Pre disassembly, the large central stone is held up by three smaller chock stones . And a quartz pebble is secreted away below this large stone.Negative image where chock stones and quartz pebble removedFilled by plaster of paris and bandaging.Reverse of dried plaster of paris following being lifted. The attached sand will be removed gradually and a mould will be made to allow the nest of stones to be reassembled off site. Check back for updates.
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Removal of top soils to expose the lower archaeology layers associated with prehistory in Tameside. This survey was previously undertaken prior to the grass being removed. The two surveys will enable an evaluation of magnetic activity in the more modern soils and what if any persists at The Neolithic level.
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TAS member Kevin Wright will be talking about results from a Mottram site where stones found on site will be discussed, their uses, their distributions and how they may have related to prehistoric people living on the land in Tameside.
The annual archaeology day, hosted by the Greater Manchester Archaeological Advisory Service in conjunction with the Greater Manchester Archaeology Federation, is to be held at the University of Salford on Saturday 25th November 09:30 – 17:00. The venue is Peel Hall in the Peel Building at the University of Salford. Click on the following link to purchase a ticket. £10 or £5.
The two stones; the smaller one is granite and the larger sandstone.
Recently digging on our Neolithic site we came across these two stones embedded in the natural interglacial sand. Both had evidence of having been used as small anvils.
One would imagine that the smaller, granite stone would have been used for working flints, while the larger sandstone piece might have been used to work wood.
The depressions in which they sat did not seem to have been cut, as such, but it makes sense that the stones would have been purposely pressed into the sand to achieve stability. There was a fine line between creating a good flint and wrecking one, so they needed a good surface to work on.
It’s fascinating that simply from two stones in the ground we can begin to build a picture of the lives and working practices of people from thousands of years ago.
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With spring comes the prospect of unearthing new treasures. Well, old treasures hopefully. And by treasures, we don’t mean hoards of gold coin. A post hole, a change in the colour of the earth, a piece of flint or a broken shard of pottery could be all we need to indicate that we have found something worth further exploration.
Take the site below, recently de-turfed, ready for the new season. We already know that it is within a few metres of a Neolithic hearth. What we find in the coming weeks and months could give us a significantly fuller picture of how the site was used by people so many years ago.
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In early April a small but intrepid group of TAS members ventured as far as Warrington to enjoy a guided tour of the museum there.
A very knowledgeable member of staff took us through the many different rooms to see the multitude of varied and fascinating exhibits. The cabinets were bulging with artefacts and a great deal was packed into our hour-long tour. A selection of what we saw is shown below.
To wrap it up we were treated to a tour of Warrington centre, courtesy of TAS member Marlene, who lives nearby. Probably the feature of this was seeing the famous Grade II listed Golden Gates.
A mask from the ceramics gallery.Funeral JarsChinawarePotsOresMasks and figureheadsMore masks and figureheadsGlass ArtefactsSome quite beautiful glass workThis fish was made entirely out of drinks cans!And finally at those amazing golden gates.
Why not pay a visit yourself? The museum also houses an art gallery!
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