Littlestone
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Re: What Is It??
Jun 21, 2004, 18:37
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Avebury does look very much like a trading post to me - it has four entrances corresponding to the four cardinal points, a good supply of fresh water and is located close to the Ridgeway - 'Europe's Oldest Road'. That's not to say that trading was all that Avebury was used for - something that spectacular would surely have also been used for ceremonial purposes.
And the ditch? Pigpens of course.
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AR
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Re: What Is It??
Jun 21, 2004, 18:54
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I know what you mean about it being a sombre place. it doesn't help that I have never been ther when it has not been howling with wind. If I wanted a trading place I wold not have it there. Everyone would freeze to death!! He He He.
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AR
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Re: What Is It??
Jun 21, 2004, 19:11
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Thanks very much. I was afraid that no one would reply or that I had asked a silly question or something! I hope it turns into an interesting topic. I don't really know what the site could be for, that is why I am investigating it. There are many theories that sound plausible when someone who really believes in them justify them. Especially a proffessional archaeologist! One theory I am inclined to lean towards is that monuments such as this appeared when agriculture did and symbolize territory. This would also show the change in attitudes to the land eg it could be owned. Henges could therfore symbolize a great change in attitudes to nature and humanity eg how people saw themselves as separate from the land and animals, so in some peoples eyes, more human.
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Ike
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Re: What Is It??
Jun 21, 2004, 20:09
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Do your dissertation ;-)
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Ike
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Re: What Is It??
Jun 21, 2004, 20:10
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Do your own dissertation ;-)
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juamei
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Re: What Is It??
Jun 22, 2004, 09:30
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Shame! I've been a few times now and one of my best experiences at a site was at Arbor Low. Though tbh I had it to myself with bright sunshine :)
Might as well throw my hat into the ring.
In my mind there is no doubt that henges are multifunctional, that they were involved in trade and religion (meant in the very general sense). However there are real difference countrywide, in particular the huge wessex rings compared to the Peak district rings and those further north.
The ones down south seem to be a continuation of the causewayed enclosures, the society evolving to build the henges and also huge pallisade enclosures as near Avebury and Mount Pleasant distinct from the henges. Perhaps the structure of these super-henges was dictated by visitors from afar but I see them mostly as a local development.
As for Arbor Low... its on a trade route through the peaks that runs North to Cumbria, its far enough away from the other circles in its vicinity for visitors to meet locals there and not get to the other circles (Nine Stones Close or Stanton Moor for instance) and its very similar to The Bullring and more importantly King Arthurs Round Table. I'd personally peg this as a Cumbrian site, created to trade with the communities in the South Peaks.
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juamei
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Re: yeh but
Jun 22, 2004, 09:37
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> what fascinates me is the idea that it is the ditch that is the important aspect, as opposed to
> the bank
I've pondered on the significance of the internal ditch many a time. Keeping spirits in is the best I can come up with!
Don't forget though that many (all?) irish henges have no ditch, also that some of the earliest stone circles could have been built instead of henges due to the lesser effort required. I can't recall which two Burl compares but he looks at a henge & a circle both of which had the same sized internal space, the circle however required (I think),less than half the effort...
There is also a suggestion of banking at Castlerigg and other cumbrian sites.
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Kozmik_Ken
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Re: yeh but
Jun 22, 2004, 11:01
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Some stone circles in Yorkshire (and elsewhere I'd guess) had stones set into a rubble bank, but no ditch.
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elderford
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Re: yeh but
Jun 22, 2004, 11:48
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and for yet another variation: Mayburgh henge, the banks are made of stones, with no ditch on rising land and only a mere spit away is a regular earthen one.
i like to think of them in terms of the plans of christian churches/cathedrals, in that although all those buildings follow a similar cruciform layout and have the same function there is much variation in elavations. not just in period style, but that some have porches, narthexes, towers, steeples, lady chapels, etc, whereas others don't, but essentially they do the same job.
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Kozmik_Ken
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Re: yeh but
Jun 22, 2004, 13:43
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I have a bit of a suspicion that in some places where the top soil was thin or rocky, rubble walling was used as an alternative to earthworks in building henge type monuments. One particular example being Woofa Bank on Ilkley Moor, which doesn't feel like a settlement or field division, and is covered in rock art. Just a guess, but it's a hunch.
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