◊ Dear Microburins,
The University of Reading today issued a press release on exciting Late Glacial finds and geo-archaeological evidence from Islay, Inner Hebrides, Scotland. Trial excavations in 2013 have, literally, just scratched the surface.
“The archaeologists are grateful to the game-keeper who came across the Mesolithic objects after the pigs, who were released on Islay to reduce bracken, unearthed them, and thankful to the resident who knew of the earlier work the Reading team had conducted on the island, and tipped the researchers off.
Several layers of volcanic ash were found at Rubha Port an t-Seilich coming from both above and below the stone artefacts. This has enabled the team to date them [Tephrochronology] at 12,000 years old, 3000 years older than any previous discovery on Islay.”
- University of Reading press release 09-Oct-15 »
- There’s a feature article in CBA’s British Archaeology magazine no. 145 Nov-Dec 2015
- Academic article in Journal of Quaternary Science | open access PDF download Jun-2015 »
- More news about UK sites, finds and projects »
All praise to the JQS for being open-access too!
♦ Spence
The 
Kim Biddulph, director of 
Kim, yer own Microburin, together with Caroline Wickham-Jones (University of Aberdeen) will be exploring Margaret Elphinstone’s incredibly well-researched novel 
Microburin—in the guise of 
This workshop will use select prehistoric teaching artefacts—and a gun flint!—in hands-on sessions to explore the importance of flint and chert in prehistoric northern Britain, and what kind of insights archaeologists can deduce. Using mock-up flint assemblages—with tools and debitage—participants will also learn how to approach the analysis and recording of lithics. Case studies from north-east England will show the kind of narratives that can then be constructed.
microburin 