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Pupils uncover Iron Age remains during dig
ARCHAEOLOGISTS working on a Lottery-funded dig with a group of schoolchildren in the Peak District have uncovered a human skeleton in the grounds of an ancient hill fort.
Members of the Longstone Local History Group mounted a dig on the site at Monsal Head with the help of a 49,000 grant, and hoped for some interesting finds on the Iron Age site.
But Dr Clive Waddington, of Sheffield-based Archaeological Research Services, which helped the amateurs organise the project, said no one expected to unearth human remains.
Dr Waddington said the adult body, which is itself thought to date from the Iron Age, appeared to have been thrown into a ditch with rocks thrown on top of it, possibly as a result of hostilities.
He added: "The excavation has been tremendously rewarding because it has supplied significant new information for understanding hill forts in the Peak District. This type of monument has remained poorly understood in the region.
"I am very pleased with the results because the survival of these organic remains will allow us to finally put in place a chronology for one of the Peak District's most impressive hill fort sites."
Children from the nearby Longstone Primary School made the unexpected discovery while they were excavating hundreds of Mesolithic chipped stone artefacts and a stone axe head.
The site is thought to be around 3,000 years old, but radio carbon dating will take place on the skeleton and many of the finds, which experts said should allow them to date the hill fort with much more precision.
Ann Hall, Longstone Local History Group project manager said: "The site is on private land with no public access and now we have restored the land, there is nothing left on site to show all the amazing features which have been discovered.
"The skeleton has been carefully removed along with all the finds. These will be analysed by specialists to give us much more information about what happened in the past."
Other finds included flint tools and more than 100 pieces of pottery which appear to be coarseware jars and bowls whch would have been used for cooking storing and serving food.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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