1.
Cumbria
–
Cumbria is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbrias county town is Carlisle, in the north of the county, the county of Cumbria consists of six districts, and in 2008 had a population of just under half a million. Cumbria is one of the most sparsely populated counties in the United Kingdom, a large area of the south east of the county is within the Yorkshire Dales National Park while the east of the county fringes the North Pennines AONB. Much of Cumbria is mountainous, and it contains every peak in England over 3,000 feet above sea level, with Scafell Pike at 3,209 feet being the highest point of England. An upland, coastal, and rural area, Cumbrias history is characterised by invasions, migration, notable historic sites in Cumbria include Carlisle Castle, Furness Abbey, Hardknott Roman Fort, Brough Castle and Hadrians Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. D. Based on inscriptional evidence from the area, the Roman civitas of the Carvetii seems to have covered portions of Cumbria, the names Cumbria, Cymru, Cambria, and Cumberland are derived from the name these people gave themselves, *kombroges in Common Brittonic, which originally meant compatriots. In the Early Middle Ages, Cumberland formed the core of the Brittonic kingdom of Rheged, for the rest of the first millennium, Cumbria was contested by several entities who warred over the area, including the Brythonic Kingdom of Strathclyde and the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria. Most of modern-day Cumbria was a principality in the Kingdom of Scotland at the time of the Norman conquest of England in 1066, in 1092 Cumberland was invaded by William II and incorporated into England. There were at least three sieges of Carlisle fought between England and Scotland, and two sieges during the Jacobite risings. In particular, the west-coast towns of Workington, Millom and Barrow-in-Furness saw large iron and steel mills develop, Kendal, Keswick and Carlisle all became mill towns, with textiles, pencils and biscuits among the products manufactured in the region. Later, the childrens writer Beatrix Potter also wrote in the region and became a major landowner and its strategic authority is Cumbria County Council. Local papers The Westmorland Gazette and Cumberland and Westmorland Herald continue to use the name of their historic county, other publications, such as local government promotional material, describe the area as Cumbria, as do the Lake District National Park Authority and most visitors. Cumbria is the most northwesterly county of England, the northernmost and southernmost points in Cumbria are just west of Deadwater, Northumberland and South Walney respectively. Kirkby Stephen and St Bees Head are the most easterly and westerly points of the county, at 978 metres Scafell Pike is the highest point in Cumbria and in England. Windermere is the largest natural lake in England, the Lancaster Canal runs from Preston into South Cumbria and is partly in use. The Ulverston Canal which once reached to Morecambe Bay is maintained although it was closed in 1945, the Solway Coast and Arnside and Silverdale AONBs lie in the lowland areas of the county, to the north and south respectively. Cumbria is bordered by the English counties of Northumberland, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Lancashire, the boundaries are along the Irish Sea to Morecambe Bay in the west, and along the Pennines to the east
2.
Ordnance Survey National Grid
–
The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, different from using Latitude and Longitude. It is often called British National Grid, the Ordnance Survey devised the national grid reference system, and it is heavily used in their survey data, and in maps based on those surveys. Grid references are commonly quoted in other publications and data sources. The Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system is used to provide references for worldwide locations. European-wide agencies also use UTM when mapping locations, or may use the Military Grid Reference System system, the grid is based on the OSGB36 datum, and was introduced after the retriangulation of 1936–1962. It replaced the previously used Cassini Grid which, up to the end of World War Two, had issued only to the military. The Airy ellipsoid is a regional best fit for Britain, more modern mapping tends to use the GRS80 ellipsoid used by the GPS, the British maps adopt a Transverse Mercator projection with an origin at 49° N, 2° W. Over the Airy ellipsoid a straight grid, the National Grid, is placed with a new false origin. This false origin is located south-west of the Isles of Scilly, the distortion created between the OS grid and the projection is countered by a scale factor in the longitude to create two lines of longitude with zero distortion rather than one. Grid north and true north are aligned on the 400 km easting of the grid which is 2° W. 2° 0′ 5″ W. OSGB36 was also used by Admiralty nautical charts until 2000 after which WGS84 has been used, a geodetic transformation between OSGB36 and other terrestrial reference systems can become quite tedious if attempted manually. The most common transformation is called the Helmert datum transformation, which results in a typical 7 m error from true, the definitive transformation from ETRS89 that is published by the OSGB is called the National Grid Transformation OSTN02. This models the detailed distortions in the 1936–1962 retriangulation, and achieves backwards compatibility in grid coordinates to sub-metre accuracy, the difference between the coordinates on different datums varies from place to place. The longitude and latitude positions on OSGB36 are the same as for WGS84 at a point in the Atlantic Ocean well to the west of Great Britain. In Cornwall, the WGS84 longitude lines are about 70 metres east of their OSGB36 equivalents, the smallest datum shift is on the west coast of Scotland and the greatest in Kent. But Great Britain has not shrunk by 100+ metres, a point near Lands End now computes to be 27.6 metres closer to a point near Duncansby Head than it did under OSGB36. For the first letter, the grid is divided into squares of size 500 km by 500 km, there are four of these which contain significant land area within Great Britain, S, T, N and H. The O square contains an area of North Yorkshire, almost all of which lies below mean high tide
3.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Stone circle
–
A stone circle is a monument of standing stones arranged in a circle. Such monuments have been constructed in parts of the world throughout history for many different reasons. Outside of Europe, stone circles have also erected, such as the 6300~6900 BCE Atlit Yam in Israel and 3000~4000 BCE Gilgal Refaim nearby. Another prehistoric stone circle tradition occurred in southern Scandinavia during the Iron Age, the size and number of the stones varies from example to example, and the circle shape can be an ellipse. All experts agree that stone circles are of date. Radiocarbon dating has produced a range of dates at different sites. This is at least partly due to an inadequacy of materials suitable for radiocarbon dating that can be obtained from the sites. The diversity of radiocarbon evidence may also suggest that stone circles were constructed over a long period. It is often not clear when building started, a further obstacle to dating is that there are generally no other archaeological artifacts associated with the stone circles. Traditional archaeological artifacts, such as pottery sherds, bones, etc. are not often found at the sites, the sites display no evidence of human dwelling, and rarely encompass graves. This suggests that stone circles were constructed for ceremonies and were in use on ceremonial occasions only, the type of ceremonies is entirely unknown. The crudeness and variety of the stones excludes the possibility that they had astronomical observation purposes of any precision, sometimes a stone circle is found in association with a burial pit or burial chamber, but the great majority of these monuments have no such association. A stone circle is a different entity from a henge. That suggests religious context, the details of which are still obscure, during the Middle Neolithic stone circles began to appear in coastal and lowland areas towards the north of the United Kingdom. The Langdale axe industry in the Lake District appears to have been an important early centre for circle building, many had closely set stones, perhaps similar to the earth banks of henges, others were made from unfounded boulders rather than standing stones. By the later Neolithic, stone circle construction had attained a greater precision, rather than being limited to coastal areas, they began to move inland and their builders grew more ambitious, producing examples of up to 400 m diameter in the case of the Outer Circle at Avebury. Most circles, however, measured around 25 m in diameter, designs became more complex, with double and triple ring designs appearing along with significant regional variation. These monuments are often classed separately as concentric stone circles, by 1500 BC stone circle construction had all but ceased
5.
Neolithic
–
It ended when metal tools became widespread. The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops, the beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant about 10, 200–8800 BC. It developed directly from the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming. The Natufian period was between 12,000 and 10,200 BC, and the so-called proto-Neolithic is now included in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic between 10,200 and 8800 BC. By 10, 200–8800 BC, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep. By about 6900–6400 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order, the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery. Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture, unlike the Paleolithic, when more than one human species existed, only one human species reached the Neolithic. The term Neolithic derives from the Greek νέος néos, new and λίθος líthos, stone, the term was invented by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BC, early development occurred in the Levant and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are attested in southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia by around 8000 BC. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square yards, the Neolithic 1 period began roughly 10,000 years ago in the Levant. A temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe dated around 9500 BC may be regarded as the beginning of the period. This site was developed by nomadic tribes, evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity. At least seven stone circles, covering 25 acres, contain limestone pillars carved with animals, insects, Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9500–9000 BC have been found in Jericho, Israel, Gilgal in the Jordan Valley, the start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the Tahunian and Heavy Neolithic periods to some degree. The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming, in the proto-Neolithic Natufian cultures, wild cereals were harvested, and perhaps early seed selection and re-seeding occurred. The grain was ground into flour, emmer wheat was domesticated, and animals were herded and domesticated
6.
Bronze Age
–
The Bronze Age is a historical period characterized by the use of bronze, proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen. An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Copper-tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before trading in bronze began in the third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic serving as a transition, although the Iron Age generally followed the Bronze Age, in some areas, the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic. Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of the first writing, according to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia and Egypt developed the earliest viable writing systems. The overall period is characterized by use of bronze, though the place and time of the introduction. Human-made tin bronze technology requires set production techniques, tin must be mined and smelted separately, then added to molten copper to make bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of use of metals. The dating of the foil has been disputed, the Bronze Age in the ancient Near East began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC. Societies in the region laid the foundations for astronomy and mathematics, the usual tripartite division into an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used. Instead, a division based on art-historical and historical characteristics is more common. The cities of the Ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands of people, ur in the Middle Bronze Age and Babylon in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large populations. The earliest mention of Babylonia appears on a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 23rd century BC, the Amorite dynasty established the city-state of Babylon in the 19th century BC. Over 100 years later, it took over the other city-states. Babylonia adopted the written Semitic Akkadian language for official use, by that time, the Sumerian language was no longer spoken, but was still in religious use. Elam was an ancient civilization located to the east of Mesopotamia, in the Old Elamite period, Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a role in the Gutian Empire and especially during the Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it
7.
English Heritage
–
English Heritage is a registered charity that manages the National Heritage Collection. This comprises over 400 of Englands historic buildings, monuments and sites spanning more than 5,000 years of history, within its portfolio are Stonehenge, Dover Castle, Tintagel Castle and the best preserved parts of Hadrians Wall. English Heritage also manages the London Blue Plaques scheme, which links influential historical figures to particular buildings and it was created to combine the roles of existing bodies that had emerged from a long period of state involvement in heritage protection. The British government gave the new charity an £80 million grant to establish it as an independent trust. Over the centuries, what is now called Heritage has been the responsibility of a series of state departments. There was the Kings Works after the Norman Conquest, the Office of Works, the Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues and Works, and the Ministry of Works. Responsibility subsequently transferred to the Ministry of Public Building and Works then to the Department of the Environment and now the Department for Culture, Media, the states legal responsibility for the historic environment goes back to the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882. Central government subsequently developed several systems of protection for different types of assets, introducing listing for buildings after WW2. The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission was formed under the terms of the National Heritage Act 1983 on 1 April 1984, soon after, the commission gained the operating name of English Heritage by its first Chairman, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu. A national register of parks and gardens, was set up in 1984. Registration is a consideration in the planning process. In 2010–2011 it recorded 4.3 million unique online user sessions, in 2012 the section responsible for archive collections was renamed the English Heritage Archive. As a result of the National Heritage Act 2002, English Heritage acquired administrative responsibility for historic wrecks, the administration of the listed building system was transferred from DCMS to English Heritage in 2006. It was retained on grounds of performing a function which should remain independent from Government. However the department also suffered from budget cuts during the recession of the 2010s resulting in a deficit of £100 million. In June 2013 the British Government announced plans to provide an £80 million grant to enable English Heritage to become a self-financing charity, the national portfolio of historic properties remain in public ownership, but the new English Heritage will be licensed to manage them. The change occurred on 1 April 2015 with the planning and heritage protection functions remaining an independent, non-departmental public body. The new trust has a licence to operate the properties until 2023, English Heritage is the guardian of over 400 sites and monuments, the most famous of which include Stonehenge, Iron Bridge and Dover Castle
8.
