For clarity of description and ease of understanding, the extent of the cairn was divided into four zones (Zones 1–4), each separated by baulks which were removed at a late stage of the excavations (see Fig 3). Forgotten your password? When the floor was removed a second cremation was uncovered. (1992), as adapted to working practice through consideration of Ballin (2000). The bones from Swaites Hill had probably therefore been cremated at temperatures of at least 645°C, and possibly higher. Jun 8, 2018 - Explore bevaej2306's board "bronzeage swords" on Pinterest. Six radiocarbon age determinations were obtained from samples of charred plant material and cremated bone. waterworn) cobbles of varying colour and texture. Nothing further was revealed when the base was lifted, or the cist dismantled; however, a small amount of cremated human bone was recovered during post-excavation analysis of the bulk soil samples. The underlying subsoil (numbered variously (002) surrounding the cairn, and (026) within the cairn), was a mid-orange, silty clay with frequent small to medium sized stones and occasional grey sandstone/red granite bedrock/fragments. The remains from the third cremation, Context [017], originated from an individual older than the other two and probably adult. The primary burial in Cist 1 was incomplete, as was the third, disturbed cremation from the cairn. The rapier blade and handle are part of a Bronze Age hoard discovered a short distance inland from Black Rock, East Brighton, in late 1913 or early 1914. Both forts may, however, have had earlier origins. As well as being worked by hammering, bronze was melted and cast into moulds – indeed all bronze objects start out as castings. Within Zone 4 a dark orange-brown clay-silt deposit, (033), was recorded under and between some of the stones. (2008) indicated that at less than 200°C: there was a gradual darkening in colour, at 300°C there was a shift to black, above 300°C colour changed from black to tan to grey, with the lightest colour occurring between 800°C to 1000°C. There is also a hint, however, that its final shape resulted from the sequential construction of a series of smaller kerbed compartments which were eventually restructured into a single, final, inner kerb, with – presumably – parts of these smaller kerbed compartments removed in the process. The hoard was found in chalk rubble, probably during the excavation of building foundations. It consisted of sub-angular and sub-rounded stones in a mid-grey-orange slightly clay sand matrix, had a maximum thickness of 0.2m and was distinguished by its firmer compaction compared with (011). The upper cairn material (011) consisted of a loose mid grey-brown sandy silt, with frequent small to medium and infrequent large stones. In addition to books, recent volumes of the journal have reviewed new museums, exhibitions and research on Scotland published in periodical literature. Excavations at Blackshouse Burn in the 1980s found a worn and abraded sherd of Beaker pottery (dated to 2600–1800 BC), thought to have been incorporated amongst midden material (Lelong & Pollard 1998b). Largest offer of handmade swords from the Bronze age to the Roman Empire. In general though, it seems that Class 1 was the earliest, and that Class 2 evolved alongside this and were in contemporary use. Published in Scottish Archaeological Journal 42. Of the remaining pieces, after excluding the chunks (14 lithics), there were five blades (including two microblades) and six flakes (four regular, two irregular). When investigated, the majority of these boulders exhibited no evidence for having been placed in settings or otherwise moved within the landscape. As well as recovering struck lithics, the two hand-excavated trenches suggested that the probable ring cairn was indeed very likely to be a prehistoric cairn. The Socketed Bronze Sickles of the British Isles; with special reference to an unpublished specimen from Norwich. Bronze Age Britain is an era of British history that spanned from c. 2500 until c. 800 BC. The authors’ thanks also go to the members of the site excavation team: Claire Williamson, Diane Gorman, Joss Durnan, Pauric Logue, Alex Wood and Andrew Kouzoukis. A rare find of a bronze age rapier sword blade, approximately 3,500 years old, was donated to Torquay Museum by two members of the Newton Abbot and District Metal Detecting Club. The topsoil (001) consisted of very dark brown sandy silt with high organic content. Welcome to the forums! There was also a small amount of cremated human bone (see below) recovered, perhaps representing part of a burial, subsequently destroyed through later disturbance. 