Name: The Neolithic Artifacts No One Can Explain
Uploaded: 2026-06-12T04:40:09.010Z
Duration: 23 min 11 s
Channel: Ancient Artistry & Treasured Antiques

Ancient Artistry & Treasured Antiques

https://media1-ap-japan.cloudokyo.cloud/video/v14/c0/d0/e0/c0d0e0a8-051e-4b7a-a119-e277dc729b3f/master.m3u8

The Folkton Drums are a mystery. These three chalk sculptures from Neolithic Britain were a unique discovery, no one had seen anything like them before, and no one knew what they were. They were buried with a child around 5,000 years ago. Recently, a new carved chalk cylinder was discovered in another child burial nearby. But what do the carvings mean? What were these chalk artefacts for? Who made them and why? And what can they tell us about the world of prehistoric Britain? 
This is the captivating story of the mysterious chalk sculptures of prehistoric Britain.

Sources

The First Farmers of Europe: An Evolutionary Perspective: https://amzn.to/3wNDcqA
Stonehenge  - Mike Parker Pearson: https://amzn.to/3ri4Wm4
British Pottery: The First 3000 Years: https://amzn.to/44Kfm3z
Revisiting Grooved Ware: https://amzn.to/42O00sp
Neolithic Britain: https://amzn.to/4d9LeBb
The World of Stonehenge: https://amzn.to/417pa4i
Stonehenge and Middle to Late Neolithic Cremation Rites: https://amzn.to/3YQkXl7

Teather, A., Chamberlain, A., & Parker Pearson, M. (2018). The chalk drums from Folkton and Lavant: Measuring devices from the time of Stonehenge. British Journal for the History of Mathematics, 34(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/17498430.2018...
Copper, M., Hamilton, D., & Gibson, A. (2021). Tracing the lines: Scottish Grooved Ware trajectories beyond Orkney. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 150, 81–117. https://doi.org/10.9750/PSAS.150.1307
Jones AM, Cochrane A, Carter C, et al. Digital imaging and prehistoric imagery: a new analysis of the Folkton Drums. Antiquity. 2015;89(347):1083-1095. doi:10.15184/aqy.2015.127
Thomas, A. (2022). Mobiliary art. In S. Taylor (Ed.), Down the Bright Stream: The Prehistory of Woodcock Corner and the Tregurra Valley, Cornwall (pp. 127-138)
Teather, Anne. (2016). Mining and Materiality: Neolithic Chalk Artefacts and their Depositional Contexts in Southern Britain. 10.2307/j.ctvxrq120. 
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Video Chapters

00:00 The Mystery of the Folkton Drums
02:44 Sponsorship
04:15 The Discovery
05:52 Dating the Drums
07:57 Stone Carving in Neolithic Britain
11:44 The Lavant Drum
12:27 The Burton Agnes Drum
14:18 Late Neolithic Britain
15:23 Measuring Devices?
17:54 What actually are they?