Scheduled monument
–
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation used for protecting heritage assets from damage. The protection given to scheduled monuments is given under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, a heritage asset is a part of the historic environment that is valued because of its historic, archaeological, architectural or artistic interest. Only some of these are judged to be important enough to have legal protection through designation. There are about 20,000 scheduled monuments in England representing about 37,000 heritage assets, of the tens of thousands of scheduled monuments in the UK, most are inconspicuous archaeological sites, but some are large ruins. According to the 1979 Act, a monument cannot be a structure which is occupied as a dwelling, as a rule of thumb, a protected historic asset that is occupied would be designated as a listed building. Scheduled Monuments are defined in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, in England, Wales and Scotland they are often referred to as a scheduled ancient monument, although the Act defines only ancient monument and scheduled monument. A monument can be, A building or structure, cave or excavation which is above or below the surface of the land, a site comprising any vehicle, vessel, aircraft or other moveable structure. In Northern Ireland they are designated under separate legislation and are referred to as a historic monument or a monument in state care. The first Act to enshrine legal protection for ancient monuments was the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 and this identified an initial list of 68 prehistoric sites, which were given a degree of legal protection. This was the result of strenuous representation by William Morris and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, which had been founded in 1877. Following various previous attempts, the 1882 legislation was guided through parliament by John Lubbock, the first Inspector of Ancient Monuments, as set up by the act, was Augustus Pitt Rivers. At this point, only the inspector, answering directly to the First Commissioner of Works, was involved in surveying the scheduled sites and persuading landowners to offer sites to the state. The act also established the concept of guardianship, in which a site might remain in private ownership, however the legislation could not compel landowners, as that level of state interference with private property was not politically possible. The Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1900 extended the scope of the legislation to include medieval monuments, in a speech in 1907, Robert Hunter, chairman of the National Trust, observed that only a further 18 sites had been added to the original list of 68. Charles Peers, an architect, was appointed as Inspector in 1910 in the Office of Works becoming Chief Inspector in 1913. The job title Inspector is still in use, scheduling offers protection because it makes it illegal to undertake a great range of works within a designated area, without first obtaining scheduled monument consent. However, it does not affect the owner’s freehold title or other interests in the land
9.
Keswick, Cumbria
–
Keswick is an English market town and civil parish, historically in Cumberland, and since 1974 in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria. The town, in the Lake District National Park, just north of Derwentwater, among the towns annual events is the Keswick Convention, an Evangelical gathering attracting visitors from many countries. Keswick became widely known for its association with the poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge, together with their fellow Lake Poet William Wordsworth, based at Grasmere,12 miles away, they made the scenic beauty of the area widely known to readers in Britain and beyond. The town is first recorded in Edward Is charter of the 13th century, among the later scholars supporting the cheese farm toponymy are Eilert Ekwall and A D Mills, and Diana Whaley, for the English Place-Name Society. Evidence of prehistoric occupation in the area includes the Castlerigg stone circle on the fringe of the town. Neolithic-era stone tools were unearthed inside the circle and in the centre of Keswick during the 19th century, the antiquary W G Collingwood, commenting in 1925 about finds in the area, wrote that they showed Stone Age man was fairly at home in the Lake District. In Roman Britain Cumbria was the territory of the Carvetii, as the site of the western part of Hadrians Wall, it was of strategic importance. Such nearby settlements as can be traced from the era of the Romans, many local place names from the period, including that of the River Derwent, are Celtic, some closely related to Welsh equivalents. The former, the pupil and friend of St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, lived as a hermit on an island in Derwentwater, now named after him. Kentigern, who lived and preached in the area before moving to Wales, is held to have founded Crosthwaite Church. Keswicks recorded history starts in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria in the seventh century, but Northumbria was destroyed by the Vikings in the late ninth. In the early tenth century the British Kingdom of Strathclyde seized the area, and it remained part of Strathclyde until about 1050, when Siward, Earl of Northumbria, conquered Cumbria. In 1181 Jocelyn of Furness wrote of a new church at Crosthwaite, Keswick, founded by Alice de Romilly, the Lady of Allerdale, in 1189, Richard I granted the rectory of Crosthwaite to the Cistercian order of Fountains Abbey. During the 13th century, agricultural land around the town was acquired by Fountains, the latter, already prosperous from the wool trade, wished to expand its sheep farming, and in 1208 bought large tracts of land from Alice de Romilly. She also negotiated with Fountains Abbey, to which she sold Derwent Island in Derwentwater, land at Watendlath, Keswick was at the hub of the monastic farms in the area, and Fountains based a steward in the town, where tenants paid their rents. Furness also enjoyed profitable rights to the extraction of iron ore, Keswick was granted a charter for a market in 1276 by Edward I. This market has a history lasting for more than 700 years. According to local tradition these stout walls and the entrances to the yards were for defence against marauding Scots
10.
North West England
–
North West England, one of nine official regions of England, consists of the five counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,052,000 in 2011 and it is the third most populated region in the United Kingdom after the South East and Greater London. North West England is bounded to the east by the Peak District, the region extends from the Scottish Borders in the north to the West Midlands region in the south. To its southwest is North Wales, amongst the better known of the North Wests physiographical features are the Lake District and the Cheshire Plain. The highest point in North West England is Scafell Pike, Cumbria, Windermere is the largest natural lake in England. Broad Crag Tarn on Broad Crag is Englands highest lake, wast Water is Englands deepest lake, being 74m deep. A mix of rural and urban landscape, two large conurbations, centred on Liverpool and Manchester, occupy much of the south of the region. The north of the region, comprising Cumbria and northern Lancashire, is rural, as is the far south which encompasses parts of the Cheshire Plain. The region includes parts of three National parks and three areas of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, source, Office for National Statistics Mid Year Population Estimates North West Englands population accounts for just over 13% of Englands overall population. 37. 86% of the North Wests population resides in Greater Manchester,21. 39% in Lancashire,20. 30% in Merseyside,14. 76% in Cheshire and 7. 41% live in the largest county by area, Cumbria. According to 2009 Office for National Statistics estimates,91. 6% of people in the region describe themselves as White,88. 4% White British,1. 0% White Irish and 2. 2% White Other. The Mixed Race population makes up 1. 3% of the regions population, there are 323,800 South Asians, making up 4. 7% of the population, and 1. 1% Black Britons. 0. 6% of the population are Chinese and 0. 5% of people belong to ethnic group. North West England is a diverse region, with Manchester. 19. 4% of Blackburn with Darwens population are Muslim, the third highest among all local authorities in the United Kingdom, Areas such as Moss Side in Greater Manchester are home to a 30%+ Black British population. In contrast, the town of St. Helens in Merseyside, one in five of the population in the North West is Catholic, a result of large-scale Irish emigration in the nineteenth century as well as the high number of English recusants in Lancashire. For top-tier authorities, Manchester has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the region, for council districts, Burnley has the highest rate, closely followed by Hyndburn, both in Lancashire. For top-tier authorities, Cheshire has the lowest teenage pregnancy rate, for council districts, Eden has the lowest rate closely followed by South Lakeland, both in Cumbria
11.
Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany
–
The stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany were constructed as a part of a megalithic tradition that lasted from 3300 to 900 BCE, during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages. Sparser groupings can also be found in Caithness, the Outer Hebrides, the Peak District and their original purpose is not fully known, but archaeological investigation has shed some light on it. It is widely thought that they served a ritual or ceremonial purpose, in a minority of cases, some were also used as cemeteries, with burials being made in and around the circle. Antiquarian investigation into the circles began in the Early Modern period, in the 20th century, with the development of archaeology, archaeologists could investigate the circles in more detail, dating them to the Late Neolithic and Bronze Ages. The Neolithic, or New Stone Age saw massive changes across north-western Europe, the introduction of agriculture ended the hunter-gatherer lifestyle which had dominated in the preceding Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods. The Early Neolithic in Brittany and the British Isles had seen the rise, the chambered tomb tradition lasted between about 4000 and 3500 BCE, although an earlier example, at Carrowmore in County Sligo, has been disputably dated to 5000 BCE. The length of this tradition led prehistorian Mike Parker Pearson to note that it was a relatively short-lived fashion in archaeological terms, in southern England, 84% of chambered tombs were built in a north-east to south-east direction, which probably had some special significance for their builders. In some parts of the British Isles, architectural changes were made to the style of chambered tomb, the Early Neolithic also saw another form of monument constructed in the British Isles, now known by archaeologists as causewayed enclosures, which consisted of circular ditch-and-bank earthworks. Despite having excavated a number of sites across southern Britain. It has been suggested that they were camps, markets, cattle kraals or occasional settlements, or perhaps ritual centres for the celebration of seasonal festivals or cemeteries. By that date, the barrows, causewayed enclosures, and cursuses which had predominated in the Early Neolithic had ceased to be built. These include not only stone circles, but also earthen henges and this transition toward circular monuments had symbolic associations. This transition was, in the words of historian Ronald Hutton, chambered tombs were blocked up and abandoned, implying that people were ceasing to use them as cultic sites. The start of the Bronze Age in Britain was signalled by the introduction of bronze, ideologically, there is no evidence for a change in Brittany and the British Isles at this time, with communities continuing to construct megalithic stone circles. Indeed, the archaeologists J. M. Coles and A. F, the historian Ronald Hutton noted that along with the chambered long barrows of the Early Neolithic, stone circles are one of the most prominent forms of monument produced in prehistoric Britain. Despite the commonly used term stone circles, many of these monuments are not true circles, the stone circles are not always found in isolation from other forms of monument and often intersect with timber and earth structures. For this reason, the archaeologist Richard Bradley cautioned against understanding stone circles, timber circles, the archaeologist Alexander Thom suggested that the stone circles fell into four broad classes, circles, flattened circles, egg-shaped rings, and ellipses. Some stone circles, such as that at Stanton Drew in Somerset, are approached by an alignment of paired stones
12.
Megalith
–
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. The word megalithic describes structures made of large stones without the use of mortar or concrete. For later periods, the monolith, with an overlapping meaning, is more likely to be used. The word megalith comes from the Ancient Greek μέγας and λίθος, megalith also denotes an item consisting of rock hewn in definite shapes for special purposes. It has been used to describe buildings built by people from parts of the world living in many different periods. A variety of stones are seen as megaliths, with the most widely known megaliths not being sepulchral. The construction of these took place mainly in the Neolithic and continued into the Chalcolithic. At a number of sites in eastern Turkey, large ceremonial complexes from the 9th millennium BC have been discovered and they belong to the incipient phases of agriculture and animal husbandry. Large circular structures involving carved megalithic orthostats are a feature, e. g. at Nevalı Çori. Although these structures are the most ancient megalithic structures known so far, at Göbekli Tepe, four stone circles have been excavated from an estimated 20. Some measure up to 30 metres across, as well as human figures, the stones carry a variety of carved reliefs depicting boars, foxes, lions, birds, snakes and scorpions. Dolmens and standing stones have been found in areas of the Middle East starting at the Turkish border in the north of Syria close to Aleppo. They can be encountered in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Israel, Jordan, the largest concentration can be found in southern Syria and along the Jordan Rift Valley, however they are being threatened with destruction. They date from the late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age, megaliths have also been found on Kharg Island and pirazmian in Iran, at Barda Balka in Iraq, and at Jaintapur in Bangladesh. A semicircular arrangement of megaliths was found in Israel at Atlit Yam and it is a very early example, dating from the 7th millennium BC. The most concentrated occurrence of dolmens in particular is in an area on both sides of the Jordan Rift Valley, with greater predominance on the eastern side. They occur first and foremost on the Golan Heights, the Hauran, and in Jordan, in Saudi Arabia, only very few dolmen have been identified so far in the Hejaz. They seem, however, to re-emerge in Yemen in small numbers, the standing stone has a very ancient tradition in the Middle East, dating back from Mesopotamian times
13.