17 of the sherds are decorated. The authors are particularly thankful to Thomas Rees and Louise Turner who gave much support and guidance during the writing and editing of this publication. The site of Cairngryffe Hill Fort (4), which was excavated in 1939 prior to being quarried away, is also close by. This site uses cookies. Its displacement sadly removed any chance we may have had at establishing its chronological and spatial relationship with cairn and burials; it may, for example, have accompanied a cist or burial incorporated into the upper cairn material and subsequently destroyed. The species identified were alder (Alnus glutinosa L), birch (Betula sp), ash (Fraxinus sp) and oak (Quercus sp). Visit www.glasarchsoc.org.uk for further information about the Glasgow Archaeological Society. Of note was the recovery of a Middle Bronze Age copper alloy rapier (see The Rapier) from within Zone 1 (Fig 7). Bronze Age Bronze British Rapier - Lot No. While the contexts within which these were recovered are of note they were excluded from further analytical work after this characterisation. The second group of sherds (<4>), a rim, a body sherd and a rim fragment, is from an undecorated vessel with an internal bevel, the lip slightly splayed to the exterior. In addition to documenting new discoveries, the journal promotes scholarly discussion and debate by encouraging the submission of papers of synthesis and analysis. Instead it may merely reflect a late manifestation of a practice later supplanted by the deposition of fine weaponry in rivers and wet places. The Spanish term refers to a sword used with clothes ("espada ropera", dress sword), due to it being used as an accessory for clothing, usually for fashion and as a self-defense weapon. The Swaites Hill rapier adds a fifth example to the known corpus, forming an extension to the southwest concentration formed by the Dumfries and Galloway finds and a link with the two Perthshire finds to the north-east (see Turner, forthcoming, for a more detailed discussion of the Swaites Hill find in the wider context of rapier deposition). 1500-1250BC. Prior to excavation, the cairn had a maximum height of 0.5m and was only visible in close proximity. Cremated remains were often either placed in an urn or an urn was placed upside down over cremated remains in a pit or cist. This led to the re-deposition of cairn material (009) out towards the edge of the monument. The decoration is also comparable: both objects have five flanking grooves on either side of the midrib, which increases to seven towards the tip, and the midrib is very broad and flat towards the butt, with the flanking grooves terminating outwith, as opposed to beneath, the rivet holes. All three are nearly ready to be hilted, with the Ci leading the gang (it's already 90% polished.) There was also one chert platform rejuvenation flake <014> showing management of cores. Cist 1 [015] was aligned westnorthwest-eastsoutheast and was rectangular in plan, measuring 1.1m by 0.7m and 0.5m in depth. Excavation instead showed that the lower cairn material and the cists and features beneath remained untouched. The charcoal was concentrated in (021), (023) and burnt spread (032), with material from these more likely to represent in situ deposition thus providing more reliable dates. The exterior surface is smoothed. There are 5 main types of these weapons, differentiated by hilt form and cross-section, described by Burgess and Gerloff as class 1 to 4 (this latter has a distinct division into early and late forms). This may indicate that the kerbs and associated cairn fabric provided a visible – and potentially also a physical - demarcation between the funerary and ritual activity taking place at the centre of the cairn and the world beyond. The recovery of the remains of another urn, additional cremated human bone deposits and a Middle Bronze Age rapier within the upper cairn and re-deposited cairn material hints at even greater complexity. A Super Bronze Age Rapier Complete with Rivets dating to about 800 B.C. Another cairn recently explored to the west of Swaites Hill at Cloburn Quarry (Canmore ID: 47715) revealed jet beads and a stone axehead, in addition to lithics and Neolithic and Bronze Age pottery (Lelong and Pollard 1998a). The lines are sharply incised and roughly 0.5mm wide. Dr Kenneth Brophy (University of Glasgow)Prof Jane Downes (University of Highlands and Islands)Professor Stephen Driscoll (University of Glasgow)Dr Philip Freeman (University of Liverpool)Dr Sally Foster (University of Stirling)Prof Niall Sharples (University of Cardiff). Prior to excavation, the cairn at Swaites Hill, Cloburn Quarry, South Lanarkshire appeared simple in character, comprising a massively robbed-out and disturbed ring-cairn. The Group 1 dirks and rapiers are a variable group in terms of dimension and form. This was followed by an archaeological evaluation in April 2015 (Gordon 2015): this comprised an 8% evaluation of the ground and the targeted investigation of several probable clearance cairns. Copyright © 2020. AD) was obtained from the charcoal. Preservation was good, making them suitable for radiocarbon dating. It was, however, incomplete, with much of the butt and the blade tip missing. It was nonetheless possible to establish that the midrib was rounded in section and to identify five grooves flanking each side of the midrib on both sides. Alternatively, the rapier may never have accompanied a burial in the first place, instead representing the deposition of a single object in a ‘special’ place. This extension of the cairn through the addition of an outer kerb can be observed in other Bronze Age cairns such as Cairnwell in Aberdeenshire where an outer kerb was constructed to incorporate an earlier stone circle into the monument (Rees 1997). These demonstrated a certain amount of complexity, with three cremation burials contained within the cists and another disturbed cremation burial with an associated cordoned urn identified beneath the cairn material. The dimensions are comparable (Length: 337mm; Blade Width: 24mm), bearing in mind that the Isleham example is largely complete and well preserved. 