Evidence from region around Avebury: merging of clearings, soil exhaustion and erosion.

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1 Henge Monuments [Some names from the video: Skara Brae, Ring of Brodgar, Isbister, Maes Howe all in Orkney; Maiden Castle, Avebury] Check out: Earliest farming in Britain around 4200 B.C. Time of special interest here is Late Neolithic Key factor: increase in population from time of first farming groups by perhaps a factor of 7 by 3000 B.C. In all regions virgin forest had been altered. By about 3000 B.C. large areas of Wessex over-exploited and an economic crisis develops: 1 Deforestation: fields, timber, fuel 2. Over-cultivation: reduction of thick brown-earths to thin rendzinas. 3. De-turfing for homes. An acre for one, average-sized house. Village of 20 houses would devastate pasture. 4. Reduced reliance on cereals. More wild animal remains (showing shift from selective culling of red deer to indiscriminate hunting). 5. Sheep declined in favor of pigs. 6. Competition for land increased Evidence from region around Avebury: merging of clearings, soil exhaustion and erosion. Overall, less woodland, many clearings colonized by bracken and scrub (pollen studies at B.C. considerable bracken, hazel and thorn scrub). Bracken poisonous to cattle, sheep, horses. Rhizome network: resists extirpation. Pigs significant to land reclamation. Evidence for competition? 1. Timber palisade at Hambledon Hill, Dorset burned down. Skeleton of young man with child in ashes. Shot with arrows. 2. Carn Brae in Cornwall, hill-top surrounded by stone rampart some over 2 tons. >700 arrowheads around gateway. 3. Crickley Hill, Gloucestershire, house set on fire, >200 arrowheads in ashes. 4. Many examples of individual killings.

2 2 Out of the ashes, territories form and leaders emerge and large-scale monuments are built. By 2500 B.C. territories established throughout the region. Pig raising significant to mobilization of labor. Developments in Wessex: Common traits in core areas include Grooved Ware pottery Collective burials in long barrows Later more emphasis on single burial of high ranking individuals Ceremonial/Ritual: henge monuments Henges: Main regions: Wessex, S.E. Scotland and Orkneys Durrington Walls far grander scale than Stonehenge but it was made of wood Henge monuments in Southern Britain at same time as abrupt appearance of Grooved Ware (by 2500 B.C.) Bank and ditch; one or two entrances Five in s. Britain with diameters > 300m: Durrington Walls Marden Avebury Mount Pleasant Knowlton Debate: free-standing posts? Roofed structures? Function and form? Rafter-spans, debris Phase 1 of Southern Circle: light timbers 23m, with lean-to roof 6 m opening to southeast open central court, circle of 6 posts, flanked by 4 posts central setting only 2.2m diameter, very shallow holes Phase 2 massive, beam spans acceptable for roof increase in size and depth toward center innermost, deep but slender

3 3 entrance: southeast, outside of which chalk blocks and gravel, fires Minimum allowable roof pitch of 25 degrees: height 10.5m, if eaves height was 3m What was its purpose? Examination of material remains at Durrington Walls: 1. Post-holes containing large number of flint flakes, little or no Grooved Ware 2. Spatial patterning of arrowheads, knives, pins and awls: formalized deposition, not utilitarian activity areas 3. Grooved-Ware decreases from outer ring to center; same for flint Faunal evidence: General absence of butchery; minimal utilization beyond meat removal Pig most common overall, but equaled by cattle on entrance platform Within Southern Circle: tibia, humerus, vertebrae and radius dominate meat bones. Also true of primary ditch Midden outside of S.C.: predominance of young pig hind limbs The conclusion: non-utilitarian. Implication: feasting on grand scale Platform: Irregular, composed of chalk lumps and flint nodules: extensive area of burning. Littered with flints, sherds, bones. Focal point. Rituals. Midden: Odd mix of broken pottery: mixture of styles and ages: special repository Evidence, along with that from earlier causewayed enclosures implies ritual feasts or offerings. Deliberate breakage of pottery around stone circles well documented. Burials in round barrows: lenses of sherds, flints, charcoal, bones in clean fill. Filling-in of burial chambers and passage of Long Barrows with similar material, all in a single act.

4 4 Interpretation: re-deposited ritual offerings, had originally been made elsewhere in temporary storage places where materials accumulated. Durrington Walls an offering-house: Activities associated with Southern Circle: breakage of pots, deposition of stone and bone tools and consumption of meat occurred principally on platform. Debris placed around bases of timbers and in midden. Sherds of same vessel from different posts. Architectural analysis supports non-utilitarian purpose: open court Also, at Mt. Pleasant eventually replaced by stone settings. Analogy with Creek Confederacy in A.D s: circular council houses with single entrance and central hearth. Post-holes show similar pattern. But with strong central pillar for rafters. Sacred drink: vessels deliberately smashed and sherds placed in midden. Resources and Labor Soil washed down and sealed Southern Circle; not plowed. Timber uprights decayed in situ. More evidence for reconstruction of structure than at other, more heavily disturbed sites. Estimate quantity of timber required. Charring of butts of logs has allowed identification of type of wood used oak. About 264 tons of structural oak; hauled a considerable distance major expenditure of energy and human resources Perhaps not too harmful to forests: like culling (selected sizes) Rivers for transport (Wessex centers all near rivers) Few stone axes at construction sites: timber cut to size in field Major difference in labor required for earlier enclosures and tombs and the henges of around 2500 B.C. Probably a higher population and greater mobilization of workforce. Estimates for Wessex of Not a crushing demand on system if distributed. Why build such expensive monuments? What did they mean? Between 3000 and 2500 B.C. evidence for economic recession and forest regeneration (suggesting less farming). By B.C. renewal of

