Iron Age settlement unearthed in Kent

The remains of an Iron Age settlement have been unearthed by archaeologists working along the route of a new £1.3m water pipeline in Kent (England). Evidence of a dwelling, postholes, pits, ancient hearths and pieces of pottery were found on land in Pembury. The archaeologists, who were employed by South East Water to survey the route, will now record and preserve the finds.
     Tim Allen, from Kent Archaeological Projects, said: "We have found evidence of postholes, pits and ditches, probably part of an Iron Age dwelling, along with pieces of pottery that we can date to the late Iron Age. It is likely that the Iron Age remains are associated with a prehistoric roundhouse that would have been approximately eight metres in diameter, with timber supports and with walls and roof made with wattle and daub."
     Paul Clifford, engineering manager at South East Water, said: "On large schemes such as this we take the extra precaution of having archaeologists working alongside our contractors to ensure that if we do find anything of historical significance, then we can halt work for further investigations. That ensures we can continue to protect and record our ancient heritage."

Source: BBC News (30 January 2010)

  Great deal of Bronze Age findings in Syria

Chairman of the Ruins Excavation Section in Aleppo Ruins and Museums Department Youssef Kanjo reported that the Syrian-Japanese joint expedition working in Didarieh Cave, northern Aleppo (Syria), unearthed lots of stony tools dating back to the Yabroudi civilization. He added that excavation works included the part returned to the Musterian Civilization, as hundreds of flint and bony tools were used by the Neanderthal Man, to whom the Musterian Civilization belongs.
     Kanjo added that the Syrian-Polish expedition working in Tel al-Qaramil, north Aleppo, discovered a circular bridge and number of circular adjoining houses and tombs dating back to the Bronze Age. The Syrian-Dutch and American expedition finished its works in Emar Palace, East Aleppo. The expedition restored a part of Bell Temple, dating back to the late Bronze Age, using the same material which the Temple was built from. The French expedition continues its works in Gha'da Cave site in Manbij to unearth the most oldest mud painting in the world, which was discovered during the previous excavation seasons. The works include the area surrounding the painting in order to understand it.
     For his part Director of Aleppo Ruins and Museums Department Nadeen Fakish said that the discoveries of the Spanish expedition working in Tel al-Amarinaa in Jarabluse area are dating back to the Bronze Age. The expedition discovered a factory for manufacturing wine. The Syrian-Danish expedition conducted some surveys at Hulwanji castle on Saghour River. The surveys showed that the castle, which is dating back to the medium Bronze Age, was built of adobes and still existed on 3 meters height. The Belgian expedition continued its excavation works in Tel Ahmar, unearthing a pyramidal archaeological tomb dating back to medium Bronze Age (2000 BCE).
     The archaeological sites in Aleppo governorate are a main attractive factor for the national and foreign joint excavation expeditions and contribute to highlighting the various civilizations in the city through the ages. (ANA)

Source: Global Arab Network (30 January 2010)

  A thousand new sites discovered off the British coast

Nearly a thousand new archeological sites have been discovered off the North East British coast as part of an English Heritage-funded project. The survey was conducted by EH archaeologists along with help from Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and it has been done to help researchers understand the history of the coastline and damages it may face. Uncovered during the project were a number of Iron Age multivallate forts and hillforts. At Howick Hill, these are still used as earthworks.
     David MacLeod, senior investigator with English Heritage's Aerial Survey Team, said: "Often, it's only by looking at a site from the air that you start to understand its size and structure. Historic sites along the coast are vulnerable to the effects of both natural coastal change and human activities." Although erosion has actually helped to reveal a number of nationally important sites along the North East coast, such as Bronze Age burial mounds at Low Hauxley in Northumberland, too often it poses a threat.  "This project will help us understand not just the history of our coastline, but also the dangers it faces now and in the future."
     Dr Clive Waddington, from Archaeological Research Services, who carried out the survey, said: "We've always known that the North East coastline is rich in archaeological sites. However, we were really surprised not just at the number of new sites we found, but also the range and diversity. This survey has given us evidence for human activity in the region from prehistoric times right through to the modern day and helped us build up a much better picture of what activities have taken place along our coast over the last 10,000 years."
     By 2010, the survey aims to have produced the most detailed picture yet of the threat posed to the nation's heritage by rising sea-levels, coastal erosion and managed realignment of the coast. The results will allow decisions to be made about the best way to manage the coastline to preserve historical sites or, where nothing can be done, to ensure that they are recorded and understood before erosion takes its toll.
     As part of the project, Dr Waddington's team is now working with experts at Durham University to feed the results into a computer-generated map. This will also be used as a predictive tool, for example to identify which sites could be under threat if there were a rise in sea levels.  For further information on the Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Surveys, visit www.english-heritage.org.uk.

