Archaeology's Place in Modernity
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BENEATH HAY BLUFF, UNITED KINGDOM Course ID: ARCH 365BG June 23Rd – August 1St, 2021
BENEATH HAY BLUFF, UNITED KINGDOM Course ID: ARCH 365BG June 23rd – August 1st, 2021 FIELD SCHOOL DIRECTOR(S): Prof. Julian Thomas, Department of Classics, Ancient History & Archaeology, University of Manchester ([email protected]) Prof. Keith Ray, Department of Archaeology, University of Cardiff ([email protected]) Dr. Nick Overton, Department of Classics, Ancient History & Archaeology, University of Manchester ([email protected]) Tim Hoverd, Herefordshire County Council ([email protected]) INTRODUCTION Since 2010, the Beneath Hay Bluff Project has been investigating the character of prehistoric, and specifically Neolithic activity in southwest Herefordshire, or the border between modern England and Wales. This region has been somewhat neglected by prehistoric archaeology, in part owing to a lack of antiquarian investigations, but it is increasingly clear that it is distinguished by a rich and under- exploited prehistoric record. In seeking to address questions of monumentality, memory, place and material traditions, we have excavated at a number of sites, including the funerary round cairn at 1 | P a g e Olchon Court and the long mounds, buildings and causewayed enclosure of Dorstone Hill. The region is a rural one, with picturesque villages, castles, abbeys, rolling hills and lush river valleys: it is at once typically ‘English’ and bordering on rugged Welsh uplands. The field school provides a unique learning experience by drawing on the resources of both the University of Manchester and Herefordshire Archaeology, who contribute facilities, equipment and staff. Many of our supervisory staff are professionals from the world of commercial archaeology, who bring a wealth of experience and know- how. -
Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls Stonehenge builders' houses found A huge ancient settlement used by the people who built Stonehenge has been found, archaeologists have said. Excavations at Durrington Walls, near the legendary Salisbury Plain monument, uncovered remains of ancient houses. People seem to have occupied the sites seasonally, using them for ritual feasting and funeral ceremonies. In ancient times, this settlement would have housed hundreds of people, making it the largest Neolithic village ever found in Britain. The dwellings date back to 2,600-2,500 BC - according to the researchers, the same period that Stonehenge was built. But some archaeologists point out that there are problems dating Stonehenge itself because the stone circle has been rebuilt many times. The village would have housed hundreds of people (Image: National Geographic) Consequently, archaeological material has been dug up and reburied on numerous occasions, making it difficult to assign a date to the original construction. But Mike Parker Pearson and his colleagues are confident of a link. "In what were houses, we have excavated the outlines on the floors of box beds and wooden dressers or cupboards," he explained. The Sheffield University researcher said this was based on the fact that these abodes had exactly the same layout as Neolithic houses at Skara Brae, Orkney, which have survived intact because - unlike these dwellings - they were made of stone. The researchers have excavated eight houses in total at Durrington. But they have identified many other probable dwellings using geophysical surveying equipment. In fact, they think there could have been at least one hundred houses. Each one measured about 5m (16ft) square, was made of timber, with a clay floor and central hearth. -
PDF Download Stonehenge: Making Sense of a Prehistoric Mystery Kindle
STONEHENGE: MAKING SENSE OF A PREHISTORIC MYSTERY PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Mike Parker Pearson,Joshua Pollard,Colin Richards,Julian Thomas,Kate Welham | 120 pages | 29 Feb 2016 | Council for British Archaeology | 9781909990029 | English | York, United Kingdom Stonehenge: Making Sense of a Prehistoric Mystery PDF Book We aim to show you accurate product information. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Accept Cookies Customise Cookies. Record type: Book. Excellent coverage of latest fingings and theory on the monument. See All Buying Options. Verified Purchase. Cancel Post. A distinguished prehistorian he has been involved with many major projects, including leading the recent Stonehenge Riverside Project. Mauchline was the administrative centre of the regality of Kylesmuir, granted in the twelfth century to Melrose Abbey. Author: Colin Richards. Jo marked it as to-read Apr 17, Located on the south side of the River Tees, in north-east England, the Roman villa at Ingleby Barwick is one of the most northerly in the Roman Empire. Sarah marked it as to-read Apr 20, We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Showing 0 comments. Pickup not available. Audible Download Audiobooks. Joshua Pollard ,. Create a commenting name to join the debate Submit. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Arrived quickly. Add to registry. Download statistics Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Overview Stonehenge is an iconic monument for people all around the world. Last modified: 14 Jul Stonehenge: Making Sense of a Prehistoric Mystery Writer Mike Parker Pearson. Try again. -
