Papers by Alison Sheridan
The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2017
Archaeopress Publishing Ltd eBooks, Jul 31, 2015
International audienc
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2016
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
A total of 20 new AMS radiocarbon determinations on human bone have been obtained for the Neolith... more A total of 20 new AMS radiocarbon determinations on human bone have been obtained for the Neolithic chamber tomb of Quanterness, Orkney. The results show poor agreement with the recorded stratigraphy, suggesting extensive mixing of the chamber deposits. A Bayesian model treating all of the determinations as deriving from a single phase of activity provides a start date in the range 3510 – 3220 cal BC (most probably falling after 3450 cal BC), with the main phase of burial activity ending in the range 2850–2790 cal BC (95.4% probability). This presents a tighter range than previously available, but nevertheless appears to confirm the longevity of burial activity at the monument. Osteologically, there is no convincing evidence for excarnation, and the representation of the small bones of the hands and feet, together with the absence of sub-aerial weathering, make it unlikely that the bulk of the human bone assemblage was brought in from elsewhere, as had previously been suggested. Sta...
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
In February 2000, ploughing disturbed the capstone of a cist, located on the side of a prominent ... more 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, who had suffered from arthritis, some tooth loss and possibly Paget’s Disease. He had been buried wearing a garment adorned with six V-perforated buttons. Five of these are of Whitby jet (including one with unique decoration including inlaid tin); the sixth is of the mineral lizardite, and has an enigmatic coating, possibly a glaze. Behind his shoulder was a dagger, of ‘Milston type (East Kennet variant)’; it had had a fancy horn hilt and a scabbard lined with animal skin. The scabbard yielded two AMS radiocarbon dates, with a mean value of 2280–1970 cal BC at 2s.
Stone Axe Studies III
Our understanding of the production, distribution and use of Neolithic axeheads, adzeheads and ch... more 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 its coverage to all artefacts of Alpine rock in Britain, Ireland and the Channel Islands, irrespective of length - and collating information about contexts, dating and depositional practices at a pan-European scale. The research has involved a remarkable amount of work 'behind the scenes' in museums and private collections across the continent. This has led to new discoveries and to the challenging of old provenances and associations. Focusing on the results for Britain and Ireland, this paper highlights the new information that has been obtained on well-known examples and shows what else has been learnt from the project: the additional specimens, the remarkable stories of individual objects, and the need to be able to recognise 'false friends' - ethnographical objects and Neolithic specimens from elsewhere in Europe, collected by antiquaries.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2019
Routledge eBooks, Jun 14, 2022
Le projet ANR JADE 2 (2013-2017) concerne l'ensemble de l'Europe – entre Atlantique et me... more Le projet ANR JADE 2 (2013-2017) concerne l'ensemble de l'Europe – entre Atlantique et mer Noire – ou les transferts de jades ont ete alimentes par deux centres de production : l'ile egeenne de Syros des la fin du VIIe millenaire ; et les massifs alpins du Mont Beigua et du Mont Viso a partir du milieu du VIe millenaire. Cette synthese vise a eclairer les valeurs sociales qui sous-tendaient la circulation des haches et des anneaux-disques alpins, dans un reseau qui couvrait 3 200 km d’est en ouest. La demarche est fondee sur la comparaison entre les interpretations ideelles des producteurs (Piemont) et l'imaginaire social des receveurs lointains, dans les marges de l'Europe neolithique.
Le projet ANR JADE 2 (2013-2017) concerne l'ensemble de l'Europe – entre Atlantique et me... more Le projet ANR JADE 2 (2013-2017) concerne l'ensemble de l'Europe – entre Atlantique et mer Noire – ou les transferts de jades ont ete alimentes par deux centres de production : l'ile egeenne de Syros des la fin du VIIe millenaire ; et les massifs alpins du Mont Beigua et du Mont Viso a partir du milieu du VIe millenaire. Cette synthese vise a eclairer les valeurs sociales qui sous-tendaient la circulation des haches et des anneaux-disques alpins, dans un reseau qui couvrait 3 200 km d’est en ouest. La demarche est fondee sur la comparaison entre les interpretations ideelles des producteurs (Piemont) et l'imaginaire social des receveurs lointains, dans les marges de l'Europe neolithique.
Excavations in 2009 and 2010 on Cnip Headland, Isle of Lewis investigated three different burials... more 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 stillborn infant) were allowed to decay and become partly or wholly skeletonised before being buried at this spot. Worn jet beads, a copper-alloy awl and pieces of boar tusk and marine ivory accompanied some of the remains. The burials lay around a cairn, which previous excavations have shown was built in the 3rd millennium bc and then rebuilt twice, with both cremated and unburnt human remains incorporated in it. Another inhumation burial in a stone-lined pit close to the cairn was excavated in the 1990s. Bayesian analysis indicates that the cairn’s first reconstruction and the placing of human remains around it took place over a period of up to 150 years between 1770 and 162...