Source: Northumberland Gazette (29 January 2010)

  Skeleton of western man found in ancient Mongolian tomb

DNA extracted from a gentleman whose skeleton lay in one of more than 200 tombs recently excavated at a 2,000-year-old cemetery in western Mongolia pegs him as a descendant of Europeans or western Asians. Yet he still assumed a prominent position in ancient Mongolia's Xiongnu Empire, say geneticist Kyung-Yong Kim of Chung-Ang University in Seoul, South Korea, and his colleagues.
     On the basis of previous excavations and descriptions in ancient Chinese texts, researchers suspect that the Xiongnu Empire - which ruled a vast territory in and around Mongolia from 209 BCE to 93 CE - included ethnically and linguistically diverse nomadic tribes. The Xiongnu Empire once ruled the major trading route known as the Asian Silk Road, opening it to both Western and Chinese influences. Researchers have yet to pin down the language spoken by Xiongnu rulers and political elites, says archaeologist David Anthony of Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y. But the new genetic evidence shows that the 2,000-year-old man "was multi-ethnic, like the Xiongnu polity itself," Anthony remarks.
     This long-dead individual possessed a set of genetic mutations on his Y chromosome, which is inherited from paternal ancestors, that commonly appears today among male speakers of Indo-European languages in eastern Europe, central Asia and northern India, Kim's team reports. The same man displayed a pattern of mitochondrial DNA mutations, inherited from maternal ancestors, characteristic of speakers of modern Indo-European languages in central Asia, the researchers say. "We don't know if this 60- to 70-year-old man reached Mongolia on his own or if his family had already lived there for many generations," says study coauthor Charles Brenner, a DNA analyst based in Oakland, Calif. Two other skeletons from the Xiongnu cemetery in Duurlig Nars show genetic links to people who live in northeastern Asia, according to Kim's team.
     The Duurlig Nars man's genetic signature supports the idea that Indo-European migrations to northeastern Asia started before 2,000 years ago. This notion is plausible, but not confirmed, says geneticist Peter Underhill of Stanford University. Further investigations of Y chromosome mutation frequencies in modern populations will allow for a more precise tracing of the Duurlig Nars man's geographic roots, Underhill predicts.
     Scholars have long sought to trace the origin and spread of related languages now found in Europe, India and other parts of Asia. One hypothesis holds that Indo-European languages proliferated via several waves of expansion and conquest by nomads known as Kurgans who had domesticated horses and thus could travel long distances. In this scenario, Kurgans left a homeland north of the Black Sea, in what's now Russia, around 6,400 years ago.
     Another view holds that farmers from ancient Turkey spread Indo-European tongues as they swallowed up one parcel of land after another, beginning around 9,000 years ago. Since 1978, discoveries of 2,400- to 4,000-year-old mummified corpses with European features in northwestern China, not far from Mongolia, have fueled the Kurgan hypothesis. Add to those discoveries a report by geneticist Christine Keyser of the University of Strasbourg in France and her colleagues: they found that nine of 26 skeletons previously excavated at 11 Kurgan sites in northeastern Russia possess a Y chromosome mutation pattern thought to mark the eastward expansion of early Indo-Europeans. That same genetic signature characterizes the Duurlig Nars man.
     Kim's group plans to extract and study DNA from additional Duurlig Nars skeletons. For now, Anthony remarks, "this new study from Mongolia is important because it adds one more point of light to a largely dark prehistoric sky."

Source: ScienceNews (29 January 2010)

  Prehistoric archaeological project in Dorset gets lottery grant

An archaeological scheme to investigate an area of Blandford in Dorset (England) where ancient settlements have been found has been given £23,100 of lottery cash.
In 2008 a dig was carried out on the site earmarked for the new Milldown Primary School in the town. It found evidence that the site was lived on between the end of the Stone Age and beginning of the Bronze Age, between 5,000 and 4,000 years ago. During the excavation a large number of flint tools and indications of pits and ditches were discovered. The money will pay for further research into signs of settlements in the area.

