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Journal article
Supernatural power dressing
Jewellery from Bronze Age graves is normally interpreted as a symbol of status. Howevr, materials like jet, amber, faience and tin were also worn as talismans, writes Alison Sheridan When archaeologists found the 4,300-year-old burial of an archer and metalworker at Amesbury in Wiltshire last year, they knew at once...Sheridan, J A ; Shortland, A
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Journal article
Three cists and a possible Roman road at Barbush quarry, Dunblane
Over the past 50 years a number of archaeological discoveries have been made at Barbush Quarry, Dunblane including a coin hoard, Neolithic pottery and several prehistoric funerary features. During the supervised removal of spoil heaps at the quarry a concentration of archaeological features was identified and later excavated. The features...Holden, T ; Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
The National Museums Scotland ‘Dating cremated bones project’
Results from the ‘Dating Cremated Bones Project’ The second year of what is hoped to be a three-year project has continued to provide interesting new dates from prehistoric Scottish cremated human bone (see DES 2001, 129 for results from year 1). Sampling continued to focus on material with ‘interesting’ artefactual...Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Review of R.Cleal and A.MacSween (eds.), Grooved ware in Britain and Ireland
This collection of fourteen papers (plus Introduction and Gazetteer) arose from a Neolithic Studies Group seminar that took place on a memorably eventful and frosty day in February 1994. As one of the speakers and subsequent contributors to the volume, my comments are those of an active participant in the...Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
The excavation of a bronze age cemetery at Seafield West, near Inverness, Highland
Excavations in 1996 in advance of a major commercial development at Seafield West revealed a Bronze Age cemetery. Inside a ring-ditch were two adjacent graves with wooden coffins, one a boatshaped hollowed tree-trunk, the other plank-built. Both had probably contained crouched inhumation burials. Grave goods in the former included a...Cressey, M ; Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
Going round in circles? Understanding the Irish grooved ware 'complex' in its wider context
A truly multi-disciplinary book allowing the reader to gain insights into an exceptionally diverse set of topics such as hunting, burial, sword-production and rock art, from the Mesolithic to the Middle Ages.Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
Scottish food vessel chronology revisited
Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Review of M.Parker Pearson, N.Sharples, and J.Symonds, South Uist: archaeology and history of a Hebridean island
Two outstanding books have recently been published about the archaeology and history of the Outer Hebrides. Andrew Fleming’s St Kilda and the Wider World is one; Parker Pearson et al's is the other. South Uist presents the results of a major interdisciplinary and collaborative research project undertaken principally by the...Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Pifalls and other traps...why it's worth looking at museum artefacts again
Re-examination of old finds can lead to significant gains in understanding past practices. Some of the recent work undertaken by the National Museums of Scotland is showcased here. Recent work on the Loch Glashan codex satchel (p18) persuades us that, archaeologically speaking, silk purses can be made out of sows’...Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Croft Moraig and the chronology of stone circles
The Perthshire stone circle of Croft Moraig was excavated 40 years ago and is usually taken to illustrate the classic sequence at such monuments in Britain. A timber setting, accompanied by a shallow ditch, was replaced by two successive stone settings. The pottery associated with the earliest construction was dated...Bradley, R ; Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Review of G.Warren, Mesolithic lives in Scotland
This slim but attractively-presented volume sets out to present an account of the lives of Scotland’s earliest inhabitants that is accessible to undergraduates and to those with a general interest in archaeology. Much effort is spent in explaining complicated processes (such as sea-level change) and in demystifying specialist terminology (principally...Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
The Exloo necklace: new light on an old find
This article presents the results of recent international collaborative research into the Early Bronze Age composite necklace from Exloo, examining its circumstances and location of discovery, the history of its curation and study, its likely date, the provenance of its constituent elements, and its broader significance. The other Dutch Bronze...Haveman, E ; Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Review of I Armit, Scotland’s Hidden History
This is an updated version of Ian Armit’s popular guide to Scottish archaeological sites, first published (in paperback and hardback) in 1998. As Armit explains, the revisions have been necessitated by new discoveries and advances in our understanding of Scottish prehistory and early history to around AD 1000, with the...Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Green treasures from the magic mountains
A few prehistoric jade axeheads were found in Britain over a century ago. The number grew as the years passed: but where they had come from remained a mystery. Alison Sheridan describes new work by Pierre Pétrequin, Michel Errera and Yvan Pailler that looks finally to have cracked the problemSheridan, J A
