Antiquity

Thanks for putting my roe deer in the Spotlight :)

Following another day of solvent abuse at work it was good to get out for a bike ride last night. There is little to beat the pretty country lanes of the Hampshire/Sussex borders on a sunny summer's evening. And we even managed to successfully return a lost Labrador to her owners en route. For the second evening running one of Richard Branson's balloons (which I went up in myself once) floated overhead. I only managed to get a grainy phone picture of it but here's one I took earlier.

I'm currently spending a lot of time building a big database and sometimes the easiest way to get some of the information I need is to buy old copies of county archaeological journals, like these which arrived today. I do love reading them. Here's an excerpt from the 1888 volume:

"The majority of these, there can be no doubt, were killed by severe cleavage of the skull. This cleavage must have been accomplished by means of a sharp edged implement, and with much force.....It is curious to note that, with one exception, the blows were inflicted on the left side of the cranium; as was also the case in a skull found in this barrow, by Dr Thurnam, in 1864. Hence we may safely draw the conclusion that these old Britons were a right-handed race."