Source: BBC News (28 January 2010)

  Last Neanderthals in Europe died out 37,000 years ago

A new paper, by Professor João Zilhão and colleagues, builds on his earlier research which proposed that, south of the Cantabro-Pyrenean mountain chain (Spain), Neanderthals survived for several millennia after being replaced or assimilated by anatomically modern humans everywhere else in Europe.
     Although the reality of this 'Ebro Frontier' pattern has gained wide acceptance since it was first proposed by Professor Zilhão some twenty years ago, two important aspects of the model have remained the object of unresolved controversy: the exact duration of the frontier; and the causes underlying the eventual disappearance of those refugial Neanderthal populations.
     Professor Zilhão and colleagues now report new dating evidence for the Late Aurignacian of Portugal, an archaeological culture unquestionably associated with modern humans, that firmly constrains the age of the last Neanderthals of southern and western Iberia to no younger than some 37,000 years ago. This new evidence therefore puts at five millennia the duration of the Iberian Neanderthal refugium, and counters speculations that Neanderthal populations could have remained in the Gibraltar area until 28,000 years ago.
     These findings have important implications for the understanding of the archaic features found in the anatomy of a 30,000 year old child unearthed at Lagar Velho, Portugal. With the last of the Iberian Neanderthals dating to many millennia before the child was born, 'freak' crossbreeding between immediate ancestors drawn from distinct 'modern' and 'Neanderthal' gene pools cannot be a viable explanation. The skeleton's archaic features must therefore represent evolutionarily significant admixture at the time of contact, as suggested by the team who excavated and studied the fossil.
     Professor Zilhão said: "I believe the 'Ebro frontier' pattern was generated by both climatic and demographic factors, as it coincides with a period of globally milder climate during which oak and pine woodlands expanded significantly along the west façade of Iberia. Population decrease and a break-up of interaction networks probably occurred as a result of the expansion of such tree-covered landscapes, favouring the creation and persistence of population refugia. Then, as environments opened up again for large herbivore herds and their hunters as a result of the return to colder conditions, interaction and movement across the previous boundary must have ensued, and the last of the Neanderthals underwent the same processes of assimilation or replacement that underpin their demise elsewhere in Europe five millennia earlier."
     The dating was undertaken by experts at the University of Vienna led by Professor Eva Maria Wild, and at the University of Oxford's Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit. Professor Wild, head of the 14C program at VERA (Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator) said: "Accurate 14C dating was crucial for this study. For layer 2 of the cave sediment we achieved this by selecting teeth for 14C dating and by comparing the 14C results of the same sample after different, elaborate sample pre-treatments. Agreement between the results obtained with different methods provides a proof for accurate dating."

Source: ScienceDaily (27 January 2010)

  Amputation is evidence of medical knowledge in the Neolithic

Scientists unearthed evidence of surgery carried out in ancient times during work on an Early Neolithic tomb discovered at Buthiers-Boulancourt, about 65km south of Paris (France). They found that a remarkable degree of medical knowledge had been used to remove the left forearm of an elderly man about 6,900 years ago. The patient seems to have been anaesthetised, the conditions were aseptic, the cut was clean and the wound was treated, according to the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap).
     The revelation could force a reassessment of the history of surgery, especially because researchers have recently reported signs of two other Neolithic amputations in Germany and the Czech Republic. It was known that Stone Age doctors performed trephinations, cutting through the skull, but not amputations. "The first European farmers were therefore capable of quite sophisticated surgical acts," Inrap said.
     The discovery was made by Cécile Buquet-Marcon and Anaick Samzun, both archaeologists, and Philippe Charlier, a forensic scientist. It followed research on the tomb of an elderly man who lived in the Linearbandkeramik period, when European hunter-gatherers settled down to agriculture, stock-breeding and pottery. The patient was important: his grave was 2m long - bigger than most - and contained a schist axe, a flint pick and the remains of a young animal, which are evidence of high status. The most intriguing aspect, however, was the absence of forearm and hand bones. A battery of biological, radiological and other tests showed that the humerus bone had been cut above the trochlea indent at the end 'in an intentional and successful amputation'.
     Mrs Buquet-Marcon said that the patient, who is likely to have been a warrior, might have damaged his arm in a fall, animal attack or battle. "I don't think you could say that those who carried out the operation were doctors in the modern sense that they did only that, but they obviously had medical knowledge," she said.
     A flintstone almost certainly served as a scalpel. Mrs Buquet-Marcon said that pain-killing plants were likely to have been used, perhaps the hallucinogenic Datura. "We don't know for sure, but they would have had to find some way of keeping him still during the operation," she said. Other plants, possibly sage, were probably used to clean the wound. "The macroscopic examination has not revealed any infection in contact with this amputation, suggesting that it was conducted in relatively aseptic conditions," said the scientists in an article for the journal Antiquity.
     The patient survived the operation and, although he suffered from osteoarthritis, he lived for months, perhaps years, afterwards, tests revealed. Despite the loss of his forearm, the contents of his grave showed that he remained part of the community. "His disability did not exclude him from the group," the researchers said. The discovery demonstrates that advanced medical knowledge and complex social rules were present in Europe in about 4900 BCE, and that major surgery was likely to have been more common than we realised, Mrs Buquet-Marcon said.

