Landscape of the Megaliths

Landscape of the Megaliths PDF Author: Mark Gillings
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1782975233
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 769

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Book Description
This volume describes the results of the Longstones Project , a joint-universities programme of excavation and survey designed to develop a fuller understanding of the context and dynamics of monument construction in the later Neolithic (3rd millennium BC) of the Avebury region, Wiltshire. Several elements of this internationally important prehistoric monument complex were investigated: an early-mid 3rd millennium BC enclosure at Beckhampton; the recently re-discovered Beckhampton Avenue and Longstones Cove; a section of the West Kennet Avenue; the Falkner's stone circle; and the Cove within Avebury's Northern Inner Circle. The research sheds new light on the complexities and development of this monument rich area and consideration is given to the questions of how and why ceremonial centres such as that at Avebury came into being in the 3rd millennium BC. The importance of understanding the agency - the affective and perceived inherent qualities - of materials and landscapes is stressed; and the unusual character of the Wessex monument complexes is highlighted by comparison with the format and sequences of other ceremonial centres in southern Britain. The second part of the monograph tracks the later, post-prehistoric, lives of Avebury's megalithic monuments including a detailed account of the early 18th-century records of the Beckhampton Avenue made by the antiquary William Stukeley.

Landscape of the Megaliths

Landscape of the Megaliths PDF Author: Mark Gillings
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1782975233
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 769

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Book Description
This volume describes the results of the Longstones Project , a joint-universities programme of excavation and survey designed to develop a fuller understanding of the context and dynamics of monument construction in the later Neolithic (3rd millennium BC) of the Avebury region, Wiltshire. Several elements of this internationally important prehistoric monument complex were investigated: an early-mid 3rd millennium BC enclosure at Beckhampton; the recently re-discovered Beckhampton Avenue and Longstones Cove; a section of the West Kennet Avenue; the Falkner's stone circle; and the Cove within Avebury's Northern Inner Circle. The research sheds new light on the complexities and development of this monument rich area and consideration is given to the questions of how and why ceremonial centres such as that at Avebury came into being in the 3rd millennium BC. The importance of understanding the agency - the affective and perceived inherent qualities - of materials and landscapes is stressed; and the unusual character of the Wessex monument complexes is highlighted by comparison with the format and sequences of other ceremonial centres in southern Britain. The second part of the monograph tracks the later, post-prehistoric, lives of Avebury's megalithic monuments including a detailed account of the early 18th-century records of the Beckhampton Avenue made by the antiquary William Stukeley.

Megaliths of Wales

Megaliths of Wales PDF Author: Chris Barber
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1445674017
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
The ancient standing stones, stone circles and burial chambers of Wales - remarkable feats of construction that are surrounded by legend.

Megalithomania

Megalithomania PDF Author: John Michell
Publisher: Ingram
ISBN: 9781906069032
Category : Menhirs
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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Book Description
A feast of extraordinary theories and personalities centred around the mysterious standing stones of antiquity. John Michell tells the incredible story of the amazing reactions, ancient and modern, to these prehistoric relics, whether astronomical, legendary, mystical or visionary.

Megalith

Megalith PDF Author: Hugh Newman
Publisher: eBook Partnership
ISBN: 1912706288
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
How do you predict eclipses at Stonehenge? Why do the Carnac alignments follow geological fault lines? Why is Avebury precisely one seventh of a circle down from the north pole? Why are so many stone circles egg-shaped or flattened? What is the meaning of the designs in ancient rock art? Why do you have to wait nineteen years to visit the remote site of Callanish? What were the ancients up to? This book details our oldest and grandest buildings, our first temples, our earliest visual art, messages which are still relevant today. With eight authors, and packed with detailed information and exquisite rare illustrations, Megalith is a timeless and valuable sourcebook for anyone interested in prehistory.

