Friday Archaeology Blogging
Grab bag o'Roman stuff edition.

A couple of recent developments in the world of Roman archaeology:

Roman settlement found next to 'devil's hill'
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor

Evidence of a Roman sacred site has been discovered at the foot of a man-made hill created thousands of years before the Romans arrived in Britain, it was announced yesterday.

That would be Silbury Hill:


Click to see larger version

It's a massive construction, originally terraced, with a presumably ceremonial walkway to the top. It's surrounded by a sort of moat, bridged by two causeways (the material used to build the hill was originally dug out of the moat). It was probably built in about 2600 B.C., roughly contemporary with some of the early phases of Stonehenge. Various myths and legends have arisen about the hill; according to one tradition, it is the tomb of the legendary King Sil and his golden horse. Another tale, the source of the "Devil's Hill" moniker, relates that the devil was carrying a load of earth to drop on a nearby town. When he was stopped by some priests from Avebury, he dropped the dirt, creating Silbury Hill. Although various theories have been put forward (e.g. an enormous sundial), the truth is that we have no idea whatsoever what that hill was built for, or how it was used in neolithic times.

Returning to the Romans, it's not at all surprising that they would build a religious site there. Contrary to what one might expect, the Romans were extremely open-minded about other religions (they tended to outlaw religions only in cases where there were issues of pubic order), to the point where they made a practice of adopting the worship of "foreign" gods. A prime example of this is the Egyptian goddess Isis, whose cult became very popular in Roman Italy.


The Temple of Isis at Pompeii - click to enlarge

The main question, yet to be answered, about the Roman site at Silbury Hill is to which deity it was devoted. It remains distinctly possible that it was actually a Celtic deity whose worship was promoted at the site.

Anyway, moving along, awhile back I did a Friday Archaeology Blogging on the insignia of Maxentius. There have been further developments:

Scepter from Roman emperor exhibited
Telegraph, 27 February 2007

The scepter, which is topped by a blue orb that represents the earth, was discovered at the end of last year and is believed to have been held by Emperor Maxentius, who ruled for six years until 312AD.


This is the best picture of the scepter that I've been able to find so far.

Hopefully, we'll get a chance to see the rest of the insignia soon.

Short Friday Archaeology Blogging
Return to Stonehenge edition!

A few weeks back, we mentioned the new discoveries at the site of Stonehenge. Well, it turns out that the workers' village wasn't the only thing they discovered (and much thanks to Alison from Creekside for the heads-up on this one):

Wooden counterpart of Stonehenge found
Second temple seen as counterpart to famous monoliths

...

In a teleconference conducted by the National Geographic Society, Parker Pearson said a circle of ditches and earthen banks at Durrington Walls enclosed concentric rings of huge timber posts, "basically a wooden version of Stonehenge," he said.

So, why two henges? Well, Stonehenge itself (the famous one) was itself originally constructed of wood and earthworks, approximately 1,000 years before the immense stone blocks were brought in.


An early phase at Stonehenge

It is not a stretch to suppose that the construction of the stone structure would have interfered with any rituals that had to take place at the site, and I think it entirely possible that this wooden henge was meant as a temporary place of worship while Stonehenge was being "upgraded," as it were. This notion, however, presupposes that the wooden henge was contemporary with the importation of the stone blocks. If this is not the case, then it is entirely likely that there were actually two ritual sites in use at the same time at Stonehenge, and indeed there is no reason why there shouldn't have been. Anyway, the question cannot be answered without dating evidence, none of which has been forthcoming just yet.

Brief Friday Archaeology Blogging
Posted, as usual, on Saturday.



Village near Stonehenge was party central
By Thomas H. Maugh Ii
Los Angeles Times
(Feb 3, 2007)

Archaeologists working near Stonehenge have discovered what appears to be an ancient religious complex containing a treasure trove of artifacts that may finally illuminate the lives and religious practices of the people who built the mysterious monument 4,600 years ago.

The builders of Stonehenge are indeed mysterious. There has long been a misapprehension that the Celts built the monument, but it had in fact been there for about two thousand years before the Celts even arrived in Britain. They probably used Stonehenge, but whether they put it to the use its creators intended is unknowable. So who were these mysterious pre-Celtic Britons? Well, they were a late neolithic people (the neolithic period in Britain ran from about 5,500 B.C. to c. 2,500 B.C), who began to practise agriculture, albeit not terribly skillfully, in about 4,000 B.C. In addition to building Stonehenge, and a number of other "henges", they are also believed to have been responsible for a number of the gigantic carvings on chalk hills in the south of England, such as the White Horse of Uffington:



Beyond that, we really don't know much about them, or what became of them, so the discovery of the seasonal village near Stonehenge, apparently associated with rituals at the henge itself, could turn out to be very, very important. Encouragingly, the archaeologists have discovered a great number of small artifacts, which will aid greatly in establishing typologies for neolithic pottery, etc. In short, it's a big find, and one that archaeologists working in the field of neolithic studies should be very excited about.