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Book chapter
Scottish beaker dates: the good, the bad and the ugly
A volume representing collaborative research between the Swedish universities of Kalmar and Stockholm and the University of Sheffield in the UK. The themes centred on the investigation of cultural diversity in the 3rd millennium BC in the British Isles and Scandinavia, not so much to divine any prehistoric cultural links...Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Everything you always wanted to know about…la néolithisation de la Grande-Bretagne et de l'Irlande
In Great Britain and in Ireland, two conflicting models of neolithisation have been proposed. One, that is based on the assumption that indigenous late Mesolithic groups were in contact with Continental farmers (as in the case of the Ertebølle culture in Denmark), proposes a slow acculturation process; but there is...Pailler, Yves ; Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Review of: I.A.G.Shepherd and G.J.Barclay (eds.). Scotland in ancient Europe
This volume presents the proceedings of a conference held in Edinburgh in March 2003 - one of a series of Society of Antiquaries of Scotland conferences reviewing Scotland’s past within its broader context. The previous, and first, was held in 1999 and was published by the Society in 2004 as...Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
The pottery from Cairnderry and Bargrennan (97-107); The battle axeheads from Cairnderry and Bargrennan (108-111); The bone belt hook from Bargrennan pit 2 (112-124)
This volume presents the methodology and results for the excavations at Cairnderry and Bargrennan, south-west Scotland. A comparative chapter compares the excavation results from both sites, and presents interpretations of these results, particularly in terms of the architecture and the early Bronze Age mortuary practices. Chapter 5 considers the architecture...Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Bronze Age pottery. In P R J Duffy, Excavations at Dunure Road, Ayrshire: a Bronze Age cist cemetery and standing stone, 94-100
In March 2005, excavations were undertaken by Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD) at the Craig Tara Holiday Park, Dunure Road, Ayr in advance of proposed development. Two main archaeological sites were examined. The first, a flat cist cemetery covered by an earthen mound, comprised 23 separate burial features of...Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
From Picardie to Pickering and Pencraig hill? New information on the 'Carinated bowl Neolithic' in Northern Britain
This wide-ranging collection of essays covers the transformation from Mesolithic hunter-gatherers to Neolithic farmers. It offers a comprehensive and authoritative treatment by leading specialists, and provides the best available overview of this fundamental change in human society.Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
The bronze age composite bead necklace
Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Excavations at Upper Largie quarry, Argyll & Bute, Scotland: new light on the prehistoric ritual landscape of the Kilmartin Glen
Excavations were carried out intermittently between 1982 and 2005, by various excavators, in advance of quarrying activity at Upper Largie, Kilmartin Glen, Argyll & Bute. They revealed abundant evidence of prehistoric activity, dating from the Mesolithic to the Middle Bronze Age, on a fluvioglacial terrace overlooking the rest of the...Sheridan, J A ; Cook, M ; Ellis, C
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Journal article
The pottery. In: A Becket & G MacGregor, Forest grazing and seaweed foddering: early Neolithic occupation at Maybole, South Ayrshire, 114-117
Excavation of a well-preserved upstanding roundhouse revetted into a steep hillside at Navidale has revealed a structure with unusually sophisticated architectural traits dated to around 1400–1200 bc. The house was built within an agricultural landscape but its abandonment appears to have been linked to a cessation of agriculture within that...Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Gristhorpe Man: an Early Bronze Age log-coffin burial scientifically defined
A log-coffin excavated in the early nineteenth century proved to be well enough preserved in the early twenty-first century for the full armoury of modern scientific investigation to give its occupants and contents new identity, new origins and a new date. In many ways the interpretation is much the same... -
Book chapter
Bone pin fragment
Many years ago ‘henge monuments' were identified as a distinctive kind of prehistoric monument but their interpretation still poses problems. When were they first built and how long did they remain important? How were they used and did their roles change during the course of their history? Recent work has...Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
Burnt stone pendant
Many years ago ‘henge monuments' were identified as a distinctive kind of prehistoric monument but their interpretation still poses problems. When were they first built and how long did they remain important? How were they used and did their roles change during the course of their history? Recent work has...Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
Pottery
Many years ago ‘henge monuments' were identified as a distinctive kind of prehistoric monument but their interpretation still poses problems. When were they first built and how long did they remain important? How were they used and did their roles change during the course of their history? Recent work has...Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
Old friends, new friends, a long-lost friend and false friends: tales from Project JADE
