating may suggest that the ditch was dug in the second millennium bc, while at least one of the structures in the interior was in use in the late first millennium bc. A comment on the radiocarbon dates is provided by John Barber (50--1). An appendix gives details of the `Identification of charcoal from North Mains' by Coralie Mills (52--3). Au

On the Estimation of Deep Atlantic Ventilation from Fossil Radiocarbon Records. I. Modern Reference Estimates

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Marchal ◽  
Ning Zhao
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
South Atlantic ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
The South ◽  
Meridional Transport ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Geostrophic Balance ◽  
The North

AbstractRadiocarbon dates of fossil carbonates sampled from sediment cores and the seafloor have been used to infer that deep ocean ventilation during the last ice age was different from today. In this first of paired papers, the time-averaged abyssal circulation in the modern Atlantic is estimated by combining a hydrographic climatology, observational estimates of volume transports, Argo float velocities at 1000 m, radiocarbon data, and geostrophic dynamics. Different estimates of modern circulation, obtained from different prior assumptions about the abyssal flow and different errors in the geostrophic balance, are produced for use in a robust interpretation of fossil records in terms of deviations from the present-day flow, which is undertaken in the second paper.For all estimates, the meridional transport integrated zonally and averaged over a hemisphere, 〈Vk〉, is southward between 1000-4000 m in both hemispheres, northward between 4000-5000 m in the South Atlantic, and insignificant between 4000-5000 m in the North Atlantic. Estimates of 〈Vk〉 obtained from two distinct prior circulations - one based on a level of no motion at 4000 m and one based on Argo oat velocities at 1000 m - become statistically indistinguishable when Δ14C data are considered. The transport time scale, defined as τk = /〈Vk〉, where is the volume of the kth layer, is estimated to about a century between 1000-3000 m in both the South and North Atlantic, 124±9 yr (203±23 yr) between 3000-4000 m in the South (North) Atlantic, and 269±115 yr between 4000-5000 m in the South Atlantic.

Excavation of Four Barrows, and a Middle Bronze Age Cremation Cemetery, at Heatherstone Grange, Bransgore, Hampshire

2018 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-89
Author(s):  
Richard Massey ◽  
Elaine L. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
South West ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

Excavation at Heatherstone Grange, Bransgore, Hampshire, investigated features identified in a previous evaluation. Area A included ring ditches representing two barrows. Barrow 1.1 held 40 secondary pits, including 34 cremation-related deposits of Middle Bronze Age date, and Barrow 1.2 had five inserted pits, including three cremation graves, one of which dated to the earlier Bronze Age, and was found with an accessory cup. A number of pits, not all associated with cremation burials, contained well-preserved urns of the regional Deverel-Rimbury tradition and occasional sherds from similar vessels, which produced a closely-clustered range of eight radiocarbon dates centred around 1300 BC. Of ten pits in Area C, three were cremation graves, of which one was radiocarbon-dated to the Early Bronze Age and associated with a collared urn, while four contained only pyre debris. Barrow 1.3, in Area E, to the south, enclosed five pits, including one associated with a beaker vessel, and was surrounded by a timber circle. Area F, further to the south-west, included two pits of domestic character with charcoal-rich fills and the remains of pottery vessels, together with the probable remains of a ditched enclosure and two sets of paired postholes. Area H, located to the north-west of Area E, partly revealed a ring ditch (Barrow 1.4), which enclosed two pits with charcoal-rich fills, one with a single Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age potsherd, and the other burnt and worked flint. A further undated pit was situated to the east of Barrow 1.4. The cremation cemetery inserted into Barrow 1.1 represents a substantial addition to the regional record of Middle Bronze Age cremation burials, and demonstrates important affinities with the contemporary cemeteries of the Stour Valley to the west, and sites on Cranborne Chase, to the north-west.

