Bronze age settlement in Peterborough
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The article made a point that the fire was so fast, they had to leave food in the pots!
That alone is a rare insight into their lives.
That alone is a rare insight into their lives.
Odd thing that so many useful things found in the deposites. I wonder why they did not pick over the remains in order to recover useful and valuable items. Had somewhere else to go or stuff stored or place was taboo, or inhabitants taken away by slavers?
Looked to me from the pictures that the houses burnt and the roofs fell in, burying whatever didn't get fried.
I guess we will never know what they did scavenge and what has rotted away.
I guess we will never know what they did scavenge and what has rotted away.
Well, very few metal objects were found. Maybe they, or somebody else, did a little bit of rummaging.
What struck me as strange was the find of two dogs. Inside the huts. I always thought that they would have dogs outside, just like with todays hounds.
So maybe they had them as pure pets?
What struck me as strange was the find of two dogs. Inside the huts. I always thought that they would have dogs outside, just like with todays hounds.
So maybe they had them as pure pets?
There wasn't anything or anybody to put out the fire. In that day and time, it burned until it went out.
The whole dang house roofs fell in to bury the interiors and kept burning. Had to. I'll bet it spread from house to house,
just like modern fires do. No other scenario. Run like hell with the clothes on your back. Left everything, it seems.
Maybe when the place cooled down, they went back for a look and a scavenge. We will never know.
For food & shelter, it must have been a really bleak outlook after that.
The dogs. By all accounts and artifacts, these were well-to-do people with very good homes.
The dogs could very well have been pet stock. Why they weren't just turned loose is anyone's guess.
The whole dang house roofs fell in to bury the interiors and kept burning. Had to. I'll bet it spread from house to house,
just like modern fires do. No other scenario. Run like hell with the clothes on your back. Left everything, it seems.
Maybe when the place cooled down, they went back for a look and a scavenge. We will never know.
For food & shelter, it must have been a really bleak outlook after that.
The dogs. By all accounts and artifacts, these were well-to-do people with very good homes.
The dogs could very well have been pet stock. Why they weren't just turned loose is anyone's guess.
Moments in time like this are very evocative. A comparable instant is what might have happened at Skara Brae if a moving sand dune and storm overwhelmed the village as someone broke a bead necklace and didn't have time to pick them up from the passageway where they had fallen as they fled.
I prefer this idea for its drama but it might be wrong http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/skarabrae/abandon.htm
I prefer this idea for its drama but it might be wrong http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/skarabrae/abandon.htm
I visited Scara Brae years ago, and never understood why they do not continue excavating the whole area. I am sure we would get a much better understanding of that time if they did.
Money they have, cheap ( volunteer) manpower too.
A bit further away parts of the buried settlement is crumbling down.
One thing I would love for them to find is the burial ground. Examining the remains would help in understanding the village.
It has been suggested to have been a religious centre, and so on.
A bit further away parts of the buried settlement is crumbling down.
One thing I would love for them to find is the burial ground. Examining the remains would help in understanding the village.
It has been suggested to have been a religious centre, and so on.
I visit Orkney every year.
They have geophysed the area and there does not seem that much more to dig ... compared to the Ness of Brodgar, the Cairns on South Ronaldsay, the potential of some remains that are now underwater on Mainland, the Bronze age site exposed on one of the beaches on one of the other islands, the Links on Westray etc etc etc ... too many good sites and not enough qualified archaeologists to manage (the new railway links are soaking up all the qualified folk to rescue dig anything that is in the way of the new lines) ... and a lack of cash...
They have geophysed the area and there does not seem that much more to dig ... compared to the Ness of Brodgar, the Cairns on South Ronaldsay, the potential of some remains that are now underwater on Mainland, the Bronze age site exposed on one of the beaches on one of the other islands, the Links on Westray etc etc etc ... too many good sites and not enough qualified archaeologists to manage (the new railway links are soaking up all the qualified folk to rescue dig anything that is in the way of the new lines) ... and a lack of cash...
Agreed - nobody gets rich in archaeology, and its sites that are about to be trashed that normally get done first, in part because the people about to build on them have to pay for any digging. Its the post excavation work that really costs BTW.
Same in Sweden too. I wanted to study Archeology, but the job prospects were non existent, and wages low, so I studied something else. Have done studies in History and Archeology in my free time since.
Thank the Gods for Open Universities!
I am a strong believer that to understand the present we need to try to understand the past.
Our laws were changed in 1990, and presumption in favour of preservation in situ became reality. Basically this shifted the onus of the costs of excavation, and it's concomitant post excavation work, onto the developers and away from the Goverment.
They privatised our cultural heritage.
PPG16, and in it's latest 2012 incarnation are the relevant documents. (Scotland 2009, though there might be a later one there)
https://content.historicengland.org...t-monitoring-text-only-consultation-draft.pdf
http://www.gov.scot/Resource/Doc/283910/0086080.pdf
The largest employer of Archaeology graduates is a lawyers search company. They put together the information on sites for potential house purchasers and developers. They come well trained, archaeologists do a huge amount of research before even an origin post is put in the ground, let alone a trowel.
The UK is among the lowest funded in the Western world when it comes to government funding for our cultural heritage.
Old Bones has it spot on, nobody gets rich in Archaeology.
M
They privatised our cultural heritage.
PPG16, and in it's latest 2012 incarnation are the relevant documents. (Scotland 2009, though there might be a later one there)
https://content.historicengland.org...t-monitoring-text-only-consultation-draft.pdf
http://www.gov.scot/Resource/Doc/283910/0086080.pdf
The largest employer of Archaeology graduates is a lawyers search company. They put together the information on sites for potential house purchasers and developers. They come well trained, archaeologists do a huge amount of research before even an origin post is put in the ground, let alone a trowel.
The UK is among the lowest funded in the Western world when it comes to government funding for our cultural heritage.
Old Bones has it spot on, nobody gets rich in Archaeology.
M
Unfortunately ( fortunately in other aspects ) I live on Grand Cayman just south of Cuba and they do not do Archeology here at our local uni.
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