This chapter summarizes the results of two major international projects JADE and JADE 2. These ex... more This chapter summarizes the results of two major international projects JADE and JADE 2. These examined the exploitation, circulation, use and significance of artefacts made from jadeite and other green rocks from the Western Alps in Neolithic Europe. The most-widely travelled of all the prehistoric materials, these Alpine jades seem to have been accorded special significance by many and diverse communities, particularly in Western Europe. This "Europe of jade" contrasts, however, with the "Europe of copper" in eastern and southeast Europe, where copper (along with gold) was the main material of choice in terms of socially-valued substances, while objects of Alpine jade are scarce.
Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports, 2007
This report provides an account of the excavations of a cropmark enclosure and other prehistoric ... more 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 Development Department. Features and artefacts of various periods were discovered during the excavations, including a Mesolithic chipped stone assemblage and pits associated with Impressed Ware pottery. A pair of distinctive burial cists dating to c2300-2000 cal BC was discovered, each containing two inhumations, one articulated and the other disarticulated; a Beaker vessel was found directly above one of the cists. By the mid first millennium cal BC a settlement had been founded on the site. Three successive settlement layouts can be interpreted from the excavated structures. The first two phases represent continuous occupation, dating to before 400 cal BC, and consisted of ...
Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2019
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Papers by Alison Sheridan
Dedicated to Professor David V Clarke, former Keeper of Archaeology in National Museums Scotland, on his 70th birthday, the book comprises three sections which reflect some of his many interests. “Presenting the past” offers perspectives on current museum practice, especially in relation to archaeological displays. “Ancient lives and multiple lives” looks at antiquarian approaches to the Scottish past and the work of a Scottish antiquary abroad, while “Pieces of the past” offers a series of authoritative case-studies on Scottish artefacts, as well as papers on the iconic site of Skara Brae and on the impact of the Roman world on Scotland.
With subjects ranging from Gordon Childe to the Govan Stones and from gaming pieces to Grooved Ware, this scholarly and accessible volume provides a show-case of new information and new perspectives on material culture linked, but not limited to, Scotland.
For the 5th millennium BC, the typological classification of these tools allows us to distinguish 15 different types.
In studying the length/thickness ratio of complete examples, these types fall into a chronological sequence, informed by a factor analysis of axehead hoards (from both funerary and non-funerary contexts) and excluding those of Puy type (which have been influenced by copper axe-heads and constitute a late introduction with the Chasséen, towards the end of the 5th millennium).
According to this sequence:
- the Bégude hoard is the earliest, being deposited at the beginning of the 5th millennium;
- the next hoards are the group deposited around the middle of the 5th millennium in the Morbihan region of Brittany. Of these, those from Mané er Hroëck and Tumiac are the earliest, followed by Bernon, and finally Saint Michel and Petit Rohu;
- the series ends with the hoards of Büssleben, Mönpfiffel, Gonsenheim, Altenstadt, Le Pecq et Abbeville, deposited during the second half of the 5th millennium and at the beginning of the 4th millennium.
The ‘intuitive’ typology and the initial chronological seriation that we had proposed in previous publications (based on typological associations in hoards and on axeheads from dated contexts) has been confirmed by this new work, with minor alterations.
The mapping of the various axehead types at the scale of western Europe is a step that is key to understanding the dating and circulation of the large axeheads from their sources of raw material in the Alps to the maritime fringes of Europe. Globally, as we have noted previously, there is a striking symmetry, around the middle of the 5th millennium, between a western Europe where jade was the ‘must have’ material, and an eastern Europe in which this role was played by copper and gold. The two poles of this pattern lie at Carnac and the Gulf of Morbihan in the west and Varna in the east.
The distribution maps allow us to follow and to confirm our chronological propositions :
- The Bégude type of axehead, which is sometimes asso-ciated with regularly-shaped disc-rings of serpentinite or of jadeitite, is found over the entire area of influence of Cardial pottery styles to the west of the Alps. In opposition to this southern distribution, there is the northern distribution pat-tern of axeheads of Altenstadt/Greenlaw type.
- Axeheads with expanded blades, even though some of them had been shaped in the quarries of Monte Viso, show an extraordinary concentration around the Gulf of Morbihan. These are the highly polished ‘Carnac type’ axeheads.
- Finally the Puy type, the latest of the Alpine types, covers most of Continental Europe and heralds the decline in Alpine axehead production and the progressive return to the use of Alpine rock for making workaday axeheads and other woodworking tools.
For certain axehead types -in particular, Altenstadt/Greenlaw- one notes the absence of roughouts in the quarrying sites of the Alps and Liguria. This is due to the fact that we are dealing with axeheads that were repolished on their arrival in the Paris Basin, using Alpine and Italian axehead types (in particular those of Durrington and Puymirol). This phenomenon, which occured in the south-eastern part of the Paris Basin, seems to be identical to that which saw the transformation of polished Alpine axeheads on their arrival in the Morbihan, with the pro-duction of the ‘Carnac’ types of axehead. The intention could have been to produce styles of axehead that were incapable of being imitated and that were reserved for the elites. The incoming Alpine axeheads would have been regarded as magnificent exotic raw material, lacking in form or looking too much like the standard ver-sions as used by neighbouring communities. At the other end of Europe, the same phenomenon of repolishing can be observed in Bulgaria with the Varna type (trapezoidal) and the thinned-down Durrington/Chelles type.
