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prehistory

Amber Necklace

This Early Bronze Age amber necklace comes from the Upton Lovell G2e barrow (burial mound) in Wiltshire, one of the richest Bronze Age burials yet discovered in Wessex. It was excavated by William Cunnington in 1803 and may have belonged to a woman. The necklace originally contained over 1,000 amber beads with spacers. Continue reading →

Skara Brae House

The settlement at Skara Brae, Orkney dates to the Late Neolithic (3300-2500 BC). The site was discovered in a great sand storm in the mid-19th century and was excavated by Professor Gordon Childe of Edinburgh University in the 1920s (Childe 1931). It is remarkable as it is one of the few settlements dating from this period that are still up-standing. Continue reading →

Varna Penis Sheath

The cemetery of Varna, Bulgaria is situated on the Black Sea coast. It dates to the Copper Age or Chalcolithic (late 6th millennium-5th millennium BC). The site was excavated in the 1970s and was immediately recognised as being significant as probably the earliest evidence for gold working in prehistoric Europe (Renfrew 1986). Continue reading →

Obsidian Micro-core – Dora Moutsiou

by Dora Moutsiou Obsidian’s high quality for the manufacture of stone implements was recognised very early on by prehistoric tool-makers. Although the use of obsidian is more pronounced in late prehistoric times, particularly in the Neolithic, it is much earlier that the first archaeological evidence for the procurement of obsidian is recorded. Continue reading →