Sources: Times Online, Telegraph.co.uk (25 January 2010), Daily Mail (26 January 2010)

  5th Megalithomania Conference

The 5th Megalithomania conference is planned at Glastonbury (Somerset, England) next May 8th and 9th, 2010. Among the speakers, Aubrey Burl will give a glimpse into his new research on stone circles; Robert Bauval will be discussing his breakthrough discoveries about the origins of Egypt, and Andrew Collins will be revealing the cave and tunnel systems beneath Giza he recently discovered. Staying on that continent, Michael Tellinger will be opening up a lost megalithic civilization from Great Zimbabwe that is arguably the oldest city-state on the planet; and Antoine Gigal has rediscovered pyramids on Mauritius, as well as in Sicily and Tenerife. Back to Albion, Anthony Thorley will be discussing the subject of his Phd, Landscape Zodiacs in Britain, and Francine Blake will be comparing ancient rock carvings to modern crop circle symbolism.
     A concert for Saturday night (8th May) is planned at the conference venue and details of that will be announced soon. There will also be another Megalithic art gallery and a full day seminar with Michael Tellinger detailing his  discoveries in South Africa, plus three days of tours to sacred sites.
     The organizers of the conference inform that a few discounted tickets are still available. Tickets are £70 (then £82) for the first 50 sold, so please call 01458 831800 or check www.megalithomania.co.uk to reserve your seat.
     
Source: Megalithomania (January 2010)

  Evening walks at Stonehenge

Next June 2010, David Dawson (Director of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society) will lead a series of 1-hour long tours within the stones at Stonehenge, providing an opportunity to see the the main features of the circle and learn about the cycle of its construction and rebuilding.
     It will be allowed to inspect and photograph (for non-commercial purposes only) the stones closely, and see the inscriptions, including the famous 'daggers' believed to date from prehistoric times and wander at will inside the circle.
     There will be three visits. The first two afford an opportunity to observe the evening sunset: 10 June - 8.45pm to 9.45pm and 14 June - 8.45pm to 9.45pm. The third evening is slightly earlier: 9 July - 7.30pm to 8.30pm. Meet at Stonehenge car park 5 minutes before booked time.
     Last year's event was extremely popular so prior booking is essential. Cost:   £18 (£11 Children). Reduced rates for NT/EH members (£15.50/£10). You can contact the Bookings Secretary on 01380 727369, or send an email message to wanhs@wiltshireheritage.org.uk

Source: Wiltshire Heritage Museum (January 2010)