Helvellyn
–
Helvellyn is a mountain in the English Lake District, the highest point of the Helvellyn range, a north-south line of mountains to the north of Ambleside, between the lakes of Thirlmere and Ullswater. Helvellyn is the third-highest point both in England and in the Lake District, and access to Helvellyn is easier than to the two peaks of Scafell Pike and Sca Fell. The scenery includes three deep glacial coves and two sharp-topped ridges on the eastern side, during the last ice age these rocks were carved by glaciers to create the landforms seen today. Since the end of the last ice age, small populations of plants have survived in favourable spots on rock ledges high in the eastern coves. Rare to Britain species of butterfly, the Mountain Ringlet, also live on. Mineral veins, some deposits of the lead ore galena, do exist within Helvellyn’s rocks. Tourism has been a successful industry in the area. For over two hundred years visitors have been drawn by the lake and mountain scenery of the Lake District, among the early visitors to Helvellyn were the poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, both of whom lived nearby at one period. Many routes up the mountain are possible so that it may be approached from all directions, the view from the top is one of the most extensive over the Lake District, and on a clear day the view can also stretch from Scotland to Wales. However, traversing the mountain is not without dangers, over the last two hundred years there have been a number of fatalities, the artist Charles Gough is more famous for his death on Striding Edge in 1805 than for what he achieved in his life. Among many human feats upon the mountain, one of the strangest was the landing, the top of Helvellyn is a broad plateau, trending roughly from north-west to south-east for about a kilometre between Lower Man and the start of Striding Edge. Throughout this distance it remains more than 900 m high, the middle of these coves contains Red Tarn. Like much of the ridge of the range, Helvellyn stands on the watershed between Thirlmere and the Derwent river system to the west, and Ullswater and the Eden river system to the east. Streams on the west side drain directly into Thirlmere, apart from Helvellyn Gill which flows into a valley to the east of Great How. However, when Thirlmere reservoir was built, a leat was constructed to capture the water of Helvellyn Gill, a never-failing spring called Brownrigg Well exists 90 m below the summit of Helvellyn, about 500 m due west of the highest point, at the head of Whelpside Gill. In the nineteenth century a leat was constructed to direct the water of this spring into the gill to its north to serve the needs of the Helvellyn Mine further down and this leat has now fallen into disuse. The gill it led to is not named on any map, north of Mines Gill are the Helvellyn Screes, a more craggy stretch of hillside, beneath the north-west ridge, with a loose scree covering in places. The deep coves on the eastern side of Helvellyn drain into Ullswater
14.
Skiddaw
–
Skiddaw is a mountain in the Lake District National Park in England, where its 931-metre summit is the sixth-highest in England. It lies just north of the town of Keswick, Cumbria and it is the simplest of the Lake District mountains of this height to ascend and, as such, many walking guides recommend it to the occasional walker wishing to climb a mountain. This is the first summit of the fell running challenge known as the Bob Graham Round when undertaken in a clockwise direction and it also provides the name for the slate derived from that region, Skiddaw slate. Tuned percussion musical instruments or lithophones exist which are made from the slate, such as the Musical Stones of Skiddaw held at the Keswick Museum, the Northern Fells make up a roughly circular upland area approaching 10 miles in width. The south-western sector, between the Glenderaterra Beck and Dash Beck, contains Skiddaw and its satellites, Skiddaw itself takes the form of a north-south ridge about half a mile long, with steep slopes to east and west. The ridge continues northwards over Broad End to Bakestall, a fell overlooking the Whitewater Dash waterfall, further ridges fan out east and west from the southern end of Skiddaw. To the south-east are Skiddaw Little Man, Lonscale Fell and Latrigg, beyond these fells are the Glenderaterra Beck and the Blencathra group. The south-western ridge curves round through 180 degrees to run north above the shore of Bassenthwaite Lake and this gives Skiddaw an outer wall, comprising Carl Side, Long Side and Ullock Pike, collectively referred to as Longside Edge. The final member of the Skiddaw Group is Dodd, a satellite of Carl Side, between Skiddaw and Longside Edge are the quiet valleys of Southerndale and Barkbethdale, separated by the spur of Buzzard Knott. These drain the western flanks of the fell to Bassenthwaite Lake, the eastern side of Skiddaw drains into Skiddaw Forest, much of the water reaching Candleseaves Bog. This marsh is the source of both the Dash Beck flowing north west to Bassenthwaite and the River Caldew, beginning its long journey north-eastward to the Solway Firth via Carlisle. Two smooth spurs on this flank of Skiddaw, Sale How. Sale How is also a Nuttall, Skiddaws slopes are generally rounded and convex, looking from a distance as though a thick velvet blanket has been draped over a supporting frame. On the ridges the general terrain is of loose stones, but elsewhere all is grass and heather. ’ The bedrock of Skiddaw and this Ordovician rock is composed of laminated mudstone and siltstone with greywacke sandstone. At the summit this is overlain by scree and to the south are areas where the underlying Loweswater Formation surfaces, the summit ridge bears a number of tops, which from north to south are known as North Top, High Man, Middle Top and South Top. All now bear cairns and a number of stone windshelters have been erected, Skiddaw has a subsidiary summit, Little Man, which lies about 1.5 km south-south-east of the main peak. Despite its limited independence, Wainwright listed it as a fell in his influential Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells. Skiddaw Little Man has its own subsidiary summit, known as Lesser Man, the view is as panoramic as might be expected, given Skiddaws topographic prominence
15.
Grasmoor
–
Grasmoor is a mountain in the north-western part of the Lake District, northern England. It is the highest peak in a group of hills between the villages of Lorton, Braithwaite and Buttermere, and overlooks Crummock Water, Grasmoor is distinguished by its steep western flank, dropping dramatically to Crummock Water. This face is not suitable for rock climbers as there is little clean rock. To the east the fell is linked to others by Crag Hill, Grasmoor is also home to the most extensive scree slopes in the North Western Fells. Grasmoor takes its name from the Old Norse element grise, meaning wild boar and this element appears in other Lake District place names, including Grisedale Pike and Grizedale Forest. The North-Western Fells occupy the area between the rivers Derwent and Cocker, a broadly oval swathe of hilly country, elongated on a north–south axis, two roads cross from east to west, dividing the fells into three convenient groups. The central sector, rising between Whinlatter Pass and Newlands Pass, includes Grasmoor, Grasmoor has the greatest elevation, although Crag Hill stands at the hub of the range. From the valley floor near Little Town at the eastern end, starting at the shores of Crummock Water in the west, the same is achieved by a single slope of scree in less than a quarter of the distance. Grasmoor is Lakelands terminal height par excellence, the summit is at the west end of a broad, gently domed promenade of moss and short grass, with a narrowing in the middle where the deep bowl of Dove Crags bites into the northern face. To the east of this plateau are broad smooth slopes descending to an unnamed col at 2,368 ft. This connects onward to Crag Hill, at the western end the summit area narrows, culminating at the subsidiary top of Grasmoor End which crowns the western face. Great fans of scree descend to the road below. Grasmoor has one minor ridge which descends south-westward over Lad Hows before a fall to the valley floor. To the south of Grasmoor is the valley of Rannerdale, which flows to Crummock Water between Lad Hows and the neighbouring Wandope and this drainage is supplemented by Cinderdale Beck, separating Lad Hows from the main body of the fell. The northern flank of the stands above Liza Beck, in the valley of Gasgale Gill. This stream also makes due west for Crummock Water, but is diverted northward by the low top of Lanthwaite Hill to join the Cocker after its exit from the lake, an area of lowland to the north-west is thus annexed to Grasmoor from the natural territory of Whiteside. The surface rocks of Grasmoor are composed primarily of the Ordovician Kirkstile Formation and these are laminated mudstone and siltstone, typical of the Skiddaw range. There is no history of mining beneath the slopes of Grasmoor, the bowl of Dove Crags is one of the largest glacial combs or cirques in the Lake District, yet has no tarn, but dry hollows noted as curious by
16.
Blencathra
–
Blencathra, also known as Saddleback, is one of the most northerly hills in the English Lake District. It has six separate fell tops, of which the highest is the Hallsfell Top at 2,848 feet. For many years, Ordnance Survey listed Blencathra under the name of Saddleback. The guidebook author Alfred Wainwright popularised the use of the older Cumbric name, Ordnance Survey currently marks the summit as Saddleback or Blencathra. It is likely that the name Blencathra is derived from the Cumbric elements *blain top, summit and cadeir seat, chair, andrew Breeze has proposed an alternative interpretation of the second element of the name, arguing that it represents a Cumbric cognate of Middle Welsh carthwr working horse. Richard Coates has suggested that the element may be the Middle Irish personal name Carthach. The Northern Fells make up a roughly circular area about 10 miles wide. At the centre is the depression of Skiddaw Forest — a treeless plateau at an altitude of 1,300 ft —. The south-eastern sector, between the Glenderaterra Beck and the River Caldew, contains Blencathra and its satellites, Blencathra is more of a small range than a single fell, a series of tops standing out on a 3-mile long curving ridge. It has smooth, easy slopes to the north and west, whilst displaying a complex system of spurs and scree slopes to the south. When viewed from the south-east, particularly on the main Keswick to Penrith road, to left and right, the ends of the fell rise from the surrounding lowlands in smooth and sweeping curves, clad in rough grass. Each rises gracefully to a summit, Blease Fell on the west. Between these book-ends are a further three tops, Gategill Fell, Hallsfell and Doddick Fell, giving a scalloped profile to the ridge, separating the five tops are four streams which run down the south-east face between the spurs. From the west these are Blease Gill, Gate Gill, Doddick Gill, in addition to the spurs on the south-east face, Hallsfell also throws out a high ridge to the north. This is the saddle that gives Blencathra its alternative name, rising beyond the dip to the sixth top and this is the focal point for connecting ridges to Bannerdale Crags and Mungrisdale Common to the north. The saddle is bounded by crags to the east, Tarn Crag, between Tarn Crag and Foule Crag is Sharp Edge, an aptly named arête which provides one of the most famous scrambles in the area. Hiker and author Alfred Wainwright noted that, The crest itself is enough for shaving. Below Tarn Crags is Scales Tarn, an almost circular waterbody filling a corrie, the bed plunges steeply to about 25 ft and plants and fish are scarce
17.
Slate
–
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock, foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering, but instead is in planes perpendicular to the direction of metamorphic compression. The foliation in slate is called slaty cleavage and it is caused by strong compression causing fine grained clay flakes to regrow in planes perpendicular to the compression. Slate is frequently grey in color, especially when seen, en masse, Slate is not to be confused with shale, from which it may be formed, or schist. The word slate is used for certain types of object made from slate rock. It may mean a single roofing tile made of slate, or a writing slate and this was traditionally a small smooth piece of the rock, often framed in wood, used with chalk as a notepad or noticeboard, and especially for recording charges in pubs and inns. The phrases clean slate and blank slate come from this usage, before the mid-19th century, the terms slate, shale and schist were not sharply distinguished. In the context of underground mining in the United States. For example, roof slate referred to shale above a coal seam, occasionally, as in the purple slates of North Wales, ferrous reduction spheres form around iron nuclei, leaving a light green spotted texture. These spheres are sometimes deformed by a subsequent applied stress field to ovoids, Slate can be made into roofing slates, a type of roof shingle, or more specifically a type of roof tile, which are installed by a slater. Slate has two lines of breakability – cleavage and grain – which make it possible to split the stone into thin sheets, when broken, slate retains a natural appearance while remaining relatively flat and easy to stack. Slate is particularly suitable as a material as it has an extremely low water absorption index of less than 0. 4%. In fact, this natural slate, which requires only minimal processing, has the lowest embodied energy of all roofing materials, natural slate is used by building professionals as a result of its beauty and durability. Slate is incredibly durable and can last several hundred years, often little or no maintenance. Its low water makes it very resistant to frost damage and breakage due to freezing. Natural slate is also fire resistant and energy efficient, Slate roof tiles are usually fixed either with nails, or with hooks as is common with Spanish slate. In the UK, fixing is typically with double nails onto timber battens or nailed directly onto timber sarking boards, nails were traditionally of copper, although there are modern alloy and stainless steel alternatives. Both these methods, if used properly, provide a long-lasting weathertight roof with a lifespan of around 80–100 years, Slate roofs are still used today
18.
