Posted on 12/04/2003 2:55:09 AM PST by Pedantic_Lady
AN IRON AGE burial site, complete with a chariot, has been discovered during excavations for the route of the new A1 motorway.
The burial site, which was described as "rare and nationally significant", is in a field alongside a stretch of the A1, near South Milford, which is being transformed into a six-lane motorway.
It is thought to date back to between 370 and 520 BC.
Archaeologists say it is especially important because the chariot appears to have been placed in the burial pit intact. Most other British examples were dismantled prior to burial.
The chariot remains include two wheels, whose iron tyres have survived in relatively good condition.
A wooden axle, which would have run between the two wheels, along with the chariot's pole and yoke, have also been identified as soil stains, where the wood has completely decayed.
The archaeologists also uncovered a number of well-preserved bronze and iron objects, some of which are likely to be items of horse harness.
The skeleton of a man aged around 40 was found with the chariot.
The ditch of a small square enclosure around the burial site contained the bones of about 250 cattle. The cattle are thought to have come from a number of herds from a wide surrounding area, suggesting that the man buried with the chariot was a man of some standing and influence.
It is believed the bones were the remains of a huge feast, which took place not long after the burial.
Excavator Angela Boyle, who is supervising the dig for Oxford Archaeology, said: "This is one of the most significant Iron Age burials ever found in the UK.
"Its westerly location will shed new light on the influence of tribes, which we thought were only located in East Yorkshire.
"The finds have now been removed and are being conserved for future study and deposited with the local museum service."
Only 19 other chariot burials were known in the UK prior to the latest discovery.
All are in East Yorkshire around Wetwang, apart from one near Edinburgh.
LOL...come on, that's going a bit far. I just hope they have it on display in a museum by the time I go...if there's something positive I can say about England, it's that the laws in some parts of the country requiring proper excavations turn up the most amazing things. If anyone's ever in the north of England, the Jorvik museum in York is not to be missed. Neither are the bowels of the Minster, where you can see some of the original Roman and Norman foundations of the building. Very cool.
This all brings up the question:
Was the planet doomed when man discovered fire or later with the invention of the wheel?
Conclusion:
The only hope for the earth is if we all live in trees intead of burning them, and get our nourishment from uncooked bananas.
I agree....it's awesome. One of my husband's friends is an archaeologist and an entomologist. He can take a bucketful of dirt and tell you exactly what kind of insects were around. It's really amazing.
We'll have to check that out before we leave the country...right after we visit the Elgin Marbles before the Greeks get their hands on them again.
The later first-century BC intrusion of the continental tribes (Atrebates, Parisii, others) was far enough to the south as not to cloud the tribal picture overmuch, so I'm assuming relative continuity of occupation patterns into historical times.
(Translation: You know way more about this than I do. I bow to you, oh possessor of much knowledge of the ancient world!)
Portchester is one of a string of large fortresses built by the Romans during the third century A.D. on the south coast of England as part of a defensive system against the Saxons, who were already raiding from northern Germany -- so that the eastern portion of the English Channel Coast was called the "Saxon shore". These were special-purpose fortresses that were reused by Diocletian when he reorganized the Empire's defenses two generations later. I visited one of the Saxon Shore forts and found it had a Diocletianic small castle (proto-"keep", if you will) erected wholly within the older shore-fort perimeter. There are five or seven of these big Saxon Shore forts, IIRC. I visited at least two, maybe three of these forts back in 1989.
And PETA will complain that it's inhumane to harness a horse to a Iron Cart.
Please, no bowing -- we're all small-"r" republicans here. Only Democrats are into bowing and scraping.
LOL
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