We must, then, ask what was the social meaning of these ‘object-signs’ of jade, and what were the concepts which lay behind their circulation over distances which far exceeded those travelled by most other artefacts. The rarity and preciousness of the raw material is evidently implica-ted in these beliefs, as we can see from other jade objects, be they archaeological or ethnographic, which were used in central America, on the Antilles, in China and in New Zealand by markedly hierarchical societies with religious concepts that buttressed the power of the elites. Nor was the near-ubiquitous choice of the axe as an ‘object-sign’ in any way arbitrary ; rather, it was based on the general value of this tool used by farmers in a forest environment. The axe stood for certain social and politi-cal functions that were dominated by men, representing virility and violence. Likewise, the choice of jades was not random, since this precious stone, remarkably tough and luminous, often seems to have been associated with water, with lightning, with snakes and with eternity.
A fundamental observation to make is that the long polished axeheads of Alpine jade have most frequently been disco-vered in isolation - that is to say, outwith the archaeological context of a settlement or a grave. This absence of a conventional context must, however, be regarded as being of key significance in indicating the idealised value that had been accorded to these ‘object-signs’ of stone. Ancient and more recent discoveries of Alpine jade axeheads (and in-deed of axeheads made from flint or from other rocks from regionally-specificsources) have allowed us to state firmly that these objects had been deliberately deposited in the natural landscape, be it singly, in pairs, or occasionally in larger numbers. The findspot locations are often distinctive, with most axeheads being associated with water (in the form of lakes, ponds, bogs, rivers and waterfalls), and with some others being associated with free-standing blocks of stone, with rock overhangs or with fissures. The choice that is implied in these places of deposition evokes, unequivo-cally, certain sacred sites that are known from archaeology and ethnology : such sites are located at specific points in the landscape where communication with the supernatural Beings who control the fate of the living could take place. The representations of axes and axeheads that are engra-ved on the standing stones in the Morbihan lead us to the same conclusion.
If we accept this interpretation which invokes the domains of mythology, religion and social inequalities, then the spatial distribution of jade ‘object-signs’ in western Europe becomes easier to comprehend, as does the practice of polishing some axeheads made from the finest jadeitites to achieve a mirror-like sheen. Furthermore, the deliberate burning or breaking of some axeheads implies a sacrificial act, in which the objects were consecrated to Otherworldly powers ; the use of fire in this act of destruction echoes its use in the creation of some axeheads, through the use of fire-settingto extract the rock in the high Alps. Thus, the circulation of large Alpine axeheads was closely linked to a belief system that was based on the premise of their being a social inequality, in the func-tioning of the world, between men and the supernatural forces who possessed the ultimate power.
Given this context, it is therefore not surprising to find that the commonly-accepted terms ‘axehead for display’, ‘prestige axehead’ and ‘ceremonial axehead’ can neither explain nor account for the fact that these ‘object-signs’ of jade are virtually absent from settlement contexts (except at the beginning of their currency at the end of the 6th and at the end of their use during the first half of the 4th millennium BC). Similarly, the presence of jade axeheads in funerary contexts is rare : there are some modestly-sized polished Alpine axeheads in certain graves in the source area (North Italy, in the Square-Mouthed Pottery Culture), and some in male graves dating to a late phase in the use of Alpine rock (at the end of the 5th millennium and the first half of the 4th millennium).
The status of the individuals who were interred in the mas-sive mounds in the Carnac area of the Gulf of Morbihan, accompanied by numerous large Alpine axeheads and by other objects imported over long distances, is therefore all the more exceptional and demands to be explained. However, we should not make the common mistake of simply regarding these individuals as ‘Big Man’ chiefs, operating in a system based on conspicuous consumption ; such an interpretation ignores the religious basis of the socio-political organisation. The evidence encourages us to regard this society - which produced the earliest megalithic architecture in Europe around the middle of the 5th millennium, together with a whole repertoire of symbolic imagery (inclu-ding the axe), engraved on extraordinary standing stones- as one which was markedly inegalitarian, with some men having acquired an intermediary status between the elite and the supernatural powers. Such individuals would have been theocrats, ‘divine kings’, akin to those described by ethnographers for certain parts of Africa and Oceania, with the unstable ‘kingdom’ of Tonga being probably the clearest example. Despite the long distance (in time and space) between these societies and the ancient society of the Carnac region, the analogy seems justified.
Our proposed interpretation of the long-distance exchange of jade objects - above all towards north-west Europe - is thus based on our recognition of the idealised function of long axeheads within markedly inegalitarian societies, of which the most extreme version was located around the Gulf of Morbihan. In other words, the control of the exchange of these ‘object-signs’ which were destined to be consecrated or sacrificed would have been wholly in the hands of a small fraction of the elite. These few individuals would have acquired them not so much for making a direct statement of their privileged status within society, but rather to gain and reinforce their prestige, fame and religious power through offering the jade objects to the Otherworldly powers in order to ensure the (conceptual) reproduction of the world.