The New Stonehenge?

A recently discovered burial site on Whitehorse hill in Dartmoor, England, seems to be causing quite the stir. The finding, billed by some as the most important archaeological British Bronze-Age site after Stonehenge, contains the cremated remnants of what was likely a young female as well as several impressively           well-preserved burial goods which included a piece of fur that appears to have come from a species of bear now extinct in Britain for at least 1,000 years.

          Connecting this find to some of our class discussions and readings, it will be interesting to see what kinds of interpretations will be made when the researchers involved begin to publish their work. Personally, I feel hesitant to speculate on the site with most of its research still in the process of development. That being said, one thing really jumps out to me here: that the amber beads found in the grave were traced to the Baltic region. To have evidence of goods travelling this far in prehistoric times must be far and few between. The cultural and social meaning of this item is hard to not be interpreted as evidence for a high status individual but on the other hand, the significance within the context of the individual and their mourners will never be truly grasped. 

          Nevertheless, this site is a stunning example of how new finds and research continue to force revisions of our histories and it provides a great example of how important even the most minuscule materials can be to our understanding of the past. Thankfully, the finds in this site have been anything but minuscule.

Link and photo credit:

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/mar/09/dartmoor-burial-site-bronze-age-history