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Book chapter
Ancient DNA and modelling the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Britain and Ireland
The current paradigm-changing ancient DNA revolution is offering unparalleled insights into central problems within archaeology relating to the movement of populations and individuals, patterns of descent, relationships and aspects of identity – at many scales and of many different kinds. The impact of recent ancient DNA results can be seen...Sheridan, J A ; Whittle, Alasdair
Neolithic Studies Group, Britain, DNA, Ireland, and human migration
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Journal article
The tale of a Mesolithic harpoon head from Arisaig
This is a remarkable tale about a remarkable artifact that would have been lost to Scottish archaeology had it not been for a brave decision by a schoolgirl to disregard the views of her teachers over 50 years ago!Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
“Balure Dun”
The site at Balure, until relatively recently, was unrecognised as a dun structure, although it had been noted by Forestry Commission operatives as an enclosure and/or cairn and recorded as such on the Forestry Commission’s Heritage database for North Knapdale Forest.Regan, Roddy ; Campbell, Ewan ; Ballin, Torben ; Sheridan, J A ; Cressey, Michael
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Journal article
Gold in Britain’s auriferous regions, 2450–800 BC
Incorruptible and brilliant, and shining like the sun, gold has always attracted attention. From its earliest known use at Varna around 4500 BC, this metal has been utilised to make some of the finest objects humans have ever possessed. Gold use, and the know-how to work it, arrived in Britain...Knight, Matthew G ; Sheridan, J A ; Horak, Jana
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Journal article
'The faience beads' In: T. Woolhouse, A 'persistent place': late Mesolithic flint working, Early Bronze Age burials, Iron Ages settlement and a Roman farmstead at The Street, Easton
Excavations adjacent to The Street, Easton found evidence for human activity spanning some seven millennia, from the Late Mesolithic (c.6500–4000 BC) to the end of the Romano-British period, with probably continuous occupation on or near the site for at least a thousand years between the Early Iron Age (c.800–600 BC)...Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
Making sense of Scottish Neolithic funerary monuments: tracing trajectories and understanding their rationale
This contribution offers an overview of the appearance , spread and regionally specific developmental trajectories of funerary monuments in Neolithic Scotland, setting these within the broader context of the arrival of farming groups from Brittany and northern France in the early centuries of the 4th millennium, and the subsequent expansion...Sheridan, J A
funerary monuments , Bayesian models , migration, Neolithic Scotland, passage tombs, cairns, and farming practices
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Book chapter
The dagger
In the 22nd century cal BC (Figure 4.33 First Dig: Cist 2205–2130 cal BC (68% probability)) a dramatic alteration of the Henge 1 interior occurred. A large pit was dug into the partially filled henge ditch in the southern interior of the enclosure within a fewmetres of where the cremation...Sheridan, J A ; Cameron, Esther ; O'Connor, Sonia ; Greaves, Pieta ; Northover, Peter …
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Book chapter
The Forteviot dagger-burial and Henge 1 modification
In the 22nd century cal BC (Figure 4.33 First Dig: Cist 2205–2130 cal BC (68% probability)) a dramatic alteration of the Henge 1 interior occurred. A large pit was dug into the partially filled henge ditch in the southern interior of the enclosure within a fewmetres of where the cremation...Noble, Gordon ; Brophy, Kenneth ; Sheridan, J A
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Lecture
Not just a load of old balls: Late Neolithic developments and the creation of a new world order in Orkney
The remarkable complex of large structures at Ness of Brodgar in Orkney has justly attracted worldwide attention, and has led to some contentious claims on popular TV programmes. This lecture investigates the emergence of the competitive, adventurous, innovative elite in Orkney who were responsible for building Ness of Brodgar and...Sheridan, J A
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Lecture
Making sense of funerary monuments and funerary practices
Megalithic chamber tombs – of widely varying shape and size – loom large in the visible traces of Scotland’s Neolithic, but they formed just one element in a diverse range of practices concerned with dealing with, relating to, and commemorating the dead. This lecture explores this diversity and draws out...Sheridan, J A
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Lecture
An everyday story of country folk?