Afterword and Acknowledgements
AFTERWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A short genealogy: At the first conference on 'Devising and Documentation', organised by the Centre for Performance Research in Cardiff in February 1993, a number of performance practitioners and companies were invited to give precise ten-minute reflections on particular aspects of their work. The chosen forms included lecture, demonstration, exposition, short performance. Several used video, slide and overhead projection. They were, by turn, polemical, anecdotal, autobiographical, descriptive, scripted, improvised. In each presentation, the remains of the past were used to create something in the present. And all these ways of remembering represented forms of documentation. This was a revelation for those delegates who had regarded the single viewpoint, real-time video-recording as the authentic record of performance. Julian Thomas also spoke on the nature of the archaeo- logical record, the vagaries of survival and how we make use of the traces of the past in the present. He suggested that we can neither create an authoritative record nor try to predetermine and control its interpretation. Perhaps the best we can ever do is to put exciting material into the world and then let it alight where it will, envisaging creative acts of interpretation at other times and in other places. An initial series of provocations towards a theatre archaeology were presented at the conference. Julian Thomas's responses to them completed a seminal piece published in The Drama Review (Pearson 1994a; Thomas 1994). In the dialogue of a set of evolving relationships, articulated in a series of papers, presentations and practical projects manifest almost entirely within the discourse of archaeology, the deeper affinities of the two practices were further revealed. -
Time, Culture and Identity: an Interpretive Archaeology
Time, culture and identity: An interpretive archaeology. Julian Thomas Routledge, London and New York, 1996. ISBN: 0415118611. 267 pages. Book review by Danny Hind It is five years since we first read the introduction to Rethinking the Neolithic, where Julian Thomas grappled with the problems of self-aware and reflexive archaeological narrative. The past is unfamiliar, so the only way we can understand it is to familiarise it, to tame it; but then its nature has changed. The conclusion seemed to be that sooner or later you had to sit down and write a story, but one which not only captured as much of the 'wildness' of the past as possible, but was ethical with respect to the present. Strange then, many will think, that Dr. Thomas now chooses to work out "what a 'Heideggerian archaeology' might look like" (p.2). For those unfamiliar with the name, Martin Heidegger (1887-1976) was a philosopher who used the methods of phenomenology to explore the structures of human existence. His work, impressive if often impenetrable, has been largely ignored in some areas because as rector of Freiburg University (1933-1945) he was a member of the Nazi Party, resulting in a tarnished reputation which he made no effort to restore. Two questions then: can Thomas's use of Heidegger be justified and, if so, is it strictly necessary? It is not for me to write Thomas's apology (he provides his own in the introduction). It is notable that Chris Gosden was unapologetic about his use of Heidegger's ideas in Social Being and Time. -
A Massive, Late Neolithic Pit Structure Associated with Durrington Walls Henge, Internet Archaeology 55
This PDF is a simplified version of the original article published in Internet Archaeology. Enlarged images, the animation and all additional data that support this publication can be found in the original version online. All links also go to the online version. Please cite this as: Gaffney, V. et al. 2020 A Massive, Late Neolithic Pit Structure associated with Durrington Walls Henge, Internet Archaeology 55. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.55.4 A Massive, Late Neolithic Pit Structure associated with Durrington Walls Henge Vincent Gaffney, Eamonn Baldwin, Martin Bates, C. Richard Bates, Christopher Gaffney, Derek Hamilton, Tim Kinnaird, Wolfgang Neubauer, Ronald Yorston, Robin Allaby, Henry Chapman, Paul Garwood, Klaus Löcker, Alois Hinterleitner, Tom Sparrow, Immo Trinks, Mario Wallner and Matt Leivers Summary A series of massive geophysical anomalies, located south of the Durrington Walls henge monument, were identified during fluxgate gradiometer survey undertaken by the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project (SHLP). Initially interpreted as dewponds, these data have been re-evaluated, along with information on similar features revealed by archaeological contractors undertaking survey and excavation to the north of the Durrington Walls henge. Analysis of the available data identified a total of 20 comparable features, which align within a series of arcs adjacent to Durrington Walls. Further geophysical survey, supported by mechanical coring, was undertaken on several geophysical anomalies to assess their nature, and to provide dating and environmental evidence. The results of fieldwork demonstrate that some of these features, at least, were massive, circular pits with a surface diameter of 20m or more and a depth of at least 5m. -
