John Thurnam

John Thurnam (* 1810 ; † 1873 ) was a British antiquarian ("antiquarian"). He was a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and medical superintendent of the county insane asylum in Devizes , Wiltshire . He was a co-founder of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society .

Archaeological activity

Thurnam was primarily a somatic anthropologist . He was interested in the long beds because of the skeletons they contained and between 1855 and 1867 had 22 of them excavated by the inmates of the institution he was in charge of, six of which had been examined by the antiquarian William Cunnington (1754-1810) two generations before him. Thurnam's records are very sparse and seldom allow reconstructing his excavation methods.

Yorkshire's most famous antiquarian, the Durham clergyman William Greenwell (1820–1918) , excavated with Thurnam in 1863 before working on Pitt-Rivers (1827–1900) excavations .

Thurnam also established a classification of British bell beakers , which was later expanded by John Abercromby (1841-1924).

interpretation

Thurnam mainly consulted ancient authors to interpret the excavation results. He also evaluated Richard Hoares Ancient Wiltshire . He believed that the pits in the long beds were intended to hold the blood of sacrificial animals. Since a number of skulls in the long beds showed traces of blunt violence (Boles Barrow, Fussel's Lodge ), he interpreted the skeletons as those of human sacrifices. Like Greenwell, he thought cannibalism was possible, although he had correctly stated that some of the injuries were clearly premortal.

terminology

The distinction between chambered and unchambered long barrows , i.e. between chamberless long beds and those with (stone) chambers, goes back to Thurnam, which is still in use in English archeology, even though Stuart Piggott uses the term "earthen long barrow" as an alternative suggested the chamberless hills and Ian Kinnes prefers to speak of megalithic and non-megalithic long hills.

Digs

• Amesbury 14
• Boles Barrow (1864)
• Bratton Long Barrow
• Figheldean 31 Long Barrow
• Fussel's Lodge
• Knook Barrow
• Lanhill Cotswold Severn tomb
• Norton Bavant Long Barrow (1863)
• Tilshead Lodge
• Tilshead East
• Tilshead Old Ditch Long Barrow
• West Kennet Long Barrow (1859)
• Wilsford 34
• Winterbourne Stoke Crossroads Barrow

Works

• On the barrow at Lanhill near Chippenham . Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society Magazine 3, 1955, 67-86.
• On Ancient British Long Barrows, especially those of Wiltshire and the adjoining Countries. Part I, Long barrows. Archaeologia 42, 1869, 161-244.
• On Ancient British Long Barrows, especially those of Wiltshire and the adjoining Countries. Part II, round barrows. Archaeologia 43, 1871, 285-544.

Web links

• Literature by and about John Thurnam in the WorldCat bibliographic database

literature

• David Field, Earthen Long Barrows (Tempus 2006), 36-37.
• Ian Kinnes, Non-Megalithic Long Barrows and allied stone structures in the British Neolithic (London, British Museum 1992).
• Stuart Piggott, The background and beginnings of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History. Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 84, 1991, 108-116.
• Stuart Piggott, John Thurnam and British prehistory. Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society Magazine 86, 1993, 1-7.
• Rick Schulting / M. Wysocki, “In this Chambered Tumulus were Found Cleft Skulls…” An assessment of the evidence for cranial trauma in the British Neolithic. PPS 71, 2005, 107-137.