Posted on 01/26/2008 10:07:01 PM PST by blam
Mystery ‘mound’ to be saved from the sea
Gavin Morgan
26 January, 2008
ARCHAEOLOGISTS plan to save a fine example of a Bronze Age burnt mound from disappearing into the sea in a unique £70,000 removal operation on Shetland this coming summer.
Historic Scotland has given permission for the site at Cruister, on Bressay, to be shifted to the islands’ heritage centre.
The unprecedented project will see the prehistoric version of a water heater, a third of which has already been eroded by the sea, dismantled and rebuilt in fully functional order.
Barbara Anderson, of Bressay Heritage Centre, said it was highly unusual to be allowed to tamper with an ancient monument in this way. “In this case we are being allowed to remove it. Normally you would not be able to touch things like this,” she said.
Shetland has hundreds of burnt mounds like the one at Cruister, which attract great interest because their associated structures are the most complex so far discovered in the UK and Ireland.
The Bressay site has a fireplace and a main stone water tank connected by a sloping chute and surrounded by a series of stone-built cells. Around these lie a large mound of fire-cracked stones, believed to have been built up when the site was still in use.
The stones were heated in the fire and then plunged into the tank to heat the water. Archaeologists believe the stones were rolled from the fireplace into the tankdown the chute, which is a unique feature of this site.
“It is a very good example of a burnt mound in Shetland with one of the best, if not the best, example of the interior section and how it operated,” Mrs Anderson said.
Archaeological theories abound as to what these constructions where used for. The most popular is for cooking food, while others envision a 4,000 year old sauna.
“Nobody, including the top archaeologists, knows exactly what the purpose of a burnt mound was. They know what happened in it, but they don’t know why, so it is still a mystery at the moment,” Mrs Anderson said.
The project will be co-ordinated by the Bressay History Group with input from the Adopt-a-Monument scheme run by the Council for Scottish Archaeology (CSA), and the SCAPE (Scottish Coastal Archaeology and the Problem of Erosion) Trust.
Helen Bradley, from the CSA, who has been working with the history group from the start, said: “This project takes a novel approach to the problems facing archaeological sites as a result of climate change and will create tremendous benefits for Bressay and its community. The finished product will be an exciting interactive tourist attraction.
“The finished reconstruction will be fully functioning and will be used as a centre for experimental work, education and living history events.”
Funding is being sought from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Shetland Islands Council, HIE Shetland and Shetland Amenity Trust and planning permission has just been applied for. If everything falls into place the project should take place between May and August.
Islanders hope that once it is finished the reconstruction will significantly boost tourism, as well as attracting locals people, schools and budding archaeologists.
GGG Ping.
Is this kinda like a brazilian wax?
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Gods |
Thanks Blam. You've been very busy! |
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The original “Stone Soup”
With my luck, it would have been my job to retrieve the stones, when they hadn’t heated the water adequately.
Instant Applegate Ranch-style Soup.
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