Category Archives: Hunter-gatherer-fisher

Anything hunter-gatherer.

Mesolithic Sites and Finds Update | East Islay Mesolithic Project

Posted on by
Reply

◊ Dear Microburins,

The UK Mesolithic Sites & Finds page has been updated with:

  • East Islay Mesolithic Project | Storakaig and Rubha Port an t-Seilich Archaeological evaluation of new Mesolithic sites on Islay, western Scotland by Steven Mithen and Karen Wicks (Website and video).

MesArrow_WillLord_YoutubeThe Mesolithic Videos page also now includes a new Youtube video:

  • Mesolithic Arrow | Will Lord | 27-Sep-2015 Youtube (15min)
    Watch master flint knapper and tool-maker Will Lord create a fletched Mesolithic arrowhead.

If you have other suggestions to add, with a webpage or press/media link, please get in touch.

♦ Spence

Archaeology Podcasts | Mesolithic Journeys with Schools Prehistory

Posted on by
1

…and not just for kids!

WolfBrotherKim Biddulph, director of Schools Prehistory, has launched a series of podcasts where she invites archaeologists and experts in teaching prehistory to review books about the Mesolithic period.

Matt Ritchie, Forestry Commission Scotland’s archaeologist, Donald Henson, studying for a PhD in Public Perceptions of the Mesolithic at York University, and James Dilley of Ancient Craft and about to embark on a PhD as well, chat about the wondrous period of hunter-gatherers, wildwoods, and magic in the forest, as evocatively portrayed in Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver, published in 2005 by Orion Books.

GatheringNightKim, yer own Microburin, together with Caroline Wickham-Jones (University of Aberdeen) will be exploring Margaret Elphinstone’s incredibly well-researched novel The Gathering Night (2009, Canongate) later in October, as well as pondering Doggerland, cold snaps, tsunamis… and a lost son.

♦ Spence

Skulls, Shamans and Sacrifice in Stone Age Britain | Mesolithic video

Posted on by
Reply

Mesolithic videos update

Having had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see an antler ‘headress’ in situ in the 2015 excavation season at Star Carr earlier this year (plus shed loads of flint, wood, antler and bone), here’s a short video from the dig team.

◊ Skulls, Shamans and Sacrifice in Stone Age Britain | Digging Diaries | 13-Jul-2015 Youtube (2min)

The Mesolithic settlement of Star Carr in North Yorkshire has fascinated archaeologists for decades. Nicky Milner and her digging team from York University are embarking on their final ever excavation on site to unlock the secrets of this mysterious landscape. They’ve been filming every moment of discovery to give us a glimpse into our ancient past.

Image | Prof Nicky Milner & Son at Flixton Island, 2014 (Microburin)

♦ Spence

UK Mesolithic Sites and Finds Update | Cairngorms, Scotland

Posted on by
Reply

Cairngorm_2015-07Mar Lodge Estate, Cairngorm mountains, Aberdeenshire | 2015 excavations by The National Trust for Scotland and archaeologists and environmental scientists from the University of Aberdeen, University of Stirling and University College Dublin with earlier than expected 14C radiocarbon dates | BBC News item 09-Jul-2015

Image | BBC Website.

Irish Mesolithic Cemetery | Hermitage, Co. Limerick

Posted on by
Reply

funeral-pyre◊ Dear Microburins,

This is to highlight an excellent short article about Mesolithic period cremation burials at Hermitage on the River Shannon. The article is on the Irish Archaeology website/blog and was published in March 2013.

“The three cremations at Hermitage are extremely significant and represent an important addition to the very small corpus of Mesolithic burials from Ireland. Not alone are they the oldest burials from the country but they also demonstrate that our earliest hunter-gather ancestors practiced a relatively sophisticated means of disposing of their dead.”

♦ Spence

Feel the heat | It’s a cremated Mesolithic colleague

Posted on by
Reply

◊ Dear Microburins,

OA_Some_cremated_remains_by_typeExciting news reported on social media today. Despite a few questionable media-focused soundbites, Oxford Archaeology have reported something important. Expected to be Bronze Age, cremated (or at least burnt) human bones – a proportion of an entire body – have been AMS-dated to around 5600 cal BC on a developer-led commercial excavation at Langford, Essex. With so few related finds in the UK and Ireland, and even our Doggerland neighbours on the other side of the North Sea basin, generalisations are still as risky, as are any specific conclusions drawn. However, whether or not we are looking in the right places for the deceased, this adds to the record in a valuable way. I suspect the true value will still take us Mesolithic archaeologists many generations to fathom, but good work!

♦ Spence

Image courtesy of © Oxford Archaeology.