Our understanding of the production, distribution and use of Neolithic axeheads, adzeheads and chisels made of jadeitite and other rare Alpine rockshas been transformed by a major international French-led research project, Project JADE. This has systematically recorded and mapped all such objects longer than 135 mm across Europe - extending...Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
Stone battle axehead
Many years ago ‘henge monuments' were identified as a distinctive kind of prehistoric monument but their interpretation still poses problems. When were they first built and how long did they remain important? How were they used and did their roles change during the course of their history? Recent work has...Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
Eclogite or jadeitite: The two colours involved in the transfer of alpine axeheads in western Europe
During the 5th and 4th millennia BC, the Neolithic extraction of stone around Mont Viso and in the Mont Beigua massif in the north Italian Alps resulted in the production of large polished axeheads in ecologite, omphacitite, jadeitite and amphibolite - raw materials which were not only rare but which...Pétrequin, P ; Sheridan, J A ; Cassen, S ; Errera, M ; Gauthier, E …
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Book chapter
The plenary session
The Scottish Wetland Archaeology Project (SWAP) was initiated in 1998 in response to John Coles’ energetic encouragement of the Scottish delegates to the Dublin WARP Conference. Over the following years, SWAP members and others have worked on wetland materials and projects, leading to the hosting of the 11th International WARP...Barber, J ; Clarke, C ; Cressey, M ; Crone, A ; Hale, A …
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Book chapter
Dating the Scottish bronze age: "There is clearly much that the material can still tell us"
Results from a current National Museums of Scotland (NMS) radiocarbon dating initiative, the Dating Cremated Bones Project, are presented. The project takes advantage of a recent development in radiocarbon dating that enables reliable dates to be obtained from cremated bone. The results indicate that Collared Urns were in use in...Sheridan, J A
dating, SCOTLAND, Bronze Age, and collared urns
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Journal article
An Early Bronze Age 'dagger grave' from Rameldry Farm, near Kingskettle, Fife
In February 2000, ploughing disturbed the capstone of a cist, located on the side of a prominent knowe at Rameldry Farm, near Kingskettle in central Fife. Excavation by Headland Archaeology Ltd on behalf of Historic Scotland revealed a short cist which contained the crouched inhumation of a man aged 40-50,...Baker, L ; Sheridan, J A ; Cowie, Trevor
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Journal article
Towards a fuller, more nuanced narrative of Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain 2500-1500 BC
This contribution considers some of the many recent advances in our understanding of Chalcolithic and Bronze Age Britain and uses these to highlight the weak points in our current state of knowledge. Focusing mainly on the period 2500–1500 BC, it concentrates on issues of chronology, human movement, the role of...Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
Battle axeheads; the types and uses of cinerary urns; Early Neolithic carinated bowl pottery
The upgrading of part of the A1 road in south-east Scotland prompted the excavation of eleven archaeological sites. These spanned a period of 5,000 years from the early fourth millenium BC to the early fifth century AD. This volume draws together the results of the excavations and presents the story...Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
The Neolithisation of Britain and Ireland: the big picture
This contribution offers a model for the Neolithization of Britain and Ireland featuring multiple strands of immigration, from different parts of France to different parts of these islands - at differing scales and for differing reasons - over the course of several centuries from the third quarter of the 5th...Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
“…beads which have given rise to so much dogmatism, controversy and rash speculation”: faience in Early Bronze Age Britain and Ireland
This volume represents the publication of a highly successful conference held in 2003 to celebrate the contribution to Neolithic and Early Bronze Age studies of one of archaeology's finest synthesisers, Professor Stuart Piggott. The title is a reference to his famous work, Ancient Europe from the beginnings of agriculture to...Sheridan, J A ; Shortland, A
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Journal article
Beaker vessel
This report provides an account of the excavations of a cropmark enclosure and other prehistoric remains at Dryburn Bridge, near Innerwick in East Lothian. The excavations were directed over two seasons in 1978 and 1979 by Jon Triscott and David Pollock, and were funded by the Ancient Monuments Branch, Scottish...Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
A jet bead from Flag Fen, 2004. In: F. Pryor & M. Bamforth (eds), Flag Fen, Peterborough: Excavation and Research 1995-2007
The site at Flag Fen lies at the centre of a once-wet Fenland bay, immediately east of Peterborough. In the Bronze Age a huge alignment of posts crossed a kilometer of wetland to link the two sides of one of the most important and intensively studied prehistoric landscapes in Britain....Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
Appendix 3: Jet object (jet button)
Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Excavations at a multi-period site at Greenbogs, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and the four-post timber architecture tradition of Late Neolithic Britain and Ireland.
