Ryan Peter Evan White

The drums are all barrel-shaped cylinders of solid chalk that were found at burial sites – it is thought that they were not used for music, but rather decoration.

Carbon-dating of bones buried alongside the Burton Agnes drum placed it within the years 3005-2890BC.

Three children were found buried alongside the drum, suggesting it played a role in the mourning rituals of prehistoric Britons.

The skeleton of a man killed by the deadly eruption of Mount Vesuvius almost 2,000 years ago has been unearthed from an ancient beach at Herculaneum — possibly as he ran in an attempt to escape the disaster.

The man was killed just steps from the sea in the ancient Roman town, which like Pompeii was destroyed by the colossal eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79.

Archaeologists think the man was running from the “boat sheds” in the town — actually stone arches used to store nets and fishing equipment — when he was overcome by the intensely hot “pyroclastic” cloud from the eruption that engulfed Herculaneum at a speed of more than 60 mph (100 km/h).