Event - Ice Age tours (Creswell Crags)

Discover what Creswell Crags was like during the last Ice Age on a tour of Robin Hood Cave, the largest cave on site.

Find out who was here, what was here, why they were here and how we know about it.

On until 31st January, tickets £6.50 including exhibition, £4.50 children. Visit www.creswell-crags.org.uk for details.

From: http://www.worksopguardian.co.uk/news/local-news/ice_age_tours_1_4082572?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

News - Archaeologists bid for grant to protect prehistoric site (Farndon)

AMATEUR archaeologists are bidding for £50,000 of funding to help them protect a rare prehistoric site in Notts.

Farndon Archaeological Research Investigations has applied for Heritage Lottery Funding to investigate fields around Farndon, where the site was discovered during field walks carried out before the widening of the A46.

Hundreds of Ice Age flint tools have been unearthed from the fields, which is believed to have been a camp.

If successful in their funding bid archaeologists hope to use the money over three years to carry out field walks, dig several test pits and carry out scientific tests which they would not be able to afford otherwise.

Professional archaeologist Daryl Garton, who was involved in the initial work with the Highways Agency, said the future work on the site was incredibly important.

"There isn't another site in Britain of the same age and with this spread of activity," she said.

"There were about 330 surface finds but that was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

"There will be lots more in the ploughed soil, hopefully left intact."

From: http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Archaeologists-bid-grant-protect-prehistoric-site/article-3231468-detail/article.html

 

News - Archaeologists look to protect rare prehistoric site (Farndon)

A group of amateur archaeologists are hoping to help protect a rare prehistoric site in Nottinghamshire.

 

They are bidding for funding to further investigate the fields around Farndon, where archaeologists have unearthed hundreds of Ice Age flint tools.

 

Professional archaeologist Daryl Garton is supporting Farndon Archaeological Research Investigations' bid.

 

"There isn't another site in Britain of the same age and with this spread of activity," she said.

 

"It's incredibly important." The prehistoric site was discovered during field walks carried out prior to the road widening of the A46 between Newark and Widmerpool.

Daryl was involved with the initial work for the Highways Agency.

 

She said: "There were about 330 surface finds but that was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

 

"There will be lots more in the ploughed soil, hopefully left intact."

 

It is believed that the site was that of a camp, or several camps, where hunters would process kills after hunting animals, perhaps of herds such as wild horses and red deer migrating across the River Trent.

 

Farndon Archaeological Research Investigations (FARI) are bidding for £50,000 of Heritage Lottery Funding to be used over three years.

 

With this they hope to do more field walks, dig several test pits and carry out scientific tests they would otherwise not be able to afford.

 

Anne Coyne, from FARI, said the funding would be good, not only for archaeologists but also for the area. "It's like ancient family history, studying how our ancestors lived in the past," she said.

 

"It would be great to put Newark on the map in terms of prehistory."

 

As important as work in the field, FARI plans to communicate the importance of the site to the public, through talks and displays.

 

"Eventually what we'd like to do is put on a permanent display of the finds at the local museum at Newark for people to view for future generations," Anne added.

FARI are expecting to finalise their application by the end of March and hope to hear from Heritage Lottery Fund a few months later. They hope to start work in the summer of 2011.

 

Farndon Archaeological Research Investigations are putting on a series of events at Newark Library in February 2011. On 15 February professional archaeologist Daryl Garton will give a talk about the finds so far unearthed near the village. Between 17-19 February there will be a display of the original artefacts and on 19 February families can enjoy an archaeological craft activity, building a replica, edible, stone henge. For more information call FARI on 01636 616 640.

 

In Nottinghamshire there are only a handful of archaeological remains that date from the Palaeolithic time period

 

Fardon Field's location is unusual because prehistoric tools are usually found in protected environments such as caves not open fields

 

The flint tools found were used about 13,000 years ago for processing animal carcasses, scraping them out to make pelts for clothing.

They have been found spread over a huge area equivalent to 21 football pitches 

Archaeologists say the people who made the flint tools at Farndon might conceivably be the same people that made the cave paintings of bison and birds at Creswell Crags

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/nottingham/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9391000/9391437.stm

News – Researchers Map Out Ice Sheets Shrinking During Ice Age

A set of maps created by the University of Sheffield have illustrated, for the first time, how our last British ice sheet shrunk during the Ice Age. 

Led by Professor Chris Clark from the University's Department of Geography, a team of experts developed the maps to understand what effect the current shrinking of ice sheets in parts of the Antarctic and Greenland will have on the speed of sea level rise. 

The unique maps record the pattern and speed of shrinkage of the large ice sheet that covered the British Isles during the last Ice Age, approximately 20,000 years ago. The sheet, which subsumed most of Britain, Ireland and the North Sea, had an ice volume sufficient to raise global sea level by around 2.5 metres when it melted. 

Using the maps, researchers will be able to understand the mechanisms and rate of change of ice sheet retreat, allowing them to make predictions for our polar regions, whose ice sheets appear to be melting as a result of temperature increases in the air and oceans.

The maps are based on new information on glacial landforms, such as moraines and drumlins, which were discovered using new technology such as remote sensing data that is able to image the land surface and seafloor at unprecedented resolutions. 

Experts combined this new information with that from fieldwork, some of it dating back to the nineteenth century, to produce the final maps of retreat. 

It is also possible to use the maps to reveal exactly when land became exposed from beneath the ice and was available for colonisation and use by plants, animals and humans. This provides the opportunity for viewers to pinpoint when their town/region emerged. 

Professor Chris Clark, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Geography, said: "It took us over 10 years to gather all the information in order to produce these maps, and we are delighted with the results. 

"It is great to be able to visualise the ice sheet and notice that retreat speeds up and slows down, and it is vital of course that we learn exactly why. With such understanding we will be able to better predict ice losses in Greenland and Antarctica. 

"In our next phase of work we hope to really tighten up on the timing and rates of retreat in more detail, by dropping tethered corers from a ship to extract seafloor sediments that can be radiocarbon dated."

From: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Researchers_Map_Out_Ice_Sheets_Shrinking_During_Ice_Age_999.html