What was the nature of the farming way of life, and how did it vary over time and space? How well do we understand the range of resources that were being used and the changing environment in which people lived their lives? How did society operate, and where did people...Sheridan, J A
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Lecture
The big picture and regional narratives
Understanding what happened across the Scottish landscape between c.4,000-2,500 BC requires us to adopt multiple scales of enquiry, from the international to the local. This lecture explores the main developments and highlights the diversity in the regional trajectories of social and economic change by focusing on two contrasting and often...Sheridan, J A
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Lecture
Neolithic Scotland: changing perceptions, new approaches, plethora of data, and contested narratives
Our narrative of the past has been, and continues to be, the subject of intense debate, not least in regard to when, how and why the novel way of life appeared and became established in Scotland, and what happened to Scotland’s hunter-fisher-forager communities. This first lecture reviews our understanding, and...Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
The Spearhead of the Pennon …
In 1999, the late Professor Charles Thomas donated a Middle Bronze Age spearhead to the National Museum collection. This spearhead came with a label indicating that it was part of the pennant taken into the Battle of Flodden by Robert Chisholme in 1513. This paper investigates the likelihood that such...Knight, Matthew G ; Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
Tangled up in blue: the role of riebeckite felsite in Neolithic Shetland
The social processes involved in acquiring flint and stone in the Neolithic began to be considered over thirty years ago, promoting a more dynamic view of past extraction processes. Whether by quarrying, mining or surface retrieval, the geographic source locations of raw materials and their resultant archaeological sites have been...Cooney, Gabriel ; Megarry, William ; Markham, Mik ; Gilhooly, Bernard ; O’Neill, Brendan …
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Conference paper (published)
Mobility and migration among the Beaker people of Britain
The Beaker People Project, recently published in 2019, is a multi-isotope study, combined with human osteology, dental microwear analysis and radiocarbon-dating, carried out on 334 burials of the Beaker period and Early Bronze Age (c.2500-1500 cal BC) in Britain, to explore patterns of mobility, migration, diet and health. Its results...Pearson, Mike Parker ; Sheridan, J A ; Evans, Jane ; Jay, Mandy ; Richards, Mike …
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Journal article
Survey and sampling at the Castle Dykes Iron Age ‘henge’, Wensleydale, North Yorkshire
Survey and sampling at the classic single-entranced henge monument at Castle Dykes, in North Yorkshire, has revealed traces of circular timber structures, interpreted as later prehistoric roundhouses, in the immediate vicinity and within the henge. Coring of the waterlogged silts of the internal ditch has produced considerable environmental data: plant,...Gibson, Alex ; Neubauer, Wolfgang ; Flöry, Sebastian ; Schneidhofer, Petra ; Allen, Mike …
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Lecture
DNA analysis of ancient individuals found in Scotland
Dr Ange Boyle, University of Edinburgh, presents a short lecture on “DNA analysis of ancient individuals found in Scotland: part of the third great revolution in archaeology” on behalf of Dr Alison Sheridan, National Museums Scotland, and Dr Lisa Brown, Historic Environment Scotland, at the Archaeological Research in Progress (ARP...Sheridan, J A ; Brown, Lisa
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Journal article
The jet bead. In: Gibson, A. Survey and sampling at the Castle Dykes Iron Age ‘henge’, Wensleydale, North Yorkshire
Survey and sampling at the classic single-entranced henge monument at Castle Dykes, in North Yorkshire, has revealed traces of circular timber structures, interpreted as later prehistoric roundhouses, in the immediate vicinity and within the henge. Coring of the waterlogged silts of the internal ditch has produced considerable environmental data: plant,...Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Ancient genomes indicate population replacement in Early Neolithic Britain
The roles of migration, admixture and acculturation in the European transition to farming have been debated for over 100 years. Genome-wide ancient DNA studies indicate predominantly Aegean ancestry for continental Neolithic farmers, but also variable admixture with local Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. Neolithic cultures first appear in Britain circa 4000 bc, a millennium after...Brace, Selina ; Diekmann, Yoan ; Booth, Thomas J ; Faltyskova, Zuzana ; Rohland, Nadin …
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Book chapter
Appendix 2. The post-1500 BC individuals
Nineteen individuals within the BPP database either produced radiocarbon dates that were later than the 2500-1500 BC core period, or else were attributed a post-1500 BC date on the basis of their find context and their unusual isotopic ratios. They range in date from the Middle Bronze Age to the...Jay, Mandy ; Montgomery, Janet ; Pearson, Mike Parker ; Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
The Beaker People: project individuals, their funerary practices and their grave goods