5 5 clearance and more efficient subsistence strategy. Light plows. Grain, stock raising. Cattle control. Extensive evidence for later Neolithic Britain: regional developments and core areas. Wessex especially notable for early development of regional groups: causewayed enclosures, later megalithic barrows and tombs. Also: development of ritual landscapes, construction of massive monuments. Reasonable to postulate long-term control by a few individuals. Wessex: rich agricultural land, good sources of flint. Well situated with respect to routes along which axes, pottery and other goods moved. Leaders controlled agricultural production, manufacture of implements from local flint. Location able to control distribution of other goods from outside region. Great henges and timber buildings part of a strategy to hold power, maintain social order and increase control: symbols of group identity. John Cherry: Monuments typically at two points in development cycle: 1. First at formative stage: binds into coherent organization by providing common focus 2. May then be reduction of public works until second phase of monument building as social fabric decays. Attempt to reintegrate. Stonehenge 1. Mycenae hypothesis: a. arose in part because of preconceptions concerning the cultural level of the ancient Britons. Howling barbarians incapable of such work. Similar to prejudice shown by those who believed that the Easter Islanders could not have made and moved their statues without outside (way outside!) help. b. recalibrated carbon-fourteen dating showed that the original dating of about B.C. for both was incorrect. Mycenae dated by other means; its date didn t change. But Stonehenge shown to be earlier than Mycenaean civilization.

6 6 c. faience beads. Thought imported from Egypt; Mycenae logical source for Wessex. Chemical analysis shows European faience distinct. Now known to have been manufactured in Europe. d. amber. Baltic amber appears in Wessex and Mycenae. Proves nothing about connection. e. metalwork. Some similarities, but distinct in many ways. f. overlap at end of period. 2. Bronze Age a. new wealth, extensive trade b. Wessex chieftains well-placed c. led to individualistic chiefdoms shift from community expressions and emphasis on group solidarity as seen in earlier times, to striking displays by individuals. d. rich graves show status differences very clearly 3. Druids No connection. A modern fantasy largely the result of some speculation by Stukeley in the first half of the eighteenth century. 4. A Stone Age Computer? a. Hawkins: positions of 165 key points stones, stoneholes, other holes, mounds and midpoints plotted. Alignments checked against rising and setting directions, at 1500 B.C. first of planets and bright stars (no match) and then of sun and moon. Claim: total sun correlation and almost total moon correlation with a network of 13 solar and 11 lunar alignments. All features of the early Stonehenge before lintelled buildings of later Stonehenge. Also found alignments in sarsen structure of Stonehenge III (all much less precise than earlier Stonehenge!). Hawkin s Neolithic computer was a way of using Aubrey holes as a tally to predict eclipses of moon. Archaeologists respond: some sight-lines used rough-shaped holes that may not even be features. Some lines taken as significant when were off by 2 degrees enough to miss sun or moon completely. Aubrey holes filled up soon after dug. Also, Station Stones stand over some of the filled Aubrey holes. So, computer and observatory could not have existed at same time.

7 7 Only clearly established correlation is with summer solstice. 5. Four major stages of construction, covering a period of about 1500 years from ca to 1500 B.C. Refer to diagram in Price and Feinman, page Something new: a connection with Durrington Walls? Research conducted in 2005 and 2006 by Mike Parker Pearson and others has pointed to the strong possibility that Stonehenge and Durrington Walls were linked sites: a. Stonehenge is oriented towards the summer solstice sunrise and its avenue approaches Stonehenge in the direction of the winter solstice sunset. Durrington Wall s Southern Circle is precisely oriented towards the winter solstice sunrise and its avenue leads to the henge in the direction of the summer solstice sunset (to within 1 ½ ). b. According to Parker Pearson, the following relationships are possible: Wood to stone downstream to the realm of the ancestors Southern Circle to Road Facing midwinter sunrise Avenue to Stonehenge Facing midwinter sunset Stone to wood upstream fertility from the ancestors Stonehenge to Avenue Facing midsummer sunrise Road to Southern Circle Facing midsummer sunset c. The excavations have discovered the remains of houses that point to a very large Neolithic settlement at Durrington Walls. Parker Pearson writes, It may be that the henge was surrounded by a town-sized community of houses. Were they occupied all year round or, more likely, just for the festive seasons of midwinter and midsummer?