10 aprile 2009

Biggar: Alba oldest settlement








Flint find at Biggar adds 3,000 years to Scottish man

Neolithic man was active in Scotland 14,000 years ago
Charlene Sweeney
Scotland’s oldest settlement, dating back 14,000 years, was near Biggar, in South Lanarkshire, archaeologists say.

The site, in a field north of the town, may have been a camp used by hunters following migrating herds of reindeer or wild horses across plains that are now covered by the North Sea. Its discovery means humans have lived in Scotland for 3,000 years longer than previously thought. Until now the earliest evidence of human habitation in the country was at Cramond, near Edinburgh, which had been radiocarbon-dated to about 8400 BC.

A large scattering of flints was first found in the field near Biggar a few years ago but the site was initially thought to be late Neolithic and was later classified as an Iron Age settlement after radiocarbon dating of charcoal found there.

However, recent analysis of more of the flints revealed that they were from the end of the Upper Palaeolithic period — the Old Stone Age — 14,000 years ago. They are similar to those found in southern Denmark and northern Germany, which have been dated accurately to that time.

Biggar, which is at the crossroads of the Clyde and Tweed valleys, has historically been an important trade centre. Now it is better known as expensive commuter territory and a day-trip destination for residents of Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Alan Saville, senior curator of earliest pre-history at the National Museums of Scotland, who was involved in the research, hailed the discovery as“a breakthrough that we have been hoping to find for years and years”.

He added: “We always thought that there must be Upper Palaeolithic occupation in Scotland but we never actually found material which was conclusive enough, so it is a breakthrough that we can now say there is absolutely no doubt that people were here.

“We’ve pushed back the date of human settlement in Scotland by about 3,000 years.”

The flints were unearthed at Howburn, near Biggar, by the Biggar Archaeology Group and were first thought to be late Neolithic, from around 3000BC.

The find was initially considered significant but interest in the find waned after radiocarbon dating of the charcoal found in shallow pits at the site about three years ago suggested it was an Iron Age settlement from 2000-1000BC.

Their true age was finally discovered when Torben Ballin, an independent lithics specialist, examined the artefacts with the help of funding from Historic Scotland.

The flints, which included end-of-blade scrapers and piercers, were found to date from around 12,000BC. There are parallels between them and items found in mainland Europe.

During that period most of the North Sea was dry land and people would have been able to roam across it, hunting giant elk and other animals.

The Biggar Archaeology Group now plans to carry out further excavations at the site to see what other artefacts it can find.

Tam Ward, the group’s leader, said: “It is impossible to go further back in time in Scotland for evidence of human occupation, making this a hugely significant find.”

The settlement may be ancient for Scotland but it is positively modern compared with finds in England, where there is evidence of a human settlement near Lowestoft on the east coast that dates back 700,000 years. However, Scotland does boast the most complete Neolithic settlement in Europe in Skara Brae, Orkney.

Archaeologists believe early man tried to settle in Britain at least seven times before staying put 12,000 years ago.

The efforts of these early settlers from warmer, southern areas of Europe were thwarted by glaciation, which suggests that the country’s reputation overseas for poor weather has changed little over the years.

Although Neolithic man was very much a hunter, he is also believed to be the world’s first farmer.

Aileen Campbell, the Nationalist MSP for South of Scotland, said that the Biggar find was incredible.

“To know there is hard evidence that human beings had settled in the Biggar area some 14,000 years ago is quite inspiring, and helps put modern life into a bit of perspective,” she said.

“The hard work and dedication shown by the Biggar Archaeology Group, led by Tam Ward, is fantastic. They have contributed a huge piece to Scotland’s story for which they should be immensely proud.”

News of the find is included in the latest issue of British Archaeology Magazine.

