A Bronze Age Burial and the Mellor "Princess"
For excavations and finds from 1976-1988, 2007-2009 go to www.mellorarchaeology-2000-2010.org.uk
Article in Current Archaeology, August 2011: Shaw Cairn revisited – the dead of Mellor Moor
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The digs at Shaw Cairn on Mellor Moor in 2008 and 2009, with the discovery of amber beads in a Bronze Age cist, showed that more should be done at this site. In 2010, John Hearle e-mailed Professor Mike Parker-Pearson at Sheffield University to see if he could join in leading further excavations. Mike was fully committed, but he passed the message to his colleague, Dr Bob Johnston, who was keen to work with Mellor Archaeology Trust (MAT). In 2011, Bob and Sheffield students joined MAT volunteers and made interesting discoveries in trial trenches in the adjoining fields. A joint 2012 dig was marred by bad weather and little was found. [See 2011 and 2012 reports.]
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Shaw Cairn Dig 2011
Sheffield University students, led by Dr Bob Johnston, joined MAT volunteers for a two-week dig in July 2011. Trial trenches in the fields adjoining Shaw Cairn yielded interesting finds.
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Shaw Cairn Dig 2012
Dr Bob Johnston and students from Sheffield University again joined MAT volunteers for a two-week dig at Shaw Cairn in July 2012. The weather was against them. Some days were a washout. The trial trenches in the adjoining fields in the 2011 dig had yielded interesting finds. The plan was to dig more but it could not be carried out because the grass, which is usually cut in May or June, was still uncut. Trial trenches were dug in areas around the cairn, but the results were not spectacular. One possible subsidiary cairn could not be excavated because a bird was nesting on it! A report on the excavations will be added to the website in due course.
Bob is convinced of the importance of the site. It is hoped that there can be a bigger digs starting in 2013 with students from both Sheffield and Manchester Universities. The big questions are what took place in the areas around the cairn and, further afield, where did the people live during the Bronze Age.
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Shaw Cairn Dig July 2014
Maxine Wild with additional input by John Hearle.
On the warm, sunny and windless morning of 7th of July (so different from two years ago, when the weather was so bad that it had not been possible for George Burgess to cut the grass in his fields), I met MAT volunteers at Shaw Farm for three weeks excavating at the prehistoric site of Shaw Cairn. We were joined by students from Sheffield and Manchester Universities, led by Bob Johnston and Mel Giles. Our first task was to load all our equipment into the Land Rover and trailer belonging to George Burgess, who had kindly offered to transport it to the site! Some volunteers cadged a lift, while the students walked the mile long-trudge up to the top of Mellor Moor, the highest point in Stockport MBC.
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