  Zimbabwe's prehistoric paintings are a celebration of life

Inanke cave is one of hundreds painted by the San people (commonly called Bushmen) about 5,000 to 10,000 years ago and located in what is now Matobo National Park (Zimbabwe). Unlike the dark, underground caves of Lascaux or Altamira in Europe, those in Matobo are located high up granite slopes in shelves scooped from the sides of the hills. They are shelters filled with light and open to surrounding vistas. Beneath Inanke's encompassing dome, herds of giraffe, eland, kudu, ostrich and duiker, among others, fill a broad painted band running the length of the back wall just above eye level. They offer a celebration of life equal to any of the mural cycles of the Renaissance.
     Generally rendered in silhouettes of ochre ranging from tan to mulberry in tone, this dense profusion of wildlife includes a giraffe so subtly modeled in yellow and white that one of the leading experts on African rock art, Peter Garlake, has called it the finest animal painting in the country. Next to this vivid creature, seven stick-figure men march in file with weapons on their shoulders, and many other human figures are scattered among the animals. But these are far from simple hunting scenes. A succession of highly unrealistic forms dominate the middle of the frieze and several peripheral areas. One figure towers over the menagerie, an extremely attenuated personage with the body of a man whose head is shrunk to a tiny knob and whose shoulders sprout branchlike stems.
     Unlike the images in European caves, whose cultures are lost, these can be interpreted with considerable clarity because of the pioneering work of 19th-century linguists who learned the 'click' language of the San and recorded beliefs that seem to have endured for millennia. This evidence has enabled archaeologists to unlock the significance of the many fantastic images in the San paintings. The hunched giant of Inanke almost certainly represents a San shaman deep in the state of 'trancing,' a ritual still practiced by the San as a means of gathering the forces of nature and healing suffering.
     Fundamental to San beliefs is the concept of 'potency,' a measure of spiritual essence that is represented in the paintings by the stippled ovals from which the giant rises. While possibly related to beehives prized by the San, these intricately crafted shapes are largely abstract evocations of spiritual forces unifying all of nature.
     The dense, overlapping paintings of Inanke probably accumulated over centuries, if not millennia, and do not constitute a continuous narrative in the sense of Western art; yet their very longevity and diversity make them especially compelling expressions of San cosmology. In 2003, Unesco's World Heritage Program named Matobo Hills one of two 'cultural landscapes' in southern Africa, although this recognition now includes no financial support for conservation. Despite the professionalism of Matobo's rangers, the political and economic instability in Zimbabwe places the paintings in peril. The unrestricted access that is so desirable for admirers leaves the works exposed to defacement by vandals unaware or dismissive of their place in our collective history.

Source: The Wall Street Journal (23 January 2010)

  Prehistoric burial customs uncovered in Laos

The discovery of Iron Age human bone fragments in Laos has shed new light on the region's prehistoric burial customs. A team of Lao and foreign archeologists found the fragments last week in a burial ground believed to be about 2,000 years old when South-East Asia was in the Iron Age. The discovery was made during a dig known as the Middle Mekong Archaeological Project, which is a joint effort between Laos' Department of Heritage and the University of Pennsylvania Museum (USA).
     "Last week, we unexpectedly found two skulls and a fragment of a third, a baby, along with some body bones," said Joyce White, associate curator at the University of Pennsylvania Museum. "It is quite a significant discovery of Lao archaeology." Also among the items found was a burial pot containing human bones, which was the first such example of a secondary burial, or the custom of dismembering a corpse and removing all flesh so the bones could be placed in a container. Although the practice was common in neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam, this was the first evidence of a secondary burial in what is now Laos.

Source: Earth Times (22 January 2010)

  Motorway bypass would run close to Newgrange

The ancient Brú na Bóinne site around Newgrange may lose its World Heritage status if the proposed M2 motorway goes ahead, it was claimed. The National Monuments Forum warned if changes are not made to the new motorway plans, the area near the Boyne in Co Meath (Ireland) is likely to lose recognition from the UNESCO.
     The proposed bypass will be 500m away from the buffer-zone around the World Heritage Site at Brú na Bóinne, which comprises the ancient megalithic tombs at Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth. The Environmental Impact Statement for the project acknowledges that 44 archaeological sites will be within 500m of the roadway and that the potential to uncover much more during work is high. While there will be a visual impact from the river, the Environmental Impact Statement says there will be negligible impact on the site.
     Dr George Eogan, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at University College Dublin (UCD), said the new motorway is too close to the monuments and will have a considerable impact on the surrounding landscape. "Five hundred metres is simply too close, and it is conceivable that Newgrange could lose its World Heritage Status," he said. The site can be saved if Environment Minister John Gormley fast-tracks the new National Monuments Bill 2009 according to the National Monuments Forum.
     Vincent Salafia, National Monuments Forum spokesman, claimed the minister created unnecessary delays which place Ireland's heritage at risk. "We urge Minister Gormley to deliver this long overdue legislation and to ensure it is strong enough to protect Newgrange from this outlandish proposal," Mr Salafia said.
     Brian Taylor, spokesman for An Taisce in Meath and a resident of Slane said: "I'd be very reluctant about anything that might hold up that road. It has been several years in the offing and it has gone through numerous public presentations and the route chosen appears to be the least offensive [one]." A spokesman for the NRA said, "we have selected a route with the least impact. It is 1.5 kilometres from the core of the Brú na Bóinne and around that centre core is a buffer zone; this route is 500 metres from the perimeter of that buffer zone." The next stage is for An Bord Pleanála to decide whether to hold an oral hearing into any objections or submissions on the proposed route.

