Our articles in this section deal with archaeology and archaeological sites from all over the world
A previously unrecorded solstitial sunset brightens up an evening on a Pennine moor. An archaeo-astronomical site described by John Billingsley (images) and David Shepherd (text) This composite feature was described some time ago (Shepherd 2007, 2014), the essential point being that the new, midwinter sun appeared to rise / be born from the vulvaic Miller’s […]
Catching the Sun on Midgley Moor Read More »
Continuing our editorial musings on modern antiquarian implications Last time, our alt-antiquarian found themself side by side with a psychogeographer, contemplating the landscape and its variant pasts, real and spectral. And, our psychogeographer will point out, some of those pasts we imagine today are well-managed, staged dramas for a populace weaned on screened stories. There
#4: The Ancient Spectacle Updated Read More »
F J Falding speaks to us from the 19th century about how antiquarianism embodies an over-arching and syncretic involvement with a local environment, an approach that is still valid in NE’s version of ‘neo-antiquarianism’ Not until I began to prepare this paper was I quite aware how difficult a task I had undertaken. Anyone who
Recent research on the role of caves in funerary ritual around prehistoric Britain is here summarised by Mike Haigh From the earliest times, caves have held a fascination for humans. During the Ice Ages, they were both a sheltered dwelling place and an arena for ritual. However, in spite of the art produced by our
Cave Ritual in the Peak Read More »
Mike Haigh draws our attention to a group of monuments in North Yorkshire A curious archaeological group stands half-hidden in the bracken on the edge of Great Ayton Moor in Cleveland. Unfortunately, it has been extensively damaged over the millennia, but enough has survived to allow a reasonable interpretation of the complex. At its centre
The Tailed Cairn of Great Ayton Read More »
Gabriel Blamires suggests Cumbria’s Kirk Stone is a key link in a route system to the peaks of the Langdale Pikes The Langdale Pikes, in the Lake District, were the site of a Neolithic axe factory whose products were prized all over Europe. Its remote location raises a number of questions, among which is how
King Arthur has made his mark on Britain’s landscape, and not surprisingly left his name on numerous ancient sites. Here, Dave Weldrake considers Arthur’s relationship with Round Tables and maidens… Arthurian place names A lot of time and effort has been spent on trying to site the battles of King Arthur. (See for instance Alcock
The Mystery of the Round Table Read More »
John Palmer introduces a sacred site in an unfamiliar territory to NE readers Perhaps the best-known ancient sacred site in Romania is the circular temple observatory and quadrangular sanctuary (one of seven, two of which are circular) of Sarmizegetusa Regia in Thrace – this was known in Roman times as Dacia, the ‘capital’ of Dacia
A Sacred Site in Romania Read More »
Hawaiian petroglyphs and the general cultural sanctification of stones in parts of Polynesia have not received a great deal of attention in British earth mysteries magazines, but Graeme Chappell’s report on the carvings he and Paul Bennett located in Northumberland
There is life in the stone and death in the stone…: Petroglyphs of Hawaii Read More »
Much press and public attention has attended discovery of an ancient site in Miami, Florida, dubbed with typical media disdain for fact as an American Stonehenge. Christine Rhone summarises the findings The Miami Circle was discovered in late 1998 through a routine investigation by urban archaeologists of a plot of land on the S shore