A Homestead Moat at Nuthampstead, Hertfordshire

1946 ◽  
Vol 26 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 138-144
Author(s):  
Audrey Williams
Keyword(s):  
Outer Edge ◽  
Royal Commission ◽  
The South ◽  
North West ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Ancient Monuments ◽  
The Village ◽  
Western Half

A small moated site in Scales Park near the village of Nuthampstead, Hertfordshire (fig. 1), has lately been examined by the Ancient Monuments Department of the Ministry of Works. It lies just within the Hertfordshire-Essex boundary, four miles north-east of Buntingford and eight miles north-west of Bishop's Stortford. On the O.S. 6-in. sheet (Herts. 9 NE.) it is marked as The Warren, but not as an antiquity; nor is it included among the 139 homestead moats recorded for the county by the Royal Commission.Scales Park comprises something over 400 acres of well-grown woodland on the plateau which forms the watershed of the rivers Stort and Quin, both flowing south to join eventually the Thames. Its height above sea-level is 450 ft. on the northwest, declining gently to 400 ft. on the east and south. Geologically the area consists of chalky clay over the chalk.The moat of the Warren, enclosing an approximately square island about a quarter of an acre in size, varied in width from 10 to 25 ft. and at the time of excavation was filled with black boggy silt. Round its outer edge ran a low much-spread bank, 20 to 30 ft. wide but not more than 2 ft. high. The enclosure presented a puzzling combination of mounds and hollows. A large mound, 9 ft. 6 in. high, on a raised platform occupied the north-eastern half. The south-western half had centrally a similar platform, 5 ft. above the surface of the moat, with flanking mounds, 6 and 7 ft. high, at the corners (pl. xxiv b). The cavities between the mounds were practically level with the moat; slight ridges barred the western hollow and the south end of the eastern hollow.

The Marlborough Mound, Wiltshire. A Further Neolithic Monumental Mound by the River Kennet

2013 ◽  
Vol 79 ◽  
pp. 137-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Leary ◽  
Matthew Canti ◽  
David Field ◽  
Peter Fowler ◽  
Peter Marshall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Future Research ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Main Body ◽  
Soil Cores ◽  
Flood Events ◽  
The South ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
North East ◽  
The North

Recent radiocarbon dates obtained from two soil cores taken through the Marlborough Castle mound, Wiltshire, show the main body of it to be a contemporaneous monument to Silbury Hill, dating to the second half of the 3rd millennium cal bc. In light of these dates, this paper considers the sequence identified within the cores, which includes two possible flood events early in the construction of the mound. It also describes four cores taken through the surrounding ditch, as well as small-scale work to the north-east of the mound. The topographic location of the mound in a low-lying area and close to rivers and springs is discussed, and the potential for Late Neolithic sites nearby is set out, with the land to the south of the mound identified as an area for future research. The paper ends with the prospect that other apparent mottes in Wiltshire and beyond may well also have prehistoric origins

scholarly journals Barrow with «moustache» Zhamahtas

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-231
Author(s):  
Arman Ziyadenovich Beisenov ◽  
Daniyar Bolatbekovich Duisenbay ◽  
Svetlana Vladimirovna Svyatko
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
East Side ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
Human Skeleton ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Eastern Side ◽  
The North ◽  
Tubular Bones ◽  
Stone Arches

The monument consists of two parts - burial construction with the diameter of about 14 m and ritual construction located on its east side with the diameter of 10 m from which two stone arches go to the east. The elements of the complex are badly damaged due to using the stones for building. There is a burial pit under the south construction with the dimensions 2,81,41,4 m, which contains disturbed human skeleton. The skeleton was put with his head to the west. There was found a bronze mirror with side handle near his hip bone. In the east construction a round pit with the diameter of 0,8, the depth of 0,4, was found, at the bottom of which there were poorly preserved fragments from the tubular bones of a animal. Horse teeth were revealed to the north of the pit, and 14 fragments of the stucco vessel lay on its eastern side. Two radiocarbon dates were obtained from bone samples from the western and eastern constructions in the laboratory of the Royal University of Belfast, Great Britain. Common intervals of the calibrated value showed that: human burial in the western structure - VIII-V centuries BC, the bones of animals in the eastern structure - III-VI centuries AD. Thus, human burial relates to Tasmola culture, which does not contradict the mirror of the Early Saka image found in the grave. Bones of animals under the eastern structure, iprobably, were left during the Hun period.

scholarly journals Pretoria Radiocarbon Dates II

Radiocarbon ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
J C Vogel ◽  
Ebbie Visser
Keyword(s):  
Southern Africa ◽  
The South ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The North

This list contains 227 radiocarbon dates pertaining to the western part of southern Africa, between Luanda (9°S) in the north and the Orange R (29°S) in the south.

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