Latest News


SELRC Research grants
Sad passing of Professor John Allen and John Coles
ASE now freely available online
Mesolithic cemetery discovered on the Somerset moors

SELRC Research grants


SELRC RESEARCH GRANTS LAUNCHED


Grants to further archaeological research in the Severn Estuary and the adjoining coastal floodplains have just been launched. The grants (Max £650) will be awarded annually by the end of October (applications submitted by 1st of October).
<< Back to list

Sad passing of Professor John Allen and John Coles


The sad deaths of two people who had a profound influence on the Severn Estuary area have been announced recently- Professors John Allen and John Coles. Obituaries of these two great men are available on these links for John Allen and John Coles

<< Back to list

ASE now freely available online


In partnership with the Archaeological Data Service all the volumes of the publication are now available online for free at https://doi.org/10.5284/1044660. All future issues will also be available for free online, immediately after they are approved by the editorial team.
<< Back to list

Mesolithic cemetery discovered on the Somerset moors


Radiocarbon dating of two human skulls has produced evidence of a 10,000 year old cemetery near Middlezoy. The remains were originally discovered in 1928 at a sand quarry at Greylake, a small island of hard geology in the floodplain of the Somerset Levels and Moors. At least 5 skulls and some long bones were found.  Only two skulls and four tibiae fragments survive.

 

 

 

Both skulls are from people who died around 8,300 BC. This suggests that the sand quarry was the location of the earliest known open-air cemetery in the UK. Virtually all the other human bones of this period in the UK have been found in caves. Many of these are from Somerset, most notably Aveline’s Hole cave on the Mendip hills just 15 miles to the north.

 

A large number of flint tools have also been found from the Greylake site. No other site in the country has this combination of human remains and tool evidence for prolonged activity. Analysis of the bones showed that the group at Greylake had a protein rich terrestrial diet reflecting the importance of hunting to this community.

 

 

 

The dating was paid for by Somerset County Council Heritage Service as part of a project investigating the archaeology of the ‘islands’ of hard geology in the Somerset levels and Moors floodplain. This is a community heritage project being run by Somerset County Council with financial support of the Somerset Levels and Moors Local Action Group. More analysis will be carried out on the human remains, the flint and the palaeoenvironmental record to shed light on how this ancient community lived and died.

<< Back to list