This report outlines the unexpected discovery of a group of Late Neolithic structures at Greenbogs, Monymusk in Aberdeenshire, along with a series of later prehistoric features in the mid-1990s. Recent radiocarbon dating shows that two four-post timber structures found here date to the period 2890–2490 cal bc. These were found...Noble, Gordon ; Greig, Moira ; Millican, Kirsty ; Anderson, Sue ; Clarke, Ann …
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Book chapter
The Pottery - 5.1 Pottery of prehistoric and indeterminate date
This paper presents the results of a series of excavations carried out by the City of Edinburgh Council Archaeology Service between 1990 and 1992 in advance of the Edinburgh Park development. Following a programme of test excavations, seven areas were opened up for excavation. Three of these contained significant archaeology...Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
The age of Stonehenge
Stonehenge is the icon of British prehistory, and continues to inspire ingenious investigations and interpretations. A current campaign of research, being waged by probably the strongest archaeological team ever assembled, is focused not just on the monument, but on its landscape, its hinterland and the monuments within it. The campaign...Parker Pearson, M ; Cleal, R ; Marshall, P ; Needham, S P ; Pollard, J …
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Book chapter
Late Neolithic pottery
This report provides an account of the excavations of a cropmark enclosure and other prehistoric remains at Dryburn Bridge, near Innerwick in East Lothian. The excavations were directed over two seasons in 1978 and 1979 by Jon Triscott and David Pollock, and were funded by the Ancient Monuments Branch, Scottish...Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
Ceramics and pottery - Europe
The four-volume "Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Ancient World" offers comprehensive coverage of the ancient world, from prehistory to the fall of Rome, including Western and non-Western cultures and civilizations. An introduction outlines the key milestones in the development of human society, from the peoples of the Ice...Sheridan, J A
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Book
Heaven and hell - and other worlds of the dead
What happens after we die? -- from Egyptian mummies to guardians of ancient tombs; Mexican 'Days of the Dead' skeletons to Mercedez-Benz coffins; Peruvian mummy bundles to Viking boat burials -- this book explores beliefs & practices from around the world & across time. More...It highlights the wealth & diversity...Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
Pottery [from Silgeanach, Cill Donnain]
South Uist in the Outer Hebrides has some of the best preserved archaeological remains within Britain and even further afield. Three distinct ecological zones - grassland machair plain, peaty blackland and mountains - each bear the imprint of human occupation over many millennia. The machair strip, long uninhabited, is filled...Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
Copper alloy awl [from Silgeanach, Cill Donnain]
South Uist in the Outer Hebrides has some of the best preserved archaeological remains within Britain and even further afield. Three distinct ecological zones - grassland machair plain, peaty blackland and mountains - each bear the imprint of human occupation over many millennia. The machair strip, long uninhabited, is filled...Sharples, N ; Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
From Mont Viso to Slovakia: the two axeheads of Alpine jade from Golianovo
Two fragments of large jadeitite axeheads were discovered in a Lengyel enclosure at Golianovo (Republic of Slovakia), close to Nitra. Spectroradiometric analysis and macroscopic characteristics indicate that, in all probability, these two artefacts — which are exceptional in this region of Europe — had come from the Neolithic quarries on...Pétrequin, P ; Errera, M ; Cassen, S ; Gauthier, E ; Hovorka, D …
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Book chapter
Shale belt ring
Found a few kilometres from Stonehenge, the graves of the Amesbury Archer and the Boscombe Bowmen date to the 24th century BC and are two of the earliest Bell Beaker graves in Britain. The Boscombe Bowmen is a collective burial and the Amesbury Archer is a single burial but isotope...Sheridan, J A ; Davis, M
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Book chapter
Dating Scotland's Neolithic non-megalithic round mounds: new dates, problems and potential
The purpose of this contribution is to review briefly the non-megalithic round mounds of definite and probable Neolithic date in Scotland, and to draw attention to some accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates, relating to the use of four of these monuments - Midtown of Pitgalssie, one of the cairns...Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Review of various titles: Neolithic Britain and Ireland: are we nearly there?
Review of several volumes about Neolithic Britain: HILARY K. MURRAY, J. CHARLES MURRAY & SHANNON M. FRASER. A tale of the unknown unknowns: a Mesolithic pit alignment and a Neolithic timber hall at Warren Field, Crathes, Aberdeenshire. Oxford: Oxbow, 2009.978-1-84217-347-3 ANNA RITCHIE. On the fringe of Neolithic Europe: excavation of...Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Kilmagadwood Early Bronze Age cemetery: excavation and initial post-excavation research
This contribution outlines the excavation and initial post-excavation research, along with subsequent fieldwork, that has been undertaken to date (October 2018) regarding an important Early Bronze Age cemetery comprising 23 urned deposits of cremated human remains and three un-urned deposits of pyre debris at Kilmagadwood, near Scotlandwell in Portmoak parish,...Sheridan, J A ; Hall, Derek ; Romera, Aida ; Welch, Nathan ; O'Grady, Oliver
bronze razors, cremation, bone toggle, bone bead, faience bead, cinerary urns, Early Bronze Age, and metal bead
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