The Megaliths of Northern Europe

The Megaliths of Northern Europe PDF Author: Magdalena Midgley
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113426450X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
The North European megaliths are among the most enduring structures built in prehistory; they are imbued with symbolic meanings which embody physical and conceptual ideas about the nature of the world inhabited by the first Northern farmers. The Megaliths of Northern Europe provides a much needed up-to-date synthesis of the material available on these monuments, incorporating the results of recent research in Holland, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. This research has brought to light new data on the construction of the megaliths and their role in the cultural landscape, and Magdalena Midgley offers a fascinating interpretation of the symbolism of megalithic tombs within the context of early farming communities. This wealth of new evidence suggests the Northern European megaliths were important foci in the wider north-west European context. The construction of dolmens and passage graves, using huge glacial boulders, demanded both great communal effort and considerable skill. In addition to this technical expertise the master builders also made use of their esoteric knowledge of rituals. This was expressed in the use of exotic building materials and special architectural features, and in the placement of tombs within the natural and cultural landscapes, creating new metaphors and images. Fully illustrated, this book will be of interest to both undergraduate and postgraduate students of European Prehistory, Archaeology and Prehistoric Anthropology, as well as architects who study ancient architecture and social anthropologists who study modern megaliths.

Megaliths

Megaliths PDF Author: Lai Ngan Corio
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0224064649
Category : England
Languages : en
Pages : 182

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Book Description
David Corio has systematically photographed the megalithic sites ofEngland and Wales with the eye of a great landscape photographeras well as with the passion of an explorer in the ruins of an ancientculture. These photographs go to the heart of prehistoric Englandand reveal a profound sense of'place'. The sites are revealed withall the beauty that invited Romantic speculation from theseventeenth century onwards as well as the encroaching modemworld of distant urban skylines and protective barriers. Lai Ngan'stext distils the mythical narratives that arose around theseextraordinary structures and places as well as pointing to the recentastronomical and mathematical research which suggests theirremarkable function in the prehistoric calendar. The photographspoint to the beginning of architecture itself in Britain, with thesuggestion of both sacred and secular function, layered in thefabulous tales of popular imagination.

Places of Special Virtue

Places of Special Virtue PDF Author: Alasdair Whittle
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 178570544X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
This volume explores the landscape settings of megalithic chambered monuments in Wales. Set against a broader theoretical discussion on the significance of the landscape, the authors consider the role of visual landscapes in prehistory, meanings attached to the landscape, and the values and beliefs invested in it. Wales is rich in Neolithic monuments, but the general absence of certain classic monumental forms found in the rest of Britain and Ireland, such as causewayed enclosures, henges, and cursus monuments, seems to have marginalized the Welsh record from many wider discussions on the Neolithic. Instead of seeing Wales as an area which lacks many of these 'classic' components, Cummings and Whittle argue that Wales has its own unique and individual Neolithic which is simply different from the Neolithic found further to the east. It is suggested that this difference may relate to an essentially mobile existence, with strong links back to the Mesolithic period. The authors present three detailed case studies, examining the settings of sites in southwest, northwest and southeast Wales. They outline the history of research for each region, including the previous classification of the monuments and any excavations, and describe the specific landscape settings of the monuments. They assess the significance of a variety of landscape features which would have been visible from the monuments, in particular emphasizing the mythological and symbolic significance of the sea, rivers and mountains. An illustrated inventory of sites completes the volume.

Landscape

Landscape PDF Author: Barbara Bender
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040278361
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
This book is about the complexity and power of landscape. The authors - geographers, anthropologists and archaeologists - explore landscape as something subjective that alters through time and space and that is created by people through their experience and contact with the world around them.

The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Death and Burial

The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Death and Burial PDF Author: Sarah Tarlow
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191650390
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 872

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Book Description
The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Death and Burial reviews the current state of mortuary archaeology and its practice, highlighting its often contentious place in the modern socio-politics of archaeology. It contains forty-four chapters which focus on the history of the discipline and its current scientific techniques and methods. Written by leading, international scholars in the field, it derives its examples and case studies from a wide range of time periods, such as the middle palaeolithic to the twentieth century, and geographical areas which include Europe, North and South America, Africa, and Asia. Combining up-to-date knowledge of relevant archaeological research with critical assessments of the theme and an evaluation of future research trajectories, it draws attention to the social, symbolic, and theoretical aspects of interpreting mortuary archaeology. The volume is well-illustrated with maps, plans, photographs, and illustrations and is ideally suited for students and researchers.

Magic Stones

Magic Stones PDF Author: Jan Pohribný
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
"A fascinating exploration of our early ancestors' obsession with stone. With more than 250 stunning full-colour illustrations, Magic Stones is the most wide-ranging photographic record ever published on the megalithic monuments of Europe"--Back cover.