Archaeoastronomy
–
Archaeoastronomy is the study of how people in the past have understood the phenomena in the sky, how they used these phenomena and what role the sky played in their cultures. It is often twinned with ethnoastronomy, the study of skywatching in contemporary societies. Archaeoastronomy uses a variety of methods to uncover evidence of past practices including archaeology, anthropology, astronomy, statistics and probability, because these methods are diverse and use data from such different sources, integrating them into a coherent argument has been a long-term difficulty for archaeoastronomers. Archaeoastronomy fills complementary niches in landscape archaeology and cognitive archaeology, other examples which have brought together ideas of cognition and landscape include studies of the cosmic order embedded in the roads of settlements. Archaeoastronomy can be applied to all cultures and all time periods, the meanings of the sky vary from culture to culture, nevertheless there are scientific methods which can be applied across cultures when examining ancient beliefs. It is perhaps the need to balance the social and scientific aspects of archaeoastronomy which led Clive Ruggles to describe it as, field with academic work of high quality at one end but uncontrolled speculation bordering on lunacy at the other. Nearly two decades later, we can ask the question, Is archaeoastronomy still waiting at the gates of orthodoxy or has it gotten inside the gates. Two hundred years before Michell wrote the above, there were no archaeoastronomers and there were no professional archaeologists, late in the nineteenth century astronomers such as Richard Proctor and Charles Piazzi Smyth investigated the astronomical orientations of the pyramids. The term archaeoastronomy was first used by Elizabeth Chesley Baity in 1973, Clive Ruggles says that Heinrich Nissen, working in the mid-nineteenth century was arguably the first archaeoastronomer. Rolf Sinclair says that Norman Lockyer, working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, could be called the father of archaeoastronomy. Euan MacKie would place the origin even later, stating. the genesis, MacKie therefore broadly accepted Thoms conclusions and published new prehistories of Britain. In contrast a re-evaluation of Thoms fieldwork by Clive Ruggles argued that Thoms claims of high accuracy astronomy were not fully supported by the evidence and his influence endures and practice of statistical testing of data remains one of the methods of archaeoastronomy. The approach in the New World, where began to consider more fully the role of astronomy in Amerindian civilizations, was markedly different. They had access to sources that the prehistory of Europe lacks such as ethnographies, following the pioneering example of Anthony Aveni, this allowed New World archaeoastronomers to make claims for motives which in the Old World would have been mere speculation. The concentration on historical data led to claims of high accuracy that were comparatively weak when compared to the statistically led investigations in Europe. This came to a head at a meeting sponsored by the International Astronomical Union in Oxford in 1981, the methodologies and research questions of the participants were considered so different that the conference proceedings were published as two volumes. Archaeoastronomy has long seen as an interdisciplinary field that uses written and unwritten evidence to study the astronomies of other cultures. As such, it can be seen as connecting other disciplinary approaches for investigating ancient astronomy, astroarchaeology, history of astronomy, reflecting Archaeoastronomys development as an interdisciplinary subject, research in the field is conducted by investigators trained in a wide range of disciplines
19.
Equinox
–
An equinox is the moment in which the plane of Earths equator passes through the center of the Sun, which occurs twice each year, around 20 March and 23 September. On an equinox, day and night are of equal duration all over the planet. They are not exactly equal, however, due to the size of the sun. To avoid this ambiguity, the word equilux is sometimes used to mean a day in which the durations of light, see Length of equinoctial day and night for further discussion. The word is derived from the Latin aequinoctium, aequus and nox, the equinoxes are the only times when the solar terminator is perpendicular to the equator. As a result, the northern and southern hemispheres are equally illuminated, the word comes from Latin equi or equal and nox meaning night. In other words, the equinoxes are the times when the subsolar point is on the equator. The subsolar point crosses the equator moving northward at the March equinox, the equinoxes, along with solstices, are directly related to the seasons of the year. In the southern hemisphere, the equinox occurs in September. When Julius Caesar established the Julian calendar in 45 BC, he set 25 March as the date of the spring equinox. Because the Julian year is longer than the tropical year. By 1500 AD, it had drifted backwards to 11 March and this drift induced Pope Gregory XIII to create a modern Gregorian calendar. However, the leap year intervals in his calendar were not smooth and this causes the equinox to oscillate by about 53 hours around its mean position. This in turn raised the possibility that it could fall on 22 March, the astronomers chose the appropriate number of days to omit so that the equinox would swing from 19 to 21 March but never fall on the 22nd. Vernal equinox and Autumnal equinox, these names are direct derivatives of Latin. The equivalent common language English terms spring equinox and autumn equinox are even more ambiguous, March equinox and September equinox, names referring to the months of the year they occur, with no ambiguity as to which hemisphere is the context. They are still not universal, however, as not all use a solar-based calendar where the equinoxes occur every year in the same month. Northward equinox and southward equinox, names referring to the apparent direction of motion of the Sun
20.
Plough
–
A plough or plow is a tool or farm implement used in farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed or planting to loosen or turn the soil. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by working animals such as horses or cattle, a plough may be made of wood, iron, or steel frame with an attached blade or stick used to cut the earth. It has been an instrument for most of recorded history. The plough represents one of the major agricultural inventions in human history, as the plough is drawn through the soil it creates long trenches of fertile soil called furrows. In modern use, a field is typically left to dry out. Ploughing and cultivating a soil homogenises and modifies the upper 12 to 25 cm of the soil to form a plough layer, in many soils, the majority of fine plant feeder roots can be found in the topsoil or plough layer. Ploughs were initially human-powered, but the process became more efficient once animals were pressed into service. The first animal-powered ploughs were undoubtedly pulled by oxen, and later in areas by horses and mules. In industrialised countries, the first mechanical means of pulling a plough were steam-powered, modern competitions take place for ploughing enthusiasts like the National Ploughing Championships in Ireland. By not ploughing, beneficial fungi and microbial life can develop that will bring air into the soil, retain water. A healthy soil full of active fungi and microbial life, combined with a crop, suppresses weeds and pests naturally. Thus the intensive use of water-, oil- and energy hungry irrigation, fertilisers, cultivated land becomes more fertile and productive over time, while tilled land tends to go down in productivity over time due to erosion and the removal of nutrients with every harvest. Proponents of permaculture claim that it is the way of farming that can be maintained when fossil fuel runs out. The term plough or plow, as used today, was not common until 1700, the modern word plough comes from Old Norse plógr, and therefore Germanic, but it appears relatively late, and is thought to be a loanword from one of the north Italic languages. Words with the same root appeared with related meanings, in Raetic plaumorati wheeled heavy plough, and in Latin plaustrum farm cart, plōstrum, plōstellum cart, and plōxenum, plōximum cart box. The word must have referred to the wheeled heavy plough. Orel tentatively attaches plough to a PIE stem *blōkó-, which gave Armenian peɫem to dig and Welsh bwlch crack, on modern ploughs and some older ploughs, the mouldboard is separate from the share and runner, so these parts can be replaced without replacing the mouldboard. Abrasion eventually destroys all parts of a plough that come into contact with the soil, digging sticks, hoes, and mattocks were not invented in any one place, and hoe-cultivation must have been common everywhere agriculture was practiced
21.
Langdale axe industry
–
The Langdale axe industry is the name given by archaeologists to specialised stone tool manufacturing centred at Great Langdale in Englands Lake District during the Neolithic period. The existence of a site was originally suggested by chance discoveries in the 1930s. The finds were mainly reject axes, rough-outs and blades created by knapping large lumps of the found in the scree or perhaps by simple quarrying or opencast mining. Hammerstones have also found in the scree and other lithic debitage from the industry such as blades and flakes. The area has outcrops of fine-grained greenstone or hornstone suitable for making polished stone axes, such axes have been found distributed across Great Britain. The rock is an epidotised greenstone quarried or perhaps just collected from the slopes in the Langdale Valley on Harrison Stickle. The nature and extent of the axe-flaking sites making up the Langdale Axe Factory complex are still under investigation, geological mapping has established that the volcanic tuff used for the axes outcrops along a narrow range of the highest peaks in the locality. Archaeologists are able to identify the nature of the Langdale stone by taking sections. The minerals in the rock have a pattern, using a method known as petrography. They have been able to reconstruct the methods and trade patterns employed by the axe makers. The Langdale industry produced roughly hewn axes and simple blocks, the highly polished final product were usually made elsewhere, such as at Ehenside tarn in the western fringes of the Lake District, and all were traded on throughout Britain and Ireland. The Langdale tuff was among the most common of the rocks used to make axes in the Neolithic period. Polishing the rough surfaces will have improved the strength of the axe as well as lowering friction when used against wood. Fractures occur more easily in brittle materials like stone when rough owing to the stress concentrations present at sharp corners, holes, removing those defects by polishing makes the axe much stronger, and able to withstand impact and shock loads from use. Sandstone was usually used for polishing axes, and whetstones have been nearby at Ehenside tarn. Large fixed outcrops were also used for polishing, and there are numerous examples across Europe. That at Fyfield Down near Avebury is an exception, but there must be many more awaiting discovery, the stone axes from Langdale have been found at archaeological sites across Britain and Ireland. An unusual concentration of finds occurs in the East of England, francis Pryor attributes this to these axes being particularly valued in this region
22.
John Aubrey
–
John Aubrey FRS, was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He is perhaps best known as the author of the Brief Lives and he was a pioneer archaeologist, who recorded numerous megalithic and other field monuments in southern England, and who is particularly noted as the discoverer of the Avebury henge monument. The Aubrey holes at Stonehenge are named after him, although there is doubt as to whether the holes that he observed are those that currently bear the name. He was also a pioneer folklorist, collecting together a miscellany of material on customs, traditions and he set out to compile county histories of both Wiltshire and Surrey, although both projects remained unfinished. His Interpretation of Villare Anglicanum was the first attempt to compile a full-length study of English place-names and he had wider interests in applied mathematics and astronomy, and was friendly with many of the greatest scientists of the day. For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, thanks largely to the popularity of Brief Lives, Aubrey was regarded as more than an entertaining but quirky, eccentric. Only in the 1970s did the full breadth and innovation of his begin to be more widely appreciated. He published little in his lifetime, and many of his most important manuscripts remain unpublished, or published only in partial and unsatisfactory form. Aubrey was born at Easton Piers or Percy, near Kington St Michael, Wiltshire, to a long-established and his grandfather, Isaac Lyte, lived at Lytes Cary Manor, Somerset, now owned by the National Trust. Richard Aubrey, his father, owned lands in Wiltshire and Herefordshire, for many years an only child, he was educated at home with a private tutor, he was melancholy in his solitude. His father was not intellectual, preferring field sports to learning, Aubrey read such books as came his way, including Bacons Essays, and studied geometry in secret. He was educated at the Malmesbury grammar school under Robert Latimer and he then studied at the grammar school at Blandford Forum, Dorset. He entered Trinity College, Oxford, in 1642, but his studies were interrupted by the English Civil War and his earliest antiquarian work dates from this period in Oxford. In 1646 he became a student of the Middle Temple and he spent a pleasant time at Trinity in 1647, making friends among his Oxford contemporaries, and collecting books. He was to show Avebury to Charles II at the Kings request in 1663 and his father died in 1652, leaving Aubrey large estates, but with them some complicated debts. He claimed that his memory was not tenacious by 17th-century standards, but from the early 1640s he kept notes of observations in natural philosophy, his friends ideas. He also began to write Lives of scientists in the 1650s, in 1659 he was recruited to contribute to a collaborative county history of Wiltshire, leading to his unfinished collections on the antiquities and the natural history of the county. His erstwhile friend and fellow-antiquary Anthony Wood predicted that he would one day break his neck while running downstairs in haste to interview some retreating guest or other and he drank the Kings health in Interregnum Herefordshire, but with equal enthusiasm attended meetings in London of the republican Rota Club
23.
