The date recovered from this soil horizon gave a terminus post quem for the cairn with a date range from the early 23rd to the early 22nd century BC. The primary burial in Cist 1 was incomplete, as was the third, disturbed cremation from the cairn. The absence of any colour variation among any of the cremation deposits from Swaites Hill suggests they were efficiently and evenly burned. When the stones forming outer kerb [012] were lifted, two different contexts were revealed. Although there are some slight differences in the reported results, in the main, the higher the temperature, the lighter the colour. They travelled in long wooden boats rowed by oarsmen. The total weight of charcoal recovered was 26.6g. The earliest of the rapiers had a complex cross-section consisting of ribs and grooves, with clear ancestry in the dagger series which had begun in the Early Bronze Age. Prior to excavation, the cairn had a maximum height of 0.5m and was only visible in close proximity. The assemblage was dominated by quartz (160 lithics) that were small chunks or gravel-sized pieces. The Society organises a programme of popular lectures held in the Boyd Orr Building, Glasgow University at 7.30 pm on the third Thursday of the month (October to April). The Group 1 rapiers are predominantly found in Ireland, but additional concentrations have been noted in the River Thames and the northern Fenland area around Norfolk. Class 4 are the most numerous and probably longest-living class. Between 2013 and 2015, Rathmell Archaeology Ltd carried out archaeological works on behalf of Cloburn Quarry Company Ltd in advance of a quarry extension. The rapier may originally have been placed within this recess following the deposition of upper cairn material (011). Areas of irregularity in structure and composition were noted within the outer kerb: these mostly represent later disturbance or subsidence but two of these areas, in Zones 1 and 3, may represent recesses which could have accommodated larger stones of similar dimensions to the boulders located close to the cairn. Instead it may merely reflect a late manifestation of a practice later supplanted by the deposition of fine weaponry in rivers and wet places. The multi-lobed shape of the inner kerb suggests the southern part may once have formed a smaller oval-shaped ring, measuring between 6m and 7m in diameter, with two cists located centrally within. New here? Their locations, close to the cairn, suggested the potential for their having been placed close to the cairn in prehistory. The edges are bevelled, and it seems most probable that they underwent cycles of cold-working and annealing to increase their hardness and durability. Selected on quality and durability. The object falls within Burgess and Gerloff's (1981) Group 1 category of dirks and rapiers, namely ‘Weapons with Multiple Grooves, Ribs and Channels.’ Within this particular group, it falls within the first subgroup – ‘Weapons with Multiple Grooves.’ A total of 17 examples of this subgroup were noted in Dirks and Rapiers in Great Britain and Ireland (Burgess & Gerloff 1981), with two further examples identified in Scotland in the 1990s and late 2000s and subsequently published in O’Connor and Cowie (1995) and Cowie and Hall (2010) respectively. This was followed by an archaeological evaluation in April 2015 (Gordon 2015): this comprised an 8% evaluation of the ground and the targeted investigation of several probable clearance cairns. During the Bronze Age, many people crossed the sea from mainland Europe to Britain. Another cairn recently explored to the west of Swaites Hill at Cloburn Quarry (Canmore ID: 47715) revealed jet beads and a stone axehead, in addition to lithics and Neolithic and Bronze Age pottery (Lelong and Pollard 1998a). Jun 8, 2018 - Explore bevaej2306's board "bronzeage swords" on Pinterest. Both individuals from Cist 1 were of similar adolescent age, although that from the secondary burial was probably slightly older. These formed an annular kerb approximately 14m in diameter and relatively uniform around its circumference. The fabric is fine clay with roughly 60% of well crushed angular fragments which has fired hard and is red with a grey core (Fig 8). The Dalrymple Curators utilise the bequest to support an annual series of lectures by eminent archaeologists. 