Interesting Things - Phil Horswell

Neolithic Week: Part 2 - Knowlton Circles

30/4/2013

Knowlton Circles - Dorset

This is a fascinating collection of monuments which includes four henges – the Church Circle, the South Circle, the North Circle and the Old Churchyard and a mass of bronze age burial mounds.
Unfortunately most of the site has been destroyed by centuries of ploughing but aerial photos show how important this ritual site was in neolithic times. There is evidence of further use in the bronze age, iron age and roman periods and more obviously in medieval times with the 12th century church being built in the centre of the henge.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/knowlton-church-and-earthworks/history-and-research/

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/professional/research/landscapes-and-areas/aerial-survey/investigations/knowlton-circles/

Neolithic Week: Part 1 - Stoney Littleton Long Barrow

29/4/2013

This week I'm introducing some of the best neolithic monuments in the UK. These are free to visit and are generally less known so a quieter experience is guaranteed!

Stoney Littleton Long Barrow: Somerset

Built around 5500 years ago this is one of the best Long Barrows in the country. These are elaborate structures that Neolithic people used to bury their dead.
Stoney is not the biggest or longest barrow, only measuring 30 metres, but it has seven burial chambers to fully explore. Take a torch as it gets very dark towards the back, and before going in, notice the Ammonite fossil on the entrance slab.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/stoney-littleton-long-barrow/history-and-research/

Earth's Core

28/4/2013

New research has suggested that the Earth's inner core is far hotter than previously thought. It measured 6,000C making it is as hot as the surface of the sun.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22297915

Copernicus

27/4/2013

On this day Nicolaus Copernicus made his first observations of Saturn. He was a Polish astronomer, born in 1473 and is best known for his theory that the Sun and not the Earth is at the centre of the universe.

Full Moon

26/4/2013

There is a full moon tonight but this one special as it is passing through the earth's shadow. Although not a full eclipse, at around 20:30 BST it will start getting darker on its northern edge.

Hubble Telescope

24/4/2013

On this day in 1990 the space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral carrying the Hubble Space Telescope.

The telescope, the size of a railway carriage, took 20 years to build, at a cost of $1.55 billion. Its been well worth it as it still making discoveries 23 years later and has transformed the way scientists look at the universe.

It has its own website, click on the link to see some stunning images of the cosmos.

http://hubblesite.org/

Dahalokely tokana

24/4/2013

A new dinosaur has been discovered in Madagascar which had tiny little arms!
This meat-loving beast lived around 90 million years ago and measured between 9 and 14 feet long.

http://news.discovery.com/animals/dinosaurs/lonely-small-bandit-carnivorous-dinosaur-found-130418.htm

Kepler 62e & Kepler 62f

22/4/2013

Astronomers have found two planets orbiting a distant star that are close to Earth-sized. They are also in the "habitable zone", a distance from the sun that makes the planets' surfaces neither too hot nor too cold, but just right for life?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22200476

On This Day - Bram Stoker

20/4/2013

Bram Stoker the author of Dracula died on this day in 1912. As a child his mother told him a lot of horror stories which may have influenced his choice of career.

On This Day - Charles Darwin

19/4/2013

Charles Darwin died on this day 1882. He was the British scientist who laid the foundations of the theory of evolution and transformed the way we think about the natural world.