William Camden
–
His father Sampson Camden was a member of The Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers. He attended Christs Hospital and St Pauls School, and in 1566 entered Oxford, at Christ Church, he became acquainted with Philip Sidney, who encouraged Camdens antiquarian interests. He returned to London in 1571 without a degree, in 1575, he became Usher of Westminster School, a position that gave him the freedom to travel and pursue his antiquarian researches during school vacations. In 1577, with the encouragement of Abraham Ortelius, Camden began his great work Britannia and his stated intention was to restore antiquity to Britaine, and Britain to his antiquity. The first edition, written in Latin, was published in 1586 and it proved very popular, and ran through five further editions, of 1587,1590,1594,1600 and 1607, each greatly enlarged from its predecessor in both textual content and illustrations. The 1607 edition included for the first time a set of English county maps, based on the surveys of Christopher Saxton and John Norden. The first English language edition, translated by Philemon Holland, appeared in 1610, Britannia is a county-by-county description of Great Britain and Ireland. It is a work of chorography, a study that relates landscape, geography, antiquarianism, and history. Rather than write a history, Camden wanted to describe in detail the Great Britain of the present, by this method, he produced the first coherent picture of Roman Britain. He continued to collect materials and to revise and expand Britannia throughout his life and he drew on the published and unpublished work of John Leland and William Lambarde, among others, and received the assistance of a large network of correspondents with similar interests. His fieldwork and firsthand research set new standards for the time and he even learned Welsh and Old English for the task, his tutor in Old English was Laurence Nowell. In 1593 Camden became headmaster of Westminster School and he held the post for four years, but left when he was appointed Clarenceux King of Arms. The College of Arms at that time was not only a centre of genealogical and heraldic study, the appointment, however, roused the jealousy of Ralph Brooke, York Herald, who, in retaliation, published an attack on Britannia, charging Camden with inaccuracy and plagiarism. Camden successfully defended himself against the charges in subsequent editions of the work, Britannia was recognised as an important work of Renaissance scholarship, not only in England, but across the European Republic of Letters. In 1612 parts were condemned by the Spanish Inquisition, an abridgement was published in Amsterdam in 1617 and reprinted in 1639, and versions of the text were also included in Joan Blaeus Theatrum Orbis Terrarum and in Jan Janssoniuss Novus Atlas. In 1597, Lord Burghley suggested that Camden write a history of Queen Elizabeths reign, Camden began his work in 1607. The first part of the Annales Rerum Gestarum Angliae et Hiberniae Regnate Elizabetha, covering the reign up to 1597, the second part was completed in 1617, but was not published until 1625, and 1627, following Camdens death. The first translation into English appeared in 1625, the Annales were not written in a continuous narrative, but in the style of earlier annals, giving the events of each year in a separate entry
24.
Long Meg and Her Daughters
–
Long Meg and Her Daughters is a Bronze Age stone circle near Penrith in Cumbria, North West England. It primarily consists of 59 stones set in an oval shape measuring 340ft on its long axis, there may originally have been as many as 70 stones. Long Meg herself is a 12ft high monolith of red sandstone 80ft to the southwest of the circle made by her Daughters, Long Meg is marked with examples of megalithic art including a cup and ring mark, a spiral and rings of concentric circles. Infra-red aerial photography has identified several undated enclosures that seem to pre-date the Long Meg circle in the area, there is also the smaller stone circle of Little Meg close by. The terrace upon which Long Meg and the circle sit extends along the Eden river to include, besides Little Meg. The stone circles, henges, cairns and other standing stones in the area are often grouped at nodes of communication routes, Long Meg and her Daughters lie on a terrace above water, immediately to the south of a ditched enclosure that runs round the present farm. This ditch seems to pre-date the circle of stones, as the latter is deliberately flattened to take the enclosure into account, a spring lies just above the northern perimeter of the enclosure, and another spring may have existed within the enclosure itself. Another, smaller, enclosure lies to the south-east, although the circle appears to have been built on a slope, Clare suggests that the large enclosure was made across a valley up to 16ft deep. This valley leads to the River Eden where deposits of gypsum are found and it is possible, therefore, like the henges at Thornborough in Yorkshire, that the banks of the ditched enclosure and the stone circle may have been white. The monument is 120yd x 100yd in diameter, Long Meg herself stands 80ft outside the circle,20 ft above the farthest stone in the circle, and is the tallest of the 69 stones at 12ft high and weighing c.9 tons. The Long Meg monolith is of red sandstone, probably from the River Eden or the nearby Lazonby hills. Two large blocks are placed to the east and west and there are two extra portal stones placed to the south-west, the placement of Long Meg is in the alignment between the centre of the circle and the point of the midwinter sunset. The south-west face of Long Meg has crystals in it, whereas the face looking towards the circle has spirals, the circle may have had a bank running round some of the stones at least, and the centre may have been scraped out to some extent. Sir William Dugdale reported that there were two barrows of cobble-stones, nine or ten feet high in the centre of the circle and it is thought that these were later burials using cobbles from the surrounding area. Four of the stones in the circle appear to be non-local and are formed of quartz crystal and they seem to have been deliberately selected and placed at specific points in the circle that mark certain calendrical events. They work by standing outside the circle at the directly opposite to the quartz stone concerned. One alignment, at Samhain / All Souls Day, may involve Long Meg herself, the use of different coloured stones also seems to be significant - red, white and blue/gray predominate. There might also be a red stone on the east side of the Long Meg circle, involved in the Autumn and Vernal equinox sunrises
25.
Iron Age
–
The Iron Age is an archaeological era, referring to a period of time in the prehistory and protohistory of the Old World when the dominant toolmaking material was iron. It is commonly preceded by the Bronze Age in Europe and Asia with exceptions, meteoric iron has been used by humans since at least 3200 BC. Ancient iron production did not become widespread until the ability to smelt ore, remove impurities. The start of the Iron Age proper is considered by many to fall between around 1200 BC and 600 BC, depending on the region, the earliest known iron artifacts are nine small beads dated to 3200 BC, which were found in burials at Gerzeh, Lower Egypt. They have been identified as meteoric iron shaped by careful hammering, meteoric iron, a characteristic iron–nickel alloy, was used by various ancient peoples thousands of years before the Iron Age. Such iron, being in its metallic state, required no smelting of ores. Smelted iron appears sporadically in the record from the middle Bronze Age. While terrestrial iron is abundant, its high melting point of 1,538 °C placed it out of reach of common use until the end of the second millennium BC. Tins low melting point of 231, similarly, recent archaeological remains of iron working in the Ganges Valley in India have been tentatively dated to 1800 BC. By the Middle Bronze Age, increasing numbers of smelted iron objects appeared in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, African sites are turning up dates as early as 1200 BC. Modern archaeological evidence identifies the start of iron production in around 1200 BC. Between 1200 BC and 1000 BC, diffusion in the understanding of iron metallurgy and use of objects was fast. As evidence, many bronze implements were recycled into weapons during this time, more widespread use of iron led to improved steel-making technology at lower cost. Thus, even when tin became available again, iron was cheaper, stronger, and lighter, and forged iron implements superseded cast bronze tools permanently. Increasingly, the Iron Age in Europe is being seen as a part of the Bronze Age collapse in the ancient Near East, in ancient India, ancient Iran, and ancient Greece. In other regions of Europe, the Iron Age began in the 8th century BC in Central Europe, the Near Eastern Iron Age is divided into two subsections, Iron I and Iron II. Iron I illustrates both continuity and discontinuity with the previous Late Bronze Age, during the Iron Age, the best tools and weapons were made from steel, particularly alloys which were produced with a carbon content between approximately 0. 30% and 1. 2% by weight. Steel weapons and tools were nearly the same weight as those of bronze, however, steel was difficult to produce with the methods available, and alloys that were easier to make, such as wrought iron, were more common in lower-priced goods
26.
Druid
–
A druid was a member of the high-ranking professional class in ancient Celtic cultures. While perhaps best remembered as religious leaders, they were also legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and they are however attested in some detail by their contemporaries from other cultures, such as the Romans. The earliest known references to the date to the fourth century BCE. Later Greco-Roman writers also described the Druids, including Cicero, Tacitus, in about 750 CE the word druid appears in a poem by Blathmac, who wrote about Jesus, saying that he was. Better than a prophet, more knowledgeable than every druid, a king who was a bishop, the druids then also appear in some of the medieval tales from Christianized Ireland like the Táin Bó Cúailnge, where they are largely portrayed as sorcerers who opposed the coming of Christianity. In the wake of the Celtic revival during the 18th and 19th centuries, fraternal and neopagan groups were founded based on ideas about the ancient druids, many popular notions about druids are based on the misconceptions of 18th century scholars. These have been superseded by more recent study. The modern English word druid derives from the Latin druides, which was considered by ancient Roman writers to come from the native Celtic Gaulish word for these figures, other Roman texts also employ the form druidae, while the same term was used by Greek ethnographers as δρυΐδης. Based on all forms, the hypothetical proto-Celtic word may then be reconstructed as *dru-wid-s meaning oak-knower. The two elements go back to the Proto-Indo-European roots *deru- and *weid- to see, the sense of oak-knower is supported by Pliny the Elder, who in his Natural History considered the word to contain the Greek noun drýs, oak-tree and the Greek suffix -idēs. The modern Irish word for Oak is Dair, which occurs in anglicized placenames like Derry – Doire, there are many stories about saints, heroes, and oak trees, and also many local stories and superstitions about trees in general, which still survive in rural Ireland. Both Old Irish druí and Middle Welsh dryw could also refer to the wren, sources by ancient and medieval writers provide an idea of the religious duties and social roles involved in being a druid. One of the few things that both the Greco-Roman and the vernacular Irish sources agree on about the druids is that played an important part in pagan Celtic society. He also claimed that they were exempt from service and from the payment of taxes. Pomponius Mela is the first author who says that the instruction was secret and was carried on in caves. Druidic lore consisted of a number of verses learned by heart. What was taught to Druid novices anywhere is conjecture, of the oral literature, not one certifiably ancient verse is known to have survived. All instruction was communicated orally, but for ordinary purposes, Caesar reports, in this he probably draws on earlier writers, by the time of Caesar, Gaulish inscriptions had moved from the Greek script to the Latin script
27.
William Stukeley
–
William Stukeley FRS, FRCP, FSA was an Anglican clergyman and English antiquarian who pioneered the archaeological investigation of the prehistoric monuments of Stonehenge and Avebury. He was friends with Isaac Newton and was among Newtons first biographers, Stukeley was also involved with Freemasonry and instrumental in British scholarships acceptance of Charles Bertrams forged Description of Britain. Despite his Anglican faith and church offices, he was obsessed with the idea of Druidry and he has been remembered as probably. The most important of the forerunners of the discipline of archaeology for his habit of going out personally to examine. William Stukeley was the son of a lawyer at Holbeach in Lincolnshire on the site of Stukeley Hall, after taking his M. B. degree at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Stukeley went to London and studied medicine at St Thomas Hospital. In 1710, he started in practice in Boston, Lincolnshire, becoming a member of Spalding Gentlemens Society, before returning in 1717 to London. In the same year, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society and, in 1718, joined in the establishment of the Society of Antiquaries, acting for nine years as its secretary. In 1719 Stukeley took his M. D. degree, and in 1720 became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Stukeley was one of the first learned gentlemen to be attracted to speculative Freemasonry, newly fashionable after the appointment of the first noble Grand Master. His Diary and Commonplace Book of 6 June 1721 says I was made a Freemason at the Salutation Tav, tavistock Street, with Mr. Collins, Capt. Rowe, who made the famous diving Engine. His diary and papers are among the earliest sources on the subject of the new Grand Lodge, Stukeleys principal works, elaborate accounts of Stonehenge and Avebury, appeared in 1740 and 1743. These were supposed to be the first of a universal history. Stukeley proposed that an ancient patriarchial religion was the religion of mankind. This had subsequently degenerated as idol-worship had emerged, Stukeley believed that the Druids and the early Christians were examples of this religion. He wrote copiously on other supposed Druid remains, becoming known as the Arch-Druid. Stukeleys work on Stonehenge was one of the first to attempt to date the monument, working with the renowned astronomer Edmund Halley, he proposed that the builders of Stonehenge knew about magnetism, and had aligned the monument with magnetic north. Stukeley used some data about the variation of the North Magnetic Pole. Today it is known that the North Magnetic Pole wanders in an irregular fashion, however, Stukeley inferred that Stonehenge was completed in 460 B. C. which as we now know is several thousand years too late. In 1729 he took Holy Orders and he became a priest in the Church of England
28.