This chapter introduces the individuals in the BPP Database, focusing on those dating to the Project's core period of 2500-1500 BC (rather than those found to date earlier or later: see Appendices 1 and 2 for thes), and especially those belonging to the Beaker period, from the 25th century to...Pearson, Mike Parker ; Needham, Stuart ; Sheridan, J A ; Gibson, Alex
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Book chapter
Introduction
In Great Britain the researches of craniologists have demonstrated that the appearance of bronzeand of the beaker types of ceramic coincides with the advent of a new race characterized by a brachycephalic skull distinctly different from the dolichocephalic head of the earlier neolithic inhabitants...it is therefore necessary to direct our...Pearson, Mike Parker ; Jay, Mandy ; Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
Appendix 1. The pre-2500 BC individuals
Some 17 individuals sampled for the BPP can be assigned to the Neolithic period, either on the basis of radiocarbon dating (n=12) or because of their contextual associations (n=5). In some cases (such as Liffs Low, Derbyshire) the selection had been deliberate: they were known to be Neolithic when they...Jay, Mandy ; Montgomery, Janet ; Pearson, Mike Parker ; Sheridan, J A
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Book
The Beaker people: isotopes, mobility and diet in prehistoric Britain
The Beaker People: Isotopes, Mobility and Diet in Prehistoric Britain presents the results of a major project that sought to address a century-old question about the people who were buried with Beakers a – the distinctive pottery of Continental origin that was current, predominantly in equally distinctive burials, in Britain...Pearson, Mike Parker ; Sheridan, J A ; Jay, Mandy ; Chamberlain, A ; Richards, M P …
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Journal article
Gold in Prehistoric Scotland
Dr Alison Sheridan introduces a new joint project to explore what we know - and what we have yet to discover - about early gold us in Britain.Sheridan, J A
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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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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
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
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
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
The bronze age composite bead necklace
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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Book chapter
The Neolithisation of Britain and Ireland: arrival of immigrant farmers from Continental Europe and its impact on pre-existing lifeways
Britain and Ireland located, in the north-west corner of Europe and separated from the Continent since the 7th millennium BC by the sea (and much longer in the case of Ireland), were among the last areas in Europe where an agricultural - more specifically, agro-pastoral - lifestyle became established. There...Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe
From around 2750 to 2500 bc, Bell Beaker pottery became widespread across western and central Europe, before it disappeared between 2200 and 1800 bc. The forces that propelled its expansion are a matter of long-standing debate, and there is support for both cultural diffusion and migration having a role in...Olalde, Iñigo ; Brace, Selina ; Allentoft, Morten E ; Armit, Ian ; Kristiansen, Kristian …
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Journal article
Artefacts with the human remains in Area C. In: Lelong, O 2018 'Fluid identities, shifting sands: Early Bronze Age burials at Cnip Headland, Isle of Lewis'. Scottish Archaeology Internet Report 75
Excavations in 2009 and 2010 on Cnip Headland, Isle of Lewis investigated three different burials in shallow pits and on a kerbed mound, containing the inhumed remains of at least nine individuals in both articulated and disarticulated states. Bone histology analysis indicates that the bodies of all but one (a...Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Population replacement in Early Neolithic Britain
The roles of migration, admixture and acculturation in the European transition to farming have been debated for over 100 years. Genome-wide ancient DNA studies indicate predominantly Anatolian ancestry for continental Neolithic farmers, but also variable admixture with local Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. Neolithic cultures first appear in Britain c. 6000 years ago...Brace, Selina ; Diekmann, Yoan ; Booth, Thomas J ; Faltyskova, Zuzana ; Rohland, Nadin …
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Journal article
Broken bead or pendant roughout of jet-like material from Swandro
In June 2015, excavations in Area E at Swandro uncovered an intriguing fragment of jet-like material that had broken across a hole that had been drilled through it. (The item is Small Find No. 2344, from context 3153.) The item was passed to the author for study and identification of...Sheridan, J A
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Research report
Balmachie Road, Carnoustie; Bronze Age Hoard Excavation Data Structure Report Project 4572
1.1 On Friday 9th September 2016 a small hoard of copper alloy objects within a well defined pit was uncovered by a team of GUARD Archaeology Ltd archaeologists during topsoil stripping as part of the wider programme of strip, map and record works being undertaken at David Moyes Road, Carnoustie...Hunter Blair, A ; Cameron, Esther ; Evans, Jane ; Harris, Susanna ; Murray, W …
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Book chapter
Ancient Britain
Sheridan, J A
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Research report
Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age c 4000BC – 800BC
Neolithic c 4300/3900 BC to c2450 BC Some time between 4300 BC and 3900 BC a new way of living, featuring the cultivation of cereals and the management of domesticated animals, appeared in the area. This represents the beginning of what archaeologists call the Neolithic (New Stone Age) period. This...Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
Towards a methodology for the study of prehistoric jet and jet-like jewellery
Prehistoric Britain has generated an enormous number and wide variety of stone objects, but few books deal specifically with stone tools that are not flint. This book brings together papers from 22 of the UK’s archaeologists investigating the stone objects that were fundamental to the daily lives of prehistoric people....Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
The Europe of jade: from the Alps to the Black Sea
As it appears in diverse guises – and notably as a founding narrative – the past is at the core of every functioning human society. The idea that the past can be known through scientific research has long been a fundamental challenge for western societies and for European researchers, from...Pétrequin, P ; Cassen, S ; Errera, M ; Sheridan, J A ; Tsonev, T …
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Book chapter
Interdigitating pasts: the Irish and Scottish Neolithics
The Neolithic of Europe comprises eighteen specially commissioned papers on prehistoric archaeology, written by leading international scholars. The coverage is broad, ranging geographically from south-east Europe to Britain and Ireland and chronologically from the Neolithic to the Iron Age, but with a decided focus on the former. Several papers discuss...Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Radiocarbon dating of a multi-phase passage tomb on Baltinglass Hill, Co. Wicklow, Ireland
Baltinglass is a multi-chamber Neolithic passage tomb in Co. Wicklow, Ireland, excavated in the 1930s. This paper presents the results of a radiocarbon dating programme on charred wheat grains and hazelnut shell found underlying the cairn, and on cremated human bone found within and near two of the monument’s five...Schulting, Rick J ; Mcclatchie, Meriel ; Sheridan, J A ; Mclaughlin, Rowan
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Journal article
Fellows remembered: Peter Woodman
Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Beaker vessel. In: J.A. Atkinson, 'Ben Lawers: an archaeological landscape in time. Results from the Ben Lawers Historic Landscape Project, 1996–2005'
This volume presents the results of archaeological investigations between 1996 and 2005, carried out as part of the Ben Lawers Historic Landscape Project, a multi-disciplinary project based on north Loch Tayside in the Central Highlands of Scotland. Archaeological surveys and excavations formed the core of the Ben Lawers Project, but...Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
The disc bead necklace from grave 3033
The widening of the road between the Monkton and Mount Pleasant roundabouts on the A253 led to the archaeological investigation of a 3km long strip of land between July 1994 and February 1995. Prehistoric discoveries included Neolithic inhumations and pits, well-preserved Beaker graves and ten ring-ditches of late Neolithic and...Sheridan, J A ; Davis, M
Archaeology, Neolithic , Anglo-Saxon, Roman, and Jewellery
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Book chapter
Ceramics and other small finds
At 318 pages, the volume is a comprehensive piece of work bringing together decades of archaeological work along the North Sea coastline and the results have already received national and international recognition in archaeological fields. Written by Clive Waddington and Clive Bonsall, the book includes details of the wildlife charity’s...Sheridan, J A ; Waddington, C ; Bidwell, P ; Cowie, Trevor ; Bonsall, Clive
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Book chapter
Shale bead/pendant
A rich prehistoric landscape was unexpectedly revealed on the Thames floodplain during investigations in advance of gravel extraction in the parishes of Yarnton and Cassington. This fascinating study examines this 2500-year settlement history and its changing landscape context on the gravel islands, silted up river channels and adjacent gravel terrace....Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
The wooden studs
Excavation of a scheduled burial mound on Whitehorse Hill, Dartmoor revealed an unexpected, intact burial deposit of Early Bronze Age date associated with an unparalleled range of artefacts. The cremated remains of a young person had been placed within a bearskin pelt and provided with a basketry container, from which...Sheridan, J A ; Brunning, Richard ; Straker, V ; Campbell, Gill ; Cartwright, Caroline …
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Book chapter
Stone rings from Robber’s Den, Co. Clare
This book brings together a series of ground-breaking studies on human bones and artefacts recovered from Irish caves principally between 1870 and 1990. Until now these assemblages had either been completely neglected or had not been examined with modern techniques. The 15 expert contributions presented here shine a light on...Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
Jet and amber
This is the first volume charting the CAU’s on-going Barleycroft Farm/Over investigations, which now encompasses almost twenty years of fieldwork across both banks of the River Great Ouse at its junction with the Fen. Amongst the project’s main directives is the status of a major river in prehistory – when...Sheridan, J A ; Appelby, G