ARCHAEOLOGISTS are unearthing another fascinating glimpse of the island’s prehistoric past.
A dig currently being carried out near the Balthane industrial estate in Ballasalla has uncovered remains of Neolithic urns dating back 4,000 years together with later Bronze Age burial cists.
Another excavation nearby has unearthed more cremation urns.
Both digs are being carried out by teams from Oxford Archaeology.
Marc Storey is project officer leading the dig on a site earmarked for an industrial waste recycling plant.
He said: ‘It’s an impressive site. We’ve not found that much domestic evidence. We don’t think people were actually living here but it was being used when they died.
‘There might have been a specific area set aside so the dead could be interred.’
Mr Storey said four urns had been found with what was very likely to be cremated remains inside and were expected to date to the late Neolithic period.
The site featured what had been two or three glacial drumlins with evidence of a river flowing between them. Over the years, the field had been levelled and repeatedly ploughed, he said.
Only the bases of the urns have survived.
‘We’ve not had an opportunity to lift them yet. They are fairly fragile,’ said Mr Storey.
Also unearthed on the same site are three Bronze Age cist burials, rectangular graves lined with stone.
Acidic sands and silt are likely to have completely dissolved any bone material, leaving only the teeth. Tests will be carried out on samples back in the laboratory.
Mr Storey also worked on last year’s excavation at Ronaldsway and said the whole area boasted the biggest concentration of archaeological remains he had ever dug with evidence of continuous human use dating back 8,000 years to the Mesolithic period.
He explained that as part of the planning permission, contractors JCK had to undertake archaeological work and Oxford Archaeology won the contract.
Work began on this site two weeks ago and was supposed to finish last week but JCK has agreed that excavations can continue.
The team has been battling against atrocious weather and reduced hours of daylight.
A short distance away, another team from Oxford Archaeology is working on a site for the new natural gas pipeline. Work began about a month ago and here too cremation urns have been unearthed.
Source: IOM Today [November 08, 2010]