John Keats
–
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. He had a significant influence on a range of poets. Jorge Luis Borges stated that his first encounter with Keatss work was the most significant literary experience of his life, the poetry of Keats is characterised by sensual imagery, most notably in the series of odes. This is typical of poets, as they aimed to accentuate extreme emotion through the emphasis of natural imagery. Today his poems and letters are some of the most popular, John Keats was born in Moorgate, London, on 31 October 1795 to Thomas Keats and his wife, born Frances Jennings. There is no evidence of his exact birthplace. Although Keats and his family seem to have marked his birthday on 29 October and he was the eldest of four surviving children, his younger siblings were George, Thomas, and Frances Mary Fanny who eventually married Spanish author Valentín Llanos Gutiérrez. Another son was lost in infancy and his father first worked as a hostler at the stables attached to the Swan and Hoop Inn, an establishment he later managed, and where the growing family lived for some years. Keats believed that he was born at the inn, a birthplace of humble origins, the Globe pub now occupies the site, a few yards from the modern-day Moorgate station. He was baptised at St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate, and sent to a dame school as a child. His parents were unable to afford Eton or Harrow, so in the summer of 1803, he was sent to board at John Clarkes school in Enfield, the small school had a liberal outlook and a progressive curriculum more modern than the larger, more prestigious schools. In the family atmosphere at Clarkes, Keats developed an interest in classics and history, the headmasters son, Charles Cowden Clarke, also became an important mentor and friend, introducing Keats to Renaissance literature, including Tasso, Spenser, and Chapmans translations. The young Keats was described by his friend Edward Holmes as a character, always in extremes, given to indolence. However, at 13 he began focusing his energy on reading and study, in April 1804, when Keats was eight, his father died. The cause of death was a fracture, suffered when he fell from his horse while returning from a visit to Keats. Frances remarried two months later, but left her new husband soon afterwards, and the four went to live with their grandmother, Alice Jennings. In March 1810 when Keats was 14, his mother died of tuberculosis and she appointed two guardians, Richard Abbey and John Sandell, to take care of them. That autumn, Keats left Clarkes school to apprentice with Thomas Hammond, a surgeon and apothecary who was a neighbour, Keats lodged in the attic above the surgery at 7 Church Street until 1813
29.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
–
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He wrote the poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan and his critical work, especially on William Shakespeare, was highly influential, and he helped introduce German idealist philosophy to English-speaking culture. Coleridge coined many words and phrases, including suspension of disbelief. He was an influence on Ralph Waldo Emerson and American transcendentalism. Throughout his adult life Coleridge had crippling bouts of anxiety and depression, it has been speculated that he had bipolar disorder and he was physically unhealthy, which may have stemmed from a bout of rheumatic fever and other childhood illnesses. He was treated for these conditions with laudanum, which fostered a lifelong opium addiction, Coleridge was born on 21 October 1772 in the town of Ottery St Mary in Devon, England. He had previously been Master of Hugh Squiers School in South Molton, Devon, John Coleridge had three children by his first wife. Samuel was the youngest of ten by the Reverend Mr. Coleridges second wife, Anne Bowden, probably the daughter of John Bowden, Mayor of South Molton, Devon, Coleridge suggests that he took no pleasure in boyish sports but instead read incessantly and played by himself. At that school Coleridge became friends with Charles Lamb, a schoolmate, in fancy I can almost hear him now, exclaiming Harp. Pen and ink, boy, you mean, oh aye. the cloister-pump, I suppose. Be this as it may, there was one custom of our masters and he would often permit our theme exercises. To accumulate, till each lad had four or five to be looked over, throughout his life, Coleridge idealised his father as pious and innocent, while his relationship with his mother was more problematic. His childhood was characterised by attention seeking, which has linked to his dependent personality as an adult. He was rarely allowed to return home during the term. He later wrote of his loneliness at school in the poem Frost at Midnight, With unclosed lids, from 1791 until 1794, Coleridge attended Jesus College, Cambridge. In 1792, he won the Browne Gold Medal for an ode that he wrote on the slave trade, afterwards, he was rumoured to have had a bout of severe depression. His brothers arranged for his discharge a few months later under the reason of insanity and he was readmitted to Jesus College, at Jesus College, Coleridge was introduced to political and theological ideas then considered radical, including those of the poet Robert Southey. Coleridge joined Southey in a plan, soon abandoned, to found a utopian society, called Pantisocracy
30.
Ann Radcliffe
–
Ann Radcliffe was an English author and pioneer of the Gothic novel. Her style is Romantic in its descriptions of landscapes and long travel scenes. It was her technique, the supernatural as the final revelation of inexplicable phenomena. Little is known of Ann Radcliffes life, christina Rossetti attempted to write a biography of her, but abandoned it for lack of information. According to Ruth Facer, Physically, she was said to be exquisitely proportioned – quite short, complexion beautiful as was her whole countenance, especially her eyes, eyebrows, Radcliffe was born Ann Ward in Holborn, London, on 9 July 1764. Her father was William Ward, a haberdasher, who moved to Bath to manage a china shop. Radcliffe occasionally lived with her Uncle, Thomas Bentley, in Chelsea, Bentley is best known for his partnership with his fellow Unitarian, Josiah Wedgewood, maker of the famous Wedgewood china. Sukey, Wedgewood’s daughter, also stayed in Chelsea and is Radcliffe’s only known childhood companion, sukey later married Dr Robert Darwin and had a son, Charles Darwin. Although mixing in some distinguished circles, Radcliffe seems to have made little impression in society and was described by Wedgewood as “Bentley’s shy niece”. In 1787, she married the Oxford graduate and journalist William Radcliffe, part-owner and he often came home late, and to occupy her time she began to write, and read her work to him when he returned. Theirs was a childless, but seemingly happy, marriage, Radcliffe called him her nearest relative and friend. The money she earned from her novels later allowed them to travel together, along with their dog, in her final years, Radcliffe retreated from public life and was rumoured to have become insane as a result of her writing. Ann died on the 7th February 1823 and was buried in a vault in the Chapel of Ease at St George’s in Hanover Square, Bayswater, London. ”There are few artefacts or manuscripts that give insight into Radcliffes personal life, but in 2014 a rare letter from Radcliffe to her mother-in-law was found in an archive at the British Library. Its tone suggests a relationship between the two, similar to the relationship of Ellena Rosalba and the Marchesa di Vivaldi in her novel The Italian. Radcliffes fiction is marked by supernatural events that are then provided with rational explanations. Throughout her work, traditional values are asserted, the rights of women are advocated. Radcliffe published six novels and a book of poetry, Radcliffe is considered one of the founders of Gothic literature. While there were others that preceded her, Radcliffe was the one that legitimised the genre, sir Walter Scott called her the founder of a class or school
31.
Stratigraphy
–
Stratigraphy is a branch of geology which studies rock layers and layering. It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks, stratigraphy has two related subfields, lithologic stratigraphy or lithostratigraphy, and biologic stratigraphy or biostratigraphy. The first practical application of stratigraphy was by William Smith in the 1790s. Another influential application of stratigraphy in the early 19th century was a study by Georges Cuvier, variation in rock units, most obviously displayed as visible layering, is due to physical contrasts in rock type. This variation can occur vertically as layering, or laterally, and these variations provide a lithostratigraphy or lithologic stratigraphy of the rock unit. Key concepts in stratigraphy involve understanding how certain geometric relationships between rock layers arise and what these geometries imply about their original depositional environment. The basic concept in stratigraphy, called the law of superposition, states, in a stratigraphic sequence. Chemostratigraphy studies the changes in the proportions of trace elements and isotopes within. Carbon and oxygen isotope ratios vary with time, and researchers can use those to map subtle changes that occurred in the paleoenvironment and this has led to the specialized field of isotopic stratigraphy. Biostratigraphy or paleontologic stratigraphy is based on evidence in the rock layers. Strata from widespread locations containing the fossil fauna and flora are said to be correlatable in time. Biologic stratigraphy was based on William Smiths principle of succession, which predated. It provides strong evidence for the formation and extinction of species, the geologic time scale was developed during the 19th century, based on the evidence of biologic stratigraphy and faunal succession. One important development is the Vail curve, which attempts to define a global historical sea-level curve according to inferences from worldwide stratigraphic patterns, stratigraphy is also commonly used to delineate the nature and extent of hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir rocks, seals, and traps of petroleum geology. Chronostratigraphy is the branch of stratigraphy that places an absolute age, a gap or missing strata in the geological record of an area is called a stratigraphic hiatus. This may be the result of a halt in the deposition of sediment, alternatively, the gap may be due to removal by erosion, in which case it may be called a stratigraphic vacuity. It is called a hiatus because deposition was on hold for a period of time, a physical gap may represent both a period of non-deposition and a period of erosion. A geologic fault may cause the appearance of a hiatus, magnetostratigraphy is a chronostratigraphic technique used to date sedimentary and volcanic sequences
32.
Alexander Thom
–
Alexander Sandy Thom was a Scottish engineer most famous for his theory of the Megalithic yard, categorisation of stone circles and his studies of Stonehenge and other archaeological sites. Thom was born in Carradale in 1894 and his mother was Lily Stevenson Strang from the family of Robert Louis Stevenson. Her mother belonged to a family from Symington, upon whom had been bestowed the land by Robert the Bruce. His father was a tenant farmer at Mains farm for Carradale House. His father trained the Church choir while his mother was pianist, Thom spent his early years at Mains farm until moving to The Hill farm at Dunlop, Ayrshire. Instilled with a work ethic by his father, Thom taught himself industrial engineering. In 1912 he attended school at Loch Eck where he was trained in surveying and field astronomy by Dr. David Clark. In 1913, aged just 19, he assisted in surveying the Canadian Pacific Rail Network, Thom graduated from the Royal College of Science and Technology and the University of Glasgow in 1914, earning a BSc with special distinction in Engineering. He suffered from a heart murmur and was not drafted during the First World War, instead he went to work in civil engineering of the Forth Bridge and later designed flying boats for the Gosport Aircraft Company. In 1917 he married Jeanie Kirkwood with whom he shared a long and he returned to the University of Glasgow and worked as a lecturer from 1922 to 1939, quickly earning his PhD and DSc degrees. He built his own home called Thalassa in 1922, along with a windmill to power it with electricity and his father died in 1924 and he took over running the farm where he fathered three children, Archibald, Beryl and Alan. Thom helped to develop the Department of Aeronautics at Glasgow University and lectured on statistics, practical field surveying, theodolite design, from 1930 to 1935 he was a Carnegie Teaching Fellow. Thom became especially interested in the circles of the British Isles and France. In 1955, Alexander Thom published A statistical examination of sites in Britain in which he first suggested the megalithic yard as a standardised prehistoric measurement. He retired from academia in 1961 to spend the rest of his devoted to this area of research. The Thom Building, housing the Department of Engineering Science at Oxford and he suggested several were built as astronomical complexes to predict eclipses via nineteen-year cycles. Thom went on to identify solar and stellar alignments at stone circles. He further suggested the prehistoric peoples of Britain must have used a method of keeping calendar
33.
