cairns

UK news in brief

Funding for Devon Roman villa The SHARE project (Saving Halberton’s Ancient Roman Environment), which is being led by archaeologists from the University of Exeter in partnership with Devon County Council, Tiverton Archaeology Group, and the Sampford Peverell Society, has been…

The Coffin Roads: journeys to the West

Review by Hugh Cheape Professor Ian Bradley has identified a network of routes extending for miles across our upland and island areas and radiating out from long-used burial grounds. The routes are marked by cairns where funerals, carrying the deceased…

Above An aerial view of the Qarn bint Sa’ud outcrop. Recent survey of this imposing natural feature and its hinterland is revealing new insights into activity that seemingly dates from the Palaeolithic through to the Islamic period.

Unlocking a hidden landscape: preliminary fieldwork at Qarn bint Sa’ud, Abu Dhabi

Recent survey has revolutionised our knowledge of rock art created on an imposing natural landmark in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). What can archaeology reveal about how humans used a landscape that periodically became more or less hospitable in response to climate shifts? George H Nash, Yale Fox, Dillon von Petzinger, Genevieve von Petzinger, Aitor Ruiz Redondo, Juan F Ruiz Lopez, and Yamandu H Hilbert, provide us with a first glimpse of the fruits of their work.

Above Digital X ray render picks out a ghostly image of Unstan chambered cairn.

Capturing Orkney’s chambered cairns

What can cutting-edge photographic technology add to our understanding of Orkney’s Neolithic chambered tombs? Georgina Ritchie explores the possibilities of photogrammetry, with contributions from Steve Farrar and Hugo Anderson-Whymark.