Thursday 31 October 2013

PREHISTORIC HORSE SKULL EXCAVATED

 1 - Firstly i apologise for the image quality i lost my camera & am having to borrow my daughters phone to take images at the moment.
Please just click on the images to enlarge.

I excavated yet another Equus skull today from the ancient grey deposits at Stainsby today, in the same small area i have found and excavated the remains of at least five other Equus & two Humans one very large, a leather moccasin type shoe sole with decoration, a huge Cervus antler, three Canis skulls one very likely a wolf, an Auroch scapular, flint core, unknown Bos skulls, Cervus skulls and mandibles, Wild Boar skull and mandible, Ovis Capra Mandibles and skulls.
 2 - This piece is the first I've ever excavated with evidence of Human interference, & if ime right the interference was horrific.
 3 - It appears that this animal had its softer nasal bone pierced either side & then had some sort of restraint threaded through & over the harder ridge bone.
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Monday 28 October 2013

Clevelands Prehistoric ritual & sacrafice in the deep beck valleys of the south west area of Cleveland

In this post I would like to share my knowledge of the Geology of the deep beck valleys of south west Cleveland, & my theories of how they were created & events that created the deposits that cover them.

Over the last seven years ive studied most of the beck valleys, but have concentrated on Five of the deepest, Ormesby - Marton West beck - Stainton - Maltby & Stainsby,  all have a lot in common but the first that should be mentioned is the fact they all sit above Triassic Mercia mudstone, the bedrock is only exposed at Stainsby beck valley Thornaby on Tees, here most of a large area of the western slopes have only a thin stoneless Alluvium covering the Triassic bedrock Valley side, that I believe was shaped by the glacial retreat of the last major cold stage 12 - 17.000ybp.   .

All of the beck valleys are covered with the same Stoneless Alluvium The simple diagram below shows what I have found to be the true basic superficial Geology of the area, the beck valleys run through.



I don't believe the superficial geology shown above was the result of glacial forces from the last major cold event, but instead the result of a later major flood event that occurred after both plant, animal & Human repopulation of this area.  The cause of this flood event ime not sure of, but I am sure the devastation caused still remains buried beneath us here in South West Cleveland.

  I believe the Glacial events approximately 17.000 ybp  that created the original Valleys also left large parts of them with the brightly coloured red- blue Triassic bedrock and large sections of the dark  Basaltic Andesite ( Cleveland Dyke )  exposed.

Stainsby & Stainton were Im sure left in this state after the Glacial retreat, leaving what must have been an ore inspiring sight to any Prehistoric people repopulating this area, I mean if a few blocks of stone stood up in a field In Wiltshire  could cause such wonderment to prehistoric people, imagine what the views in these valleys would instill in the prehistoric imagination.

Stainsby & Stainton are strong contenders for being centres of  religious and sacrificial centres because of the exposures of Triassic bedrock and protruding Dyke wall, as reported in earlier posts I now have overwhelming evidence of ritual sacrifice at such exposures.  

Please note - When I refer to the Alluvium being stoneless I mean there is no visible stone content.


Wednesday 16 October 2013

Wild boar skull excavated from prehistoric deposits at Stainsby.

  I excavated this piece along side Bos & Cervid bones I first thought it just to be a domestic pig skull, I now know it to be from a wild boar. This piece as with all other finds on this blog was reported to http://www.teesarchaeology.com/  with no response !  I can find no other record of wild boar fossils being excavated in the south west of Cleveland.


 1 - The Excavation

 2 - Finds

 3 - Note how long the snout is and the low profile of the cranium.

 4 The link below shows other sub fossils from the same deposits. 
 http://historyofabeck.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/stainsby-ancient-lake-bed-excavated.html  

Tuesday 8 October 2013

Clevelands Stainsby Iron age deposits possible ritual conection to the exposed Cleveland Dyke

  1 - Black = Small Equus pelvic piece.  Red = Right Raidius piece Bos or very lage Cervid  Yellow = Right Maxilla Boss   Orange = Metatarsal Ovis - Capra  Blue = preserved wood & Unknown. 
  2 - Maxilla piece after excavation.


 3 - Maxilla after a wash


4 - I can only say its either Bos or very large Cervid it was excavated very close to the huge Cervid antler and skull piece earlier.

 5 - Morphology

 6 - 7  Unknown radius piece

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 8 - Small Equus pelvic piece with as all the preserved bones in these  deposits no sign of butchery

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 12 - I  now believe that the stones found with the preserved bones must be connected i.e. were deposited by the same Humans that deposited the animal and Human remains. I still have not come across any metal items nor any signs that metal was deposited with the preserved bones and artefact's
This leads me to believe the grey deposits are of a considerable prehistoric age, also the fact that the Cleveland dyke could well have been exposed at this point, even possibly rising from the water makes me consider the dyke could have been the focus of a Prehistoric ritual centre here.

The image below was taken at an earlier stage of my work on these deposits, the partially excavated bone outlined in orange is a human tibia shaft, with a partially excavated mandible outlined in red, I found many more animal bones in this part of the deposit,
 
The links below show more of the excavated bone & artefacts from the lake bed deposits.










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Saturday 5 October 2013

Fossil antler from a huge red deer ( Cervus Elaphus )

 1 - As reported earlier i excavated this red deer antler piece from ancient lake deposits on Teesside ( Cleveland ) i have now had time to do basic but necesery work on the piece to preserve it.  The size of the deer that once held this antler must have been a giant, the estemated lenght of the complete antler is 130cm long, the burr diamater is 9 to 10 cm and it weighs 3 kg
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 3 - Over 15 cm from the second tine to the third.
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 6 - The measurments to the rear of the skull mach Megolaceros pliectocien cervids unearthed in russia
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 8 - Note the thickness of the skull
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Please use the link below to view more regarding the lake deposits


HISTORY OF A BECK: Stainsby ancient lake deposits latest
 10 - This image show modern red deer antlers.
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
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Friday 4 October 2013

Mesolithic fire stater or grinding platform

 1- Note the smaller holes i have no idea why they were aded but added they were. The piece measures 200mm longest - 90mm deepest - 170mm widest the larger hole has 30mm diameter.
 2 - This piece was picked from Marton west beck at fairy dell, a collaps of the grvel beds close by.
 3 - Please use the links below to see other artefacts from the Stainton gravel beds.

 Mesolithic tools and carved bones from the Stainton gravel beds

HISTORY OF A BECK: The Stainton gravel beds





 
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