Geophysical survey (archaeology)
–
In archaeology, geophysical survey is ground-based physical sensing techniques used for archaeological imaging or mapping. Remote sensing and marine surveys are used in archaeology, but are generally considered separate disciplines. Other terms, such as geophysical prospection and archaeological geophysics are generally synonymous, Geophysical survey is used to create maps of subsurface archaeological features. Features are the part of the archaeological record, whether standing structures or traces of human activities left in the soil. Geophysical instruments can detect buried features when their physical properties contrast measurably with their surroundings, in some cases individual artifacts, especially metal, may be detected as well. Readings taken in a systematic pattern become a set that can be rendered as image maps. Survey results can be used to guide excavation and to give insight into the patterning of non-excavated parts of the site. Unlike other archaeological methods, geophysical survey is neither invasive nor destructive, for this reason, it is often used where preservation is the goal, and to avoid disturbance of culturally sensitive sites such as cemeteries. Although geophysical survey has been used in the past with intermittent success and it is most useful when it is used in a well-integrated research design where interpretations can be tested and refined. Interpretation requires a knowledge both of the record, and of the way it is expressed geophysically. Appropriate instrumentation, survey design, and data processing are essential for success, in the field, control of data quality and spatial accuracy are critical. Geophysical methods used in archaeology are largely adapted from those used in exploration, engineering. Archaeological mapping presents unique challenges, however, which have spurred a separate development of methods, in general, geological applications are concerned with detecting relatively large structures, often as deeply as possible. In contrast, most archaeological sites are relatively near the surface, often within the top meter of earth. Instruments are often configured to limit the depth of response to resolve the near-surface phenomena that are likely to be of interest. ”To accomplish this requires not only sensitivity. Most commonly applied to archaeology are magnetometers, electrical meters, ground-penetrating radar. These methods can resolve many types of features, are capable of high sample density surveys of very large areas. While common metal detectors are geophysical sensors, they are not capable of generating high-resolution imagery, other established and emerging technologies are also finding use in archaeological applications
34.
Durham University
–
Durham University is a collegiate public research university in Durham, North East England, with a second campus in nearby Stockton-on-Tees. It was founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837 and it was one of the first universities to commence tuition in England for more than 600 years and claims to be the third oldest university in England, although this is disputed. The Durham University estate includes 63 listed buildings, ranging from the 11th-century Durham Castle to a 1930s Art Deco Chapel, the university also owns and manages the Durham World Heritage Site in partnership with Durham Cathedral. The universitys ownership of the World Heritage Site includes Durham Castle, Palace Green, the chancellor of the University is Sir Thomas Allen, who succeeded Bill Bryson in January 2012. As a collegiate university, its functions are divided between the academic departments of the university and 16 colleges. The university is a member of the Russell Group of leading UK universities after previously being a member of the 1994 Group, Durham is also affiliated with several university groups including the N8 Research Partnership, the Matariki Network of Universities and the Coimbra Group. The university is currently ranked 4th to 6th by recent national league tables of the British universities, in terms of average UCAS points of new entrants in 2014, Durham ranked 4th with the average entrant amassing 524 UCAS points. Long established as the rival to Oxford and Cambridge, the university attracts a largely middle class student body according to The Timess Good University Guide. In 2014, Durham had the fifth highest proportion of educated students at 36. 6%. The university was Sunday Times University of the Year for 2005, also making the shortlist for the 2004 and 2016 awards, Durham graduates have long used the Latin post-nominal letters Dunelm after their degree, from Dunelmensis. However, there was concern expressed by Oxford and Cambridge that the awarding of degree powers could hinder their position. The act received Royal Assent from King William IV on 4 July 1832, the University opened on 28 October 1833. In 1834 all but two of the bishops of the Church of England confirmed that they would accept holders of Durham degrees for ordination, accommodation was provided in the Archdeacons Inn from 1833 to 1837. On the accession of Queen Victoria an order of the Queen-in-Council was issued granting the use of Durham Castle to the university, in 1846, Bishop Hatfields Hall was founded, providing for the opportunity for students to obtain affordable lodgings with fully catered communal eating. Those attending University College were expected to bring a servant with them to deal with cooking, cleaning, elsewhere, the university expanded from Durham into Newcastle in 1852 when the medical school there became a college of the university. This was joined in 1871 by the College of Physical Sciences and these merged to form a mixed college in 1975. From 1896 these were associated with the university and graduates of St Hilds were the first female graduates from Durham in 1898, during the expansion phase the University also became the first English university to establish relationship with overseas institutions. Firstly in 1875 with Codrington College, Barbados, and secondly in early 1876 with Fourah Bay College, under the arrangements the two colleges became affiliated colleges of the university with their students sitting examinations for and receiving Durham degrees
35.
Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882
–
The Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The 1882 Act contains a schedule of the initial 68 sites that were covered by the legislation. This schedule exclusively focussed on pre-historic monuments, and covered some of the most famous sites in the country. There were 26 English sites listed in the Schedule, in just 10 counties, welsh monuments were represented by one site in each of north, south and west Wales. The 1882 Schedule included 21 monuments, the majority of which are prehistoric sites, two are Neolithic, five Bronze Age, eight Iron Age and six from early Christian/Pictish periods, although two of the prehistoric stones also have notable early Christian additions. Those sites now in the care of Historic Scotland are indicated with, in 1882 the whole of Ireland was under British administration Subsequent legislation for Ireland used the terminology of Historic Monuments which continues in Northern Ireland. Three sites in the Schedule are in what became Northern Ireland, one being in County Armagh, the fifteen sites now in the Republic of Ireland are protected by the National Monuments Service and include two world heritage sites. As with England and Wales, the 1882 selection was overwhelmingly what were thought to be prehistoric sites, although there is now uncertainty on the age of many sites
36.
Hardwicke Rawnsley
–
Canon Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley, was a Church of England clergyman, poet, hymn writer, local politician, and conservationist. He was also one of the founders of the National Trust, living in the English Lake District for more than thirty years, he worked for the protection of the countryside and secured the support of people of influence for his campaigns. Rawnsley was born at the rectory, Shiplake, Oxfordshire, England, an older brother, Willingham Franklin Rawnsley, became an author and schoolmaster. He was educated at Uppingham School and Balliol College, Oxford and he gained a third class degree in natural science in 1874 and was awarded his Master of Arts degree in 1875. In the same year he was ordained as a deacon in the Church of England and became the first chaplain of Clifton College mission, ministering to one of Bristols poorest areas. In 1877 Rawnsley was ordained as a priest, and in 1878 he took up the post of Vicar of Wray, Windermere, in January 1878, he married Edith Fletcher, and the couple had one child, a son, Noel. In 1882, the young Beatrix Potter holidayed in nearby Wray Castle with her parents and they entertained many eminent guests, including Rawnsley. His views on preserving the beauty of Lake District had a lasting effect on Potter. He was the first published author she met, and he took a great interest in her drawings, later encouraging her to publish her first book, Rawnsley became engaged in local campaigns to protect the countryside. This success led to the formation of the Lake District Defence Society, besides Rawnsley, members included Robert Browning, the Duke of Westminster, Ruskin, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson, with whom Rawnsley had a family connection. In 1883 Rawnsley was appointed Vicar of Crosthwaite, near Keswick, in 1891 was appointed as an honorary canon of Carlisle Cathedral. In 1884 he and his wife began organising classes in metalwork and wood carving, which resulted in the establishment of a School of Industrial Art in Keswick, which remained in operation until 1986. His interest in education led him to take a large part in founding Keswick High School. In 1888 Rawnsley was elected as a member of the new Cumberland County Council and he stood out against the construction of roads over lakeland passes, secured controls over mining pollution, and promoted adequate signposting of footpaths. Other targets for his reforming zeal included the brewing industry and in years the cinema. While he opposed what he saw as excessive numbers of public houses, the Trust became a reality in 1895, its co-founders were Rawnsley, Octavia Hill and Sir Robert Hunter. Until his death, Rawnsley worked as Honorary Secretary to the Trust and he was responsible for the campaign to raise money to buy Brandlehow Wood, the National Trusts first purchase in the Lake District. In 1912 he was appointed to the honorary position of chaplain to the King
37.
Wikisource
–
Wikisource is an online digital library of free content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project, the projects aims are to host all forms of free text, in many languages, and translations. Originally conceived as an archive to store useful or important historical texts, the project officially began in November 24,2003 under the name Project Sourceberg. The name Wikisource was adopted later that year and it received its own domain name seven months later, the project has come under criticism for lack of reliability but it is also cited by organisations such as the National Archives and Records Administration. The project holds works that are either in the domain or freely licensed, professionally published works or historical source documents, not vanity products. Verification was initially made offline, or by trusting the reliability of digital libraries. Now works are supported by online scans via the ProofreadPage extension, some individual Wikisources, each representing a specific language, now only allow works backed up with scans. While the bulk of its collection are texts, Wikisource as a whole hosts other media, some Wikisources allow user-generated annotations, subject to the specific policies of the Wikisource in question. Wikisources early history included several changes of name and location, the original concept for Wikisource was as storage for useful or important historical texts. These texts were intended to support Wikipedia articles, by providing evidence and original source texts. The collection was focused on important historical and cultural material. The project was originally called Project Sourceberg during its planning stages, in 2001, there was a dispute on Wikipedia regarding the addition of primary source material, leading to edit wars over their inclusion or deletion. Project Sourceberg was suggested as a solution to this, perhaps Project Sourceberg can mainly work as an interface for easily linking from Wikipedia to a Project Gutenberg file, and as an interface for people to easily submit new work to PG. Wed want to complement Project Gutenberg--how, exactly, and Jimmy Wales adding like Larry, Im interested that we think it over to see what we can add to Project Gutenberg. It seems unlikely that primary sources should in general be editable by anyone -- I mean, Shakespeare is Shakespeare, unlike our commentary on his work, the project began its activity at ps. wikipedia. org. The contributors understood the PS subdomain to mean either primary sources or Project Sourceberg, however, this resulted in Project Sourceberg occupying the subdomain of the Pashto Wikipedia. A vote on the name changed it to Wikisource on December 6,2003. Despite the change in name, the project did not move to its permanent URL until July 23,2004, since Wikisource was initially called Project Sourceberg, its first logo was a picture of an iceberg
38.
International Standard Book Number
–
The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
39.
Metsamor Castle
–
Metsamor Castle, is the remains of an old fortress located to the southwest of the Armenian village of Taronik, in the Armavir Province. It has been populated starting from the 5th millennium BC until the 18th century AD, the excavations of the tombs of Metsamor Castle began in 1965. The site is noted for its observatory and temple complexes consisted of seven sanctuaries, neolithic stone circles dating back to ca.5000 BC stand within the historical site, interpreted by enthusiasts of archaeoastronomy as an astronomical observatory. The Museum of History and Archeology at Metsamor Site was opened in 1968 and it is the repository of more than 22,000 items, almost all uncovered at the site
40.
