Clevelands Prehistoric Amulet or Talisman found in Stainton Beck ?

1 I found this piece covered in a thick concretion, it has been like all of my finds been reported to  http://www.teesarchaeology.com/   who have after a long inspection of the artefact, decided it is either the end of a light bulb - a spark plug - or meat Fork !  who am I to disagree ! ?

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The grey blue piece I believe to be Basalt

5 The artifact

6  The shroud I believe to be worked and polished magnetite .

7 These 2 images show 2600 year old gold from Germany, that look very similar to the worked band on this artefact , so do we have worked Magnetite of Scandinavian origin and Celtic gold ?

   

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 10 - If this piece is not ancient I would find it just as fascinating ie why ?

 11 - The components ive removed and cleaned so far.

 12 - In my mind so far we have a bone handle, a very thin gold clasp, and a shaped magnetite piece ?

 13 - What I believe to be shaped magnetite.

 14 - This piece is highly magnetic !

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 I have now cleaned most of the concretion residue from the artefact, and if ime honest I no longer believe the piece to be a knife handle , I think ive been looking at it upside down !  I now believe it could have been an Amulet or Talisman , I took the very thin corrugated none ferrous  band to a local jewellers today, and they agree with me that the piece could not be copper bronze or aluminium, and although the piece is too thin to get a reaction with there standard acid test, everything points towards the piece being gold  

I have gone as far as I am willing to go on the cleaning of this artefact !

 1 - All components now free of the thick concretion . 

 2 - Close up of the carved bone where the gold band would fit .

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 4 - Both the bulbous and straight piece are ime sure shaped Basalt, it shows no signs of oxidisation, and looks and reacts like no metal ive seen before ? .  

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 6 - The Artefact  

  I  Believe this artefact hung from the neck via a chain or lace, ie I think it was believed to protect or give good luck, ie a Talisman or Amulet ? But maybe http://www.teesarchaeology.com/ are correct and its a spark plug etc ?

Clevelands Ice dam release of flood water from the esk valley.

My earlier post on a possible reason for major flooding of the Cleveland beck valleys - reported in the following link http://historyofabeck.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/storregga-slides-stunami-theory.html 
now look to be unlikely, ive had some great advice on the deposits, and most seem to agree the deposits are most likely the result of fresh water flooding .
I have another theory, could there have been an ice dam at the mouth of the western end of the Esk valley, could this dam have held water in the esk valley while the lower lands of what is now south west Cleveland were repopulated at the end of the last ice age, only for the ice dam to fail and release a devastating flood ?

The lowlands to the north west of the mouth of the of the Esk valley, do look to have a ripple effect in the landscape; gradually getting less evident as it reaches what would have been the large natural drainage channels of the Triassic bedrock beck valleys of south west Cleveland, that would have then drained into the Tees as it was then.

Richard S White. http://thewildlifemuseum.academia.edu/RWhite

I would like to welcome a good freind and a man who has been a great help to me over the last 4 years at least, Rich has agreed to help me run the blog, thank you mate !   http://thewildlifemuseum.academia.edu/RWhite

Cleveland and Stonehenge - Stainsby beck deposits link ? l

I have now been reporting my work in the south west of Cleveland for over six years, my early work was a learning curve, but i now believe i have discovered some of Britain's most important Prehistoric deposits at a Stainsby beck location.
 Possibly older and of equal importance as Stonehenge, and other well known prehistoric sites in other parts of the British isles, and the deposits could even have links to the earliest stone circles.

http://historyofabeck.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/stainsby-ancient-lake-bed-excavated.html
http://historyofabeck.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/ancient-human-tibia-shaft-excavated.html
http://historyofabeck.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/more-of-huge-prehistoric-cervus-elephus.html



 

Cervus Elephus Red Deer tibia and prehistoric Bos Skull excavated from the Stainsby sacraficial deposits.

These three bones were found yesterday at the Stainsby beck lake deposits, I  believe the Tibia belonged to a huge Cervus Elephus, the bos skull was found close by and only two metres away from important human bone's and artifacts, as well as an identical bos skull i found last year.

 1- Prehistoric Bos skull

 2 - Prehistoric Cervidae Tibia.

 3 - Rear of the Bos skull, note the condition, i only ever wash and dry the fossils i excavate or find in the beck bed.

 4 - Note the shape and muscle attatchments, there are obviouse differences when compared to a Bos tibia.

 5 - The tibia would have measured between 40 and 45 cm, it matches a shire horse tibia i have in length.

Clevelands Geology and its magnetic content

 1 - This image shows most of the separate geological layers we now walk on in the south west of Cleveland,from top to bottom we have 1 metre + of stoneless alluvium with no fossil content, next a blue grey sandy clay deposit 100- 150 mm thick . then the Stainton gravel bed 300 mm thick and rich in preserved bone & older fossils & minerals marked with the black outline, then a red brown plastic clay averaging 1m thick.

HISTORY OF A BECK: The Stainton gravel beds

 2 - This image shows the layer that sits directly above the Stainton gravel beds 100 to 150 mm grey blue layer of sandy organic clay, containing large amounts of what looks to be high grade coal fragments probably Anthracite.

 3 - This image shows three of the lower deposits, bright red clay layer to the top averaging 50 - 60 mm thick, bright blue clay layer again averaging 50 - 60 mm thick.

 4 - The images do not do the red and blue clay brightness justice !

 5 -HISTORY OF A BECK: Maltby deposits

 6 - Top to bottom

  (a) Yellow outline  = Alluvium 1 metre = thick with no visible stone content small coal pieces probably Anthracite. High magnetic content smaller sandy grains extremely magnetic. 

 (b) Black outline  = blue - grey sandy deposit 150 - 160 mm thick containing small coal pieces probably anthracite. High magnetic content.

 (c)  Red outline  = Stainton gravel bed average thickness 300mm, containing preserved organic material, and a high magnetic content.

 (d) Red brown plastic clay with visible stone content, and Jurassic fossils, low magnetic content.

 7 - Black outline  = red brown plastic clay as show in image 6, with visible stone content both rounded and angular, also Jurassic marine fossils. Low magnetic content.

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(a) Yellow outline  = Very bright red clay 50-60mm thick containing what looks to be very small pieces of Mercia mudstone ( red ) as well as small rounded and angular stone, Low magnetic content.

  (b)  Red outline = Very bright blue clay 50-60 mm thick no visible stone content, No magnetic content .

(c) Black outline = Red - brown plastic clay - no magnetic content,

 visible stone content.

The bed rock below these deposit is Triassic Mercia mudstone, and all of the deposits i have tested in the south west of Cleveland, have shown no signs of any magnetic content, this strongly points towards the uppermost Holocene superficial deposits being the source of the magnetic content. I have tried to identify possible surrounding areas for the origins of the Anthracite pieces in the Holocene deposits, but have found nothing definite yet.

Related posts

The magnetic properties of the Cleveland dyke in ... - history of a beck

                                                                                                                                             

HISTORY OF A BECK: The Stainton gravel beds 

Clevelands Red deer Antler & Equus skull after a little work.

  1 This huge antler piece is magnificent, when i excavated this piece i new my theories had been right all along, in my 7 years of research into the previously unknown deposits that lay beneath our feet, here in the south west of the ancient area named Cleveland in the North East of England.

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 4 - All of the animals in this deposit show no evidence of butchery !

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 7 - As reported earlier this Equus was restrained in a barbaric manner.

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Please note the the items above were descovered in the prehistoric blue grey deposits at Stainsby beck not in the stainton gravel bed beds !

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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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.

HISTORY OF A BECK: Storregga slides Stunami theory 

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