17 of the sherds are decorated. Cast cu-alloy rapier blade dating from the Middle Bronze Age, ca. The boats carried people, animals and trading goods. The Middle Bronze Age rapier would have been a later, 16th to 15th century BC, addition to the site, perhaps deposited within a recess on the outside face of the outer kerb (potentially built into the kerb in order to receive it) or within a pit or cist sunk into the upper cairn material. The burnt spread measured 1.5m by 0.75m and was 250mm thick, with the charcoal occurring in marked concentrations at either end, suggesting two locations of primary burning rather than ex-situ charcoal. The object would once have been attached to a bone or wooden hilt by bronze rivets: while the blade survives intact, the butt is too badly damaged to identify their location. These are described below. This proud possession has its ancestry millenia before recorded history in these islands, many centuries before the legendary Achilles and Hector are said to have fought before the walls of Troy. The assemblage amounted to 196 lithics that were recovered either by hand during excavation (31 lithics, 16%) or extracted from the processed soil samples (165 lithics, 84%). The 16t… The identification of, and assessment of age from, the dental remains, is based on van Beek (1983). Some, however, did not follow this pattern. The Society also arranges day conferences and excursions and publishes a biannual Bulletin of current notes and news, which welcomes submissions and notices. Of particular note is the recess in Zone 1 which lay close to where the Bronze Age rapier was found amongst re-deposited cairn material (009) (see Phases 4 & 5 below). This may have happened numerous times before the cists were finally filled in and covered with cairn material. Another example is provided by Olcote Cairn on Lewis, an 8m diameter kerbed cairn that contained within its fabric an earlier kerb, 6.5m in diameter (Curtis & Curtis 1995, Neighbour 1996). The colour of burnt remains can indicate the temperature achieved during burning. The rapier sword was found locally near a site which had been inhabited for a period of at least 5,000 years, dating back from the Neolithic period to the present day. The underlying geology consists of till from the Devensian epoch over Swanshaw Sandstone Formation from the Devonian and Silurian periods. It is possible that some of the large boulders located close to the cairn were once placed in the recesses in the outer kerb, though this arrangement is unlikely to have formed a stone circle as at Cairnwell. A radiocarbon date of 3672 ± 27BP (cal BC 1992–1966 at 2 Sigma, SUERC- 71903 (GU43369)) was obtained from the cremated bone. Its displacement sadly removed any chance we may have had at establishing its chronological and spatial relationship with cairn and burials; it may, for example, have accompanied a cist or burial incorporated into the upper cairn material and subsequently destroyed. The quartz pieces were predominantly recovered from processed soil samples (149 pieces) with the primary fill of Cist 2 dominating this assemblage (103 pieces), followed by the primary fills of Cist 1 (45 pieces). Possible Rapier (Fragment) Dirk or Rapier; Dagger; Bronze Age Blade Tip; Dirk/Rapier; Rapier. Sherds <29>, <26.1>, <26.2>, <26.7> and <26.8> indicate the shape of the rim and collar. The surface was also poorly preserved, with large areas of encrustation present and only small portions of the original finish surviving, with the blade edge surviving intact over only one small length. <26.8> is a small sherd from the bottom edge of the collar; <26.18> a basal fragment from the wall and interior surface of a flat base. Indeed dating evidence can be rather difficult with regard to the four classes as one of each class has been found in association with each of the other classes in the hoards of Britain. Again, any evidence which may have elucidated the circumstances of the rapier's deposition was destroyed by later disturbance. The rapier was particularly important, being the first example found in Lanarkshire, amongst a corpus of around 40 dirks and rapiers recorded throughout Scotland, of which only four represent the Group 1 type. The discovery of a Middle Bronze Age rapier within re-deposited cairn material hints at even more complexity; however, the full picture was sadly obscured by eighteenth to nineteenth century disturbance. The thickness was much less (0–50mm) over the outer and inner kerbs. Of note was the recovery of a Middle Bronze Age copper alloy rapier (see The Rapier) from within Zone 1 (Fig 7). The fourth phase of the cairn's construction involved the deposition of the upper and lower cairn material ((011), (018) and (029)) over the area encompassed by the outer kerb, though it is assumed that the outer face of the outer kerb would have remained visible before the cairn material later slumped. Two hand-excavated trenches were also placed within a probable ring-cairn (Canmore ID: 47645). It is a loan from Middle French espee rapiere, first recorded in 1474. This increased near the tip to seven, though the details of the transition were concealed by corrosion products. There is also a hint, however, that its final shape resulted from the sequential construction of a series of smaller kerbed compartments which were eventually restructured into a single, final, inner kerb, with – presumably – parts of these smaller kerbed compartments removed in the process. Is a `` derisive '' description of the rim bevel are slipped and decorated grants to of... 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