Andy Burnham's Blog, page 134

Kyiv History Museum

The Kyiv museum staff who stayed to protect cherished artefacts. The National Museum of the History of Ukraine illustrates Ukraine's history from ancient times until today, with about 800 000 items in its collection and 22 000 exhibits on permanent display. A series of permanent exhibitions are in place, including:

Maumbury Rings

HengeFest 2022 at Maumbury Rings, Sun, 31st July all day. Excavations between 1908 and 1913 indicated this site's origin to be a Neolithic henge. There was a wide ditch inside the circular bank, with a series of tapering shafts about 3 metres apart (suggesting 45 in total). Excavation of eight of the shafts revealed that they were deliberately filled, some containing red deer skulls (or skull fragments) and carved chalk objects.

Oldbury Castle

Walk: Exploring Oldbury Hillfort and the Cherhill Downs, Sunday 31st July, details in the comment on our page. Hillfort in Wiltshire. Triangular with double banks and ditches enclosing 8 hectares. There is an inturned entrance to the east. Visitors often ignore the hillfort as they tend to be interested only in the 19th century obelisk and the White Horse which was cut in 1780.

Belfast (Ulster Museum)

Prehistoric Rock Art in Ireland Talk, Sat, 30th July, details in the comments on our page. A four-chambered tomb, originally from Ballintaggart in county Armagh, with a shallow forecourt of four orthostats with a good part of the cairn and kerb surviving has been erected on the far side of the Ulster Museum (just beyond the Queen’s University and overlooking the Botanic Gardens). Vintage slide photo from the 1980s.

Babylon Down Tumuli

Butts Brow excavation near Eastbourne with daily tours of the site at 11am until the 31st July. Barrow Cemetery and Neolithic Causewayed enclosure in East Sussex. Very little of the causewayed enclosure has been excavated so between 16th and 31st July 2022, a team of archaeologists are uncovering more of this rare monument using the latest scientific and technological techniques to tell the stories of people on the Downland, hidden for 5000 years. There are daily tours of the site at 11am until the 31st July.

Scorne Well

Buckinghamshire Council Archaeology Day, Sat, 30 July, including John Schorne's well here, which will hopefully be unlocked. Holy Well in Buckinghamshire. The well is about 150 yds. from the church (St. Mary's), down Schorne Lane past the Methodist chapel.

Stithians Cupmarked Stones

These cup-marked stones in Cornwall are currently visible again due to the dry weather.. Under Stithians Reservoir are ten ancient cup-marked Stones. At least 48 cupmarks are decorated into these stones making it one of the most exciting finds in the area. The cupmarked stones can only be seen when the water level of the reservoir has dropped very low. They were first rediscovered in 1984 due to a drought after very little rain had fallen that summer. Top photo: Kathryn Conder

West Woods (Hursley Bottom) Standing Stone

A standing stone close in West Woods, Wiltshire, this area being the likely source of the Stonehenge sarsen stones. Visited on a Festival of Archaeology walk with archaeologists Katy Whitaker and Lawrence Shaw from the Forestry Commission. We know this is a standing stone, as it’s not in its correct orientation - it should lie with the flat side at top and bobbly side underneath. Whether it’s prehistoric we don’t know. It could be a coup or marker stone from late medieval coppice management (iron smelting industry)

Doagh

This fine slab, situated on a rocky outcrop to the SE of Holestone Road, commands wide views. A circular, chamfered hole some 10 cms in diameter at groin height was made by boring from both sides of the slab, as is usual in such monuments.

The Heath (Laois)

The Heath near Portlaois (Co. Laois) is a huge Bronze Age burial site on a sandy glacial alluvial plain. There are 17 Barrows in total we think. Most are difficult to make out as they are covered in gorse and scrub or on the golf course. The Ring Barrow just up the road from the Primary School is particularly easy to spot as it has been cleared of gorse and looks great.