Andy Burnham's Blog

The National Museum of Kruševac. Top pic: Anthropomorphic face, typical of the Vinča Culture 5700-4500 BCE. Collections start chronologically with artefacts from the Vinča onwards. A real "must" if you are visiting.

A natural rock shelter on the SE facing slope of Cummeenbaun Mountain, above Glanrastel. Formed where a large upright slab leans against a huge boulder, creating a sheltered space that can be entered from either end. The relatively smooth north face of the boulder is covered in hundreds of cut marks. These do not appear to follow any clear pattern and resemble the calendar tallies of some long suffering prisoner. Some marks which have an artistic element but the majority are simple cuts but executed very neatly.
Bored shepherd? Hermit? No one seems to know but there is evidence to suggest great age.

Archaeology Open day coming up next Saturday 2nd May, details are on our page. Cambridge University students on a recent training dig at Wandlebury hillfort have discovered a mass burial pit containing 10 individuals with evidence of execution/battle -- including decapitation, dismemberment, a "stack of legs", and a remarkably tall man (6'5") with trepanation. Radiocarbon dating suggests late 8th-9th century (Viking era), when the area was a Saxon/Viking frontier. The hillfort itself has two massive banks and ditches enclose a circular area of 6.5 hectares.

This lovely spot in Cornwall has had a wayside cross and an entire church added in Medieval times - a Christianisation of an already important location? See the Nearby Sites list and map on our page for more.

The northern lights over the Stones of Stenness, May 2025. Three impressive uprights, originally a stone circle of twelve stones 30m diameter, in a rock-cut ditch like the nearby Ring of Brodgar. The enormous height and narrowness of the huge slab must be seen. How it has stood for five millenia without cracking is beyond me. Excavations in 1973 revealed a central setting of stones, no longer visible, with cremated bone, charcoal, and grooved ware pottery. This style of pottery and the radiocarbon dating suggests a date of 3000BCE - the same period as the Skara Brae coastal settlement.

Right in the middle of the hamlet of Crucuno is this tremendous, much visited and photographed dolmen - one of the best known dolmens in the whole of Brittany, The rectangular chamber is about 4 metres by 3.5 metres, covered by a single massive capstone perched on top of 9 support stones, with easily enough room to stand upright inside. The capstone is 7.6 metres in length and weighs about 40 tons.

Museum in the centre of Carnac town, with large collections of items from the prehistoric to the middle ages. One of the most important museums in France, and perhaps the most important in the world for megalithic items. There are some good explanations of the various types of dolmen and tumulus to be found, and some lovely replicas of many of the engraved stones discovered.

Bronze Age rock carvings estimated to date from 1800 to 500 BCE, including a mysterious carving known as the Maypole seen here on the left. Also a total of 65 ships, 11 human figures, 15 indeterminate figures, 12 animals, 6 foot marks, a wheel cross, 3 circular shapes and 91 cup marks! In Bohuslän, Sweden. Lots more detail on our page.

The Twin Ponds, renowned ancient bathing pools in Anuradhapura, built around the 6th century for monks of the Abhayagiri Viharaya. Beautiful construction, see the scrolls and seven headed serpents (pictured). It still holds water and there were even turtles in the there !

10th Century walls found under this church during restoration, confirming its age. . The church has on display the remains of a Danish hogback and fragments of Saxon crosses and a sundial (pictured) which bear witness to evidence of a church on this site for well over 1,000 years. The church guide tells us that there is "traditional belief that St. Cuthbert's body rested here on its way from Ripon to Durham in 995.