Andy Burnham's Blog, page 25

Carburrow propped stone

A huge stone (approx 3m x 1.5m x 1m) definitely propped by a boulder and a smaller stone. On the southern part of Bodmin moor.
There is sideways contact with a large adjacent stone that is itself propped.
The cavity underneath seems to be the result of manipulation and removals.
A stony bank runs straight up the hillside to the feature and then on to the burial cairn beyond. It is hard to conceive of a natural sequence of events that could have produced this arrangement.

Carlingwark Loch

There are 2 probable crannogs in the SW corner of Carlingwark Loch, on the S edge of Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway. "Two artificial islands were found when the loch was drained in 1765. At the same time two dugout canoes, a dam, to maintain the level of the water in the loch, and a planking floor were found." OSA 1794 (T Halliday). Fir Island, a natural island in the SW corner of Carlingwark Loch, is likely to be one of the fortified islands. Ash Island, an artificial island c. 55 yards N of Fir Island, is another likely candidate.

Aula Palatina (Basilica of Constantine)

A large Roman hall built around 300-310 AD during the reigns of the Roman Emperors Constantius Chlorus and Constantine the Great. It originally served as the audience hall of the imperial palace when Trier was an important administrative centre of the Western Roman Empire. Located in Trier (Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany).

Tamuli Pedras Marmuradas Baethyles

Six menhirs on Sardinia, of which three represent female figures with breasts, about 1.2 to 1.5 meters tall. Near to the Tamuli tombs and Nuraghe at 719 Meters altitude. See the Nearby sites list or interactive map from our page for more.

Hilltown Cross

"An irregulary executed and chipped latin cross with an incised cross on each face, the limbs of which appear to have originally extended to the edge of the stone." (Langdon) Located in Hilltown, St Neot, Cornwall. Each cross has a marked inclination to the right. It is similar to the Latin crosses preserved, along with other styles, in nearby St Neot churchyard.

Warham Camp

Free ebook: Archaeology for Wellbeing at Warham Camp follows the later prehistoric Norfolk Project wellbeing and artistic activities during excavations at Warham Camp in 2023, details in the comments. The camp is a circular earthwork with double banks. Probably built by the Iceni in the second century BC and occupied until the tribe was wiped out by the Romans after Boudicca's uprising. Unfortunately, the western end which contained the original entrance was destroyed when the river course was re-routed. The other entrances are all supposedly modern. Still, it's a fine, impressive place with high banks and a deep ditches.

Wetheral Woods Sharpening stone

This block of sandstone is located on the southern bank of the River Eden approximately 200m upsteam of another grinding stone discovered over a decade earlier. The stone has around 15 separate grooves, almost certainly made by the use of the stone for sharpening tools. It is highly likely that these tools would have been Neolithic axes and other tools quarried from the central Lake District fells between 4000 and 2000BC, however they could be more recent.

Twisleton Scar

This propped stone sits at an altitude of 370m, the slab measuring 40cms thick, 80cms wide and 110cms long. The slab is made of Great Scar Limestone. This slab is placed on a low knoll; its precise origin is not immediately clear, but the stone matches both the scar above and a lower limestone pavement. There are no other similar slabs in the vicinity. There is one prop - an irregular piece of limestone - which supports the slab, which is smaller than in other similar features; it is also trapped by the slab against the bedrock at an unnatural angle.

Roman Basilica at 85 Gracechurch Street

Details of London’s new Roman Basilica museum revealed in new planning application. A discovery underneath the basement of an office block near Leadenhall Market has been described as one of the most important pieces of Roman history unearthed in the city of London. Archaeologists have found a substantial piece of the ancient city's first basilica - a 2,000 year old public building where major political, economic and administrative decisions were made.

Qasr al-Hallabat

The remains of an Umayyad palace sitting on the site of an older Roman fort, built sometime in the 2nd or 3rd century CE. It was demolished in the 8th century by the Umayyads to repurpose the site as a more comfortable palace. Materials of the older Roman fort were integrated into the Umayyad palace. There are reused basalt blocks with Greek inscriptions in the walls of the Qasr.