Archaeologists studying Neolithic and Early Bronze Age human remains in the Manx Museum collection for the ‘Round Mounds of the Isle of Man’ project have made an exciting discovery.
Kingswood Grove, Douglas, Isle of Man IM1 3LY, Reino Unido
Contained within a box of cremated bones excavated in 1947, osteologist Dr Michelle Gamble, discovered a collection of small bone objects that had not been noticed by the excavators. The bones had been buried almost 4000 years ago at Staarvey Farm in what is now German parish, Isle of Man.
The site was excavated by Basil Megaw (1913-2002) who was director of the Manx Museum (1945-1957). Mr Megaw had been contacted by the farmer who had hit a large stone during ploughing. Excavations revealed a stone-built cist (a box made out of stone slabs) containing fragments of burnt bone, two flint tools, and two Collared Urns (Bronze Age pots) buried upside-down. But it is only now that the bones have been studied in detail.
Dr Gamble said: “there was a large quantity of cremated bone from this site. The first step of the osteological analysis is to clean and sort the bones, so that we can determine the number of individuals present and any age or sex information. Within this burial, we have four skeletons, very fragmented and mixed together – 2 adults, one of which is a male, an adolescent, and an infant. The bone objects were burned as well and mixed in with the cremated human remains.”
Dr Chris Fowler, co-director of the Round Mounds of the Isle of Man project, said:
“I opened my email to find a photograph of an extremely rare Bronze Age object – a bone pommel from a bronze knife. This would have been fitted to the very end of the hilt. There are only about 40 surviving knife and dagger pommels of this period from the British Isles, and none have been found on the Isle of Man before – so I was very excited!
The size and shape suggest it was once attached to a small knife which archaeologists call a ‘knife-dagger’. Knife-daggers have been found buried with both males and females. Several other bone objects were found amongst the cremated bone. One is a burnt bone point or pin. A recent study of such objects found that few showed evidence of wear on the tip, suggesting that these were not tools, so it will be interesting to examine the end point of this example closely to see if there is evidence of use wear. It is perforated at the other end so may have been attached to clothing or a head covering. Some of the other objects may be burnt bone beads, and there are four enigmatic worked bone strips which we are still working to understand.
The objects may have been worn by one or more of the dead as they were placed on the funeral pyre, or may have been placed by the dead on the pyre by mourners. It is possible that there were multiple episodes of burial in the cist, but we do not know how many of the individuals were buried at the same time and with which objects or how many cremation events took place.
The burial itself is fairly unusual among contemporary burials we know of from across Britain and Ireland. It is rare to find cremated remains buried in both a Collared Urn and cist – it was typically one or the other. There are records of about 50 similar burials of cremated remains discovered in a cist and containing a Collared Urn across Ireland, Scotland, northern England, and particularly Wales, and we are comparing the Staarvey burial with these at the moment.”
Allison Fox, Curator: Archaeology, Manx National Heritage, said:
“The reassessment of finds from earlier excavations is always worthwhile. The finds can be the only parts of the original monuments that survive and although not every artefact was looked at in great detail at the time, they were catalogued and preserved. Modern scientific techniques can now give a lot more information about these finds, but so can the low-tech approach of a skilled pair of eyes examining the finds in detail.”
Round mounds are found through the British Isles and in Continental Europe. In the British Isles the earliest round mounds appeared in the Neolithic period, after c. 3800 BC. More were built periodically over the next 2500 years or so.
The current project aims to investigate what these sites and their associated burials, people and artefacts can tell us about life on the Isle of Man and interaction with other communities across Britain, Ireland and potentially beyond. It includes analysis of the landscape location of the mounds, geophysical survey at several sites, and re-analysis of both previously excavated remains and records of previously destroyed or excavated sites.
The project, which began in September, is directed by Dr Rachel Crellin (University of Leicester) and Dr Chris Fowler (Newcastle University) and has received funding and support from Culture Vannin and Manx National Heritage. Culture Vannin funded the examination of the human remains and are also supporting a series of workshops for school children that will be delivered by Michelle and Rachel in 2017 across the island.
fonte: @edisonmariotti #edisonmariotti
Cultura e conhecimento são ingredientes essenciais para a sociedade.
