University of Plymouth PEARL https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk 04 University of Plymouth Research Theses 01 Research Theses Main Collection 2007 Vesica: using Neolithic British ritual art and architecture as a model for making contemporary art Pearce, Michael http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/2574 University of Plymouth All content in PEARL is protected by copyright law. Author manuscripts are made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the details provided on the item record or document. In the absence of an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher or author. VESICA USING NEOLITHIC BRITISH RITUAL ART AND ARCHITECTURE AS A MODEL FOR MAKING CONTEMPORARY ART. BY MICHAEL PEARCE MFA FSA Scot A thesis submitted to the UnivE!rsity of Plymouth in partial fulfillment for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Dartington College of Arts February 2007 This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognize that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the author's prior written consent. 1 ••• 1 0. ~ (JO -rq 3 0 f-2.3 __...._....,_,_. -~. _ 1~i~k_70Cf I 0( PEA 2 Abstract Can the creative practices of British Neolithic art and architecture be used in the making of contemporary art? This dissertation describes my practice making works of art based on the Neolithic model, presented in a gallery setting and occasionally in the landscape. The creative process is grounded on research into prehistoric British art and ritual architecture and records my process of understanding the work of ancient Britons as a framework for the concurrent process of making new objects for display. Without extensive research and direct experience of the Neolithic art and architecture I would not have been able to create the responsive work that has grown from it. I visited dozens of sites in England, Scotland, and Ireland, immersing myself as much as possible within them, on them and around them; I breathed the damp air and sheltered from the rain under their roofs; I ate in them, I touched, measured and aligned them. I visited them in daylight and at night; summer and winter; on solstices and ordinary days; sometimes by car but mostly on foot. I read copious texts by academic archaeologists in my effort to get into the minds of the people who made these places and got to know the archaeological scene well enough to deliver a paper at the Theoretical Archaeology Group Conference in 2005, taking questions from distinguished Professors Julian Thomas and Mike Parker Pearson. My research included the types of space that remain and explores patterns that exist within the structures, interpreting, based on the archaeology, how the places Neolithic people made might have been used in ritual; in addition it includes an exploration of the decoration and phenomena of the spaces. The process of understanding the Neolithic shaped and transformed my creative practice and profoundly affected my practice of 3 making art and introducing a shamanic theme into the way I share it. The work I make is therefore a response to the ancient practices of the men and women, a collection of objects that a Neolithic artist might make today. Finally the thesis is concerned with identifying three strategies used by contemporary artists; Reconstructing, "Artefacting", and Responding to Neolithic spaces, then documents how these three strategies are used as models in the creation of the practical work that corresponds with the written work. Issues of presentation are explored at some length, born of the dilemmas I experienced when making decisions of where and how to show people what I had made. 4 List of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................ 3 List of Contents ............................................................................................................ 5 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... 6 Author's Declaration ..................................................................................................... 8 When was Britain Neolithic? ...................................................................................... 17 Who were Neolithic Britons? ...................................................................................... 18 Why Neolithic British Art and Architecture? ............................................................... 23 Neolithic Architecture ................................................................................................. 30 Artificial caves ............................................................................................................ 32 Open Air Enclosures .................................................................................................. 42 Finding Pattems in Neolithic Architecture for Use in Creating Contemporary Art: ..... 50 Using Neolithic Geomancy ......................................................................................... 50 Symbols from Geomancy ........................................................................................... 60 Decoration: Cups, Rings and Wiggly Lines ................................................................ 69 Colour ........................................................................................................................ 90 Neolithic and Contemporary Architectures of Making: ............................................... 94 Cosmogony ................................................................................................................ 94 The Artist as Shaman: A Near-death Experience, Beuys and Eliade ......................... 98 Entheogens, Archaeology and the Creative Process ............................................... 105 Rites of Passage, Rites of Making ........................................................................... 113 Creating Ritual Spaces as Safe Places for Unusual Behaviour ............................... 117 Auspicious Days for Making ..................................................................................... 121 Placing my Work in a Contemporary Context: Methodologies of Contemporary Artists Interpreting Neolithic British Art and Architecture ..................................................... 125 Methodologies for Contemporary Artists Interpreting Neolithic British Art and Architecture: Reconstruction .................................................................................... 126 Illustration ......................................................................................................... 126 Installation ......................................................................................................... 127 "Artefacting" Methodology ................................................................................. 132 Interventions ............................................................................................................ 160 Beginning the Work .................................................................................................. 165 Artefacts and Phenomena ....................................................................................... 166 Fire, Charcoal and Ash: Materials for Producing Art ................................................ 166 Food (and Wax) ....................................................................................................... 170 Wood ....................................................................................................................... 172 Rope ........................................................................................................................ 174 Clay and Pots ........................................................................................................... 177 Presentation of the Practical Work ........................................................................... 199 Appendix 1 . Genetic Britain ..................................................................................... 252 Appendix 2. Nostalgia and the Neo-Pagan Revival ................................................. 254 Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 255 5 Acknowledgements I am very grateful to a surprising number of people who have helped me in many different ways. My family have been entirely supportive; my parents, Ronald and Barbara Pearce have given financial help and encouraged me with the thought that they are only medical doctors; my wife Kelley and our children, Brittany, Ethan and Elizabeth have sometimes been quiet when they came into my office, and have no idea how important that was. I have had the academic support of many people, but none more than my supervisor Dr. Edward Cowie, whose guidance has been invaluable. Kate Paulsen and Whitney Haroldson have helped to scan and sort out photographs and records and keep me organised, particularly Kate. Dr. Julia Fogg, Dr. Lesley Finlayson, Dr. Fred Tonsing and Dr. Shirley Mullen gave me great advice in the early stages of writing and managed not to laugh at my appalling first efforts. Dr. Mary Anne Owoc, Dr. Merryn Dinely, Dr. Aaron Watson, Dr. Erlyne Whiteman, Lynn Creighton