Andy Burnham's Blog, page 215

Next Talks: Thurs 2nd Jan, 13th Feb, Surrey, 14th Mar nr Jodrell Bank, Cheshire

Following on from last week's full house at Wiltshire Museum, Andy B's next 'Old Stones' Talks are as follows: Thursday 2nd January - Staines, Surrey (just off the M25 J13); 13th Feb - Kingston-upon-Thames - actually Surbiton - South-West London, which is just 20 mins from Waterloo by train. Then on the 14th March Andy is heading up to give the Friends of The Blackden Trust annual lecture, near Jodrell Bank, Cheshire. This is his only trip north for the next few months so get it in your diary if you can get there.

Cairnholy 2 (Rock Art)

This is the sloping slab immediately (1m) to the west of the southern half of the main facade at Cairnholy 1 Chambered Cairn, Dumfries and Galloway. There is a cupmark with 5 partial rings, approx 18cm diameter, not easy to see in full light, easier with slanting torchlight. The Scottish Rock Art Project has given this the number 2 as it was previously unrecorded.

Museum of Prehistory and Archaeology of Cantabria

One of the most important museums concerning Franco-Cantabrian cave art, with many excellent artifacts found in Cantabrian caves. The exhibition is composed to reflect chronological changes to the regional culture, covering a timeline from the Upper Palaeolithic to eventual latinization of Cantabria.

Hill of Heddle

A team of Orkney archaeologists have discovered an amazing series of half-metre tall stone-carved objects while completing exploratory archaeological excavations connected with an electrical substation. In total, nine carved stones have been unearthed in the remains of a structure, and they look remarkably anthropomorphic, or human-like. More details and photos on our page

Klemstrup Runddysse 1

There are two sites here right by the site of the road, one each side.. Burial Chamber in Randers, Denmark with 28 curbstones and a chamber with five uprights.

Boncuklu Tarla

According to dating done by Turkey's Mardin Artuklu University, this is the oldest known temple in the world, older than Göbekli tepe. Ancient Temple in Mardin Province, Turkey. It was was discovered in 2008 during a survey, and the first excavation was in 2012. See the comments on our page for more details.

Menhir de Kerscaven 2

There are two menhirs at Kerscaven near Penmarc'h, the menhir de la Vierge, and the menhir de l’évêque (the virgin and the bishop). This is a huge menhir found off the Rue de Menhir and located at the bottom of somebodies garden, it is estimated to weigh around 50 or more tonnes. It is possible that these stones are the remains of a once huge area of alignements, perhaps consisting of 4 or more rows.

Wind Wolves Preserve

A highly complex set of polychrome pictographs in the rock shelters and alcoves of Main Cave in Kern County, California.. Attributed to the Emigdiano Chumash people, Pleito has been called the "finest example of prehistoric rock art in the United States" and are known for many colour variants of red, black, white, cream, yellow, orange, green, and blue, with different images superimposed over each other.

Los Bermejales 7

What is now known as Dólmen de los Bermejales is actually grave number 7 of the Necrópolis Megalítica del Pantano de los Bermejales (Megalithic Necropolis of the Bermejales Swamp). See the nearby sites list for details of some of the other nearby dolmens. It is located a few metres from the road, GR-4302 in Andalucía, surrounded by pine trees. It is 9.45 m long, 2 m wide and 1.80 m high. It has two doors that separate the gallery into three sections. The dolmen was surrounded by a circle of stones, 20 m in diameter, covered with a mound of earth.

Crookbarrow Hill

BBC Radio 4 Open Country visit Crookbarrow Hill - it's Scheduled but is it a barrow, or what?. Archaeologists disagree as to whether this tump in Worcestershire is natural or artificial - perhaps a massive burial mound. What is certain, however, is that it has been a focus of attention for thousands of years. The site has never been excavated, but prehistoric flints and Roman coins have been found. As you can see from this photo with the farm near the tump, it is very big.