Neolithic of Europe.Indb
THE NEOLITHIC OF EUROPE PAPERS IN HONOUR OF ALASDAIR WHITTLE THE NEOLITHIC OF EUROPE PAPERS IN HONOUR OF ALASDAIR WHITTLE Edited by PENNY BICKLE, VICKI CUMMINGS, DANIELA HOFMANN AND JOSHUA POLLARD Oxford & Philadelphia Published in the United Kingdom in 2017 by OXBOW BOOKS The Old Music Hall, 106–108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JE and in the United States by OXBOW BOOKS 1950 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083 © Oxbow Books and the individual authors 2017 Hardcover Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-654-7 Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-655-4 (epub) A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library and the Library of Congress All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher in writing. Printed in Malta by Gutenberg Press Ltd Typeset in India by Lapiz Digital Services, Chennai For a complete list of Oxbow titles, please contact: UNITED KINGDOM Oxbow Books Telephone (01865) 241249, Fax (01865) 794449 Email: [email protected] www.oxbowbooks.com UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Oxbow Books Telephone (800) 791-9354, Fax (610) 853-9146 Email: [email protected] www.casemateacademic.com/oxbow Oxbow Books is part of the Casemate Group Front cover: Alleskoven dolmen, Denmark (Vicki Cummings). Back cover: La Table des Marchands, France (Vicki Cummings); a reconstructed LBK longhouse in the Paris basin (Penny Bickle); Carrowmore, Ireland (Vicki Cummings); an excavation in progress at the Herpaly tell, Hungary (Pál Raczky). -
'Blue Stonehenge' Discovered 6 October 2009
'Blue Stonehenge' discovered 6 October 2009 route constructed at the end of the Stone Age - or the Neolithic period. The outer henge around the stones was built around 2400 BC, but arrowheads found in the stone circle indicate that the stones were put up as much as 500 years earlier. When the newly discovered circle’s stones were removed by Neolithic tribes, they may, according to the team, have been dragged to Stonehenge, to be incorporated within its major rebuilding around The artist's impression. Credit Peter Dunn. 2500 BC. Archaeologists know that after this date, Stonehenge consisted of about 80 Welsh stones (PhysOrg.com) -- Archaeologists have released an and 83 local, sarsen stones. Some of the artist’s impression of what a second stone circle bluestones that once stood at the riverside probably found a mile from Stonehenge might have looked now stand within the centre of Stonehenge. like. The discovery may confirm of the Stonehenge The drawing shows the sensational discovery of Riverside Project’s theory that the River Avon “Blue Stonehenge” by a team led by linked a ‘domain of the living’ - marked by timber archaeologists from Manchester, Sheffield and circles and houses upstream at the Neolithic village Bristol Universities on the West bank of the River of Durrington Walls (discovered by the Project in Avon last month. 2005) - with a ‘domain of the dead’ marked by Stonehenge and this new stone circle. Professor Julian Thomas, from The University of Manchester and a co-director of the Stonehenge The team hope to radiocarbon date antler picks Riverside Project, said the monument was a circle found on the site - used by the stone circle builders of bluestones, dragged from the Welsh Preseli as pickaxes - to provide more precise dates. -
Experiential Interpretations of the Prehistoric Landscape
Total Art Journal • Volume 1. No. 2 • Fall 2012 DOORS INTO THE NEOLITHIC MIND Experiential Interpretations of the Prehistoric Landscape SIMON PASCOE AND CAITLIN EASTERBY CHALK, 2011. Atsushi Takenouchi performing in Harting Down end action. Image Credit: Paul Winter. Can art unlock a sense of place that is just as important as the facts? We’ve been driven up the sides of the valley between flaming braziers to the sound of gongs and I wonder whether this is an insight into the avenue at Stonehenge or the great sacred enclosures that we have fragmentary traces of. The idea of moving in a ritual way through fire and wind and light and theatre – if this doesn’t help us to re-engage with ancient ideas then to be perfectly honest I can’t think what will. —Martin Ellis, Curator, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 2011 Total Art Journal Volume 1 No. 2 Fall 2012 http://www.totalartjournal.com • • • Red Earth arts group has for over twenty years created outdoor site-specific installations and performanc- es in, and in response to, landscapes across Britain, mainland Europe, Java, Japan and Mongolia. These intensely experiential events are often the result of interdisciplinary collaborations between artists and non-arts professionals such as ecologists, archaeologists, geologists, historians, land managers, farmers, and communities. We attempt to engage the public in the creative process, bringing people together in participatory events to explore their natural and cultural heritages, and transforming our understanding of the places where we live.1 We are artists who have worked together as Red Earth since its inception over 20 years ago. -
The Age of Stonehenge
CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by NERC Open Research Archive The Age of Stonehenge Mike Parker Pearson1, Ros Cleal2, Josh Pollard3, Colin Richards4, Julian Thomas, Chris Tilley5, Kate Welham6, Andrew Chamberlain, Carolyn Chenery7, Jane Evans, Janet Montgomery8 & Mike Richards9 The date of Stonehenge’s sarsen circle and trilithons has never been satisfactorily established. This detailed re-examination of the monument’s stratigraphy identifies flaws in previous excavators’ interpretations, leading to a revision of the stratigraphic sequence and re-dating of this important phase(Phase 3ii) to 2620-2480 BC. Implications of this include the presence of Beaker pottery in Britain before 2500 BC, the relatively late adoption of an inhumation rite after 2470 BC for the Amesbury Archer and other early Beaker burials, and the possible contemporaneity of Stonehenge Phase 3ii with nearby Durrington Walls. The paper outlines two new initiatives: the Beaker People Project (analysing mobility, migration and diet in the late third millennium BC) and the Stonehenge Riverside Project (summarizing results of new excavations at Durrington Walls). Key words: Stonehenge, Durrington Walls, radiocarbon dating, Beakers Introduction The date of Stonehenge remains a matter of dispute. There is no agreement amongst archaeologists as to whether the sarsen stones were erected as early as 2600-2500 BC (Parker Pearson et al. in press), in the period after 2550 BC (Cleal et al. 1995: 167) or even towards the end of the millennium around 2300 BC or later (Pitts 2000: 144; Case 1997: 164). This is perhaps surprising, given the success of the 1994 dating programme which produced three of the four accepted radiocarbon dates from contexts associated with the erection of the sarsen circle and the trilithons (Phase 3ii; Cleal et al. -
Entrevista a Julian Thomas Por Irene García Rovira*
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert Suau Mayol, Tomàs Entrevista a Julian Thomas Por Irene García Rovira* Julian Thomas comenzó su carrera universitaria estudiando ciencias arqueológicas en la Universidad de Bradford. Al obtener su licenciatura se trasladó a la Universidad de Sheffield donde obtuvo un Master en 1982 y donde realizó su tesis doctoral acabada en 1986. Su investigación se centró en el estudio de los cambios socio-económicos ocurridos durante el Neolítico en Wessex y la región de Upper Thames Valley. Más adelante fue profesor en la Universidad de Gales, Lampeter entre 1987 y 1993 y enseñó en la Universidad de Southampton desde 1994 hasta el año 2000. En abril de ese año, Julian Thomas obtuvo la Cátedra en Arqueología en la Universidad de Manchester. En la actualidad, su mayor área de investigación se centra en el estudio del periodo Neolítico en las Islas Británicas y en Noreste Europeo además de estar interesado en la relación entre teoría y filosofía en arqueología. Julian es vice- catedrático en el Standing Comitee for Archaeology. También ha sido vicepresidente del Royal Anthropological Institute entre 2001 y 2004. * Doctoranda de la University Of Manchester.PhD Archaeology. Su especialización es el neolitico final del area atlantica europea y teoria arqueologica. Está cursando la tesis: Space, Time and Identity: contacts through sea during the third millenium BC on the Atlantic fringe of Europe?’ 140 141 ENTREVISTA Julian Thomas No era un Nos gustaría empezar la entrevista mirando al alumno pasado, a la primera vez que pensó en ser arqueólogo ejemplar, y al momento que decidió tomar esta disciplina como básicamente profesión. -
Porocilo XXXII.Qxd
UDK 903.2(410)"631\634">291.37 Documenta Praehistorica XXXII (2005) Ambiguous symbols> why there were no figurines in Neolithic Britain Julian Thomas School of Arts, Histories and Cultures, University of Manchester, UK [email protected] ABSTRACT – In this paper I discuss the scarcity of representational art, and particularly of represen- tations of the human body, in Neolithic Britain, in contrast with the Neolithic of south-east Europe. My suggestion is that this contrast can be linked with differing notions of personal identity and bodi- ly integrity. In later Neolithic Britain, a complex mode of non-representational decoration developed, which elaborated the practice of making reference to absent persons and things by using deliberately ambiguous motifs, which connected past and present as well as remote locations. IZVLE∞EK – V tem ≠lanku razpravljam o redkosti reprezentativne umetnosti, predvsem o redkosti upodobitev ≠love∏kega telesa v neolitiku Britanje, kar je v nasprotju z neolitikom Jugovzhodne Evro- pe. Menim, da lahko to nasprotje lahhko pove∫emo z razli≠nimi predstavami o osebni identiteti in telesni integriteti. V poznnoneolitski Britaniji, se je razvila kompleksna oblika nereprezentativnih de- koracij. Na ta na≠in so z uporabo namensko dvoumnih motivov, ki so povezovali preteklost in seda- njost kot tudi oddaljena mesta, izpopolnili obi≠aje povezovanja z odsotnimi osebami in predmeti. KEY WORDS – Neolithic; figurines; symbols; ritual practice INTRODUCTION: MISSING BODIES At a very high level of generality, there are interest- There are also somewhat unconvincing human tor- ing contrasts between the more overtly symbolic sos sculpted from chalk, and recovered from the forms of material culture found in the Neolithic of causewayed enclosures of Windmill Hill and Mai- Atlantic north-west Europe and those of the Balkan den Castle (Piggott 1954.88).