Sources: RTE News (21 January 2010), The Irish Times, Irish Examiner (22 January 2010)

  Stonehenge visitor centre finally approved

In the latest chapter in the 20 year-long saga surrounding the English Heritage-backed project, Wiltshire County Council approved the practice's £20 million proposals for the Airman's Corner site 2.5km west of Stonehenge. Plans for the closure of the A344 adjacent to the stones will now be submitted for approval.
     English Heritage has welcomed the recent decision by Wiltshire Council's planning committee to approve plans for a new visitor centre for Stonehenge. Loraine Knowles, Stonehenge project director for English Heritage, said: "This is an important step in returning Stonehenge to a more dignified setting and creating facilities more fitting for a world-renowned tourist attraction. We can now begin to look forward to providing a much improved, high quality experience for visitors at an environmentally sensitive development."
     With planning permission in place for the visitor centre, plans for the closure of the A344 adjacent to the Stones will now be put forward for approval. At the same time, Wiltshire Council will be consulting on proposals to restrict motorised vehicles on the remaining part of the A344 and on nearby Byways.
     Following a lengthy consultation and extensive technical assessments, the Prime Minister announced on 13 May last year that Airman's Corner would be the location for new Stonehenge visitor facilities. Together with proposals for the closure of the A344, the scheme will enhance the monument's setting by removing the existing visitor facilities (including car parking) and improving the visitor experience with new exhibition and education facilities. A fully accessible transit system will run from the new visitor centre to a drop-off near the Stones.
     Airman's Corner is about 1.5 miles (2.5km) west from Stonehenge, on the junction of the A344 and A360. It is at the edge of the World Heritage Site and is easily accessible by road. The land is currently used for farming, with very few residents living close to the site.

Sources: Andover Advertiser, The Architects' Journal (21 January 2010)

  Iron Age adventures in England

Youngsters are preparing to be taken back to the Iron Age at an archaeology fun day this February half-term at the Ham Hill Country Park at Stoke-sub-Hamdon (South Somerset, England). The event, organised and run by South Somerset District Council's countryside rangers, will give children the opportunity to dig for artefacts, make their own coins, have their face painted as an Iron Age warrior and piece together Roman mosaics.
     Bookings are now being taken ahead of the event. A session for under-eights will take place between 10am and 12noon and an over-eight's session between 1.30pm and 3.30pm, both on Thursday, February 18. It is part of a series of events being held by the district council over the school holidays to provide educational, outdoor activities at the Green Flag country park with Heritage Lottery funding support. Sessions cost £4 per child and free for accompanying adults. Book now on 01935-845946.

Source: This is Western Country (21 January 2010)

  Iron Age treasure on display in Edinburgh

A hoard of Iron Age jewellery found by a treasure hunter in Stirlingshire (Scotland) has gone on display in Edinburgh. The four solid gold neck ornaments, or torcs, could be more than 2,000 years old. They were found in a field by safari park manager David Booth, who was using a metal detector for the first time. They are now owned by the Crown and have been placed on public view at the National Museum of Scotland for the next three weeks. Fraser Hunter, the museum's curator, said "These four gold torcs are very beautiful, very displayable objects. They have many stories to tell."
     Further excavations have been carried out in the field where the find was made. No further gold has been discovered but archaeologists have found a timber-frame building, and they believe the site could have been some kind of shrine. Mr Hunter said: "The torcs may have been an offering to an unknown god. This is not a normal domestic site."
     Meanwhile, the future of the gold has yet to be decided. It is currently under the care of the Treasure Trove Unit, which has lent it to the museum so the public can get an idea what the find is like. David Caldwell of the unit said, after the display the next step would be to have the items properly valued.
     The museum which is allocated the gold will then have to pay that amount for the collection. It is not clear yet how much the man who made the find will get. At the time of the discovery David Booth said he knew it was old, but did not recognise the importance of his find. Finders have no ownership rights and must report any objects to the Treasure Trove Unit, but they may receive a reward equal to the value.
     The gold will be on public view until 10 February.

Sources: BBC News, The Herald Scotland (20 January 2010)