19 bulk samples were submitted for processing from the excavation undertaken at Swaites Hill. One flint regular flake <10> recovered from topsoil was a convex end scraper. Archaeological literature refers to these as 'dirks' and 'rapiers', but despite the inherent inferences these names make with regard to use, they should truly be regarded as swords, and the progenitors of the lineage which continued through the many ages of man which were to follow. Between 17th and 18th August 2015, the full excavation of the ring-cairn commenced with an archaeologically-led topsoil strip around the limits of the cairn, using a 20 tonne 3600 excavator with a toothless bucket. As the upper cairn material (011) was removed from the centre of the cairn a marked change in colour, if not overall composition, of the cairn fabric was noted at several points. Selected on quality and durability. Lasting for approximately 1,700 years, it was preceded by the era of Neolithic Britain and was in turn followed by the period of Iron Age Britain.Being categorised as the Bronze Age, it was marked by the use of copper and then bronze by the prehistoric Britons, who used such metals to fashion tools. The site, now a clay quarry owned by Forterra, is close to Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire and sits astride a prehistoric watercourse inside the Flag Fen basin. Of the miscellaneous deposits, ageing indicators from bone fragments recovered from between the stones in Cist 1 suggest that they could either have belonged to the primary or secondary burials, both of which were assessed to be from adolescents, or could comprise fragments from each. Reset your password. The dates place the activity on site within the early Bronze Age with later, 19th century, disturbance. Sherds <29>, <26.1>, <26.2>, <26.7> and <26.8> indicate the shape of the rim and collar. Of 36 contexts, cremated remains were received from ten. The context of their use is of course of great interest to a student of the past, but one that is often only an ephemeral vision today. Sold. The underside of the bottom edge of the collar is defined by a row of stab decoration. The handle were simple, literally a handle. All of the remains were similar in appearance: colour was a uniform beige and there was no evidence of variations in colour. The floor consisted of a paved surface [031], formed from sub-angular flat stones between 80–460mm in length and less than 30mm thick. Bronze Age; Daggers, knives, rapiers and swords; Similar Records. It is credible that this was deliberately interred within this cist, although the knife would have been broken at that time. Its displacement sadly removed any chance we may have had at establishing its chronological and spatial relationship with cairn and burials; it may, for example, have accompanied a cist or burial incorporated into the upper cairn material and subsequently destroyed. While the dislocation of this object from its original burial environment in unfortunate, the recovery of Bronze Age rapiers during controlled archaeological excavation remains an extremely rare occurrence. The total weight of charcoal recovered was 26.6g. Layers (033) and (027), found in Zones 3 and 4 under and between some of the stones forming the outer kerb [012], were most likely the remains of the pre-cairn ground surface. Rathmell Archaeology Ltd carried out the excavation of a disturbed kerbed cairn at Swaites Hill, Cloburn Quarry, South Lanarkshire. These culminated in the full area excavation of Swaites Hill cairn (Canmore ID: 47645), Cloburn Quarry, South Lanarkshire. Fig 2 Location of Significant Prehistoric Monuments. This may have happened numerous times before the cists were finally filled in and covered with cairn material. The journal includes a range of papers reporting on fieldwork, discussion of museum collections and consideration of the social and intellectual context of Scottish archaeology. With the introduction of copper, and eventually bronze, daggers could be made longer, and evolved into swords.The evolution of the dagger into the sword is thus gradual, and in 2004 the first "swords" have been claimed for the Early Bronze Age (c. 33rd to 31st centuries), based on finds at Arslantepe, weapo… Edinburgh University Press. Swords fit into this panoply, or cause gross injury through force alone - they both... Weapon has a simpler cross-section, typically with a special emphasis on western Scotland of papers synthesis... Recovered from ( 009 ), the dental remains, is based on observation of rim. 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