A cultura e o amor devem estar juntos.
Vamos compartilhar.
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O enterro da Idade do Bronze revela seu segredo de longa data.
Os arqueólogos que estudam o Neolítico e os primeiros restos humanos da Idade do Bronze na coleção do Museu Manx para o projeto "Montes Redondos da Ilha de Man" fizeram uma descoberta excitante.
Contido dentro de uma caixa de ossos cremados escavados em 1947, osteologista Dr. Michelle Gamble, descobriu uma coleção de pequenos objetos de osso que não tinha sido notado pelas escavadeiras. Os ossos foram enterrados há quase 4000 anos na fazenda Staarvey, na atual paróquia alemã, Ilha de Man.
O local foi escavado por Basil Megaw (1913-2002), que foi diretor do Museu Manx (1945-1957). O Sr. Megaw tinha sido contatado pelo fazendeiro que tinha batido uma pedra grande durante o arado. As escavações revelaram uma cist construída em pedra (uma caixa feita de lajes de pedra) contendo fragmentos de osso queimado, duas ferramentas de sílex e duas Urnas de Colar (vasos de Idade do Bronze) enterrados de cabeça para baixo. Mas é somente agora que os ossos foram estudados detalhadamente.
Dr. Gamble disse: "houve uma grande quantidade de osso cremado a partir deste site. O primeiro passo da análise osteológica é limpar e classificar os ossos, para que possamos determinar o número de indivíduos presentes e qualquer idade ou sexo informação. Dentro deste enterro, temos quatro esqueletos, muito fragmentados e misturados juntos - 2 adultos, um dos quais é um homem, um adolescente e um bebê. Os objetos dos ossos também foram queimados e misturados com os restos humanos cremados ".
Dr. Chris Fowler, co-diretor do Round Mounds do Isle of Man projeto, disse:
"Eu abri meu e-mail para encontrar uma fotografia de um objeto extremamente raro idade de bronze - um pomo de osso de uma faca de bronze. Isso teria sido ajustado para o final da empunhadura. Há apenas cerca de 40 pommels sobreviventes faca e punhal deste período das Ilhas Britânicas, e nenhum foi encontrado na Ilha de Man antes - então eu estava muito animado!
O tamanho ea forma sugerem que uma vez foi anexado a uma pequena faca que os arqueólogos chamam de "faca-punhal". Punhais de faca foram encontrados enterrados com machos e fêmeas. Vários outros objetos ósseos foram encontrados entre o osso cremado. Um deles é um ponto de osso queimado ou pino. Um estudo recente de tais objetos encontrou que poucos mostraram a evidência do desgaste na ponta, sugerindo que estes não eram ferramentas, assim que será interessante examinar o ponto final deste exemplo pròxima para ver se há a evidência do desgaste do uso. É perfurado na outra extremidade assim que pode ter sido unido à roupa ou a uma coberta da cabeça. Alguns dos outros objetos podem ser contas de osso queimadas, e há quatro tiras de osso enigmático trabalhado que ainda estamos trabalhando para entender.
Os objetos podem ter sido usados por um ou mais dos mortos como eles foram colocados na pira funerária, ou podem ter sido colocados pelos mortos na pira por choros. É possível que houvesse múltiplos episódios de enterro na cist, mas não sabemos quantos dos indivíduos foram enterrados ao mesmo tempo e com que objetos ou quantos eventos de cremação ocorreram.
O enterro em si é bastante incomum entre os enterros contemporâneos que sabemos de toda a Grã-Bretanha e Irlanda. É raro encontrar restos cremados enterrados em uma Urna Colarada e em uma cista - era tipicamente um ou outro. Há registros de cerca de 50 enterros semelhantes de restos cremados descobertos em uma cist e contendo uma Urna de Colar em toda a Irlanda, Escócia, norte da Inglaterra e particularmente o País de Gales, e estamos comparando o enterro de Staarvey com estes no momento ".
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