Category: Archaeology
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Pictish Symbol Stones
The National Museum of Scotland has a wonderful collection of Pictish symbol stones; monumental stelae carved by the Pictish inhabitants of Scotland during the 6th-9th centuries.
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The Ballachulish Figure, an Iron Age Sculpture
The mysterious Ballachulish figure is a roughly life-sized figure of a girl or goddess, carved from a single piece of alder, with pebbles for eyes. It was found in 1880, in Ballachulish, in Inverness-shire, Scotland and dates to the Iron Age, around 600 BC. The wooden sculpture was found in a bog overlooking the entrance to a…
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Palaeolithic Flint Hand Axe 400,000 BC
Palaeolithic hand axe found at Swanscombe in Kent. Dating to 400,000 BC this is one of the earliest hand tools found in Britain. This can be seen at Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery. Save Save
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Bronze Age Barrow Cemeteries of Ashen Hill and Priddy
The area of north east of the village of Priddy in Somerset contains an extensive Bronze Age ritual landscape containing several barrow cemeteries rivalling those seen in Wiltshire surrounding Stonehenge. It includes the recently partially-demolished Priddy Rings, the Ashen Hill Barrow Cemetery and Priddy Nine Barrows Cemetery. Ashen Hill Barrow Cemetery Ashen Hill Barrow Cemetery…
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The Wrestler of the Antikythera Shipwreck
In the National Archaeological Museum in Athens you can find a special gallery for the finds from the Antikythera shipwreck, a boat carrying luxury goods from around 75–50 BC which was wrecked in a storm off the coast of Greece. It contained many statues, vessels, coins and of course, the famous 2000-year-old computer I’ve previously…
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What The Shanidar Cave Burials Tell Us About Neanderthals
The term ‘Neanderthal’ has become synonymous with the type of behaviour associated with ‘sluggish’, ‘brutish’ cavemen, and the term has entered the English dictionary as also meaning ‘an uncivilised or uncouth man’. Indeed, one online dictionary gives their definition of Neanderthal as meaning ‘crude, boorish, or slow-witted person’ and Neanderthaloid as ‘ill-mannered and coarse and…
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An Ancient Computer: The Antikythera Mechanism
The highlight of a recent trip to Athens was a visit to the National Museum of Archaeology. The museum had a special gallery for the finds from the Antikythera shipwreck, a boat carrying luxury goods from around 75–50 BC which was wrecked in a storm. It was discovered in 1900 by sponge divers. The highlight…
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