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Archaeology

Complex funerary monument found at foot of La Peña de los Enamorados

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A team of archaeologists have found a complex megalithic funerary monument at Piedras Blancas, located at the foot of La Peña de los Enamorados (“Lovers Rock”), a mountain near the city of Antequera in Andalusia, Spain.

The results of the excavation, published in the journal Antiquity, has revealed the monument to be part natural, part built, part hypogeum, and part megalith.

La Peña de los Enamorados is a limestone massif which towers at 880m above the Antequera plain. The area is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site due to the influence the mountain and the peaks of El Torcal played in the development of Late Neolithic and Copper Age sites, such as Menga, Viera and El Romeral from the 3rd and 4th millennia BC.

Excavations at Piedras Blancas revealed a tomb built on a small hill of calcarenite limestone, in which the structure is embedded in the geological substrate and matches the direction of the mountain’s north-east plane.

Image Credit : M. Díaz-Guardamino

According to the researchers: “The tomb is part natural monument, part hypogeum, part megalith. It consists of a pseudo-rectangular cavity, 4.5m long and 1.45m wide, which was cut into the bedrock through the removal of the local calcarenite rock and then delimited, to the east and west, by a series of medium-sized slabs”.

The builders deliberately utilised the naturally folded geology, integrating the structure into the surrounding landscape. The naturally occurring calcarenite rocks are vertically oriented due to the anticline fold that forms the long sides of the structure towards the north and south.

Although there is no conclusive evidence indicating the existence of a roof, some significant broken slabs discovered in the upper portion of the tomb’s fill may be the remnants of capstones.

Two slabs delimiting the entrance and two at the back of the chamber are made of locally available stone and have been carefully selected and carved with decorated engraved motifs.

The builders also used slabs of marine sedimentary rocks that has natural ripples which is also found at the megalithic monument of El Romeral, suggesting that these structures were built according to a shared set of ideas.

Another remarkable architectural discovery consists of two triangular dressed stones fixed to the chamber’s floor with a mud mortar that are orientated with the summer solstice sunrise.

According to the study authors: “The fill of the tomb included a substantial assemblage of human bone, some faunal remains, knapped lithics and ceramics. A large number of stones (988kg), used to create specific features and spaces within the burial chamber, was also recorded. The stratigraphic evidence and carbon dating of the human remains suggests that the tomb was used over three major periods.”

The tomb has enabled the researchers to expand our understanding of the Antequera World Heritage site, the importance of La Peña de los Enamorados as a focus of Neolithic activity, and reveals further insights into the sophisticated arrangement through which the carving of rocks (either as stelae, as astronomical devices, or as canvasses decorated with natural motifs of marine origin) was coupled with the natural orientation of the geological substrate to ‘domesticate’ sunlight.

Antiquity

https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2023.35

Header Image Credit : M. Ángel Blanco de la Rubia

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Archaeology

Monastic site founded by St Moulag discovered on Scottish island

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Archaeologists from the Lismore Historical Society have announced the discovery of a stone built monastic site on the Hebridean Isle of Lismore.

According to the researchers, the site dates from the 7th to 10th century AD and was likely founded by St Moluag, an Irish missionary who evangelized the Picts on the western seaboard of Scotland.

Lismore had long been an important religious centre for the Gaelic kingdom of Dalriada, which likely motivated the decision to found a monastic community in AD 562. Irish missionaries had learnt to focus heavily on the similarity and continuity between early Christianity and Paganism rather than the differences between them.

However, according to tradition, the rock on which Moluag stood detached itself from the Irish coast and he drifted across to the island of the Lyn of Lorn in Argyll, now called the Isle of Lismore in Loch Linnhe.

Following a six year community led project on the island, members from the Lismore Historical Society have uncovered an oval stone building and a workshop where craft workers manufactured jewellery from precious metals.

Part of a crucible – Image Credit : Lismore Historical Society

Radiocarbon dating has placed the building to the 7th-10th century AD during the period of the early monastery.

The study has so far discovered fragments of around 120 crucibles, broken ceramic moulds for making penannular brooches, and carvings made in stone, wood, bone and antler.

According to a press statement by the Lismore Historical Society: “XRF analysis of the surfaces of these crucibles at the National Museum of Scotland has revealed that they were used for melting copper-alloys, silver and gold.

This fine craft activity is evidence of a sophisticated and influential monastic centre, the society said, with analysis and conservation of 1500 significant finds from the site ongoing.

Header Image Credit : Lismore Historical Society

Sources : Lismore Historical Society

This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily

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Archaeology

Inrap archaeologists uncover medieval castle beneath French hotel

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Excavations at the Château Lagorce, a former 18th century private mansion in Vannes has revealed traces of the town’s medieval castle.

Vannes is located in the Morbihan department of Brittany in north-western France. In medieval times, the town served as the centre of a principality or kingdom recognised as Bro-Wened (“Vannes”) or Bro-Ereg (“land of Gwereg”).

Recent excavations by archaeologists from the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) have found traces of the towns medieval castle in preparation for the development of a fine arts museum.

As part of the first phase of excavations, the researchers have conducted a study of the mansion’s courtyard where they uncovered two stories of the castle’s defensive wall and a moat, located at a depth of 13 feet beneath street level.

The castle was built around 1380 by Jean IV who held the titles of Duke of Brittany and Count of Montfort from 1345, and the 7th Earl of Richmond from 1372. Known as the Château de l’Hermine (Castle of Hermine), the castle was constructed to assert the Duke’s central authority over his duchy and the town of Vannes.

Image Credit : Emmanuelle Collado, Inrap

According to Inrap, the surviving stonework suggests that the castle had three to four floors and several staircases, one of which has been described as “remarkably preserved”. The team also found markings on several worked stones that the workers used to follow a building, and architectural features such as the latrines and drainage pipes.

A search of the latrines has also revealed traces of castle life from the 15th and 16th centuries, including coins, knives, tiles, wooden bowls, kitchen utilities, and several pieces of jewellery. Due to the conditions of the soil, objects such as items of clothing, shoe buckles, pins, rings, and a ball padlock have also survived.

Excavations have also uncovered a mill connected to the residential part of the castle, where a large water well was powered by water passing through a canal, and remnants of a bridge that connected the castle to the town.

Header Image Credit : Emmanuelle Collado, Inrap

Sources : Inrap

This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily

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