Zorats Karer
–
Zorats Karer, also called Karahunj, Qarahunj or Carahunge and Carenish is a prehistoric archaeological site near the town of Sisian in the Syunik Province of Armenia. It is also referred to in international tourist lore as the Armenian Stonehenge. It is located on a promontory near Sisian. The name Carahunge is interpreted as deriving from two Armenian words, car, meaning stone, and hunge or hoonch, meaning sound, thus the name Carahunge means Speaking Stones. In 2004, the site was named the Karahunj Observatory. Carahunge is also known in local lore as Zorats Karer, Dik-dik Karer, the Carahunge Monument consists of the following parts, the central circle, the north arm, the south arm, N-E alley, the chord and separate standing stones. The site is rich with stone settings, burial cists and standing stones - Menhirs, the heights of the stones range from 0.5 to 3 m and weight up to 10 tons. They are basalt stones, eroded by time and covered with moss, the inside surface of holes preserved much better. There are also broken and unnumbered stones. About 80 of the feature a circular hole, although only 37 of the stones. They have been of interest to Russian and Armenian archaeoastronomers who have suggested that the stones could have been used for astronomical observation. Seventeen of the stones were associated with observations of sunrise or sunset at the solstices and equinoxes, however, this must remain conjectural as the holes are relatively unweathered and may not even be prehistoric in origin. The astronomical significance of megalithic structures at Zorats Karer was first explored by Armenian archaeologist Onik Khnkikyan in 1984, investigation by radiophysicist Paris Herouni and his research team during 1994-2001 led them to the now disputed conclusion that Carahunge is the worlds oldest astronomical observatory. In a letter to Herouni, Professor Hawkins confirmed his Armenian colleague’s similar conclusions about Zorats Karer, stating, in particular, “I admire the precise calculations you have made. I am most impressed with the work you have done. They identified the site as a necropolis dating mainly from the Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age, archaeoastronomer Clive Ruggles wrote that Inevitably there have been other claims—more speculative and less supportable—relating to the astronomical significance of the site. One is that it can be dated to the sixth millennium BCE and direct comparisons with Stonehenge. Armenian biologist and mathematician Vachagan Vahradyan has recently developed the hypothesis about the astronomical function of this archaeological complex
41.
Gobustan National Park
–
It is located west of the settlement of Gobustan, about 40 miles southwest of the centre of Baku on the west bank of the Caspian Sea. The territory of Gobustan is cut up with numerous, sometimes rather deep ravines and that is a suggested origin of the Gobustan geographical name. In 1966 Gobustan was declared a historical landmark of Azerbaijan in an attempt to preserve the ancient carvings, relics. The mountains Boyukdash, Kichikdash, Jingirdag, and the Yazili hill were taken under government protection. These mountains are located near the Caspian Sea, in the southeast part of Gobustan, the archeological value of Gobustan was discovered when a group of men went in to mine for gravel in 1930. While the zone is abundant in boulders and stone formations, one mine employee noticed the sacred carvings on the rocks and they also discovered man-made caves wherein more of the drawings can be found. Gobustan is very rich in archaeological monuments, the reserve has more than 6,000 rock engravings dating back between 5, 000–40,000 years. The site, which covers an area of 537 ha, is part of the larger protected Gobustan Reservation, iskhag Jafarzadeh who was one of the pioneers of Azerbaijan archaeology and ethnography, excavated over seventy artifacts on Azerbaijans territory and studied the Gobustan rock paintings. In 1948 during the Gobustan expedition, he discovered the Latin rock inscription near mountain Boyukdash, some 70 km far from Baku, petroglyphs from Gobustan are depicted on the reverse of the Azerbaijani 5 manat banknote issued since 2006. As of 2011, The Petroglyph Museum functions in the park, today Gobustan is the most popular state reserve and is an invaluable treasure-house of Azerbaijan. For other state reserves see State Reserves of Azerbaijan, some of notable features among other animal rock arts are marine species that can not be found in todays Caspian Sea, such as baleen whales, beaked whales or dolphins, and auks. The climate of Gobustan is a dry one, with rather mild winters. An atmospheric precipitation is small and so are the springs of Big Caucasus area, in the remote past, the flora and fauna of Gobustan were incomparably richer. Its landscape represented a kind of savanna with corresponding climate, here were large herds of wild bulls, goats, deer, wild horses, donkeys, wild boars, and gazelles hunted by asiatic lions, gray wolves, wildcats and leopards. The vegetative world of Gobustan has a character that is common for deserts and semi-deserts and it consists of ephemeris grasses and bushes, wormwood and similar long-term plants. The fauna of Gobustan has strongly grown poor for the last decades of years. The natural inhabitants of Gobustan now are rare foxes, jackals, wolves, hares and wild cats, giant ditch frogs, wild pigeons, Azerbaijan and its Caspian coastline are home to nearly 400 mud volcanoes, more than half the total throughout the world. In 2001, one mud volcano 15 kilometers from Baku made world headlines when it started ejecting flames 15 meters high
42.
Beglik Tash
–
Beglik Tash, is a prehistoric rock sanctuary situated on the southern Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, a few kilometers north of the city of Primorsko. It was re-used by the Thracian tribes in the Iron Age, at the end of the 19th century, the Czech-Bulgarian historian and archaeologist Karel Škorpil produced the first scientific account of the sanctuary, which was then known as Apostol Tash. In 2002, the Bulgarian archaeologists started excavating the place under the supervision of archaeologist Tsonia Drazheva, most of the megaliths have traces of carvings for the purposes of Thracian rituals. There are also the remains of a labyrinth that visitors can pass through, a Thracian sun clock is formed from huge stones. There is also a 150-ton rock that rests on the ground in two places, and a womb-cave. Every day at noon, a ray of sunlight enters the entrance of the cave. According to late Bulgarian archaeologist Prof, the site is an open-air museum maintained by the Burgas Historical Society. It is visited annually by 40,000 tourists, beglik Tash is located in the vicinity of two other Thracian sites, the city of Ranuli and the fortress of Pharmakida in the Strandhza mountain. In Vagabond, Bulgarias English Monthly,28 July 2009
43.
Sacred pit of Garlo
–
The Sacred pit of Garlo is an archaeological site located near the village of Garlo in Pernik District, Bulgaria. It was excavated in 1972 by Professor Dr. Dimitrina Mitova-Dzhonova, Professor Dzhonova dates the pit around the 11th century BC and relates the site to the sacred pits found within the remains of the Nuragic civilization in Sardinia. The sacred pit was constructed in a little valley lined with many springs in prehistoric times, the southern part of the pit is dug in the ground. Seven meters long corridor with thirteen stone steps leads into a domed room at the center over the source there is a well with a depth of 5 meters. Outside Sardinia such sites are excavated in Crimean Peninsula Crimea and Palestine, the sacred pit is a sophisticated device, established entirely underground. The long axis of the well is oriented North-South bit it was constructed on the slope of a hill. The entrance to the chamber is located on the east side of the device. It represents a stair of 24 stairs 1.1 m wide, the first nine stairs are in open air, the next 15 are underground. The stair leads to an underground vaulted round circular chamber with 4.2 m. diameter, on the top of the vault there is a circular hole to the sky. The opening is 2.3 m. wide, the underground stair joins the vaulted chamber by an arched gate 2.4 m high. The construction is almost identical to the Funtana Coberta from Ballao in Sardinia Directly above the temple an ancient sanctuary of the sun was organised, today the rock massif and the terrain of the sanctuary are covered by young forest. According to the memories of the residents in the surrounding rocks were carved signs. How did the construction of the sacred megalithic facility and the religious complex built in the Village of Garlo remains an open question for modern historians. According to Professor Mitova-Dzhonova in the pit at Garlo was worshiped ancient deities of water
44.
Arbor Low
–
Arbor Low is a Neolithic henge monument in the Peak District, Derbyshire, England. Arbor Low is in the White Peak area of the Peak District, the site is private property, accessible through the courtesy of the owner, and is managed by the Peak District National Park Authority. As of February 2017, a fee of £1 per adult is requested by the landowner. Children can enter free of charge, Arbor Low consists of about 50 large limestone blocks, quarried from a local site, which form an egg-shaped circle, with monoliths at the entrances, and possibly a portal stone at the south entrance. There is also a pit at the north entrance, which possibly contained a stone. Some of the stones are broken, some of these fragments may originally have been joined together, the stones range from 1.6 to 2.1 metres tall, with the monoliths being between 2.6 and 2.9 metres. In the centre lie seven smaller blocks, which form a cove, one stone is partially upright, the rest are all lying down. Although it is stated that the stones have never stood upright. The stones are surrounded by an earthen bank, approximately 90 by 85 metres at the outside edges and 2 metres high, with an interior ditch being about 2 m deep. There are two causeway entrances breaching both the bank and ditch, the north-west one is 9 metres wide, and the south-south-east one is 6 metres wide, within the bank lies an inner platform 52 by 40 metres in area. Few henge monuments in the British Isles are as well preserved, Arbor Low was one of the first ancient monuments to be given statutory protection, in the 1880s. Small monoliths engraved VR and GR still stand around the henge, human skeletal remains were discovered close to the central cove within the circle during excavations between 1901 and 1902. A large Bronze Age round cairn or barrow was later, to the east of the henge. It was excavated in 1845 and found to contain a cremation burial, Arbor Low is part of a larger complex, and is linked by an earth ridge to the earlier Neolithic oval barrow of Gib Hill 320m away. The bank and ditch of the henge, as well as its two entrances, were established in the Late Neolithic period, with the stones added later. The site seems to have been in use until into the Bronze Age, both the earthworks and the stoneworks are probably later than the nearby Gib Hill. The Bull Ring Arbor Low, A Guide to the Monuments, the ‘Harbour’ and Barrows at Arbour-Lows. Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society,33, arnold-Bemrose, H. H. Geological notes on Arbor Low
45.
Avebury
–
Avebury is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in southwest England. One of the best known sites in Britain, it contains the largest stone circle in Europe. It is both a tourist attraction and a place of importance to contemporary pagans. Its original purpose is unknown, although archaeologists believe that it was most likely used for some form of ritual or ceremony, the Avebury monument is a part of a larger prehistoric landscape containing several older monuments nearby, including West Kennet Long Barrow and Silbury Hill. By the Iron Age, the site had effectively abandoned. During the Early Middle Ages, a village first began to be built around the monument, in the Late Medieval and Early Modern periods, local people destroyed many of the standing stones around the henge, both for religious and practical reasons. The antiquarians John Aubrey and William Stukeley, however, took an interest in Avebury during the 17th century, archaeological investigation followed in the 20th century, led primarily by Alexander Keiller, who oversaw a project which reconstructed much of the monument. Avebury is owned and managed by the National Trust, at grid reference SU10266996, Avebury is respectively about 6 and 7 miles from the modern towns of Marlborough and Calne. Avebury lies in an area of chalkland in the Upper Kennet Valley which forms the catchment for the River Kennet and supports local springs and seasonal watercourses. The monument stands slightly above the landscape, sitting on a low chalk ridge 160 m above sea level, to the east are the Marlborough Downs. It is now listed as part of the Stonehenge, Avebury, the monuments are preserved as part of a Neolithic and Bronze Age landscape for the information they provide regarding prehistoric peoples relationship with the landscape. Radiocarbon dating and analysis of pollen in buried soils have shown that the environment of lowland Britain changed around 4250–4000 BCE. The change to an environment from damp, heavy soils and expanses of dense forest was mostly brought about by farmers, probably through the use of slash. Environmental factors may also have made a contribution, different species of snail live in specific habitats, so the presence of a certain species indicates what the area was like at a particular point in time. The history of the site before the construction of the henge is uncertain, evidence of activity in the region before the 4th millennium BCE is limited, suggesting that there was little human occupation. During this era, those living in Britain were hunter-gatherers, often moving around the landscape in small familial or tribal groups in search of food. The archaeologists Mark Gillings and Joshua Pollard suggested the possibility that Avebury first gained some sort of significance during the Late Mesolithic period. As evidence, they highlighted the existence of a posthole near to the southern entrance that would have once supported a large wooden post
46.
Barbrook One
–
Barbrook One is a stone circle on Ramsley Moor in the Peak District. Barbrook No.1 is a stone circle. It has one standing stone and 11 smaller stones. The circle has an diameter of about 13 metres. The stone circle stands in a field on Ramsley Moor. This includes Barbrook No.2 which is a ring consisting of a rubble bank with internal diameter 13 metres. It is about 200 metres to the north by northwest of Barbrook 1, altogether there are about 80 cairns on Ramsley Moor. The majority are less than 6 metres in diameter, many are believed to be clearance cairns of later prehistoric date. Some of the cairns are likely to be Bronze Age funerary monuments. The area is a designated Scheduled Ancient Monument, two kilometres to the north is another stone circle known as Barbrook No.3
Jul2005.jpg)
Appendix A". The Preservation of Places of Interest or Beauty. Manchester University Press. Wikisource.