Recensione: "Etrusca Disciplina"


Etrusca disciplina


Il volume nasce come conseguenza del lavoro di traduzione del Calendario Brontoscopico di Publio Nigidio Figulo, che ha portato Kornmüller ad allargare il suo spazio di ricerca sempre più indietro nel tempo, fino a realizzare un’opera diversa a quanto si era prefissato inizialmente per giungere a illustrare i fondamenti e i principi della divinazione etrusca.
Lo studio della mentalità arcaica e primitiva permette al Nostro di addentrarsi meglio “nello spirito di un popolo come quello etrusco che, pure in età storica, manteneva una singolare affezione ai suoi tratti culturali di età protostorica. Per capire gli etruschi, come qualunque popolo arcaico, bisogna rinunciare al nostro modo di pensare illuministico - razionalista per adottare una visione mistico-simbolica” (pp. 9-10).
Il libro è arricchito da illustrazioni dell’autore che nella maggior parte dei casi offrono una migliore leggibilità delle foto (eccezion fatta per un paio che forse andavano ingrandite).
La prima parte del volume è dedicata all’Etrusca Disciplina, partendo dalle origini mitiche tramandateci da Cicerone, Dionigi d’Alicarnasso[1] e Giovanni Lido, per giungere all’esposizione delle tecniche proprie alla divinazione etrusca. Scienza sacra rivelata dagli Dèi tramite Tagete, il bambino dalla saggezza di un vecchio, e la ninfa Vegoia dai nomi significativi: rispettivamente “Testo” (o meglio il “Contesto”) e “Voce” (o la “Parola” o il “Discorso”)[2]. Al primo sono attribuiti dalle testimonianze degli eruditi latini i Libri Haruspicini (dedicati all’esame delle viscere delle vittime sacrificali) e i Libri Rituales, alla seconda i Libri Vegoici e i Libri Fulgurales.
Il Kornmüller identifica nel concetto antropologico del mana il ciceroniano “spirito eterno ed intelligenza divina che compenetra il tutto” che gli permette di addentrarsi in questa “mentalità profondamente arcaica, miracolosamente sopravvissuta in età storica grazie al fedele tramandarsi della scienza sacra” (p. 34). Ci guida nei minimi particolari (ricostruibili) attraverso le varie tecniche della divinazione etrusca: auspicio o divinazione tramite il volo degli uccelli; epatoscopia o divinazione tramite la lettura del fegato; la keraunoscopia, la divinazione mediante i fulmini, e la brontoscopia, la divinazione mediante i tuoni. Da buon legale ci avverte che l’epatoscopia è la forma di divinazione meno realizzabile ai giorni nostri perché “a meno che non ci si trovi in un pubblico esercizio di macello, non è possibile estrarre un fegato palpitante di pecora senza violare la legge penale ed amministrativa” (p. 67). Naturalmente passando all’evocazione dei fulmini, rammenta che “il re Tullio Ostilio, avendo eseguito scorrettamente questo rituale, morì folgorato!” Ammonendo “quanto sia pericoloso, anche al giorno d’oggi, un esperimento del genere!” (p. 72).La seconda e ultima parte è riservata al Calendario Brontoscopico, a chi lo salvò dall’oblio traducendolo e al suo autore. Giovanni Lido, erudito bizantino “cripto-pagano nell’animo”, nel VI sec. tradusse in greco e inserì nel Liber de Ostentis[3] anche il calendario nigidiano. Di Nigidio Figulo[4] il Kornmüller fornisce un quadro bio-bibliografico esauriente ed esaustivo.

Massimiliano Kornmüller, Etrusca Disciplina. Manuale teorico-pratico di divinazione etrusca con il calendario per interpretare i tuoni di Nigidio Figulo per la prima volta tradotti in lingua moderna, Irradiazioni, Roma 2006, pp. 144, € 14,00.

[Pubblicato in: "La Cittadella", VII, n.s., 31-32, lug.-dic. 2008, pp. 113-114.]



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[1] Da segnalare un errore: Dionigi è del I secolo a. C. e non del II d.C.

[2] Cfr. L. Magini, L’Etrusco, lingua dall’oriente indoeuropeo, Roma 2007, pp. 91-97.

[3] Reperibile ora in italiano: G. Lido, Sui segni celesti, Milano 2007.

[4] Vedi ora: N. D’Anna, Publio Nigidio Figulo. Un pitagorico a Roma nel 1° secolo a. C., Milano 2008.


03 aprile 2009

Domenico Tiburzi, Re del Lamone