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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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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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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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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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The Boyne to Brodgar initiative: understanding—and preserving, presenting and raising awareness of—Neolithic monuments and the people who built and used them in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man
This contribution introduces a new initiative, focusing on Neolithic monumentality in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, that aims to combine fresh research and fieldwork with a strategy to raise public awareness of the wealth and interconnectedness of the monuments in these areas. The background to the initiative -...Sheridan, J A ; Cooney, Gabriel
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Fellows remembered: Peter Woodman
Sheridan, J A
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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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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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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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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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A Boyne to Brodgar research framework
Note: this research framework, created by Alison Sheridan (National Museums Scotland) and Gabriel Cooney (University College Dublin), forms part of an article, ‘The Boyne to Brodgar initiative: understanding – and preserving, presenting and raising awareness of – Neolithic monuments and the people who built and used them in Ireland, Scotland...Sheridan, J A ; Cooney, Gabriel
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Links of Noltland, Westray, Orkney: radiocarbon dating and chronological modelling
This report contains details of all the publically available radiocarbon determinations obtained on samples dated from the Links of Noltland up to the end of 2016. The chronological modelling of these radiocarbon dates was undertaken as part of The Times of Their Lives Project (European Research Council Advanced Investigator grant...Marshall, P ; Clarke, David V ; Sheridan, J A ; Shepherd, Alexandra N ; Sharples, N …
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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
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... -
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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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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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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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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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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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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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Journal article
The beads. In: M. Johnson ‘Excavation of two Early Bronze Age short cists and a prehistoric pit at Lindsayfield, near Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire'
Two short cists of Early Bronze Age date, containing prehistoric flint artefacts and shale/cannel coal beads, were discovered during topsoiling operations for the Aberdeen to Lochside Natural Gas Pipeline, to the south of Lindsayfield, near Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire. Cremated human bone from one of the cists was radiocarbon dated to the...Johnson, M ; Sheridan, J A
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Settlement duration and materiality: formal chronological models for the development of Barnhouse, a Grooved Ware settlement in Orkney
Radiocarbon dating and Bayesian chronological modelling, undertaken as part of the investigation by the Times of Their Lives project into the development of Late Neolithic settlement and pottery in Orkney, has provided precise new dating for the Grooved Ware settlement of Barnhouse, excavated in 1985–91. Previous understandings of the site...Richards, C ; Jones, A M ; MacSween, A ; Sheridan, J A ; Dunbar, Elaine …
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Rodents: food or pests in Neolithic Orkney
Rodents have important effects on contemporary human societies, sometimes providing a source of food but more often as agricultural pests, or as vectors and reservoirs of disease. Skeletal remains of rodents are commonly found in archaeological assemblages from around the world, highlighting their potential importance to ancient human populations. However,...Romaniuk, Andrzej A ; Shepherd, Alexandra N ; Clarke, David V ; Sheridan, J A ; Fraser, Sheena …
Rodentia, Microtus arvalis, human subsistence, archaeology, and animal osteology
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Beaker people in Britain: migration, mobility and diet
The appearance of the distinctive ‘Beaker package’ marks an important horizon in British prehistory, but was it associated with immigrants to Britain or with indigenous converts? Analysis of the skeletal remains of 264 individuals from the British Chalcolithic–Early Bronze Age is revealing new information about the diet, migration and mobility...Pearson, Mike Parker ; Chamberlain, A ; Jay, Mandy ; Richards, Mike ; Sheridan, J A …
Beaker, Britain, Bayesian analysis, mobility, diet, Bronze Age, migration, isotope analysis, and osteology
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The radiocarbon dating programmes of The National Museums of Scotland
Since 1991, the Archaeology Department of the National Museums of Scotland (NMS) has been undertaking programmes of AMS radiocarbon dating of organic items in its collections, particularly wetland finds. This work was initially stimulated by the success of Caroline Earwood’s research on dating bog butter containers and other wooden vessels...Sheridan, J A
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Investigating jet and jet-like artefacts from prehistoric Scotland: the National Museums of Scotland project
The black spacer plate necklaces and bracelets of the Early Bronze Age (Figure 1) are among the most technically accomplished prestige items of this period in Britain and Ireland. There has been much debate over the years as to whether these artefacts and other prehistoric black jewellery and dress accessories...Sheridan, J A ; Davis, M ; Clark, Iain ; Redvers-Jones, Hal
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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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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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The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe
Bell Beaker pottery spread across western and central Europe beginning around 2750 BCE before disappearing between 2200-1800 BCE. The mechanism of its expansion is a topic of long-standing debate, with support for both cultural diffusion and human migration. We present new genome-wide ancient DNA data from 170 Neolithic, Copper Age...Olalde, Iñigo ; Brace, Selina ; Allentoft, Morten E ; Armit, Ian ; Kristiansen, Kristian …
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The end of the world, or just ‘goodbye to all that’? Contextualising the red deer heap from Links of Noltland, Westray, within late 3rd-millennium cal bc Orkney
As part of a major international research project, The Times of Their Lives, a programme of radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modelling was undertaken to refine the chronology of activities in one small but important part of the extensive Late Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement in Links of Notland on the...Clarke, David V ; Sheridan, J A ; Shepherd, Alexandra N ; Sharples, N M ; Armour-Chelu, Miranda Jane …
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Cremation practices and the creation of monument complexes: the Neolithic cremation cemetery at Forteviot, Strathearn, Perth & Kinross, Scotland, and its comparanda
Around the beginning of the 3rd millennium cal bc a cremation cemetery was established at Forteviot, central Scotland. This place went on to become one of the largest monument complexes identified in Mainland Scotland, with the construction of a palisaded enclosure, timber structures, and a series of henge monuments and... -
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
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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Jones, E, Sheridan, J A & Franklin, J 2018 'Neolithic and Bronze Age occupation at Meadowend Farm, Clackmannanshire: Pots, pits and roundhouses' Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports 77
The excavations at Meadowend Farm, Clackmannanshire produced evidence for occupation at various times between the Early Neolithic and the Middle to Late Bronze Age. Significantly, it yielded the largest and best-dated assemblage of Middle Neolithic Impressed Ware yet encountered in Scotland, comprising at least 206 vessels. Episodes of Early to...Jones, Elizabeth ; Sheridan, J A ; Franklin, J
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‘Ava’: a Beaker-associated woman from a cist at Achavanich, Highland, and the story of her (re-)discovery and subsequent study
This contribution describes the discovery and subsequent investigation of a cist in a rock-cut pit at Achavanich, Highland. Discovered and excavated in 1987, the cist was found to contain the tightly contracted skeletal remains of a young woman, accompanied by a Beaker, three flint artefacts and a cattle scapula. Initial...Hoole, M ; Sheridan, J A ; Boyle, A ; Booth, T ; Brace, S …
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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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The Excavation of Neolithic Pits and a Bronze Age Burial Site at Ness Gap, Fortrose
An investigation by Headland Archaeology (UK) Ltd took place in early 2013 in advance of a housing development at Ness Gap, Fortrose, Highland. The excavation revealed domestic activity dating from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. A cluster of Neolithic pits provided insights into the development of agriculture in...Woodley, Nuala C ; Lochrie, Julie ; Sheridan, J A ; Cowie, Trevor ; Christie, Claire
cremation, pits, metalwork , Burial, cinerary urn, cordoned urn, faience, and cist
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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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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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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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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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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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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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'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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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
“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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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